WickedWolf

Layout isn't bad at all, there's only three real things I can pick at from a designer standpoint. 1. the contrast between the red "regex' and the background is way too low. Consider lightening/darkening either that bit of the title or the background to make it pop a bit better from the background. Low contrast text can make viewers uncomfortable, even if it's the title 2. at the bottom of each page you have alternate links (same as the ones in the main navigation) is a Next up:, Please... Make it bigger.. make it bold. I didn't even know it was there until I really started searching. It's nice to have those at the bottom but make more of an effort to make them stand out then just making the link blue. This gives your user more of a visual cue that "yes.. there actually is something different than just body text down here!" 3. I clicked on site home under the little pixel portait.. and I got lost. The only way I could find my way back to the regex part of the site was by hitting the back button or searching under the computing header. The moral of the story is that programmers have short attention spans, we won't work very hard to find information. If we go to a site for help on something, like regex, and we somehow get lost on that site... we leave.. fast. A lot of people haven't got the patience or time to try and figure out what the heck is going on. You've got some really great info on your site, just don't let your users get lost! I've worked with Regex quite extensively, I love using them because they make things so nice and simple in my php. I can't really tell you if it's good for a beginner or not (regex aren't exactly for beginners anyhow)

wow.. I really like this! My only suggestion would be to use an @fontface for the title to demand a bit more attention to it, right now it looks like the same font as everything else and I don't think you're giving the title the attention it rightly deserves. Check out http://www.google.com/webfonts google webfonts and type the word "Alice" into the search box. I think this font would be PERFECT for your header.

My suggestion would be to firstly make your "Viral EH!" heading larger and the subtext beneath smaller, right now the size is very similar, even with the difference in font weights I can feel the two headings fighting for dominance. Change your black text to white where it reads "newest videos," the contrast between your background and the text itself is far too low, this makes legibility a problem. Other than all of that I'd say make sure everything is lined up nice and straight. As for the background.. that's a lot of plain ol' boring grey! why not add a slick texture that's around the same value of grey like this one http://ethenyl.deviantart.com/art/Black-Texture-100608349 offered for free from ethenyl on Deviant art or check out lostandtaken.com!? Cheers Nicole Dennis

When I critiqued this I was under the impression that you had created the custom theme yourself since you had posted that it was your own "custom modified theme", but it would seem that all credit is due to Nudge Design for their liquorice theme. I am curious to know exactly what was added as your own creation since I really don't see anything that didn't come pre-packaged with the theme itself with the exception of your chat-o-matic. Personally, I am disappointed by what you've presented and I am disappointed that I had to find out the theme was created by Nudge design through my own research. I hate to sound cruel but it's very important you make it abundantly clear what is and what is not your own when you're asking for a critique. Cheers NicoleDennis

Lot's of loose space in there you could use up. I don't think this is really affective at providing 'rest' for the eye, It just makes me work more to see the page. The logo "video Zoo" and the nav bar can be raised about a half inch towards the top of the browser, Ideally you would line up the bottom of the orange that reads " 1 bruger online" to that of the orange on the logo "Zoo." The list of "thumbnailed" videos at the bottom is a lot bigger than it needs to be! 36 videos is a lot to scroll through, why not break them up into groups of 12 (3 lines) and then use some pagination to reveal the rest. On the right hand sidebar does the AD need to be there? If that space is sold why not pull your facebook app from that portion and bump the ad up. Make sure your 1/4 inch margins are maintained, I noticed you missed that on between the facebook app and the advertisement. Have a look on youtube at how it handles it's Face book integration. You've got that HUGE 1 inch space under the video player, why not use it for something?! ... If you don't think that's a great idea.. Adjust your margins. You did a nice job starting keeping most of them the same size, just fix the rest.

I love the Yiiframework when working with Databases because I never have to write SQL statements. No matching single and double quotes for me!

My first reaction: It's Bland. I'm Confused with the information, navigation, and the margins are all over the place. What the heck is that number at the top?! is it a phone number? I have to guess - that's BAD. Design Suggestions: Your margins are inconsistant everywhere aaahh! Get out a ruler (yes I'm a jerk, I know) and go to the Loose logs page, now.. measure. "hertford's no.1 choice for loose firewood logs! Dry, cut and seasoned." -space from the margin top (where the white starts) compair to the space between the text and margin right (where the white starts) eep! it' very far right! Do the same for your body copy in the lower portion of the page, it's all scrunched to the top here. You'd be amazed at how this nitpicky structure can instantly make a website look 150billion% better. www.960.com can help you Use a font thats not in the grotesque category like Helvetica and most sanserifs, something with more personality like a serif or a freefont that's not over the top. Check out fontsquirrels serifed faces and pick something tasteful. The selling point of your business is logs that will burn easily to keep your customers warm by the fire and that your a long standing family business, So you want a font that feels comfortable to look at and that contributes to that local "fuzzy" warm theme. Helvetica is just too bold and demanding! Also, your navigation links are weak.. Make them look "clickable." They look like regular static text until I scroll over and the hand icon appears. Give them roll overs maybe in CSS.. make them more... buttony... Welcome page: feature the main graphic with a nice pull quote. The information that's included in the bottom is a repetition of what's on the about page? Home page reads "Log deliveries in Hertford" while the about page reads "Firewood loge deliveries in Hertford." Cut out the repetition. Remove that body copy entirely from the Home page and move it to the about page. Instead!!... Leave a nice orange link on your home page that reads something along the lines of "Yes, We Deliver to Hertford." and create that link as clickable to re-direct you to the about page where more information is stored. The line you have in there... "There's a more convenient way of storing wood" is an awesome line! so use it someplace better! About page: We were welcomed by the log graphic, but do we need to see the logs and pull quote featured in the top body section on every page? Pull it off every page exept for home to open up some real estate for more information. If people want to learn ABOUT your company this is where they will do it. You have some info about how your logs are processed but... didn't you say it was a local family business?.. of four generations? ... That's interesting.. People want to know more and it's also a selling point. Consumers LOVE local, particularly Family owned/run local! Give me more! Tell me how you think of the enviroment while logging. Tell me when your Open! Tell me when I can call! Products pages: Loose logs and net logs Do we need two pages or can you condense this under one title "Services"? Provide better information on your services, I've personally lived in a house that relied solely on 4 fireplaces to keep it warm in the winter so I know how important it is understand clearly how much firewood you are getting. "equivalent to just over 2 of the big, dumpy builders bags, but obviously loose on the back of our vehicle." Is not a very good description when you want to maintain that comfort level you greeted the user with on the first page. Estimate a weight , quarts... something other than dumpy builders bags. Net logs! neat! This is a service I could use but.... what kinds of logs come in the nets? On the about page I see Cherry, Oak, Ash, Acer, Beech, Birch and Hawthorn. Are they just assorted left over bits? I mean.. that's fine.. I'd just like to know. I'm curious.... and what is a convenient time? Your hours of operation aren't listed so is it at my convenience or yours? Work on this stuff and you'll improve the impact of your website 100fold. Cheers ~TehWickedDesigningWolf

I hope I'm not too hard on ya... Critiquing is one of my more favored things to do in the design world, everything is meant to be construtive. My first question is.. who is your audience? If it's a portfolio you're targeting employers so logicaly you'd want to showcase some of your best work that has relevance to the type of job you're after. When we visit this site the blog is the main page, atleast in my understanding. If the audience you're trying to target is searching for literature on a certain subject I could understand featuring only the blog. Many portfolios, including mine, start with a bit of information about what you're selling, in this case yourself since it's a portfolio, and maybe 1 or 2 samples of your BEST work to entice the viewer to click. I think it's a problem you've labeled your blog as home. What happens when a user navigates away from the main page then decides they want to go back to the blog? Will they have to think about which Nav item to pick or use the back button? Big problem with the images. Removing the links to the graphic is the immediate solution to this, If you want to be fancy then use JavaScript "fancybox" to display your graphics. In this case the images you link to are the same size as the ones displayed in browser, so there's no point of them linking to same-sized versions of themselves, You're making your users work to hard. The textures with the colours and fonts are spot on. Complementary colours almost always = win. All of the copy is hilarious, I love it, I want more. The best advice I can give you over all is to put some time researing the information heirarchy. Here's some great reading material to get you started, pay special attention to the Exercise to Test Visual Hierarchy at the bottom, I think your site could benefit from it. http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/articles/design-theory/understanding-visual-hierarchy-in-web-design/ "When establishing a page design for your Web site, consider your overall purpose, the nature of your content, and, most important, the expectations of your readers." -Web Style Guide That's all you get from me for now! My brain is greedy and will hoarde the rest of its design knowledge for my evil-ish agenda.

Hello, My name is Nicki. I'm a college student and an experienced PHP-er. I've been studying PHP for the past year and half along with a handfull of other computer languages. Currently I'm enjoying some fun with the Yiiframework and am going to be learning Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress, ASP.net and C# in the next few months.