thewooleymammoth Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 We are redesigning our web design company website (we never really had anything decent) and have created a design in ps. I thought i would get some opinions on how it looks before i invest hours of css time. Please let me know what you think, thanks. [attachment deleted by admin] Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/165025-new-site-design/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
gevans Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 If I'm completely honest it looke like a developer did it. That's the sort of thing that used to happen when I made websites myself. Since getting a designer there's a world of difference in the way the websites we make look. I can't honestly say I would see that site and be to happy about paying you to make mine, unless your portfolio is damn good. It also looks like it will be very image heavy, not a huge problem for the average user these days but text links and headings will improve your seo far more than a title in your anchor tag or alt text in your image tag. On a personal note I hate using background colors. IMO there's 4 options, white, black, very close to white or image. If that's your proposed resolution there's going to be a lot of empty blue space around with most people using larger monitors. I can't remember if this was a personal choice or something I read, but 800x600 isn't really big enough anymore. I'd go with 1024 wide (call it 990 once the scrollbar is there). I hope that wasn't to harsh, tried to point out the reasons for not liking it rather than just being nasty! Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/165025-new-site-design/#findComment-870264 Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewooleymammoth Posted July 7, 2009 Author Share Posted July 7, 2009 no, it wasn't too harsh at all, thanks for the input. Although we do make our sites stretch across the screen, so the majority of the site would be that white box. We just make the images in that resolution so that when its made its not too big for smaller monitors. As far as being image heavy, We are really good about using really small repeating images, so our loading times are minimal. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/165025-new-site-design/#findComment-870425 Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFilmGod Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 It looks cool. But its not professional. Bankgothic font is not professional. Use a typical times roman, or Verdana - those are the best. Basic gradients and plain colors are the best. use a bit more of icons. You are overkilling that 3d feeling. Keep things simpler. Make your life much easier! And yes, you should be aiming for SEO. This means that making you'll either have to use some smart css designing to hide semantic html, or you'll need to use a lot of alt tags in replacement of <h#> tags which is BAD. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/165025-new-site-design/#findComment-870766 Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewooleymammoth Posted July 8, 2009 Author Share Posted July 8, 2009 It looks cool. But its not professional. Bankgothic font is not professional. Use a typical times roman, or Verdana - those are the best. Basic gradients and plain colors are the best. use a bit more of icons. You are overkilling that 3d feeling. Keep things simpler. Make your life much easier! And yes, you should be aiming for SEO. This means that making you'll either have to use some smart css designing to hide semantic html, or you'll need to use a lot of alt tags in replacement of <h#> tags which is BAD. thanks I'll keep the font info in mind as well as the 3d aspect. And we will be using the css to disguise the <h1> tags to fit our headers correctly I went ahead and created it. (for the most part, still alot of small things that need to be done) here it is check it out. http://www.bytecannon.net It still needs some work but atleast youll see what it'll look like. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/165025-new-site-design/#findComment-870837 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Kind of reminds me of a when you play a game (like Soldier of Fortune) and you have to pretend to sign in to some 'system' - has that feeling/look about it. Personally I think the Photoshop layer styles have been over-done. Too many shadows, badly used gradients, bevels, etc. It certainly doesn't say web designer to me, to be honest. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/165025-new-site-design/#findComment-870845 Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcombs_31 Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Looks pretty dated. The size, bevels, drop shadows, colors just don't work in a modern web design. There is no need to be trendy, but it more or less looks like you just started playing with photoshop or similar program. Even the typography seems off to me, why would "home" be centered on the page? I think Byte Cannon should also be left aligned based on the layout. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/165025-new-site-design/#findComment-871329 Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewooleymammoth Posted July 8, 2009 Author Share Posted July 8, 2009 Looks pretty dated. The size, bevels, drop shadows, colors just don't work in a modern web design. There is no need to be trendy, but it more or less looks like you just started playing with photoshop or similar program. Even the typography seems off to me, why would "home" be centered on the page? I think Byte Cannon should also be left aligned based on the layout. its true they do look kinda dated, and we are going to redo the layout based on everyones input. thanks a bunch. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/165025-new-site-design/#findComment-871519 Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewooleymammoth Posted July 8, 2009 Author Share Posted July 8, 2009 Iv'e created a second basic layout, I need to have a new logo made and probably some small decorative art. I tried not to use bevels and drop shadows and changed the font. I dont really like the darkness of it, but it seems like most "modern sites" are taking on darker looks. referencing from http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/01/14/web-design-trends-for-2009/ Does it appear to be a more modern improvement? [attachment deleted by admin] Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/165025-new-site-design/#findComment-871571 Share on other sites More sharing options...
gevans Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Why don't you check out a site like http://www.openwebdesign.org/ You can browse through some of their designs, get some ideas. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/165025-new-site-design/#findComment-871587 Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcombs_31 Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 You need to take a step back and look at it. There is no flow at all to the design. I would start with some kind of grid to get things aligned a little better and help it flow overall. Check out http://960.gs/ Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/165025-new-site-design/#findComment-871594 Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewooleymammoth Posted July 9, 2009 Author Share Posted July 9, 2009 You need to take a step back and look at it. There is no flow at all to the design. I would start with some kind of grid to get things aligned a little better and help it flow overall. Check out http://960.gs/ i like that little site, i lined it up a little better because of that, thanks. I added a couple things as well, the layout wont make sense unless you know what we plan. Once you click those arrows the content will change to the next or previous page via ajax. And we we plan have a page for each one as well for SEO. Also this only works in ff right now, and the hover effect will be fixed www.bytecannon.net Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/165025-new-site-design/#findComment-871717 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILMV Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 Sorry, but if I landed on this site, I would turn back around and click the next link on Google. You need to think about why a user would come to your site, and not what you want on there. Using this you can create a user profile. You need to create a mind map of what users will need to do when they come to your site, and design around that. For example, for a site I'm doing a visitor to a driving school website would go like this: 1) Where does company operate [Home] 2) Lesson prices [Prices] 3) Contact [Contact] Very simple, so I put very basic / crucial info on the home page, obviously have more in depth info on the about page, a page for the lessons and a page for contact, all broken up in small chunks. The reason I'm saying this is the design needs to be so good, that the user pays no attention to it, instead their focus is drawn towards your key points of information. So for you it might be: 1) What work does company perform [Home] 2) Where are they based [Home] 3) What else have they created [Portfolio] 4) How much do they cost [Prices] 5) Contact [Contact] So use this to draw attention to these main points, because what you are doing right now is blondly designing for what you want, not what your visitor needs. I would suggest speaking to a designer and pay them to create a decent design, problem is, if you can't do this for yourself, how are you going to run a web design / development business :S Sorry if harsh, I will justify points in more depth if you want me to. ILMV Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/165025-new-site-design/#findComment-871903 Share on other sites More sharing options...
twoweektrial Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 ILMV, I took a look at their site projection, and it looks like they essentially already had most of the links you suggested. The important thing for a web design company is for the user to want a website, and then to want you to make it for them. They appear to be on the right track. Also, you should avoid critiquing content before they've put any meaningful content on the page. Furthermore, I took a look at your site, and you're essentially suggesting they remake yours. Also, as a company, and not an individual/hobbyist, they are expected to have more than a simple layout with basic content. If I were to hire someone to build me a site, I'd want to be impressed by theirs. -bean Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/165025-new-site-design/#findComment-872318 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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