Orangedrop Creative

I like the colours, but I tend to be a nit-pickers, so, here are my nits:

The logo in the top corner is usually a place where people can click on, and it sends them to the front page, and the front page link shouldn't be on the far right, that's just not logical.

Why are the links to the pages in all lowercase, and the headers for each paragraph all caps? You should always know what page you are looking at, and casing tends to be visually key.

The Get Firefox logo seems a little out of place, but I wouldn't hold it against you.

I think the text size is a little too big in some areas, the Verdana font generally doesn't look good between about size 10 and 24 (give or take) I also noticed (when looking at your CSS) that you had you used class="small" in the html, but defined it as "textsmall" in the CSS file. Though a.small is defined, but that only affects elements enclosed in rags, but drr.

On that same note, I saw that font-size was defined as a percentage, I don't know if you can do that, and I don't think it's a good idea, but maybe someone can correct me on that.

I have some other nits, but I don't want to seem harsh, just giving feedback. I know that if someone said something bad about my site, that I liked, I'd say "Yeah, well, YOUR MOM" or something to that effect.

I have to agree with the Captain's observations on the home link. That should definitely be on the left of that little menu. I would even say that the standard is for the home page link to be on the far left, and the contact link to be on the far right.

Aside from that, you need to run a spell check program. The only word I found was "beleive" on the Philosophy page, but I wasn't looking. Remember, this web page will make a big impression on the people who are looking to hire you. They know you do web design, so the first thing they'll want to see is how your own site looks. Once they see an obviously misspelled word, you can't undo the damage that first impression makes.

I really like the header graphic, though. Cool logo, too.

No, be harsh! I need this to be good!

CPT:
I totally forgot to make the header clickable! Thanks! Now the problem is I can't get rid of the rollover background... hmmm. you can have a look at the css if you want to help me!

I moved the links back into standard or "logical" order. I know every site has them there, but I never liked it on the left. I guess it's still better to have it easy rather than the way I like it to look.

Thanks for the tip on the menu. Not only do the fit better small caps, they look cool! I'll probably add a breadcrumb trail so you know what page you're on.

I'll play with the font size. a.small and .textsmall are two different things, but thanks for pointing out the potential error.

I don't know what you mean about the percentage. It's a px setting, which is absolute. You can set it as percentages. Maxdesign (maxdesign.com.au) does that.

Please post the other nits! I need to be criticized, and I understand you're trying to help.

I also changed the font size. 10 was too small 13 was ok, but I went 14 just incase some older people were reading.

Tim:
Thanks for the stuff on the links. I know the page is gonna make a big impact, so I'm still working on the proofreading and writing a bit. I'm afraid I don't have Word, so do you know any good online spell checkers?

Thanks for the compliment on the logo!

You mixed up the CSS link on the philosophy page, so it's now main.php

I think you made the navigation links a little too small, and they are unevenly spaced (I realize that the words are different lengths, but you should set
display: block;
float:right;
width: X (probably 150-200) px
that would have them even.

Try not having so many font sizes, You basically want a max of about 3 font sizes, heading, sub-heading and body. I also noticed in the html that 2 of the links are class="small" and the other 2 are not, and there is no small class in the CSS file, at least that I could find.

Heh, I notice that you're altering it as I look at it, so I will finish my comments for now.

The small is a long story involving IE 5.5, but if I made all the links the same size, that would eliminate that. I'll try it and see what it looks like. I understand the 3 sizes thing. That's something I should definitely look into. But do links and sidebars really matter for that? The php was my attempt at putting php in a css file, which backfired anyway...

I notice that the bottom corner sun is no longer anchoring to the bottom of the page, you might want to make that the background of html, and either nix the blue gradient, or put it in a div and play with the z-index

Not anchoring? I'm not getting that in IE or FireFox. Could I have been changing stuff?

It is now, it wasn't when I posted

Just a quickie about my first impression. The three main sections (Who We Are, What We Do, and How We Do It), are not uniform in style, yet they seem like they should be (the last two differ on the spacing under the header. (in IE)

The link color, while matching site colors, really interupts the flow of reading for me. too light.

Also, what is "Word Wide Web Consortium"? Is that something for websites created with Mircosoft Word?

Overall for a quick look, the site looks good. I really love the bottom right image!

Ok, it called to me to look more even though I should get back to work.

On the "Work" Page, in both IE and FF, the header "Logo Design" looks out of place, away from it's text below it (and to the right of the next image), the logo and web works pages themselves look the same, headers really don't stay matched to content below. (in both browsers, just doesn't look uniform).

"Touch Base", well thats just a personal issue I have, I just hate that phrase. (I have a major dislike for most trendy buzz words and catch phrases) LOL. I'm screwy. Anyhow on this page, your formatting of the SEND button makes it look like it's jsut another text box with text already in it, not a button to do an action.

Overall there is an incosistancy of the content on the left, some places a link, some places lists, and on last page it was additional content for the contact us page. Plus the layout of the left side was not uniform across the pages, and in some places stood out too much.

-Greg

PS. I still had your page open, and went to follow the link for validaing the html because I needed to check a page I was doing. I was on your contact us page, and the link to validate it says you have errors on your page. Not good for a site based on being standards compliant. Might want to double check them all.

I seen the website before you made changes but didn’t have time to write a review. I like the changes you made so far. Overall I like the site and the logo at the top. The text looks better now that you have reduced the size. I also like the flower image in the right lower corner. I have just a few minor suggestions.

On the front page this "Orangedrop Creative is the work of designer David Bacsik. Based out of Cambridge, Wisconsin, we "

Maybe a better way would be "David Bascik is based in Cambridge, Wisconsin. We " (put period at end of Wisconsin). Once again this is just one of my little nit picks I also noticed that the word standardized is misspelled The word “believe” is misspelled on the philosophy page.

The headers above each paragraph would look better if they were not so large and capitalized. You could reduce the font size on those to same size as text and just bold . them to make them stand out. Also don’t use all capitals because it has been my understanding that looks like you are shouting.

Also for your links in middle of the paragraphs you could use just a common underlined text link. The average person recognizes links in that style, otherwise some people may not know those are links.

You could make your navigation links a tad larger, more evenly spaced and centered. This would give it a more professional look and shows you pay attention to detail. Also you have “front” link on 2 different places on the page. The front page link in the navigation menu would be enough. In my opinion if a person is already on the front page you don’t need a front page link there but that is just my opinion and preference.

Your client list text would be easier to read if the font was in a darker color like your headers for example. I found the client list hard to read.

Well that’s it. Just few minor tweaks at this point and paying a little more attention to the little details.

You could sign up for a Livejournal, and use their's

Personally, i realy like it. I thought your website design company was inksplot design.

Stuart, see the bottom of http://madclassifieds.000k.net/workweb.php

-Greg

I took alot of your guys' suggestions. I changed everything to em. Should be good. The font size is a lot smaller now, which makes me wonder about old people, but it looks a lot better too.

As far as the header saturation, I played with it a little, and that's as much saturation as I could give it. I highlighted my logo a bit more too. I don't quite get what you mean about the problem with the gradient, Megan. What's wrong with it?

I did lighten up the background a bit. I'm not sure if I like it yet, but I refuse to go to white. White just really bugs me!

Tianna: What do you mean by more evenly spaced? They are a set width. I tried them centered and left aligned, and I really think they look better on the right. I don't quite understand why centering it would be more professional.

I darkened the client list - good tip. I also got rid of the double front link on the home page. That was from my breadcrumb trail that I adapted.

Megan, as to the "we." It is mostly me, but I do have a few friends that help out with graphics and coding sometimes. I should probably work on explaining that better. I would put up an employee page, as that is appropriate for a small firm and this line of work, but I feel that our ages would hurt the image the website projects.

Also on a side note, do you guys think I'm ready this time to actually start doing this a business?

I like the graphics and the informal 'Front' & 'Touch Base', but the divider lines and color blocks seem to detract from what otherwise would be an appealing site.
Novice, Karen

The first design has been taken down. Sorry, I forgot to post. I'm working on a whole new layout (never satisified) and the css is mess in IE.

Lol, and I thought I was a perfectionist! Keep going Dragon

nice site like the logo and the layout is good and easy to use

Alright, I know it's bad to bump, and I'm probably being immature, but I've had no reviews on the new site? Is it because I've been inactive in this section? I'll go review three more sites.

I like it, it's got a nice pro feel too it, and it doesn't look cookie cutter

Woot. My domain name finally kicked in (they said it could take 3 days, and it did!). So any new updates will be seen at

http://www.orangedropcreative.com/new/