REVIEW REQUEST: http://spisas.com

Welcome to TWF spor

Thanks for reviewing some of the other sites here, you don't have to be an 'expert' webmaster to give a review and sometimes it is better to get the opinions of a 'normal' surfer as they are generally the ones that'll be using the sites put up here.

As a first site I have to say WOW! If my first site had been anywhere near this good I might be richer now This really is very good, somewhat dark (you may gather over time that I'm not a fan of dark sites) but for a personal site it is your choice. You could maybe do somthing different with the logo, maybe a unique font and some colour and the links along the top look like they should have the lined background. The only other thing I'd say is that IMO the flash part is too deep and gets somewhat annoying after a while along with the scolling part underneath.

Somewhat confused about the change in design/style on the rest of the site though, it should all look like one site and make your external links open in a new browser window.

Good work

thank you, yeah the rest of the site is being updated when i find time to look the same. i only decide to change the sites look a few days ago, it used to be green with a large logo, the dark colours, came about because i based it on the forum design, which wasnt mine to begin with and is quite difficult for me to copy, ive got permission by the way to do that.

Also im not happy either with the flash or the marqqee for the recent posts, i would like the recent posts to be in a smaller table but i dont want it all squashed, i will looking to change these eventually, i do have time on my side as far as users are concerned, as the users i have are all friends and understand..

I am very impressed... looks incredibly professional!

The only thing i'd suggest is that you do yourself a nice logo... having it in plain text is a little bit dull!

Thankyou very much, if you find the time, could you please maybe sign the guestbook, it would make my day :)ive put a lot of work into guestbook last few days,(although its not finished yet).

I'm getting "cannot find server" when i try and visit your site... otherwise i'd have signed the guestbook for ya.

I cant view the site either, I'll come back and review it when it's up again..

yeah sorry about that, seems the server is down, the guy that runs it is away for another week, so unless i can get in touch with him, it will be down for a while, sods law i think, submit for critism and the server crashes heheh.. i will replay as soon as its up again.

On another note, as soon as its up again, ill add anyones site to my links directory, that wants me to, as long as its family safe content on your site..or you can simply add yourself..

yeah same for me

When I tried to open your site it timed out.

Sorry.

S>

yup and if you read my post above you will see why, thank you for your time though, and when the sites back up i will let you all know.

Just thought I'd add that I'm looking forward to reviewing the site for myself.

Tell that web master to stop slacking!

Hello.
The webmaster is on his 2nd week of holiday in america at the moment, so i am not sure i will be able to contact him before he gets home, i do have him on my messanger list, but im not sure he will be to happy for me to ask him while on holiday, so i will just have to be patient.

hello. managed to contact him, and the sites back up again, seems its not the server, but a router that is acting up. but at least its working again.

I have signed the guestbook for you

Hello

Thank You very much Julia

The site was slow loading for me (on dailup), not sure if your still having problems or not (if not and all your friends and family on cable dont worry about it). also the site wanted me to download flash 6, so might want to make sure your friends family trust it and/or have it.
for a dark site I like the colours

Hello.
Thank you for your thoughts.
I think the the fact it was slow may be the flash trying to load when you didnt have it, because im on a dial up and its ok for me,(and i delete cookies and temp files every now and then) i am going to remove the flash though, when i have more time to decide what to replace it with.

I quite like this site.. I think you could replace that flash animation up the top with an image though. This would improve loading times and it is much more compatible on all broswers. The subblack phpBB forum skin is overused on a lot of sites but it fits in well with your layout so I suppose it's ok.

I took that from the source on the index page. There are a number of instinces of it. What's with that question mark?

I've signed the Guest book. I reckon that site'll do nicely for you guys to keep in touch with each other. Is this the first site you have designed?

Hello,
Thanks for the review, and also thanks for pointing out my error
the question mark is a remnant of a php includes command, it was the closing syntax, i missed out removing it..

I will definately remove the flash, ill let you all know when its been replaced.
Jeeves, thank you so much for taking time to sign our guestbook. i will in return add a site of yours to my links directory.

so slow and it drags. but tha's because of the fps is so low. Take
it up to like 25+ and watch it fly smoother and faster.

The colors are drab and the blue is too bright on the dk grey bg. I'd
suggest lightening the bg a bit.

Hello.
Thankyou for your views, i wont bother to up the framerate, because im going to replace the flash as its obviousley not to many peoples liking, but thanks for the help anyway.
Drab, maybe, but that is down to indivual likes and dislikes, as me and my wife like the colour scheme, we will keep it for now, our tastes may change in time.(remember the site was made soley for me and my wife to begin with)friends that come along are welcome to ask for changes, using the feedback, and we will take these on board, ive allready made some changes suggested from this thread..

Hello.
Removed the flash from every page.
made the site more like the forums now.
have made major alterations to the guestbook, view page and sign page,(which now has easier bbcode for users and mouseover helpcode, (like this forum uses)but i cant get the colour code to work for some reason...
am now in process of stripping uneeded code from every page.

Hello again, tried updating the first thread i wrote but it didnt show on first page.
Id like your views on my new look for spisas been updating it the last few days and even though its not finished (dont think ill ever finish, allways find something to do)
you can get the general feel of the affect im trying to get. the home page needs more content i know, but ill get to that soon.
thanks.

Overall quite nice, bit too dark for me and the orange seems a bit neon but that could just be because it's first thing in the morning for me

The top navigation is very, very small! Very hard to read and it somewhat swamped by the left navigation which are external links. Maybe make them a bit bigger?

You look very bored in your photo on the About Me page - smile for the camera

Hello.
Yes i agree, the links at the top are too small, ive made new ones ready that are larger, just havnt uploaded them yet.

The photo, yeah was very bored that day hehe..

I find this rather dark as well, but the overall impression I have is that it's very sterile. If this is a place for your friends and family you should do something to make it look more friendly. Add some group photos to the front page or something.

Another problem I find is the text. The top navbar is way too small - I can't read this at all. You'll have to get your designer friend to think up another solution for navigation if those links aren't going to fit across in a readable font size. Overall I find the fonts rather hard to read - too small and low contrast. It's hard on the eyes.

Also, watch the way you've done text in other areas. The links in the latest discussion area should be styled the same as the navbar links. The body area needs to have proper formatting applied so that paragraphs have spacing in between them to make them more identifiable as paragraphs.

The overall design looks great - did your friend use a pre-made template or did he design this himself?

Quote: Originally posted by Megan
I find this rather dark as well, but the overall impression I have is that it's very sterile. If this is a place for your friends and family you should do something to make it look more friendly. Add some group photos to the front page or something.

yes it does look a little sterile i agree, its grey afterall, im gradually introducing colour into it, and may eventually have a lighter colour scheme, time will tell.

Another problem I find is the text. The top navbar is way too small - I can't read this at all. You'll have to get your designer friend to think up another solution for navigation if those links aren't going to fit across in a readable font size. Overall I find the fonts rather hard to read - too small and low contrast. It's hard on the eyes.

yes, as the webmistress also pointed this out, i am aware of it and because the navbar links are graphics ive made new larger versions which ill be putting there. if they dont work ill go for test based nav at the top.

Also, watch the way you've done text in other areas. The links in the latest discussion area should be styled the same as the navbar links. The body area needs to have proper formatting applied so that paragraphs have spacing in between them to make them more identifiable as paragraphs.

Im new to designing and havnt worked this out yet, i find looking up the answer doesnt help me, as i forget the solution, so as soon as ive solved this one that will be fixed.

The overall design looks great - did your friend use a pre-made template or did he design this himself?

I based the design on the forum template, which was made by a korean (i think) girl named wira.
she is very talented. but unfortunatley her computer has broken and she hasnt been online for 6 months, i would have asked her for some pointers otherwise. (she sometimes uses her friends comp. so thats how i knew).
thanks again for the imput

Well that didnt work, i answered each of megans points, but only the last posted, but anyhow, i agree totally on all points and will be fixing it over the coming weeks.. im slow..........
Take care.

Hi..........

Let me say "I'm" the amateur here. You have done some pretty neat things on your web site!

A couple of comments (meaning to be constructively critical):

(1) I found the general web site color scheme to be a little "heavy" (I'm trying to find the correct way to describe it)............I'm assuming a family site should give an upbeat, friendly and maybe even light hearted impression overall.

(2) The break up of the pages into horizontal & vertical "chunks" was a distraction.............I thought if the general background were smoother it would flow better.

(3) The color contrasts between the print & background made reading a little tedious at times. For example: Yellow & Grey text on a grey background. Or grey on grey even though different shades, was a kind of indistinct.

Again..........by all means take my comments with a big grain of salt.......

Thanks !

Hello, thankyou Joe, since your review ive changed the text background, and some of the cell colours ive also, added slightly more colour (orange into it)..
i see what you mean about family site being upbeat and that as far as colours are concerned, but really its the colours my wife and i like at the moment, so we dont want to change them,(we arnt that bothered about traffic) but im sure we will get bored and if we do, then i will be going for a very much lighter feel :)and id like to point out, im learning as i go along also
take care
and good luck with your site.