steviewdr Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 Hi All, I'm designing up a new homepage website. I've been away from webdesign for a while. Whats your thoughts and initial impressions on the following: http://burkesys.com/stephen/webdev/sburke/ I think I might need to standardise on a fixed set/range of colors. The header image will be random, and as a result will have its own set of colors. I'm not sure if this will work good or not. Good or bad? Hows the colors? Good/bad? Hows the width? Thanks for any thoughts ye might have. -steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noober Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 Hi, Here is some honest comments. Take them as you will. I don't think the header image is exactly terrific. You could do a lot better branding yourself with that area. Enlarge the text or make your name stand out somehow. I wouldn't randomly change the image either, keep it consistent and BRAND yourself. I would consider alternatives to the boxes holding your content also. The 1px solid black makes the site look a bit out-dated. IMO you're really a touch or two away from being an excellent designer and this design really shows your skills and where you're currently in terms of a designer because it really isn't truly fantastic and doesn't stand from being fairly generic. I can tell you're probably much more into development and programming from the website elements you've chosen to put on this site. There's nothing wrong with that but if you're looking to keep up with some of the current design trends, tutorials, blogs and you'll be doing some amazing things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macdude100 Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 Hello! Ok here are my thoughts. I think that the reflection on the sburke.eu -> Homepage of Stephen Burke does not work to well. I am not sure about the random header images, but if you are going to do that make your sburke.eu -> Homep... title text stand out more! Not to sure about the brown colour on the navigation bar, maybe consider making it a darker brown ? I like the transparency effect, and the little arrows as bullet points are good. Maybe consider trying out your website in some different colour schemes to see how it looks. Also just a note on the background image, remember to consider people with high screen resolutions, as when they view your site the image will just end. The width of the website to me looks fine, I see no problems with that. Nice simply design and layout. Your site, once made, will be easy to navigate. Keep the blog updated as much as possible and your on your way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrMarcus Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 I would consider alternatives to the boxes holding your content also. The 1px solid black makes the site look a bit out-dated. my initial thought, too. was the first thing i noticed on the page. you could definitely soften it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steviewdr Posted November 22, 2009 Author Share Posted November 22, 2009 Thanks very much for your comments. noober: thanks for your comment on the text in the header image. noober, mrMarcus: thanks for your comments on the 1px black border. I wanted to focus attention down into the content, but I didn't think enough on it. maddude100: Indeed. The reflection was out of character. Yes! the brown in the nav was a little faded and pastel. I changed it to a deep brown. I know about the resolution. It should show ok for most people. People with a large resolution will just have a light grey surround. Simple and easy to use are what I'm looking for, so thanks for that. I made changes. See what you think of the following: http://burkesys.com/stephen/webdev/sburke/ An improvement over the old? The brown too dark? The left border too much on the content divs? The Nav will have a:hover effects when in html. P.S. Old one at http://burkesys.com/stephen/webdev/sburke/index-1.html Thanks for your comments already and any more thoughts you might have. -steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steviewdr Posted November 23, 2009 Author Share Posted November 23, 2009 Made some more mods. 1, 2, or 3. http://burkesys.com/stephen/webdev/sburke/index.html http://burkesys.com/stephen/webdev/sburke/index-2.html http://burkesys.com/stephen/webdev/sburke/index-1.html (original) -steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcombs_31 Posted November 23, 2009 Share Posted November 23, 2009 I don't know how you are going to make that background work. The wheels/cogs/whatever you call them are cut off so there would be no way to transition to a simple texture that could repeat. Even so, that is going to be a fairly large background image if you are at concerned about speed/size. I like index-2 the most of the 3. The lighter color is much easier on the eyes. I wouldn't make the menu look as if it is bulging at the middle. Doesn't quite look right. My concern about the blocked content is that you are working in a very tight grid. What if your portfolio info the on right extends down, then your grid is no longer consistent and scroll bars would look terrible unless you do a nicer javascript implementation with custom scrollers, even so, not that usable that way. I would like to see more color highlights, maybe more blues. the green header is #3 doesn't seem to fit very well, but you can certainly use another color in the palette. I'd say experiment with small elements like the arrows for your bullets. Last I'd consider increasing the page width to a 960 grid. There is no reason not too in this case and it is pretty much the norm now. Overall I think it has potential but needs some tweaking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steviewdr Posted November 29, 2009 Author Share Posted November 29, 2009 Jcombs: Thanks very much for your comments. They really helped. I made the page wider, which gave the grid layout more room. The portfolio will always be that size as I probably put it in a dhtml slide. I added a dark blue color to some of the elements and it helps a lot. Getting close: http://burkesys.com/stephen/webdev/sburke/index-3.html If anyone has any other suggestions, I'm all ears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcombs_31 Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Looks pretty good. The header image looks stretched. I'm still curious on how you plan to handle the background, is it just going to cut off on the sides? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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