Please Review

1) Why are there two Hitbox counters on the page? That increases load time by a lot!

2) The mailing list part needs to be cleaned up. First, write "E-Mail:" to the left on the text box, and then align the radio buttons and makethe font Verdana (if it isn't already). I just name the submit button "Submit" instead of "Update."

3) Whoa, too many ads! I especially don't like the About.com search box. If you could get rid of that, great! I can see one ad being up there, but the search box blows it.

4) There is too much space between the dark grey menu and the content starts. I think you're using <P> instead of <BR>.

5) Pop-up windows suck! It really makes the user agitated. Besides, you already have enough ads.

I'm not going to comment on the design though, 'cause I made it...

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Critiquing over 1000 sites on the Internet today...

First of all, was that a Sting, Justin?

I will comment on the design [touche!]... I dun like blue and grey. Especially that drained blue. I mean, is this a gothic cult or a screen saver place? Perhaps something a bit more.. cheeful is in order.

I agree that there are way too many ads. It's alright to make money but you don't have to be cheap about it.

The content is too spaced apart.

Loading time was no sweat for me... [leeching off an OC-3 kicks.]

Anyways, just try streamlining the web site, and don't leave that huge area where the categories are listed just that blank white.

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...TGE...
...A new reality...
...coming soon....
[Boom]

Hmm...how about changing the color of links. Use black for text only.

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Goodbookmarks.com - Quality Links To Quality Sites

Yes, that's an important change that should be made.

There doesn't really seem to be too many ads for me. I've seen much worse. Definitely lose the pop-ups though.

I don't really like the red against that purpley-blue colour. It clashes. It does make the title stand out though.

The "Network" image needs to be sharpened up - very fuzzy right now. Same with the navigation images (have you tried doing this in plain text? It might not look that different, and would really save on download speeds) The 3D effect on the main title doesn't quite look right to me either.

I would change switch the menu's around, so that the one with the "Screen Savers", "Themes" etc. is more prominent. That's what people are really looking for, right?

Do you really need a forum? Will people actually use this? People could just e-mail you with requests, and you could post a good FAQ about installing and stuff. Who's going to go to the trouble of registering for a forum that just talks about your site? Oh, I see, 3 people are interested (and one of them must be you) Well, I guess this isn't really that important...

I definitely think that you should have a FAQ anyway - at least for the screen savers and desktop themes. More content is also needed.

Oh, I almost forgot. It might be a good idea to make this fit at 640 x 480. You should definitely fill the empty space on the right with that dark grey colour or something for those of us surfing at 1024. It makes that side of the page seem a lot less empty.

ONe more little thing - the text for "Subscribe" and "Unsubscribe" hasn't been changed from the default font. (Do people actually sign up for these things?)

Anyway, I really like the combination of purpley-blue and grey. I also think that the overall layout is really nice - kind of unique.

THEGRAPHICSEXPERIANCE: I'm not joking, I really was the one who made this design

MEGAN:

quote:I would change switch the menu's around, so that the one with the "Screen Savers", "Themes" etc. is more prominent. That's what people are really looking for, right?

The menu with the Screen Savers and Themes text are links to all of the network sites. I think the other one is more important because it helps you navigate through that individual site.

quote:Oh, I almost forgot. It might be a good idea to make this fit at 640 x 480. You should definitely fill the empty space on the right with that dark grey colour or something for those of us surfing at 1024. It makes that side of the page seem a lot less empty.

It's not centered?

quote:ONe more little thing - the text for "Subscribe" and "Unsubscribe" hasn't been changed from the default font.

I agree.

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Critiquing over 1000 sites on the Internet today...

Man, I thought the design was excellent. There goes that idea...

Megan Jack,

about the pop-up window, I understand you guys don't like it that much, but it isn't really another ad, I'm trading links with a guy and this is the way we decided to do it. Also, about too many ads, I don't think there are that many as there are only two. Most companies have two or more....sorry if I'm sounding defensive or anything as I'm not meaning to.

Hmm, about the forums, I think it might be nice to have as it's easier for them to post in there I think, if you think otherwise, please tell me and I may change the forums link to like a FAQ page instead. Think I should do that?

About the mailing list, I'm going to keep it because people actually do sign up for it, and I think it's helpful if I ever want to tell them what's new at the sites, etc....

About the size of the page issue, what can I do so that there isn't much white space on the right side, because I know what you mean, also, what could I do to make it fit for the 640 X 480?

Well, I'm glad you like the layout and colors at least

Justin S.,

About the two hitbox codes, I have removed one as I didn't know there were two. Thanks.

About the mailing list: How do I put in the Email thing in the text box?

About the ads: Already talked about it above.

About the whitespace between the content, I did use a br, so I don't know why there is so much room there. Any ideas?

The Graphics Experience,

Thanks for your comments on the design, and I'm sorry you don't like the colors, it's just that I'm going for a more corporate look since I'm now a network and all...also, what did you mean by your last comment: "Anyways, just try streamlining the web site, and don't leave that huge area where the categories are listed just that blank white."

As you can see, I really want to take some of these comments to use, and I want my pages to be as good as I can make them. Thanks again and hope to get more replies...

Michael Mellinger
http://www.double-dash.com

quote:Hmm, about the forums, I think it might be nice to have as it's easier for them to post in there I think, if you think otherwise, please tell me and I may change the forums link to like a FAQ page instead. Think I should do that?

Well, at least make sure that people don't have to register to post and that they get an e-mail when someone answers their question (I didn't really look at it that closely). I think that people will want feedback right away if they have problems installing a theme or screen saver, so having to register to post and then wait for an indefinite amount of time for an answer would be an inconvenience. A FAQ would help with that. People can always contact you if they have a question that isn't covered there.

quote:
About the size of the page issue, what can I do so that there isn't much white space on the right side, because I know what you mean, also, what could I do to make it fit for the 640 X 480?

You'd probably have to do a lot of tinkering with the design to get it to fit at 640 - probably a lot of work. I think this would look good at high resolutions if the right side background was dark grey or something instead of white. It gives the impression that something's there rather than a gaping empty white space. That would be better than centering it in this case IMO.