Hmmm... needs work. Get rid of the useless junk - spinning "welcome sign", google banner etc. All animated GIF's must go! They are incredibly annoying.
You really need to use a consistent design for each page. As I browse the site, the interface design keeps changing, the logo is moving, colours are changing, more different useless junk is appearing... keeping things consistent makes it much easier and more enjoyable for people to navigate your site.
Overall, I really think that you need to work on your design skills. I suggest that you visit the following sites for advice and inspiration:
However, besides what she mentioned, it seems cluttered - keep that in mind when you re-design. Second, you have a flying letters effect at the bottom that HAS to go. It's distracting, annoying and just a bad idea in general. You shouldn't need to remind anyone to put your site on their favorites list anyways, the site should speak for itself. It really annoys me when sites tell me that i shoukld like it enough to put it on favorites...
Egads! That page took forever to download on a dial-up. I saw it flashing that it was downloading images of 244K, 246K, 243K, 143K, etc. You need to optimize your images!
And get rid of that scrolling text at the bottom of the page.
The animated "welcome" gif is gratuitous and unnecessary, IMO. I'd ditch it and anything else not relevant to the purpose of your site.
Why is the page titled "Desktop Resource Center"? Seems to have nothing to do with your site.
Check it in Netscape 4.x. Did you mean for your navigation to be at the bottom of the page?
I'm tired of black backgrounds as well. To me, they are cliched for a serious site. Develop a color scheme that works but perhaps doesn't look like every other site out there.
Personally, I like white backgrounds because I think they look crisp, professional and work well with all kinds of colors. I used to like lightly textured backgrounds, but if you go to 99% of "good" commercial sites out there these days, they all use solid color backgorunds. Could you imagine cnn.com using textured backgrounds? Nah.
And like Megan Jack mentioned, be consistent with the "look and feel" of your site. It gives the visitor a sense of continuity.
The Webmistress posted this at 08:26 — 23rd May 2001.
We do ask that you read the annoucement to this forum, in which is asks that you review at least three other sites before placing a request for your own to be critiqued.
I would suggest that you look around at sites in this forum, give us your opinions of them, this will help you understand what others are doing & give you some ideas. You will also get an idea of what we here like/dislike!
I can see why you have chosen a black background but it is very hard to read after a while & the site does look very cluttered and is sooooooooooooooooo slow to load. The first thing you need to do is speed that up.
Julia - if life was meant to be easy Michael Angelo would have painted the floor....
Thanxs for all the comments, even though you ripped me apart. I have only been doing this for 6 months!! I have taken heed and will drastically redesign.
The transitions appear to be a littly choppy. I am on a pretty powerfull computer with cable access, and the transitions between the pages (animations) are a little choppy. I think it may be better w/o the transitions.
It looks like you have a lot going on in your site.
At least when I loaded the first page there were quite a few images that appeared.
(disclaimer- I work on a Mac with a very old timy monitor and browse with Netscape, so I may be the only one who sees this)
When your page came up everything was crammed together and MANY of the pictures were overlapping each other.... YIKES!
I notice you use exclusively to seperate your items.
I may be the only one who does this (and possibly overuses it), but I believe in the power of tables.
If you layout your content inside tables you can solve the problem with text and images overlapping each other.
Your pages will still look different in different browsers, on different systems, etc, but your content will be organized and much more professional looking.
Well... that's my oppinion at least.
btw: I've only been creating pages for a little under a year now, so there are others here who know much more about how to keep your content from cramming together.
Have fun... stay creative
Karen
gotta finish redesigning my sites so I can show them again.
The purpose of education is... to get more jokes!
The Webmistress posted this at 14:10 — 30th May 2001.
I ment to say, I use a tiny monitor (13 inch screen... yes some of us still own them)
I also wanted to type, "I notice you use division tags exclusively to seperate your items".
-Note to myself... keep html out of replies.-
If you are interested in learning about tables, I started my introduction to them at Quadzilla (I LOVE that place).
Their tutorial is at: http://www.wdvl.com/Quadzilla/Tables/
They will walk you through the process and before you know it, you'll be hooked.
Have fun
Karen
gotta finish redesigning my sites so I can show them again.
The purpose of education is... to get more jokes!
Want to join the discussion? Create an account or log in if you already have one. Joining is fast, free and painless! We’ll even whisk you back here when you’ve finished.
Megan posted this at 16:26 — 22nd May 2001.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
Hmmm... needs work. Get rid of the useless junk - spinning "welcome sign", google banner etc. All animated GIF's must go! They are incredibly annoying.
You really need to use a consistent design for each page. As I browse the site, the interface design keeps changing, the logo is moving, colours are changing, more different useless junk is appearing... keeping things consistent makes it much easier and more enjoyable for people to navigate your site.
Overall, I really think that you need to work on your design skills. I suggest that you visit the following sites for advice and inspiration:
http://www.websitesthatsuck.com (examples of bad design)
http://www.coolhomepages.com (examples of good design)
Megan
Connect with us on Facebook!
Fringey posted this at 22:14 — 22nd May 2001.
They have: 68 posts
Joined: Apr 2001
Not much to say after megan's commented,
However, besides what she mentioned, it seems cluttered - keep that in mind when you re-design. Second, you have a flying letters effect at the bottom that HAS to go. It's distracting, annoying and just a bad idea in general. You shouldn't need to remind anyone to put your site on their favorites list anyways, the site should speak for itself. It really annoys me when sites tell me that i shoukld like it enough to put it on favorites...
In general, black background = bad idea
TheGizmoid posted this at 03:27 — 23rd May 2001.
They have: 168 posts
Joined: Apr 2001
Egads! That page took forever to download on a dial-up. I saw it flashing that it was downloading images of 244K, 246K, 243K, 143K, etc. You need to optimize your images!
And get rid of that scrolling text at the bottom of the page.
The animated "welcome" gif is gratuitous and unnecessary, IMO. I'd ditch it and anything else not relevant to the purpose of your site.
Why is the page titled "Desktop Resource Center"? Seems to have nothing to do with your site.
Check it in Netscape 4.x. Did you mean for your navigation to be at the bottom of the page?
I'm tired of black backgrounds as well. To me, they are cliched for a serious site. Develop a color scheme that works but perhaps doesn't look like every other site out there.
Personally, I like white backgrounds because I think they look crisp, professional and work well with all kinds of colors. I used to like lightly textured backgrounds, but if you go to 99% of "good" commercial sites out there these days, they all use solid color backgorunds. Could you imagine cnn.com using textured backgrounds? Nah.
And like Megan Jack mentioned, be consistent with the "look and feel" of your site. It gives the visitor a sense of continuity.
The Webmistress posted this at 08:26 — 23rd May 2001.
She has: 5,586 posts
Joined: Feb 2001
We do ask that you read the annoucement to this forum, in which is asks that you review at least three other sites before placing a request for your own to be critiqued.
I would suggest that you look around at sites in this forum, give us your opinions of them, this will help you understand what others are doing & give you some ideas. You will also get an idea of what we here like/dislike!
I can see why you have chosen a black background but it is very hard to read after a while & the site does look very cluttered and is sooooooooooooooooo slow to load. The first thing you need to do is speed that up.
Julia - if life was meant to be easy Michael Angelo would have painted the floor....
DarkDwarf posted this at 12:10 — 23rd May 2001.
They have: 14 posts
Joined: May 2001
Thanxs for all the comments, even though you ripped me apart. I have only been doing this for 6 months!! I have taken heed and will drastically redesign.
DarkDwarf.
DarkDwarf posted this at 12:15 — 23rd May 2001.
They have: 14 posts
Joined: May 2001
Fringey,
you say a black background is a bad idea, and yet yours is black and bearly readable. Not sure where your coming from
DarkDwarf.
TFE posted this at 13:30 — 23rd May 2001.
They have: 43 posts
Joined: Mar 2001
His background is used in a different respect to yours.
Keep in mind we are critiquing your site.
By the way, I also think you should have a white background.
Graham Hurlburt
rivimont posted this at 04:32 — 25th May 2001.
They have: 107 posts
Joined: Mar 1999
The transitions appear to be a littly choppy. I am on a pretty powerfull computer with cable access, and the transitions between the pages (animations) are a little choppy. I think it may be better w/o the transitions.
KarenArt posted this at 14:03 — 30th May 2001.
She has: 354 posts
Joined: May 2001
It looks like you have a lot going on in your site.
At least when I loaded the first page there were quite a few images that appeared.
(disclaimer- I work on a Mac with a very old timy monitor and browse with Netscape, so I may be the only one who sees this)
When your page came up everything was crammed together and MANY of the pictures were overlapping each other.... YIKES!
I notice you use exclusively to seperate your items.
I may be the only one who does this (and possibly overuses it), but I believe in the power of tables.
If you layout your content inside tables you can solve the problem with text and images overlapping each other.
Your pages will still look different in different browsers, on different systems, etc, but your content will be organized and much more professional looking.
Well... that's my oppinion at least.
btw: I've only been creating pages for a little under a year now, so there are others here who know much more about how to keep your content from cramming together.
Have fun... stay creative
Karen
gotta finish redesigning my sites so I can show them again.
The purpose of education is... to get more jokes!
The Webmistress posted this at 14:10 — 30th May 2001.
She has: 5,586 posts
Joined: Feb 2001
I agree Karen!
Julia - if life was meant to be easy Michael Angelo would have painted the floor....
KarenArt posted this at 14:13 — 30th May 2001.
She has: 354 posts
Joined: May 2001
Sorry typos in my reply.
I ment to say, I use a tiny monitor (13 inch screen... yes some of us still own them)
I also wanted to type, "I notice you use division tags exclusively to seperate your items".
-Note to myself... keep html out of replies.-
If you are interested in learning about tables, I started my introduction to them at Quadzilla (I LOVE that place).
Their tutorial is at: http://www.wdvl.com/Quadzilla/Tables/
They will walk you through the process and before you know it, you'll be hooked.
Have fun
Karen
gotta finish redesigning my sites so I can show them again.
The purpose of education is... to get more jokes!
Want to join the discussion? Create an account or log in if you already have one. Joining is fast, free and painless! We’ll even whisk you back here when you’ve finished.