yarnold Posted July 21, 2007 Share Posted July 21, 2007 Hi all I have just started work on a fresh layout for my Freelance PHP site. I was wondering if I could obtain some feedback from you all regarding whether or not it is professional, easy on the eye etc? Before I show you a link, I'd like to tell you what I was aiming to achieve. I was looking to create a "simplistic", very programmer-like looking site that is easy to read and easy to find your way through. I did not want to go overboard, I preferably didn't want to use flash or any particularly fancy graphics. The link is http://www.twixcoding.com/new (please note only the first few links on the right hand side work.. I haven't uploaded the whole site yet) Many thanks Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbullmarky Posted July 21, 2007 Share Posted July 21, 2007 it's simple and to the point, i suppose, but maybe TOO simple. you can go all fancy and stuff without having to splash a site with graphics and colour, but it's supposed to be your showcase of what you can do. your contact/portfolio pages are broken and give a little bit too much info away - pathnames, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB Posted July 21, 2007 Share Posted July 21, 2007 ... whether or not it is professional ... Depends on what that actually means (if it means anything). It doesn't have any redundant crap. It has zero visual interest - and the internet is a visual medium - so it looks as if someone took a written document and pasted it in. I _know_ that isn't what you did, but I'm not surfing looking for a php/web developer. In terms of the content, that page misses the mark by a long way. I... I... I... As a prospective customer I'm less interested in you than what you could do for ME. Minor nit-pick. If you're claiming AAA compliance, link the icon to a validator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yarnold Posted July 21, 2007 Author Share Posted July 21, 2007 ... whether or not it is professional ... Depends on what that actually means (if it means anything). It doesn't have any redundant crap. It has zero visual interest - and the internet is a visual medium - so it looks as if someone took a written document and pasted it in. I _know_ that isn't what you did, but I'm not surfing looking for a php/web developer. In terms of the content, that page misses the mark by a long way. I... I... I... As a prospective customer I'm less interested in you than what you could do for ME. Minor nit-pick. If you're claiming AAA compliance, link the icon to a validator. Thank you - I was thinking that about the content earlier, actually. I may put something like the "services" page on the home page and then have what is current the home page in the "about" section? Do you think that having a graphical banner instead of the "Twix Coding" text would make a difference to visual appeal? Thank you for your remarks Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB Posted July 21, 2007 Share Posted July 21, 2007 I'll put my money where my mouth is ... http://www.digitalmidget.com/php_noob/ That may not be everybody's cup of tea visual design-wise, but I *think* it illustrates my point about a bit of visual interest without going bonkers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yarnold Posted July 23, 2007 Author Share Posted July 23, 2007 I know it doesn't exactly match what you were saying, and the positioning of the images is by no means final (so if you have padding suggestions etc feel free to suggest away!) but I think the images here help break up the "text-based-ness" of the site. Opinions please? http://www.twixcoding.com/new/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcombs_31 Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 http://www.twixcoding.com/ Looks way better than the new version. Colors and design are more appealing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moberemk Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'FileIOException' with message 'The file "/home/twixcodi/public_html/templatefiles/header.tpl" could not be opened.' in /home/twixcodi/public_html/classes/template/file.php:196 Stack trace: #0 /home/twixcodi/public_html/classes/template/template.php(249): FileObject->open() #1 /home/twixcodi/public_html/classes/template/template.php(215): Template->readTemplateFile() #2 /home/twixcodi/public_html/classes/templateobjects.php(114): Template->parse() #3 /home/twixcodi/public_html/index.php(106): TemplateEngine->Display('Header') #4 {main} thrown in /home/twixcodi/public_html/classes/template/file.php on line 196 Oops? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ss32 Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 very nice, but i think there is too much text. text is good, content is good, but what you lack is sufficient whitespace. the content seems like a wall of text and not.... natural, you know? your header also looks a bit thrown together- perhaps you should make it more image oriented or something. You also should center the page, it looks awkward to the left. you should probably make a favicon i like your navigation bar- the icons work well with the flow your contact details section is not properly indented to flow with the navbar, it looks thrown in. i dont know if it is a good idea to post your grades or employment on the site... i would go with a portfolio (which i guess you already have... so just remove the grades- customers dont need to know them) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yarnold Posted July 24, 2007 Author Share Posted July 24, 2007 ss32, thank you for your kind and helpful comments. I have made some changes to the design - I have increased the line-height so that the text looks less "blocky", and have indented the contact information further to make it line up with the sub-navigation titles. I have also centre-aligned the page to make it look less "awkward", as you say. I am waiting to find suitable images to add into the header to make it less text-based, but please note that your comment has been noticed and taken note of! Oh, I have also removed my grades and employment as per your suggestion. I have now implemented the new design, but will still make changes should any of you have any more recommendations. Thank you for your helpful comments. http://www.twixcoding.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 It may look fine with IE, but take a look using Firefox - you have major problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yarnold Posted July 24, 2007 Author Share Posted July 24, 2007 It's perfectly fine in IE, Firefox, Safari on Windows XP, Windows 98, and the Mac OS.. or at least it is when I test it in all of the above.. I've developed the whole thing primarily using Firefox so I don't understand why you're having problems Try clearing your browser cache? Perhaps it's loading the old stylesheet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 Several forced refreshes 'fixed' it. Now it's essentially identical with IE6 and FF2 for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moberemk Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 Eh. It's plain and to the point, I suppose. The pictures alongside the content feel a little scattered though; in one or two, the text falls beneath the images, and irregular alignment of the images is distracting. Also, every block of text starts a sentence lowercase, and the paragraph is surrounded by parentheses. Is that a glitch? From a design standpoint, it's okay. The site isn't really something that would make me choose you at a glance, and it doesn't really show off your design skills in any significant way. The logo, though... I can't say that I love the way that it becomes slightly obscured by the grey fade-it just doesn't look all that great covered up like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yarnold Posted July 25, 2007 Author Share Posted July 25, 2007 Eh. It's plain and to the point, I suppose. The pictures alongside the content feel a little scattered though; in one or two, the text falls beneath the images, and irregular alignment of the images is distracting. Also, every block of text starts a sentence lowercase, and the paragraph is surrounded by parentheses. Is that a glitch? From a design standpoint, it's okay. The site isn't really something that would make me choose you at a glance, and it doesn't really show off your design skills in any significant way. The logo, though... I can't say that I love the way that it becomes slightly obscured by the grey fade-it just doesn't look all that great covered up like that. The lowercase sentence starting was intentional, but on reflection it was a bad idea from the start - I removed that "effect" now. I have received comments from other people regarding the left hand side of the banner too, I will give that a rethink - perhaps something more simple to go with the rest of the site would suffice? Thank you again for your advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ss32 Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 it looks a LOT better than it used to. good job. hmm looking at your nav now it bothers me that the actual header text of the sections is indented farther than the child links (= a little note on the perspective of your services... it looks more professional if you say "we provide" instead of "do you need". the customer probably already knows what they want (= your "web design" image falls out of the motif set by the other images otherwise, very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yarnold Posted July 27, 2007 Author Share Posted July 27, 2007 Thanks. I will look into finding a more suitable web design image later on... I have changed the navigation so that the problem you outlined no longer exists (increased text-indent). I will also look at rephrasing my summary paragraphs, thanks for that point! Thank you for your kind comments Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiamProductions Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 Nice job. IF i was a PHP Employer i'd employee you. Great job keep it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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