DesignersVAULT

[HFD]

Please let me know what you think of this new website I am making

 

http://www.designersvault.net

 

(Sorry IE6 users, there seems to be a problem with rendering the page using IE6 at the moment, but I'm working on it)

[nrg_alpha]

Overall, very good! (I'll be bookmarking this get some good reading done later on).

As for suggestions.. just a few..

 

I think designing websites for 800 pixels wide is much like Mr.T's career (dead). I would consider making it a fixed width of 1024. As it currently stands, it feels very compressed (no room for the content or eyes to breath). Also keep in mind that with wide screen monitors rapidly becoming the norm (in conjunction with higher speced video cards), 800 pixel wide sites look more archaic than ever before.

 

As for text resizing, I tested your site in Firefox. Once I boost the font size only up a notch or two, the homepage panel (labeled 'Ingredients to a popular website' slides beneath the panel below it (named 'Welcome to DesignersVAULT!'). This tells me of some potential div stuctural issues. The DesignersVAULT panel should push down as the panel above expends vertically, not slide beneath it.

 

Lastly (and this is minor but could add to things).. I would lower the left side google ad so that there is some separation between it and the menu system above it (so the eye doesn't see them as 'bleeding too close together', and as for the menu list items, I think I would add a nice little bullet or something.. just to give it some punch. As it is, the text (such as Home, Contact, etc..) feels slightly 'downplayed'.. but adding bullets could help spruce it up a bit.

 

Other than that.. I really like it. Looks like good tips to read too!

Good stuff.

 

Cheers,

 

NRG

[akitchin]

i like the colours (in fact, #333 and that matte green are my favourite together), but the layout is incredibly crowded.  when i first opened it, i had NO idea where to look first and felt very uncomfortable.  as nrg said, this is partly to do with your width restriction of 800.  the layout is also messed up in FF2.  the affiliates box slides over to the right of the left-side nav menu, and the news is at the very bottom of that content block.

[HFD]

Thanks for both of your replies

 

Ahh, didn't notice that DIV issue,thanks for pointing it out.

 

And yeah lol I've mostly been experimenting with the front page at the moment, guess I got a bit happy with my DIV's   

 

I'm glad that you both think designing for 800 is old designing with a bigger width will give me much more freedom, I haven't created a website for a few years, so I haven't kept up with the trends - i'll be updating it tomorrow hopefully

 

Just another quick question to anyone who would use such a site...what content would you like to see on such a site? Would you like to see more resources for Photoshop etc, more articles, or anything else? I'm not sure if I'm going off topic slightly, sorry if so!

[nrg_alpha]

Just another quick question to anyone who would use such a site...what content would you like to see on such a site? Would you like to see more resources for Photoshop etc, more articles, or anything else?

 

I think anything involving web design or porn will suffice 

On a serious note, I think anything that lends to web design in general, be it photoshop techniques, good coding practice using the most common languages in use today to articles on HTML 5, CSS 3, PHP 6... the subjects are massive in number given the raw nature of your site's purpose. What you currently have is on the right track to be sure. I guess so long as developers of all skills can walk away reading something they can learn from and take with them to their own building experiences.

 

Oh.. I also though of a few more suggestions.. (and would be easily feasilbe if you expand your site's dimension to 1024px wide).. How about social bookmarking and RSS feed capabilities? (I don't think I have to explain the benefits to those). Would be nice though...