Please Review http://www.blackholenews.com

Looks like you've put a lot of effort into this site. There are a number of things that could be improved, however.

First off, the front page is way too busy. There's just too much going on, with tons of links in the main part and inconsistency in the look of different elements. I would cut down on the total number of links in the main part. Also, break it up with some pictures from the news stories.

The design itself looks way too amateurish. You might consider getting a template instead. One place that offers free templates is this site:

http://www.oswd.org/

The header really needs to tie in color and design-wise with the rest of the design of the site.

Thank you for the review means allot. Could you elaborate on the "inconsistency" I really value yours and all opionions as I am new at this. Thanks again for your remarks.

Good idea for a site! I agree with Tim that the design needs some work. This is not bad for a start but the overall quality of design is not very good.

One of the things that would really help the design is to switch to a sans serif font like verdana or tahoma. That would be more in keeping with the "black hole" sort of science fiction theme. Also make the text on your header a lot smaller, and try to find a more intresting font. There are lots of free font repositories out there that you could check for something sort of modern and high tech/sci fi looking.

From a design perspective the sidebar also needs to be improved. Simplify those navigation buttons so they don't look so busy. It might be good to switch to an HTML and CSS-based navigation (check my site for an example) which will help with the search engines. Everyhing underneath the navigation needs to be streamlined a lot. The black background on the search stands out too much - keep it the same as the rest of the sidebar or a shade or two lighter or darker. The buttons should be stacked on top of each other in some sort of a uniform way, ad the text links should be in a simple list instead of spread out so much and centered.

Also to help with the search engines, change that text bit under the logo banner to regular text instead of a graphic, and use a header tag on it. Then write a blurb describing what the site has to offer with some good keywords in it. The headings for all of your news sections should be done with actual header tags and not underlined (because then they look like links).

To get page rank you really need to get other sites to link to you (preferably without requring a linkback in exchange). That means you just need to have good content and get the right people to be aware of it. It's a slow process.

I'm glad to see the validation button on there! Great for a begginer to be concerned about these things Next step is to get rid of all those font tags!

Thanks for the input. I wanted to view your source to see how you had done that. I wish to do some css and have gone to w3c to look at some examples, but still not to good at it. Any help with this and as to your ideas would be great. I mean I can handle my own on the web stuff, but still getting things like that down. Thanks so much for your input means allot.

Nice topic for a site! I agree with Tim that the home page is too wordy. Maybe you could use an image from one of the stories (which you could continously update/change) for each of the 7 headings and then just include the 'read more' link. Try to choose pictures that will get the most reaction form people. Make the pictures a nice size since people are visual by nature and this will perk their interest. Don't list the actual stories on the home page. That is too boring. Bring them in with a picture. Once your discussions pick up, you can then add a 'hot topic' link as well next to each category which would bring the viewer directly to the discussion within that heading that has the most posts. Also, when viewing the actual stories in each heading, I would in some way indicate which stories have discussions started. Maybe you could include #posts next to each story so viewers can immediately see which stories are currently being talked about. Those are just a few ideas. Hope they help. Also, on my 800X600 screen I have to do a horizontal scroll to read the page. I love your idea.

I think the site looks good but I would make the quote of the day a little larger. And I would consider using the red text for new or breaking stories. Other than that I think it is good.