Review request: mySportsHost

Hi, did you read our Posting Agreement? Just checking.

I think this design is okay, but rather pale and uninviting looking. The layout is really small in comparison to my 1152 x 768 screen resolution. Since you've got so much extra space you could try doing something more interesting with the navigation. The plain text here is rather boring. The arrangement of the navbars seem to be rather odd to me as well. What's the rationale for dividing them up like that?

I also think that the logo could use some work - the swoosh technique has been rediculously overdone. Try to think of a more unique symbol. Since you're calling yourself "mySportsHost", you could incorproate some sort of sports-related image. You should also clarify a little bit about what your intentions are. Is this a hosting service intended for sports-related sites? If so, what kind of special services can you offer them? I know that this is set out in the Company page, but could be made more clear from the start.

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to try and make the text larger than 9pt; more then a few people have said it doesn't take up enough space on larger monitors.

There wasn't really a reason for splitting it up other than it all wouldn't fit on one line. I've tried to put the more important links on the top. I'm not really sure what else I could do with the navigation though.

The logo is pathetic, I know . I made it myself, and as you no doubt can tell, I don't have much graphic intuition. I'll probably pay for a better designed one in the future.

As for the sports thing, tricky question. It started out as a sports exclusive site. We had planned, and still are, to offer services that could be utilized by sports sites such as fantasy sports software, online gaming utilities, maybe an advertising network, etc. However, after being open for a month I realized that may have been to small a market for a company without a huge advertising market, so we've opened it to all websites at budget prices. Unfortunately, I think the "sports" in the name is probably harming the company, but we'll see how it goes. I've been trying to think up creative ways to sum this paragraph up, and stick it on the index page, but no such luck yet, well, except for that rather stupid slogan below the logo .

Welcome to TWF.

I agree with Megan that this is ok as it is but really lacks some umph to it. Maybe take the layout wider so it fills the width at 800*600 and add some kind of related picture(s) to add some spice to the page. If you are keeping the background (IMO it doesn't do anything for the design) make the logo have a transparant background so you don't get the white block effect.

Why did you choose these colours? Maybe try some stronger colours and as Megan said a sporty image incorporated into the logo? You could try a Dingbat font for something interesting there.

Please will you help out some of the others here and review their sites as per the rules. This will give them a fresh view of their sites and will also help you with ideas. Thanks

Those nav options should be organized semantically. Meaning that they should categorized in some way. I usually like to separate administrative stuff (home, links, contact, terms of service) with "real content" (Company, Afilliate (Program), Hosting Plans). I'm not sure what to do with the Customer Support link - probably with the "real content" since it's an important part of the site. I also like to make the "real content" look more important by styling it in a more interesting way so it stands out more.

way too much white space for me. fill the gaps around the edges with something.

You can see the background of the logo image covering a small part of the background image of the page. (800X600) Maybe you could make that logo background transparent to fix that.

I don't know. It is nice and clean but there just doesn't seem to be enough to the first page.

You could try precentages in your tables instead of absolute numbers like 500 for width. Precentages will help expand your website for visitors with different browsers, this will also help fill in the white spaces if you don't want to add more content.

To jazz up your website you could consider replacing your present navigational links to navigatable icons. You could always search in the net for free fonts that offer a varity of dingbats to work with.

I don't have much exp, but the site seems a little dull. I personally prefer a site that fills my screen, regardless of the resolution. I also think a nav bar on the side is much neater than at the top, especially wen it's not centered.

"*Prices are locked at the price you purchased them for life." I'm no business wiz, but are you sure this is a good idea?

Peter

i think you should move your navigation to the left side of the main table.. align the text right so it all sits along the left side of the table... and where you have the 3 columns listing the 3 services at the bottom you have a shape in each column that doesnt seam to flow with anything else you have going on..
i agree with everyone on the size try to make it 760 width that way it will fit perfectly in a 800x600 then for the rest of the backround maybe pick a gray but i wouldnt tile an image thats sort of outdated IMO

Being a minimalist, I like it. Not a lot of un-necessary info. Loads super fast, too, which is good for a web hosting site. I just don't trust cheap hosting. Makes me feel better to pay $50 every month.

Third design in three months? Not bad at all. It really takes some time to get design down, and still takes talent to get it perfect.

As for my my thoughts.. It is too narrow and does not really have much. Try adding some more graphics, filling the entire page and so forth.

I don't like the standard links and would suggest that you use some other font that screams "I'm a good looking link". The links are fine in sentenses and such, but for your main links you should have images or something a bit more different.

The paragraph formatting looks good and would not suggest changing that at all.

Not bad. I think you have laid a good foundation to build on. Good Luck!