Feedback for new site design? - WickedFire - Affiliate Marketing Forum

CLKeenan · 05-22-2007, 09:14 AM

What do you guys think? There are still a few minor details that I want to see changed slightly but this is pretty much the way the layout is going to look. Still waiting on the logo for the site.

Any feedback would be appreciated

John · 05-22-2007, 09:44 AM

looks great, sort of reminds me of the old sitepoint though

CLKeenan · 05-22-2007, 09:48 AM

I figured someone would say that haha

But in all honesty though, any site that uses an orange/blue color scheme automatically reminds me of sitepoint though for some reason. My designer might have used Sitepoint for some inspiration- but who can blame him, sitepoint is a very clean good looking site.

Since this will be a site targeting HS students, I doubt that anyone would confuse the two so that works to my advantage.

Eli · 05-22-2007, 10:14 AM

Very nice and spacey. Colors are nice too. Doesn't really remind me of SitePoint

John · 05-22-2007, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CLKeenan

I figured someone would say that haha

But in all honesty though, any site that uses an orange/blue color scheme automatically reminds me of sitepoint though for some reason. My designer might have used Sitepoint for some inspiration- but who can blame him, sitepoint is a very clean good looking site.

Since this will be a site targeting HS students, I doubt that anyone would confuse the two so that works to my advantage.

Thats true, I always think sitepoint when I see orange and blue.

CLKeenan · 05-22-2007, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John

Thats true, I always think sitepoint when I see orange and blue.

Oh good so Im not the only one haha

smash · 05-22-2007, 12:06 PM

Yup I thought sitepoint as well. Very clean and nice.

Just an idea though, don't ever post a screen shot like that without watermarking as your just asking for someone to rip it off and use it on their own.

jerxs · 05-22-2007, 12:11 PM

Thanks for the layout Im going to have to start slicing it up..... JK

Funny I though the same thing before the image was even done loading, SITEPOINT...... But either way it looks good...

TylerL · 05-22-2007, 12:14 PM

Looks decent, not very original though, and the gloss on the blue bar looks kinda fake haha.

CLKeenan · 05-22-2007, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TylerL

Looks decent, not very original though, and the gloss on the blue bar looks kinda fake haha.

Honestly now though, how many more "original" layouts can there possibly be? I was looking for a clean, functional layout that was aesthetically pleasing. I think this layout accomplished that.

There will be a lot of functionality on this page that a JPG can't display. Such as drag and drop boxes, customizable portlets, flash news rotator (Students/Parents/Teachers/The Rest box), etc. So this definitely won't be simply a static HTML website.

Thanks for the reminder regarding watermarking the image. I usually do but completely forgot because Im at work and dont have access to my usual graphics tools. So instead I reduced the quality to a 256 color bmp so that the quality is so bad no one would think about slicing it haha

(If someone will watermark the image in high res for me that would be appreciated- I'll send you a link to that file)

I also included how ads would look when placed on the site. Feedback for those would be appreciated. Right now it probably looks over bearing because there is no content except the ads.

CLKeenan · 05-22-2007, 03:15 PM

Seo_mike should be posting the high res watermarked image soon

trigatch4 · 05-22-2007, 03:24 PM

It's a really really nice looking start... but I might consider pulling back a little bit on the Orange, it seems like there might be too much. My eye didn't seem to gravitate or focus on one certain areas because I was a little overwhelmed with orange. I would consider adding some more blue accents or another color to highlight.

Other than that it's a really slick design and a great start... goodluck and make sure to show us the final product!

SEO_Mike · 05-22-2007, 03:29 PM

Watermarked and posted for you.

CLKeenan · 05-22-2007, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SEO_Mike

Watermarked and posted for you.

Thanks Mike! ++rep

Miguel · 05-22-2007, 04:00 PM

I actually really like the design and color scheme, who cares if it looks kinda like sitepoint here is my big critique:

Hope you don't mind I circled the issues I found and hosted the image on my hosting, let me know if you want me to remove it or send you the file.

Make sure all of your sections/content groups are equidistant that means set up a base distance or two that you use to pad your elements, try not to use more than two, and make sure the elements are the same in terms of relationships, so banners are always the same distance from a content element etc.

Looks good though good job.

CLKeenan · 05-22-2007, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trigatch4

It's a really really nice looking start... but I might consider pulling back a little bit on the Orange, it seems like there might be too much. My eye didn't seem to gravitate or focus on one certain areas because I was a little overwhelmed with orange. I would consider adding some more blue accents or another color to highlight.

Other than that it's a really slick design and a great start... goodluck and make sure to show us the final product!

Thanks for the feedback. I agree, it does look overwhelming with the orange. I'm sure the matching orange advertisements didn't help. Usually they won't match like that so it won't be so overwhelming.

One idea I had was moving the login/register part to the upper right hand corner and the search box to the right hand side of the navigation menu (currently orange). I would then remove the orange menu (login/register/search) completely and change the navigation menu to a blue background (from orange).

Did that make sense?

CLKeenan · 05-22-2007, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miguel

I actually really like the design and color scheme, who cares if it looks kinda like sitepoint here is my big critique:

Hope you don't mind I circled the issues I found and hosted the image on my hosting, let me know if you want me to remove it or send you the file.

Make sure all of your sections/content groups are equidistant that means set up a base distance or two that you use to pad your elements, try not to use more than two, and make sure the elements are the same in terms of relationships, so banners are always the same distance from a content element etc.

Looks good though good job.

Thats probably my fault, my designer still hasn't given me the PSD for the design so I was using paint at work to create some mockups with the ads and I realized there was some spacing issues (not enough room for the rectangle ad to fit in properly with padding) so I had to drag some blocks of the image around to make it look presentable at least.

Thats a really good point though and I appreciate the feedback. I'll definitely look for that when the designer gives me the final copy!

Squirrelinabox · 05-22-2007, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CLKeenan

Honestly now though, how many more "original" layouts can there possibly be? I was looking for a clean, functional layout that was aesthetically pleasing. I think this layout accomplished that.

There will be a lot of functionality on this page that a JPG can't display. Such as drag and drop boxes, customizable portlets, flash news rotator (Students/Parents/Teachers/The Rest box), etc. So this definitely won't be simply a static HTML website.

Thanks for the reminder regarding watermarking the image. I usually do but completely forgot because Im at work and dont have access to my usual graphics tools. So instead I reduced the quality to a 256 color bmp so that the quality is so bad no one would think about slicing it haha

(If someone will watermark the image in high res for me that would be appreciated- I'll send you a link to that file)

I also included how ads would look when placed on the site. Feedback for those would be appreciated. Right now it probably looks over bearing because there is no content except the ads.

I know you've already got it watermarked now, but you can always use Free Watermark Tool - Generate watermarks for your images quickly and easily. to quickly watermark your images (yes, it's my site, but it's 100% free and you don't have to sign up or anything).

CLKeenan · 05-22-2007, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squirrelinabox

I know you've already got it watermarked now, but you can always use Free Watermark Tool - Generate watermarks for your images quickly and easily. to quickly watermark your images (yes, it's my site, but it's 100% free and you don't have to sign up or anything).

Cool concept. One problem I found is that 100kb is too small to fit a 1024x800 image. To reduce it below 100kb would reduce the quality so much that no one would bother stealing/slicing it at all. Know what I mean? Maybe you could increase the size limit?

ScottDaMan · 05-22-2007, 04:55 PM

CLK, I like the header curve. Mind if I replicate using PS pen tool on some of my sites? I like it a lot. I won't use the same colors or design, just the header image?

CLKeenan · 05-22-2007, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottDaMan

CLK, I like the header curve. Mind if I replicate using PS pen tool on some of my sites? I like it a lot. I won't use the same colors or design, just the header image?

Absolutely! Didn't you know I have a patent on header images with curves in them?

Sure, go ahead. I have no issues with it

Squirrelinabox · 05-22-2007, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CLKeenan

Cool concept. One problem I found is that 100kb is too small to fit a 1024x800 image. To reduce it below 100kb would reduce the quality so much that no one would bother stealing/slicing it at all. Know what I mean? Maybe you could increase the size limit?

I put that limit there so that it would bog down my host too much, but that was when I was on a shared host. I'm now on a dedicate host so I'll probably bump it up a bit, though the most I'd probably put it at is 500kb. When I get home I'll push the limit up a bit.

ScottDaMan · 05-22-2007, 05:28 PM

CLK, schweet. LOL@trademark, guess I better pull down 100 sites... hah

Icecube · 05-22-2007, 06:16 PM

I like your design a lot, I'd just fix the spacing here and there and maybe switch the color of the 2 navigation bars (blue <-->orange)
maybe you could move the top orange banner to the left (or the skyskraper banner also, so you'd have the student-teachers...box in the middle) in order not to have so much orange on the right side
I wouldn't consider this whole orange thing a disadvantage, it should help create some sort of continuity from your site to cingular

JamesH · 05-22-2007, 06:19 PM

First off, some of the elements aren't aligned properly. Not like what was previously stated with the equidistant stuff, but such as the word "go" on the search button; it looks off a couple pixels to me. Near the footer of the design you have some variations of white and gray background (sorta like a rectangular checker board pattern) - looks like somebody rushed through that and forget to clean up afterwards.

The gradients used for the search bar and footer don't really look to realistic and I think they should be re-worked. The two ads right below the navigation seem to have some out-of-place pixels in the background. The white bar right above the 3 orange boxes looks out of place (its very faint). With the navigation, maybe you could have the little arrow appear when the user hovers over it.

Is that dark gray box going to have some AJAX? If so, that looks like a cool concept. The colors are nice, and the structure is pretty good. However with the 3 boxes near the footer, I think you should make the corners round like every other corner on the design; the right angle clashes with the curves.

Are the ads that you are always going to use have that strong of an orange in it? If not, the comments about the orange being over powering shouldn't apply. I personally think the hue of orange and blue you choose work together very nicely. Also, blue and orange is a pretty common color scheme; we're just use to Sitepoint's color scheme, and their branding has implemented the association of the two into our brain (haha) so don't worry about.

There isn't an equal amount of pixels between the canvas and the edge of the design. If you plan to center the design on the screen, I would fix that. Speaking of positioning take a look at this article: Designing with a Grid | blog.critical (and you could do a Google to find a lot more). It explains the concept behind keeping your design organized in a grid like format. I think you should make the 3 columns the same width as the square banner, and the 'AJAX' area (gray box that looks like it could be AJAX) the width of 2 columns. This will give you that little detail that makes a design really shine. You'll probably have to expand the size of your design to over 1000 pixels, but it would be worth a shot. Just try not to go over 1024 or you'll lose usability kudos with a ton of users out there.

Also, here is some advice that pertains to the 3 columns. White space = good these days. I think you should get rid of the gray background and make it white. Make the content define itself in the design, not some lines (an example would be the The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia). However I wouldn't get rid of the orange bars. Just try that out maybe and see what you like. I'm a huge fan of simplicity and like many other "Professional Web Designers" have said, its the new way to design.

Some inspiration for the "gray AJAX box" could be gathered from Yahoo!. As much as some people hate the corporate design style, you can take there ideas and mold them into some visually compelling way (using actual graphics/style haha) that looks bad ass. Yahoo has a bunch of cool AJAX (I think thats what its called) movement kinda things that look really cool. Maybe you could draw some ideas from that.

Overall its not that bad of a design, just a few things can be improved on. Remember, the little details is what makes a design awesome. And with the links that I've provided you; take them as inspiration to get ideas, don't really copy them. However I doubt that has to be mentioned, we aren't at some little-kids-designing-templates forum.

Thats all I can think of for now. I hope you don't feel like I'm bashing your design. I use to be a freelance web designer and I hated it when people commented on my work but didn't really give constructive criticism. I realize that this post isn't really organized that well, sorry about that. I could elaborate a little more, but I really need to study for my last final tomorrow. If you want me to get rid of this post then I will. And trust me, I've seen MUCH worse designs. This one really isn't all that bad, and put that together with your awesome ideas for coding (or at least they sound awesome, I don't know shit about coding) this site is going to whoop some ass! I guess you could call me a perfectionist (easier said than done though, I'm lazy as hell) which explains my nick-picking, long ass post. Hope it helped you out some.

CLKeenan · 05-22-2007, 08:28 PM

ASjds;ldsahd;ljsad;ljsand;,sand,adhsa[odha'[odalnaldalsdhosadsadla

FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just had a long ass reply for your great critique James but then something happened and then it disappeared! FUCKAKSDAsljdad

CLKeenan · 05-24-2007, 11:02 AM

Im gonna have some time at work today so I'll try typing out my reply again - hopefully it wont die on me this time

05-22-2007, 09:14 AM	#1 (permalink)
CLKeenan Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 1,486 iTrader: 4 / 100%	Feedback for new site design? What do you guys think? There are still a few minor details that I want to see changed slightly but this is pretty much the way the layout is going to look. Still waiting on the logo for the site. Any feedback would be appreciated __________________ Please Digg For Me - Free Online Education Resources Help Students Prepare for Spring AP Exam

05-22-2007, 09:44 AM	#2 (permalink)
John Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Sewageville Posts: 4,931 iTrader: 6 / 100%	looks great, sort of reminds me of the old sitepoint though __________________ http://i33.tinypic.com/ip3vh1.jpg

05-22-2007, 09:48 AM	#3 (permalink)
CLKeenan Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 1,486 iTrader: 4 / 100%	I figured someone would say that haha But in all honesty though, any site that uses an orange/blue color scheme automatically reminds me of sitepoint though for some reason. My designer might have used Sitepoint for some inspiration- but who can blame him, sitepoint is a very clean good looking site. Since this will be a site targeting HS students, I doubt that anyone would confuse the two so that works to my advantage. __________________ Please Digg For Me - Free Online Education Resources Help Students Prepare for Spring AP Exam

05-22-2007, 12:11 PM	#8 (permalink)
jerxs Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: North East PA Posts: 1,797 iTrader: 0 / 0%	Thanks for the layout Im going to have to start slicing it up..... JK Funny I though the same thing before the image was even done loading, SITEPOINT...... But either way it looks good... __________________

05-22-2007, 12:14 PM	#9 (permalink)
TylerL read less, get paid Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Canada Posts: 763 iTrader: 8 / 83%	Looks decent, not very original though, and the gloss on the blue bar looks kinda fake haha. __________________ "People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world" - Calvin (Calvin & Hobbes)

05-22-2007, 10:14 AM	#4 (permalink)
Eli (not bluehatseo...) Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: SA Posts: 117 iTrader: 0 / 0%	Very nice and spacey. Colors are nice too. Doesn't really remind me of SitePoint

05-22-2007, 12:06 PM	#7 (permalink)
smash Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Victorville, CA Posts: 231 iTrader: 0 / 0%	Yup I thought sitepoint as well. Very clean and nice. Just an idea though, don't ever post a screen shot like that without watermarking as your just asking for someone to rip it off and use it on their own.

05-22-2007, 03:15 PM	#11 (permalink)
CLKeenan Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 1,486 iTrader: 4 / 100%	Seo_mike should be posting the high res watermarked image soon __________________ Please Digg For Me - Free Online Education Resources Help Students Prepare for Spring AP Exam

05-22-2007, 03:24 PM	#12 (permalink)
trigatch4 BuildAndEarn Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: East Coast Posts: 2,409 iTrader: 2 / 100%	It's a really really nice looking start... but I might consider pulling back a little bit on the Orange, it seems like there might be too much. My eye didn't seem to gravitate or focus on one certain areas because I was a little overwhelmed with orange. I would consider adding some more blue accents or another color to highlight. Other than that it's a really slick design and a great start... goodluck and make sure to show us the final product! __________________ BuildAndEarn.com - My Affiliate Blog Phandroid.com - Android Phones Rule AndroidForums.com - Android Forums (duh!)

05-22-2007, 03:29 PM	#13 (permalink)
SEO_Mike Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Archery Range Posts: 5,364 iTrader: 29 / 100%	Watermarked and posted for you. __________________ Make money with Auction2Post - radio Automate...EVERYTHING with Ubot - SethTheUBotGuy WF Review kicks Chuck Norris' ass - bb_wolfe

05-22-2007, 04:00 PM	#15 (permalink)
Miguel internets specialist Join Date: May 2007 Location: BayArea Posts: 420 iTrader: 1 / 100%	I actually really like the design and color scheme, who cares if it looks kinda like sitepoint here is my big critique: Hope you don't mind I circled the issues I found and hosted the image on my hosting, let me know if you want me to remove it or send you the file. Make sure all of your sections/content groups are equidistant that means set up a base distance or two that you use to pad your elements, try not to use more than two, and make sure the elements are the same in terms of relationships, so banners are always the same distance from a content element etc. Looks good though good job. __________________ I'm Lurkin' & Learnin'...

05-22-2007, 04:55 PM	#20 (permalink)
ScottDaMan Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 959 iTrader: 2 / 100%	CLK, I like the header curve. Mind if I replicate using PS pen tool on some of my sites? I like it a lot. I won't use the same colors or design, just the header image? __________________ Gay Webmaster Forum <-- Still #1 - LOL

05-22-2007, 05:28 PM	#23 (permalink)
ScottDaMan Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 959 iTrader: 2 / 100%	CLK, schweet. LOL@trademark, guess I better pull down 100 sites... hah __________________ Gay Webmaster Forum <-- Still #1 - LOL

05-22-2007, 06:16 PM	#24 (permalink)
Icecube Up 24h/day Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Europe Posts: 811 iTrader: 6 / 100%	I like your design a lot, I'd just fix the spacing here and there and maybe switch the color of the 2 navigation bars (blue <-->orange) maybe you could move the top orange banner to the left (or the skyskraper banner also, so you'd have the student-teachers...box in the middle) in order not to have so much orange on the right side I wouldn't consider this whole orange thing a disadvantage, it should help create some sort of continuity from your site to cingular __________________ >>> DONATE TO HAITI <<< Click here and here, I use both of them, seriously.

05-22-2007, 06:19 PM	#25 (permalink)
JamesH BIG FACE HUNDREDS $$$ Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 2,332 iTrader: 13 / 100%	First off, some of the elements aren't aligned properly. Not like what was previously stated with the equidistant stuff, but such as the word "go" on the search button; it looks off a couple pixels to me. Near the footer of the design you have some variations of white and gray background (sorta like a rectangular checker board pattern) - looks like somebody rushed through that and forget to clean up afterwards. The gradients used for the search bar and footer don't really look to realistic and I think they should be re-worked. The two ads right below the navigation seem to have some out-of-place pixels in the background. The white bar right above the 3 orange boxes looks out of place (its very faint). With the navigation, maybe you could have the little arrow appear when the user hovers over it. Is that dark gray box going to have some AJAX? If so, that looks like a cool concept. The colors are nice, and the structure is pretty good. However with the 3 boxes near the footer, I think you should make the corners round like every other corner on the design; the right angle clashes with the curves. Are the ads that you are always going to use have that strong of an orange in it? If not, the comments about the orange being over powering shouldn't apply. I personally think the hue of orange and blue you choose work together very nicely. Also, blue and orange is a pretty common color scheme; we're just use to Sitepoint's color scheme, and their branding has implemented the association of the two into our brain (haha) so don't worry about. There isn't an equal amount of pixels between the canvas and the edge of the design. If you plan to center the design on the screen, I would fix that. Speaking of positioning take a look at this article: Designing with a Grid \| blog.critical (and you could do a Google to find a lot more). It explains the concept behind keeping your design organized in a grid like format. I think you should make the 3 columns the same width as the square banner, and the 'AJAX' area (gray box that looks like it could be AJAX) the width of 2 columns. This will give you that little detail that makes a design really shine. You'll probably have to expand the size of your design to over 1000 pixels, but it would be worth a shot. Just try not to go over 1024 or you'll lose usability kudos with a ton of users out there. Also, here is some advice that pertains to the 3 columns. White space = good these days. I think you should get rid of the gray background and make it white. Make the content define itself in the design, not some lines (an example would be the The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia). However I wouldn't get rid of the orange bars. Just try that out maybe and see what you like. I'm a huge fan of simplicity and like many other "Professional Web Designers" have said, its the new way to design. Some inspiration for the "gray AJAX box" could be gathered from Yahoo!. As much as some people hate the corporate design style, you can take there ideas and mold them into some visually compelling way (using actual graphics/style haha) that looks bad ass. Yahoo has a bunch of cool AJAX (I think thats what its called) movement kinda things that look really cool. Maybe you could draw some ideas from that. Overall its not that bad of a design, just a few things can be improved on. Remember, the little details is what makes a design awesome. And with the links that I've provided you; take them as inspiration to get ideas, don't really copy them. However I doubt that has to be mentioned, we aren't at some little-kids-designing-templates forum. Thats all I can think of for now. I hope you don't feel like I'm bashing your design. I use to be a freelance web designer and I hated it when people commented on my work but didn't really give constructive criticism. I realize that this post isn't really organized that well, sorry about that. I could elaborate a little more, but I really need to study for my last final tomorrow. If you want me to get rid of this post then I will. And trust me, I've seen MUCH worse designs. This one really isn't all that bad, and put that together with your awesome ideas for coding (or at least they sound awesome, I don't know shit about coding) this site is going to whoop some ass! I guess you could call me a perfectionist (easier said than done though, I'm lazy as hell) which explains my nick-picking, long ass post. Hope it helped you out some.

05-22-2007, 08:28 PM	#26 (permalink)
CLKeenan Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 1,486 iTrader: 4 / 100%	ASjds;ldsahd;ljsad;ljsand;,sand,adhsa[odha'[odalnaldalsdhosadsadla FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just had a long ass reply for your great critique James but then something happened and then it disappeared! FUCKAKSDAsljdad __________________ Please Digg For Me - Free Online Education Resources Help Students Prepare for Spring AP Exam

05-24-2007, 11:02 AM	#27 (permalink)
CLKeenan Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 1,486 iTrader: 4 / 100%	Im gonna have some time at work today so I'll try typing out my reply again - hopefully it wont die on me this time __________________ Please Digg For Me - Free Online Education Resources Help Students Prepare for Spring AP Exam

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