would love some objective feedback on newly revamped site

Not bad! I think it looks really organized. The layout and navigation is good.

There are a few things that I noticed though. You are using several different blues and they don't really match.

The blues on the menu and the AUSTAT logo are great. The are crisp and lively but the drab background takes away from them. I would change the background and the table background image (linestile.gif) to match the blues in the menu and logo.

You have white text on the home page and gray text throughout the rest of the site. The gray colored text is a little bit hard to read. It is a good practice to be consistent with what ever text color you are using.

The white shadow under the word "Benefits" and other headers on the other pages are dropped a little to much. If I were going to use the white drop shadow I would bring it up a good bit.

I would stick with a simple site map. I didn't wait for the complex one to load and others probably won't either. A site map should be a "quick" reference.

The table on the links page that says, "Links are divided into three sections:" has a blue and white cell at the top. I also noticed that you have A BOLD PERIOD in that cell. haha! you have to look at the source code to notice it though. Looks like you started to put something there and just forgot to delete all of it.

Now that I go to some of the other pages I see that you have blue and white at the top of those tables also. I am not sure if I like that. But then again it kind of grows on you. It still needs something different. Not sure what though.

I did read some of the content but it is late so I will come back to finish later. Sounds like something an old worn out body might try to ease aches and pains. LOL

Overall the site is good. The colors are the biggest problem I have but everyone has their own taste.

Good luck on the site!!! Pretty good for a group of "not professional web people".

disastermaster

The add to favorites option -- well I flirted with that but I got slammed for it.

The argument went something like this:

If the user can't add a bookmark by himself/herself and needs the help of a "button" then he or she will not be able to find the favorites on his/her browser anyway.

Conversely, the adept user will just scoff at it.

I took it off my site but you decide.

Andrew

I like the site in general but agree that it's a bit too blue and so many shades! The orange is nice, perhaps you could use a touch more of it to warm the site up a bit.

I feel the bottom of the page lets it down as it just looks like the final banner and copyright etc have been plonked down there without much layout thought. Tidy them up a bit.

One other thing I'd say is stick to one size of text.

I look forward to seeing your thoughts on some of the other's sites and hope you stick around in the forums.

At first glance this site seems to look like a lot of other sites. Rather boring, nothing special or particularly interesting design-wise. After a closer look I'm finding that I really like the navbar a lot - I think it would stand out better and make more of an impact on a white background though. I also think that the two shades of blue in there aren't quite compatable - you need to refine your colour scheme just a bit. Or maybe try yellow instad of the blue stripes. I really like the brightest aqua-blue used on the navbar options.

I'm reading the text on the front page here and it sesems really pointless to me - it tells me very little about the site topic. What I would like to see here is more of a real explanation of what this Alexander Technique is.

On some pages you use a background table (if that makes sense) for the content, on others you dont.
the ones you do use it on are to skinny, also the ones you dont (which are the better ones) only have a text title where as the other ones use a graphic with a distracting drop shadow.

there is a lot of blanl space between the top banner, page title and content table, also at the bottom of the page so at a guess and without looking at your source code would say your using FP or something.

If i was you, which i'm not, but i'd look at making the top part into a matching graphic to suit the side and have the image of Mr A as the corner, also move the buttons on the side to the margin.

you also have the austat symbol half way down on some pages, at first glance it looks like a "to the top" link.

The THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE | 1 | Introduction page is very important, thats what Megan Jack needed to find to answer her questions, I only found it by accident as it isnt listed on the sitemap, and the sitemap should be a list of ALL pages on the site - shouldnt it?

on a side note, I've actually used this method before

I for one really like the site.
There are too many blues.. but the site in general looks really sharp.
I really like the menu bar, the way it's divided into categories.. makes for easy navigation and is good on the eyes.
The content is well divided from the navbar and looks sharp..
Good job

Thanks everyone for your great feedback - it has been very helpful. I'll try and return the favour.

Cheers
Martin

Remember to post again here when you have made any changes!

Look forward to seeing you in other threads

hello, i'm new here, looking forward to posting

on to the critique: i like the navigation bar, as well as most all of the graphics on the site, its very professionally done. Maybe you could "tighten it up" a little bit, below the top banner and above the "Alexander Technique" banner (on the front page), there's a little bit of empty space. Also at the bottom. Other than that I think it looks great, keep up the nice work

Very nice design.

1. Site looks very clean and organized (key)

2. Layout and colors look warm

3. Quick to load

4. I'd like to see the yellow color used on several pages incorporated into the left hand navigation menu, I think the colors would flow a little better.

5. Overall great job!

Brandon