MS Creashuns Web Design

He has: 698 posts

Joined: Jul 2005

I was hoping you all could help me make my site the best it can be and critique it for me. Tell me what you think about the colors, layout, images, everything, and don't hold anything back! I won't be offended, believe me! Thanks! Wink

MS Creashuns Web Design

Kurtis

teammatt3's picture

He has: 2,102 posts

Joined: Sep 2003

Um, it's a little small. Not much to see. The red heading boxes are a little too big for the text in them (Home, Latest...)

Home | Updates | Services | Community are not vertically centered. They appear to be closer to the bottom.

I recommend you put a 3-5px margin around all the text. It seems a little crampped so close to the border.

He has: 698 posts

Joined: Jul 2005

Thank you. I was trying to figure out a way to get the text away from the borders, but I couldn't use cellpadding because it would throw some stuff off. I forgot about margins.

Also, there is really a lot of content, but it's spread throughout the pages so there isn't a lot on the index page. Smiling

Thanks again. Wink

Kurtis

chicgeek's picture

She has: 41 posts

Joined: Jul 2005

Put the text in divs. I also suggest using justified text for paragraphs, but that's just personal preference. For example...
<div style="margin: 5px; align: justify;">text text text text text</div>'

I also suggest possibly changing the style of your subheadings in your UPDATES page. Currently you have boldface dark red text with HRs denoting sections, but it still seems to blend in with the rest of the text. Perhaps use black as an alternate colour? And text-transform the letters to small caps? These are just suggestions, of course.

Another thing is that it often seems like there are too many borders, such as on the community page. I understand your desire to section off areas, but some areas (such as the log in/register forms) are innately set apart from the text. Their borders just crowd them. The services page is suffering badly from all the borders... Maybe try a vertical list instead?

In larger resolutions, as matt mentioned, the content looks small and there is a lot of whitespace. Even just changing the background colour to some sort of medium grey (perhaps F1F1F1) will distract the eye from the background and make the content pop.

And finally, you have a nice header but no other graphics are apparent when browsing. I'm not saying go image crazy, but right now it just looks like a lot of text. Maybe display a fragment screenshot of one of your templates on the services page, or some similar image. Don't be afraid to spread things out.

Laura Kishimoto - Webmistress and Soprano
laurakishimoto.ca | fomsc.ca | uwo music sophs

demonhale's picture

He has: 3,278 posts

Joined: May 2005

Rose to Match your site title, In Large res as commented you site is hard to read, Also I noticed that you use tags alternately with tags, this creates quite a large space between the Titles and Content... Remove the after one or before a ... that should minimize so much spacing... You could also wrap on divs your menus to place it wherever you want... Also the contents on each box could be padded so that it doesnt stick too much on the walls of the box... On a lighter side your site looks neat and fast loading...

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

Overall I'd say this is okay. The front graphic is not bad. You're creating a solid look and feel with that (although you might want to think about what kind of look & feel you want to present to potential clients. Who are you targetting? Would this appeal to them?)

Definitely do use some CSS to get that text away from the borders. You can use CSS to apply padding to certain TD's rather than the whole table. The navbar could use some work as well - try changing the background colour on mouseover instead of just adding an underline.

The biggest problem with this site is the secondary navigation. All those pop-ups and things opening in a new window is really confusing. It gets easy to lose your place and the content is crammed into tiny little pop-up windows. Keep everything in your main site window. Make your website behave in a way that people would expect it to.

He has: 698 posts

Joined: Jul 2005

Okay everyone. I have updated the site completely and it has a brand new design, and actually, a brand new focus. It also has a new URL because my old host closed. Here it is, and thank you.

http://mscreashuns.abshost.net

I have been informed that some of the fonts and links in the sidebar do not view correctly in Opera, but most have been fixed. The logo is only temporary until I can get into PhotoShop to make a better one...other than that, tear my design to shreds! Thank you. Laughing out loud

Kurtis

He has: 388 posts

Joined: Apr 2005

I like the old one better

He has: 698 posts

Joined: Jul 2005

vibins wrote: I like the old one better

Thanks for your input, but it would be nice to know what it is that you like better about the old one...that would help me a lot. Laughing out loud

Megan wrote: Just quickly - I think the "MS" think could be a problem. That's probably trademarked by Microsoft and they could very well have a problem with someone going around calling their products "MS ________".

Well, the MS is actually derived from one of my common usernames, MasterSimmer510. I haven't had any problems with it thus far, but thanks for warning/reminding me of that. Wink

Megan wrote: I like the green in the logo area. It looks good, although the text looks very jaggedy to me. I would use more of that style elsewhere in the design. That graphic could be a lot bigger, for example, and the rest of the site menu should have a coordinating colour scheme.

There is much more to be added to the sidebar, and much to be taken away, and I do plan to integrat the greens more. Like I said in my post, that logo isn't staying. I am only keeping it until I get over to my other comp. for PhotoShop. Sticking out tongue

Thanks, both of you, for your input! Smiling

Kurtis

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

Just quickly - I think the "MS" think could be a problem. That's probably trademarked by Microsoft and they could very well have a problem with someone going around calling their products "MS ________".

I like the green in the logo area. It looks good, although the text looks very jaggedy to me. I would use more of that style elsewhere in the design. That graphic could be a lot bigger, for example, and the rest of the site menu should have a coordinating colour scheme.

Want to join the discussion? Create an account or log in if you already have one. Joining is fast, free and painless! We’ll even whisk you back here when you’ve finished.