review request: seemecreate.com

UPDATE:

I was getting complaints about the intensity of the background, so i changed it to a solid color.

UPDATE:

put a background back in, but changed the outline color and made the background more subtle

I like the way you've done the site. I would just put justify for text alignment. Looks nice

UPDATE:

it now validates

XHTML: http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fmeidevelopment.meierinc.com%2Fseemecreate%2Fnew%2F

CSS: http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/validator?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fvalidator.w3.org%2Fcheck%3Furi%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fmeidevelopment.meierinc.com%252Fseemecreate%252Fnew%252F&usermedium=all

Alright, big update:

I know it looks cluttered right now, but that's because I basically have evey feature on this page for testing purposes.

New to look at:
drop down menu system (brother cake style)
portfolio thumbnail system (click on the thumbnails)

Please oh please, somebody, critique this for me (that means you vetrans)

Thanks!

Joe,

I've seen a lot of your work here. You post redesigns more often than anyone. Normally there is not much to say about them (in a good way). This is the opposite. What I'll say here is that you can do better, and you have done better in the past.

Something is really funky with your stylesheet here. In Opera I see reallly big text with big line spacing and the right column is pushed down below the main body. in IE I see the same big text at first but then it jumps down to really tiny text (still with big line spacing) and the right column is pushed dwon on the page. In mozilla the text is big like in Opera but the right column lines up.

You really ought to stop trying so much fancy stuff with links. I'm noticing this in both your current and new designs. Background colours on links generally don't look that great, specially when you're trying to combine them with other effects. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

One thing I really dislike about this design is that image in the top left corner. I don't even know what that is. I think this whole thing would be a lot better if you used a great photograph there like you normally do.

I always complain about tiny text and I thiink you get the award for tiniest text used on a website. Who can read that? Not me. You're going to give people headaches with that. I maintain that all text on the web should be more or less the same size. That way nobody has to keep adjusting their text size settings for every site they visit.

Ah, I see, that's your text size switcher. If you're going to offer that a) it should work and b) the buttons should appear above the fold. Even in IE it's pushed down at the bottom of that news section. And the large setting seems to match up with what would be a default font size for most users. The smaller ones aren't readable at all.

What else? Navbar. Doesn't work in Opera. The graphic text is fuzzy and hard to read. In mozilla the drop down works but the text is really big. Layout: too many curved boxes inside boxes. I remember those rounded corners were really popular about 6 years ago but now???

My advice is to stop playing with fancy toys and concentrate on good design. Toys should only be added if they enhance the base design.

It isn't the style sheet causing font size changes, it's the javascript. The default font size is "small", but then a cookie is called and that puts a percentage to it.

Opera is very aggrevating to work with because it doesn't play like the rest of the browsers. There is a heavy window.onload function that Opera completely ignores, which is retarded considering it's cleaner and more efficient than

megan: you posted more since I read last, so I have to read the rest, but one quick note: Once Opera figures out to run the onload routine, everything works (menu script, cursor follower and text sizer).

for some reason in Opera, you have to do:
window.onload = new Function()
{

}

I don't even understand what that is, it's like object creation? I'll find a solution for opera before I go live.

** some info on Opera and window.onload: http://www.quirksmode.org/js/events_compinfo.html#interface

As far as box-inbox design, I have had suggestions of using simpler designs for the content area and removing the white stroke outside of the layout. Would that seem more appealing to you?

Toys are used to improve the base design, I agree - and right now this all looks cluttered, but it's because every feature I want on the whole site is compressed to one page for development purposes. I promise it will be less cluttered upon launch.

More updates and changes to the layout per our conversation, megan.

Cleaned up the content areas and now it does seem much less "busy", when you get a chance let me know what you think...

http://meidevelopment.meierinc.com/seemecreate/new/

anyone other than dojo and megan want to offer suggestions?

It looks quite nice...one thing i notice is a slight antialiasing issue on the rounded corners in the header..otherwise i like the colours and things, it works quite well.

Well that was interesting to watch load - not
The news section sits below the content while loading, try to read it then the page loads and you dont know where you are (at the bottom), scroll back to the top ... you need links or at least a 'top' link at the bottom.

I didn't read all of Megans post either (sorry), but do agree it's not your best work (and you have done some great stuff). This layout just cries out inperfections, well not really, they are 'toys' but could be seen as such, example, when I got back to the top I noticed a black line under the 'resources' link, maybe I was on resources page, nope the 'front' was a different colour, then discovered it moves with the mouse.
Another thing that caught my eye was the blue drop shadow on the content boxes, at first it looks like an error as it doesn't align properly.
In the rounded box of the boat racing site, there is a horziontal line before the corners, not sure if it's a design line or a flaw.
Placing the mouse over the font sizer, it says "currently the font is at %", but the problem is if you mouse the bigger one you can't go left until you go elsewhere to loose the box.
None of the links work so stuck on the index, reviewed in mozilla firefox

thanks for the look busy, ill respond once i get a chance to realy read through your post.

before you posted i made some more changes and you can see them here:
http://meidevelopment.meierinc.com/seemecreate/default.aspx

keep refreshing to see the different images