Oooh.. layout ideas

Fringey, why don't you give us a bit more information. It is hard to design a site if you don't have content. Or even better why not fill in some of the content and then ask us to review it. A lot of times I have no idea the design until I slap all the content up there and then play around with the layout.

Has the girl got her head cut off or is it on her knees? On my screen the 'test text' part is so dark i wouldnt of known it was there had you not mentioned it.

Its missing (in my eyes) an expression, its a splash page i take it, so needs something to grab you.

load the page on your screen, look down with your eyes closed, then open as you look at the screen, whats the first thing you see? The yellow wall gets my immediate attention. That first thing you see should be the soul of it, or if done right leave you wanting to know more.

Humans are simple beings, our attention span is short and limited, its something like; if you havent caught the readers (viewers) attention within the first 11 seconds you'll lose them.

Wouldnt of known the word 'Ataris' was a link if i didnt look at your source code. Also found the picture is made of a few bits and has alt tags all over, again wouldnt of known.

Idea: how bout putting the picture in the left middle, but away from the side, a header or name of the page at top and text under that, keeping it all centered but seperate if you know what i mean.

Dont take this to heart or the wrong way, i am just an up front to the point kinda guy.
hope this helps

Busy

"People only see what they are prepared to see."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Mairving: Sorry, I thought i mentioned that it is only for a personal site, one that i am currently trying to dig up some content for and this is my newest layout to match ( i have made a few.)

Busy: Yes, it's a photograph of a girl squatting in the corner and her head is cut off.. not much i could do about it but i liked the pic.

Quote: Also found the picture is made of a few bits and has alt tags all over, again wouldnt of known.

Idea: how bout putting the picture in the left middle, but away from the side, a header or name of the page at top and text under that, keeping it all centered but seperate if you know what i mean.

What do you mean it has alt tags all over? And yes it is cut up into a few pieces. I don't really understand what you mean by putting the picture in the left middle and all that.. explain a little for me?

And actually, it isn't a splash page. I hate the things unless absolutely necesarry - one more page for my viewers to have to get through before they see my page. This might be another temporary layout for my site (I change it periodically, depending on my mood and how motivated i am to design a new layout - or how long it takes me to copy/paste my content in, once it's all coded out.)

It's very hard to comment on something when there isn't really much to comment on! Without knowing what the site is going to be about, I know you said it's a personal site but what sort of personal site? Your hobbies, musical tastes, just about you? What??

I personally find it far, far too dark and where the background is a maroon colour and the table background is black it looks to me that they should have been the same but aren't! I would also make the table sit in the middle of the page as on a large screen it looks odd stuck up at the top with so little on itm - hence why it looks like a splash page!

Where are you planning on putting the dropdown menu? I think it will look odd on that page.

Maybe with more content and a definate feel to the entire site it may entice me in but not as it stands at the moment I'm afraid. Too dark & heavy

I do like the colors. There really isn't much to go by though. The one thing that I first noticed with the picture is the light looks like it is coming out of the girls nose. If you are going to use that picture I would do something with that....maybe get rid of that little triangle of light behind the chick in the red dress.

the alt tags make a sentence, kind of, if its meant to be seen make the bottom parts of the image bigger, if not then forget i said it

not sure how i can explain the picture to the left thing, not sure on displaying pics on here yet, but will try one in here.

-----------------------------------
----------- |
| ____(·)= | TITLE |
|\_>>___) | |
| '<'< | text text text |
|__________| text text text |
|
-----------------------------------

The "chick" is the bird above, the idea was that you could have something like above with it all blending, the title and text coming from the picture, drawing your attention to the text (content). heaps of ways to blend it, one is to keep the yellow and shape and fade/feather it into the text, or get rid of it all together and just have the girl. I think she needs a head thou.

hope this explains better

Although it's not much, I like it.

I like the colors, but if you want more feedback, you'd better place more on the site.