Help with colours

[Forge102]

Hi all,

I've created another website that can be found at [a href=\"http://www.kingsands.com\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.kingsands.com[/a]

I wanted to know people's opinion on three things:

1) The banner

2) The colours that are in use already

3) Is there a more suitable background colour than white for the main content area, if so what?

thanks - oh and I will make changes to mediacritic.co.uk as soon as I get a chance!

Forge

[redbullmarky]

[!--quoteo(post=341532:date=Jan 31 2006, 06:11 PM:name=Forge102)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Forge102 @ Jan 31 2006, 06:11 PM) [snapback]341532[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Hi all,

I've created another website that can be found at [a href=\"http://www.kingsands.com\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.kingsands.com[/a]

I wanted to know people's opinion on three things:

1) The banner

2) The colours that are in use already

3) Is there a more suitable background colour than white for the main content area, if so what?

thanks - oh and I will make changes to mediacritic.co.uk as soon as I get a chance!

Forge
[/quote]

1, the banner is partly ok, partly horrible. the backdrop of it (the books) look quite cool, but the font you've used over the top (King Sands as well as the main font) just look a bit cheap. and it might just be my opinion, but because the banner is not as wide as your site, it just kinda looks thrown on there. keep the books in the backdrop, but do some more work on the fonts you use.

2, best way to get colours? check out your competitors or similar sites to yours and what you wanna achieve. if you don't wanna go down that road, then the colour scheme link here: [a href=\"http://www.phpfreaks.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=79168\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.phpfreaks.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=79168[/a] has DEFINITELY helped me along the way on numerous occasions.

3, white is not a bad colour in general, as it makes text easier to read, but it's probably too bright for the rest of the site. i can't really comment on what the alternatives are, as i tend to find very dark/black sites very very hit and miss in terms of actually nailing it or making it look a bit too much like a free page.

whilst it's not on your list of things to get feedback on, i'd definitely look at employing some rollover CSS effects on the nav, and then lose the underlines. it'll just add a bit of a professional touch. also, if you're gonna use 'ads by goooogle', make them a bit more subtle than on mediacritic. sometimes they have a habit of further ruining what could be a good, tight, clean site.

Hope that helps

Cheers
Mark

[moberemk]

Just a word of advice: Fix your first site and then finish your second. Also, if it's a sister site, create a link bar at the top so you can make a network.

[Forge102]

For the banner do you think a more 'conventional' font should be used like Arial or Courier? I chose the comic sans one as the site is essentially about comic books. Also for the main conent area, rather than white would #cccccc which is a very light gray, be better? I'm actually fairly stumped on this as I've looked at 'competitor' sites and they have used white, but the rest of the site have been mainly black and gray.
Also, what is a link bar?

thanks for the feedback

Forge

[!--quoteo(post=341572:date=Jan 31 2006, 03:19 PM:name=redbullmarky)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(redbullmarky @ Jan 31 2006, 03:19 PM) [snapback]341572[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
1, the banner is partly ok, partly horrible. the backdrop of it (the books) look quite cool, but the font you've used over the top (King Sands as well as the main font) just look a bit cheap. and it might just be my opinion, but because the banner is not as wide as your site, it just kinda looks thrown on there. keep the books in the backdrop, but do some more work on the fonts you use.

2, best way to get colours? check out your competitors or similar sites to yours and what you wanna achieve. if you don't wanna go down that road, then the colour scheme link here: [a href=\"http://www.phpfreaks.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=79168\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.phpfreaks.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=79168[/a] has DEFINITELY helped me along the way on numerous occasions.

3, white is not a bad colour in general, as it makes text easier to read, but it's probably too bright for the rest of the site. i can't really comment on what the alternatives are, as i tend to find very dark/black sites very very hit and miss in terms of actually nailing it or making it look a bit too much like a free page.

whilst it's not on your list of things to get feedback on, i'd definitely look at employing some rollover CSS effects on the nav, and then lose the underlines. it'll just add a bit of a professional touch. also, if you're gonna use 'ads by goooogle', make them a bit more subtle than on mediacritic. sometimes they have a habit of further ruining what could be a good, tight, clean site.

Hope that helps

Cheers
Mark
[/quote]

[steelmanronald06]

Look at the top right hand cornor of PHPFreaks here. See that little drop down box that says 'Our Network'? Well if you click that box and select one of the options in it, it acts like a link and redirects you to one of the sites on The Web Freaks network (PHPFreaks, Linux Forum, Apache Freaks, MySQL Freaks, and AJAX Freaks). That is what a link bar is. Something at the top of your page, normally at the right, that lets you link to other sites that are a part of your network.

[fooDigi]

it isn't ugly but there are a few more things to keep in mind, or not. just advice.

banner? it should be more of a logo and flow with the site more. dont deal with banners until people hand you cash for them to use that valuable space on your site. the colors could be fine, but form comes after function, my friend, in most cases. try to design your site so it can be easily skinned or graphically changed once all the programming and it's purpose are completed. i frequent many sites that have horrible designs, as most of you im sure, but what gets users as repeat visitors is content, which im sure you have.

but i'd stick with a white or very close color for the content background. if you want some character, maybe a very subtle watermark or something?

keep at it, your doin a good job!

[Forge102]

Hi all,

I've made some changes to the [a href=\"http://www.kingsands.com\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.kingsands.com[/a]

I've changed the menu as well as some other colours. Please tell me what you think.

thanks

Forge

[!--quoteo(post=342005:date=Feb 2 2006, 05:44 AM:name=fooDigi)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(fooDigi @ Feb 2 2006, 05:44 AM) [snapback]342005[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
it isn't ugly but there are a few more things to keep in mind, or not. just advice.

banner? it should be more of a logo and flow with the site more. dont deal with banners until people hand you cash for them to use that valuable space on your site. the colors could be fine, but form comes after function, my friend, in most cases. try to design your site so it can be easily skinned or graphically changed once all the programming and it's purpose are completed. i frequent many sites that have horrible designs, as most of you im sure, but what gets users as repeat visitors is content, which im sure you have.

but i'd stick with a white or very close color for the content background. if you want some character, maybe a very subtle watermark or something?

keep at it, your doin a good job!
[/quote]

[redbullmarky]

[!--quoteo(post=342390:date=Feb 3 2006, 02:19 PM:name=Forge102)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Forge102 @ Feb 3 2006, 02:19 PM) [snapback]342390[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Hi all,

I've made some changes to the [a href=\"http://www.kingsands.com\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.kingsands.com[/a]

I've changed the menu as well as some other colours. Please tell me what you think.

thanks

Forge
[/quote]

css rollovers give a bit more of a nice touch. they always seem to have that effect. however, comic sans still stands as one of the ugliest fonts ever, even for 'quirky sites about comics'. i'd personally change the comic sans font to match the other font you have.

cheers
Mark

[mikee]

In general I think the layout is good, the colours work well together but I think the balance is wrong, the background image is nice but I think it contrasts with the white too much. I would try making the background for the content black (with white out text?) and using the orange as a highlight colour for headers or something to try and bring the design together more.

I like the background of the banner but I think more could be done with the text to jazz it up - get creative with whatever program your using and maybe use a better typeface like serpentine?

Keep up the good work!

[Forge102]

Hello,

Thanks for the feedback. I was thinking about having a dar background for the main content, but apart from you every other person on here has told me that a white background is the best! Also, I'm using Fireworks to create the banner. Do you know of any fonts that would be more suiltable of the text on the banner within this software?
Finally, the site so far will have reviews, Message Boards, my blog page (which will mainly be used to keep people informed of changes to the website) and a contact form. Do you have any ideas on what else the site could contain?

thanks

Forge


[!--quoteo(post=344543:date=Feb 10 2006, 12:41 PM:name=mikee)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(mikee @ Feb 10 2006, 12:41 PM) [snapback]344543[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
In general I think the layout is good, the colours work well together but I think the balance is wrong, the background image is nice but I think it contrasts with the white too much. I would try making the background for the content black (with white out text?) and using the orange as a highlight colour for headers or something to try and bring the design together more.

I like the background of the banner but I think more could be done with the text to jazz it up - get creative with whatever program your using and maybe use a better typeface like serpentine?

Keep up the good work!
[/quote]

[mikee]

yeh well, a white background is great for reading I would agree but in this case I reckon it stands out from the rest of the design too much.

I think you feel the same as its one of the things that you wasn't sure on, while i've been doing my site (which is up for review - see thread last chance saloon!) i've played somewhat obsessively with different colours for the background image and only after trying loads that i've felt I got the best one.

I suggest white out of black as I find its the best comprimise on black text on white - still just as readable and dark enough to tie into the background and navbar. At the end of the day it doesn't hurt to try it out and see what you think.

As far as fonts go there are sites where you can get some decent freebies the only one that springs to mind is flashkit.com, have a look and get one thats a bit bolder and not so rounded at the ends ( look at me with the technical blurb! ).

As far as content what about some news on what sort of projects are on the go from Marvel, Dark Horse, etc (not DC as ive never got on with theirs!)?

[Forge102]

I've changed the background color to black and added some blue borders. What do you think?

Forge

[!--quoteo(post=344627:date=Feb 10 2006, 03:25 PM:name=mikee)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(mikee @ Feb 10 2006, 03:25 PM) [snapback]344627[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
yeh well, a white background is great for reading I would agree but in this case I reckon it stands out from the rest of the design too much.

I think you feel the same as its one of the things that you wasn't sure on, while i've been doing my site (which is up for review - see thread last chance saloon!) i've played somewhat obsessively with different colours for the background image and only after trying loads that i've felt I got the best one.

I suggest white out of black as I find its the best comprimise on black text on white - still just as readable and dark enough to tie into the background and navbar. At the end of the day it doesn't hurt to try it out and see what you think.

As far as fonts go there are sites where you can get some decent freebies the only one that springs to mind is flashkit.com, have a look and get one thats a bit bolder and not so rounded at the ends ( look at me with the technical blurb! ).

As far as content what about some news on what sort of projects are on the go from Marvel, Dark Horse, etc (not DC as ive never got on with theirs!)?
[/quote]

[mikee]

To my eye that brings it together nicely, the decision lies with you though - if your happy, go with it!
I like the borders aswell, that ties in with some colours in the background image.

[Forge102]

Hi all,

I've done a lot of the King Sands website now (http://www.kingsands.com), inlcuding adding a review, registering, reading reviews, reading member profiles.

Please tell me what you think, also, could someone else register and login just to make sure the system is working 100%?

thanks

Forge

[Forge102]

Hi all,

the [a href=\"http://www.kingsands.com\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.kingsands.com[/a] site is finished accept for the Message boards, which is partially done. I have manged to incorporate Amazon's ECS service into the site, so now I have an online store as well. I've also written a few reviews, so please check them out.
Any feedback (content or design) about my progress so far would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Forge