Overall look

Not quite right. I'm having a hard time picking out what's wrong here - seems to be a lot of little things. You should definitely have your site name on the splash page there. I like the way it looks though. Creates a good look and feel so keep it! (I know somebody's going to tell you to get rid of it...). I like the white... what do you call that.... forget the term... edges around it. Normally that would be a bad thing but it gives it a texture, kind of a homey feeling. In Opera 6 I see a grey enter button and in IE it's default blue... stylesheet problem of some sort.

The main page... there's something wrong here and I can't put my finger on it. Try changing that red background (here and on the splash) to the blue you have around the left side. Or maybe not.... I can't decide. Maybe try changing that handwriting font you've used ... or try making the "Web Services" and "providing quality..." text in sentence case rather than all caps. Smooth out that drop shadow on the moon.

I kind of think that you should do more with that moon. Maybe look for a way to add more texture to the rest of the site. Maybe repeat it elsewhere in the design, maybe smaller.

Is my brain not working tonight or what? Sorry for the crappy crit

Forgot - I'm not sure if you're intending for that text to be final or not but it should really be rewritten. I'm finding the writing style to be a little too stilted - like you're trying too hard to sound professional.

I kinda like it. Not sure about the rust colored background though. Your moon idea is cute and I think the font that you have used gives the site a fun look. It could be a bit too much fun looking for a web design site but I still like it. It is different and probably shows your personality. The moon on the second page is good but I don't like the big one on the first page. It is too big and blurry and looks like a piece of candy. Maybe use the one that you have on the second page with the title of the site. You want to carry the logo throughout the site anyway.

Your Enter Here text doesn't look good blue and italicized. How bout white with yellow rollover? (non-italic)

Your table just below the logo are a little out of line(as I am sure you already know). The buttons need a rollover. And I would bring the text body in a bit. (blockquote maybe?)

Not sure about the blue border only going around the left side. It looks a bit unfinised like that. Well....maybe not.

I was going to say you didnt need the splash page but maybe with a little bit of something could just improve it that bit, is "Cataluna" have anything to do with cats? if so, maybe have a cat leaning over the moon or something, if it hasnt got anything to do with cats then ignore that last part lol
I'm not home tonight and this pc only has IE5.5 but there is a slighty alignment problem around your naviagation section, the links part is about 2 pixels to the right of the line coming down from the icon section.

I'd probably be inclined to remove the blue line, and place the top links within the white table and maybe have a seperate color for the naviagtion side or a divider line.

what does "LLC" stand for?

On of my pet peeves in links without a capital letter, a link is a title so should really start with a capital but seems the trend these days is not to - each to their own i guess

your page title is different on the second page, there isnt one on the splash page.

on your splash page, (looking at your code, you are using leftmargin="0", i think its making the image slightly off center, sorry for being picky lol

one last thing, offically you cant use copyright 2002 yet, the way a copyright works is, when its displayed, sold or used for the first time, the 50 year automatic copyright starts then, example, say i took a photo in 1980, but dont publish it until 2000, then the copyright starts at 2000. the reason i'm pointing this out is if you ever had to go to court over copyright infringement you would loose and possibly be done for fraud as your adding years on to something thats not done or has been done. if that makes sense. the chances of any of us seeing a court room for that would be very very slim, if any.

Firstly the splash page - Needs a title, I don't like that moon as it kinda looks like a bad photo of a piece of fabric out of focus (just my impression) & the Enter Here is too big and a bit ugly looking. I'd get rid of the page completely if it were me.

Main page - Definitely need to do something about the moon shadow. I quite like the colours but the blue box looks a bit odd at the bottom, as it looks like it should be behind the white but finishes at the same level as the white at the bottom, I'd bring it down lower so it does look like it's behind. You then have a lot of blank space.

The quote on the left side is too close to the text in the main section so you need to pad out the main part more and I agree that the font used for the 'Providing quality websites.....' looks wrong. Only other thing I'm not sure about is the split navigation. The ones at the top kinda get a bit lost and the ones down the side need rollovers I think to bring the page to life a bit.

One thing that I never like is having to enter a site when I am already there. Now about that moon. I can understand the effect that you are trying to achieve with it. If this is going to be your main portfolio site, you will have people that will not like it and not quite understand what you are trying to achieve. I think that Megan is right that it needs to be dressed up a bit. Another effect that may be missed and I think should be worked on is your left navbar section. You have the blue fading into the white but my first impression on the site was "Why doesn't that blue background extend all the way over to the right side at the bottom where the copyright notice is?". Of course, after looking at the site more carefully, I can see what you were trying to do. So I think that you need to do something to make your effect more easily viewable on first glance.

I have said it quite often but it is hard sometimes to give a good eval without seeing the complete site.

I just see three things you could fix. First the Splash page could be spiced up a tad, The moon looks sketchy, and change the background color. The maroon or whatever color that is doesn't go with the blue bar down the side.

Otherwise the site is looking good

Okay everyone. You all had great comments and I implemented some of them. The marroon color is not going to change, and neither is the moon or the font on the logo - but I heeded the rest and made changes. Tell me what you all think now.

I know there is not any content - but I really want you to look at the overall look at this time - not the content.

Thank you so much for your comments before - they helped more than you will know!

TIA,

Brooke

Actually the moon did change. Being on a lighter background seems to make it look better. About the only things that I would do is:
-To change the font on your body text. It is not easy to read, IMO. I would also consider using stylesheets to control the text formatting a little better. Also I kind of like instead of .
-The quote scrollbar is bothersome.
-The page title should have your name in it.
-The Web tips page is aligned left instead of centered like your home page.

Looks good.

Splash page looks better, but the "web services" is a little hard to read, and in your coding you have a space after your "enter here" which is creating a extra line that doesnt align with the rest of the link in Netscape, kinda like: enter here _ (but if the extra bit was in sub tags)
"duchamp" isnt a standard font, so the default (times new roman i think it is) displays. You also have no title on the splash page.

The contact details at the bottom is very hard to read in both browsers, there is also a line that goes thru the width of the page (the same in both browsers), just above the start of the text section, the blue sections have the blue missing
apart from that looking good in both IE5 and Netscape4.7

Try doing "web services" in yellow on the splash page.???
And I am still voting while for the "Enter Here" link.

On the home page I see a white line across the top of the navigation that extends across the page vertically.

the quote by Robert Louis Stevenson extends to far to the right. It goes beyond the nav buttons.

Still not crazy about that blue color that you are using. It looks rather bland.

Looks better. There seems to be a problem on the main page as there is a gap appearing between the top section and the main table causing white to appear & the quote is still too far over.

Quote: posted by Disater-Master
And I am still voting while for the "Enter Here" link

You are learning quickly grasshopper

the do da thingy ma bob isnt quite on the angle of the dangle ..

Quote: You are learning quickly grasshopper

Dang it Busy!!! You are rubbing off on me. hehehehehe
What I meant was....

"And I am still voting WHITE for the "Enter Here" link."

Okay,

I have fixed more things - what do you all think?
http://www.cataluna.com/test/

Brooke

P.S. mairving - you looked at my old site - it has been up for four years now! http://www.cataluna.com

Hi brook,

The site looks very professional.

The only problem I would have is why do you have a splash page? I've never really seen the point of a splash page especially when you've got such a quick loading site. How does the viewer benefit?

I'd really like to know why anyone would have a splash page (I know a lot of sites do) but I don't really see the point unless you've got a very slow loading home page.

Bertie.

Ah, yes! I like the white/yellow for the enter here on the splash page. That is better to me than the plain black text.

On the home page, the info at the very bottom is more readable.

What about italicizing the quote at the bottom of the page??
As it is now it sorta blends in with the body text because there isn't much difference in the color.

I am not sure if the font you used for the "Providing Quality Websites and....." goes well with the others. I liked the other better I believe.

You need something at the bottom of the page but I just can't put my finger on it.

Much better and easier to read things. The only thing I'd say now is that I personally think that the links should all start with a capital letter as really they are headings.

ok, I've had 2 coffees now and I STILL don't get the Stevenson quote! Is it just me? Do I need a third cup?

"I know what happens is, for I have done good work. ~Robert Louis Stevenson"

I like the look and the colours in play here. I think that maybe the blue should be a little more present. Widen the border perhaps? It kind of gets lost there. Maybe simply extend the existing blue bar below the box as it does at the top? Just throwing things out there - 2 cups of coffee is not a lot!

Your top right nav could be a little sharper and the rollover yellow doesn't appear to match the other yellow - this could just be contrast though.

web site - two words! This is how you use it in your body text but the header graphic says "websites"

Quote: Originally posted by taff

web site - two words! This is how you use it in your body text but the header graphic says "websites"

I have always had problems with that and email e-mail e mail. Actually according to Webster's, the correct choices are:
e-mail and web site.

Goodness! You all have great suggestions! I will work on those and get back to you!

Thank you for taking the time to look at my site!

Brooke

I'm baaaaack!

Would you check out my website and tell me if you see anything that stands out! I want to upload the site tomorrow or Wednesday. There are two pages that are not completed yet! I will be adding more info and features as time goes on - but this is what I am starting with!

Brooke

http://www.cataluna.com/test/

PS - Their seems to be a page where the blue line on the right is too thick. I have looked and looked and can't seem to find what is wrong. The page is at: http://www.cataluna.com/test/second_pages/dosdonts.shtml

TIA!

Just looking at your code I would say that the problem is that you have the cells set at one pixel width but your spacer gif is set a 2 pixels width. Just a guess.

<td width="1" bgcolor="#003366" valign="top"><img src="../images/space1.gif" width="2" height="10"></td>'

I think you should choose another preload script, this one isnt working, the mouseovers are very delayed. your script you have in there now is doubled, same scripts twice

Your titles should be webname - subject, easier for people looking thru bookmarks.

Your code has a lot of extra, un needed stuff in there, example:

Do's

Offer frames or no frames

the default alignment is left, so no tag is needed, unless you have align something else is a tr or td cell before hand (which you dont)
Lucida Casual isnt a default font, i dont think, could be wrong, but two tags stating different fonts isnt good.
= , but underline, bold and even font should be done with css.

further down in your code you use a seperate font tag per tag, they are opened and closed nicely but all they are doing is adding size to your file which inturns slows down your site. if you dont want to use style sheets for things like fonts, then ue one font at the start of a table cell and end it at the end, unless you change fonts and then add another tag around what you want changed.

Also language="javascript" is being phased out, its replaced with type="text/javascript", the new browser proabably wont support the language one nexttime round, best to add type to it or replace all together