Review A Drag Queen Website
Hey! I've pretty much completed this website for a friend of mine. It's for a troup of drag queens called The Sisters Of Perpetual Indulgence. The old website was atrocious and i told them i would do a new one for them. I'd like some comments on any design flaws you might see. The content is pretty much theirs so it's set in stone. I know it looks crappy with netscape and Mac. any tips on making it better would help tremendously. How sucky is it? I do all intranet stuff for a living so it's kinda weird for me to do stuff for mass public viewing. thanks for your help...PUNKK
taff posted this at 21:06 — 4th September 2001.
They have: 956 posts
Joined: Jun 2001
well...
The text is way tiny! Nothing really wrong with my eyes and I have trouble with it.
The purple on black is also hard to read.
Some sort of page title and/or "live link" indicator would help the users to know where they are.
Your thumbnails should have width/height attributes.
Your Netscape issues are derived from your css layout. I think netscape has issues with body attributes. Try using the paragraph tag instead.
.....
disaster-master posted this at 23:59 — 4th September 2001.
She has: 2,154 posts
Joined: May 2001
There is something going on with the photo of the nun, miss Candywwhip. It wouldn't load all the way. It would show up about half way and then all of it would disappear except for the top part of her head. I took your page to DW and saved the photo and it looks like the photo is 177X400 but in your code you have it as 166X400. Anyone else getting this problem?
The purple text graphic at the top is very hard for my eyes to read. Maybe I am just getting old. And the very small white,italic text just below the top title graphic is almost totally unreadable.
This site has some really strange content but I am a sheltered child from a small town in Alabama. We don't see stuff like this. LOL
I don't particularly like the font that is on the buttons but I suppose that reflects the feel of the site. I agree with taff about the dark purple on black too. It is hard to read.
Overall I like the way you have the layout. It is consistent which is good. Still can't get over the dudes in the girlie clothes. EEEK!!!
I am glad I am sheltered.
DM
Megan posted this at 00:55 — 5th September 2001.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
Agree again about the purple on black. That's hard to read, and the tiny font with the cities listed under the logo is too small to read.
I love the purple fire look at the bottom - that is awesome. I don't really like the coloured scrollbar effect though - either tone it down a bit to match the site colours better or just leave it at the defaults.
I would like to see something more interesting done with the photo gallery. Maybe incorporate some coordinating graphics into the pop-up, and make it smaller instead of full sized.
Megan
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punkk posted this at 07:04 — 5th September 2001.
They have: 40 posts
Joined: Jul 2001
Thanks for the tips! Keep 'em coming. I too am opposed to the dark purple buttons (my contact even specified the RGB colors) but it's what they wanted. Hopefully when i show them this thread they'll change their mind. I'll see what i can do with the banner at the top. I've altered the CSS to make the text slightly bigger...is it better or should it be even bigger? Thanks for the compliment on the fire...i was just playing around and thought it looked nifty and the "sisters" liked it, so it stayed. I think the content is really funny. it's sooo "out there" that you have to get a chuckle. please more comments...i want this website to kick some A$$. Cheers...PUNKK
The Webmistress posted this at 08:47 — 5th September 2001.
She has: 5,586 posts
Joined: Feb 2001
It looks disjointed to me. The table border looks more like a picture frame and I would personally create a purple line to frame it rather than the table border.
The black buttons look like they should be on a black background (not that's what I'm suggesting at all!!) Either create buttons with the text in it or have them on a white background!
The top part definitely needs some work, again it looks odd on the black. Create more of a logo rather than black block.
The heading text looks awful, blocky and boring!
Good start but needs more work
Julia - if life was meant to be easy Michael Angelo would have painted the floor....
Keegan posted this at 10:29 — 5th September 2001.
They have: 300 posts
Joined: Aug 2001
This is a niche site yes?
This site needs a lot of work, therefore will only be a one page review. (the front page)
From top to bottom.
First the logo/text in purple at the top is too dark, too small and drab to the point of not being able to read it, or discern what it is saying, work on it considerably.
The text within the top image is impossible for me to make out what it is saying, dump it, quote it in plain text, or fix it.
Navigation
The navigational thought is perfect, very simple, not overdone and very straight to the point. That will be good for the site when you fix the way you have presented the navigation.
Spend some time on the images, the color and the shape need work. The size is just right for this amount and type of content (Niche site).
Body text
The body font goes so far from the layout of the site it sticks out (Not stands out which would be ok in some instances) it is a title, misplaced in its location. You would do better quoting that bit of text above, or within the image of the nun graphically.
Seperate the topics listed in the body text more prominately. Either with a special image denoting new items, or with an image bar that the Posted by text can reside in (Table with an image next to or underneath it seperating the content. The text size is ok. Anyone with the ability to raise the font size will be able to read it. I would not make them work, spend some time getting the text to be the right size and similiarity for your visitors.
Lovely bottom image (Purple fire) very cool.
The reason this was a one page site is because I would have went elsewhere thinking that this site is not completed and therefore is not worth my time, I might not even bookmark it because the way it is now is so amatuerish I would ignore the thought of returning.
There is hope!
Interesting image, and displayed nicely (Nun on right of text) it suits the content. This site could indeed use a lot of work, and with some time in your graphic editor you might find that the site will take on a different look altogether, yet showing the content much better.
I give the site 3 yorkies (Out of 5)
Continue your work and come back for another critique.
K
(Image help has been stopped due to other comments on the board)
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Busy posted this at 02:29 — 6th September 2001.
He has: 6,151 posts
Joined: May 2001
I think everything has been mentioned, but I have to add my .02 cents worth
how about turn the mouse over buttons around? white on, purple off?
how about make the black buttons into a black side border, either all the way down or curving out at the end of the links.
how about try a white drop shadow or something to highlight the title banner more.
the small text under the banner I cant even read
on the pictures page, how about having less thumbnails across and more down (and maybe a fraction bigger)
how about having a "top" link at the bottom of the bio pages
how about having the page link your on a different color?
is that a capital H on the home link?
just my .02 cents worth, nice layout - clean, just a few things to sort
punkk posted this at 22:52 — 7th September 2001.
They have: 40 posts
Joined: Jul 2001
I'll start with the modifications next week and see if i can get the client to buy off on it. jeeze this is alot of work for a free site! At least it's alot of good karma for doing something nice for a non-profit org. Thanks again for the input....PUNKK
The Webmistress posted this at 11:05 — 8th September 2001.
She has: 5,586 posts
Joined: Feb 2001
Remember to continue with this thread when you have something new for us to look at
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