against the grain...

[redbullmarky]

Hi all

For some reason, after finding myself with a little free time, I decided to try something I've never tried before.

A SITE WITH NO TABLES!!!

The site will eventually be my 'web design' site, as i'm getting a fair bit of work but have nowhere to show other potential clients what i've done in the past now that i've got a handful of projects under my belt.

I want to finish off and get 100% happy with the template and CSS before I get on with adding the content, so for now there are no pictures and loads of the Lorum Ipsum garble, but looking for feedback on:

1, the colour scheme
2, the layout/style

I'm pretty chuffed that, not only is it the first site i've ever done with no tables, but also the first site that validates (XHTML Strict). The only thing I'm having trouble validating is the CSS (possibly due to using Opacity???)

Anyhow - let me know what you think so far!

[a href=\"http://www.crashandburn.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.crashandburn.co.uk[/a]

[b]edit[/b]:BTW, if anyone knows why my 'crash and burn' title at the top hops around when viewed in IE6 (i t looks how it's supposed to in FF1.5) then please let me know
[b]edit 2[/b]: also, before anyone comments, i 'borrowed' the nav CSS from wildteen's post on 'branching out' site critique, mainly for quick implementation but also cos i've never used <li> and <ul> for nav before - tables only! :) otherwise, everything else was done from scratch by me.

Cheers
Mark

[steviewdr]

Tis allright. The layout works well - so congrats on your first table-less layout.

There are a few issues - some of which you are aware of.
Well, ober Im sure will point out that in Opera - your opacity etc. doesnt work and the colours are MUCH darker.

There is a hairline blue line underneath your horizontal nav.

The text at the top - crash and burn, only works in Firefox - not in IE or Opera - so maybe - ordinary text would do fine.......speaking of which ->

The title text for a website - In my opinion, is best as a graphic to have anti-aliased text etc.

As you are using a horizontal nav - I will be interested in seeing what you put in the green area.

On a last note - as this is going to be your "design website" - Im currently finding, that design websites tend to be graphic intense with very styled Nav's and bells and whistles. Your site is nice and simple with colours etc. - Im just wondering how you are going to make it a showcase for your "design" stuff.

Also - Perhaps your background (dark grey) would be nicer with a gradient fill? Perhaps something like:
[a href=\"http://blogs.nonado.net/diamond/\" target=\"_blank\"]http://blogs.nonado.net/diamond/[/a] (wordpress) - Im not sure.

Also - perhaps your website could be a little larger. A website for 800X 600 would be nicer. Yours seems a little small.

Anyways - waiting to see its development.

-steve

[redbullmarky]

Hi steve, thanks for your thoughts!
There's still a long way to go for me on this one, even though it's possibly the 'simplest' site i've written, as i'm going full out to keep it XHTML Strict and without tables (even though I'm really missing those!!!).

[!--quoteo(post=361529:date=Apr 4 2006, 11:34 AM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 4 2006, 11:34 AM) [snapback]361529[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Well, ober Im sure will point out that in Opera - your opacity etc. doesnt work and the colours are MUCH darker.
[/quote]
lol i was thinkin that when looking at how to employ cross-browser transparency. The only way I can figure that it'd work on Opera is via the use of images for the transparent sections, but as of yet i'm not sure. I'm curious to see what it actually looks like...
and ober (or anyone else on Opera) if you have any alternative workarounds for transparency, please let me know.

[!--quoteo(post=361529:date=Apr 4 2006, 11:34 AM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 4 2006, 11:34 AM) [snapback]361529[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
There is a hairline blue line underneath your horizontal nav.
[/quote]
[b]edit:[/b] i cheated by shifting the content div up a pixel, at least until i find out why it was doing it in the first place

[!--quoteo(post=361529:date=Apr 4 2006, 11:34 AM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 4 2006, 11:34 AM) [snapback]361529[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
The text at the top - crash and burn, only works in Firefox - not in IE or Opera - so maybe - ordinary text would do fine.......speaking of which ->
The title text for a website - In my opinion, is best as a graphic to have anti-aliased text etc.
[/quote]
[b]edit:[/b] i changed it from being text to an image using a similar colour as if opacity was in effect.

[!--quoteo(post=361529:date=Apr 4 2006, 11:34 AM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 4 2006, 11:34 AM) [snapback]361529[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
As you are using a horizontal nav - I will be interested in seeing what you put in the green area.
[/quote]
to be honest, i hadn't planned on putting anything there at all. maybe i could do with making it a touch narrower tho...

[!--quoteo(post=361529:date=Apr 4 2006, 11:34 AM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 4 2006, 11:34 AM) [snapback]361529[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
On a last note - as this is going to be your "design website" - Im currently finding, that design websites tend to be graphic intense with very styled Nav's and bells and whistles. Your site is nice and simple with colours etc. - Im just wondering how you are going to make it a showcase for your "design" stuff.
Also - Perhaps your background (dark grey) would be nicer with a gradient fill? Perhaps something like:
[a href=\"http://blogs.nonado.net/diamond/\" target=\"_blank\"]http://blogs.nonado.net/diamond/[/a] (wordpress) - Im not sure.
[/quote]
me too lol but i'm going to concentrate on getting the main aspects of layout sorted and then introduce the 'bells and whistles'. it'll still be quite a simple site once finished but you're right. [b]edit:[/b] i downloaded the background grad image from his 'themes' downloads. let me know what you think and I'll either try and get something similar or drop him a line to use it permanently...

[!--quoteo(post=361529:date=Apr 4 2006, 11:34 AM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 4 2006, 11:34 AM) [snapback]361529[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Also - perhaps your website could be a little larger. A website for 800X 600 would be nicer. Yours seems a little small.
[/quote]
tis at 600px wide at the moment - perhaps i'll look at increasing that if the content i'm putting into the site needs more space.

anyway - thanks for your time and help!!

[steviewdr]

Hi Mark,

Its amazing what little things can change the apperance. Anyways - I like your improvements.

Here is the screengrab of your website in Opera: [a href=\"http://kartbuilding.net/misc/mark.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"]http://kartbuilding.net/misc/mark.jpg[/a]
That background (website) is a WordPress template you know!? - so im sure that graident would be ok to use.

Im not sure whether that gradient fits in totally - but it does make it look a little more "cool" etc. Making gradient backgrounds are super easy to do - the one golden rule however is to use .png to avoid the squares of pixles/colours.

The portfolio page looks good with content - perhaps it would be better if you put in coloured bordered divs around your seperate websites.

Oh ya - [b]Your header graphic looks WAY better.[/b]
The crash and burn heading image could do with more padding on the right IMO.

I see you removed the horizontal hairline blue - good good.

As on your portfolio page - Id say you might have to look at styling the scroll bar - however this doesnt work in firefox - maybe, not sure, but your site with its colour scheme could do with a styled scroll bar.


Oh ya - Im sure you will anyways - style your <a href's>

Your Navigation Text is a little small. Perhaps Small Capitals would be nice, or a different font.


Chat later,
-steve

[redbullmarky]

[!--quoteo(post=361570:date=Apr 4 2006, 03:31 PM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 4 2006, 03:31 PM) [snapback]361570[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Here is the screengrab of your website in Opera: [a href=\"http://kartbuilding.net/misc/mark.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"]http://kartbuilding.net/misc/mark.jpg[/a]
That background (website) is a WordPress template you know!? - so im sure that graident would be ok to use.
Im not sure whether that gradient fits in totally - but it does make it look a little more "cool" etc. Making gradient backgrounds are super easy to do - the one golden rule however is to use .png to avoid the squares of pixles/colours.
[/quote]
i checked out this site and it said 'not for commercial use' but like you say they're quite easy to do. i just wanted to see if your idea would work first of all - i think you were spot on with that one, so i'll prob knock up a grad of my own and put it on there soon. thanks!

[!--quoteo(post=361570:date=Apr 4 2006, 03:31 PM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 4 2006, 03:31 PM) [snapback]361570[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
The portfolio page looks good with content - perhaps it would be better if you put in coloured bordered divs around your seperate websites.
[/quote]
yeah possibly panels with slight dropshadow with curved edges....i don't know. i'll have a play around with it.

[!--quoteo(post=361570:date=Apr 4 2006, 03:31 PM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 4 2006, 03:31 PM) [snapback]361570[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Oh ya - [b]Your header graphic looks WAY better.[/b]
The crash and burn heading image could do with more padding on the right IMO.
...
Your Navigation Text is a little small. Perhaps Small Capitals would be nice, or a different font.
[/quote]
done.

[!--quoteo(post=361570:date=Apr 4 2006, 03:31 PM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 4 2006, 03:31 PM) [snapback]361570[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
As on your portfolio page - Id say you might have to look at styling the scroll bar - however this doesnt work in firefox - maybe, not sure, but your site with its colour scheme could do with a styled scroll bar.
Oh ya - Im sure you will anyways - style your <a href's>
[/quote]
yeah you're right - what do you think of them now?

seriously, thanks for your help. not only do the little things change it drastically for the better, but they're also sometimes the hardest to figure out without an outsiders eyes.

[steviewdr]

Hi Again,

First off - Dunno if you are currently at the website but here you go:

1. The background gradient (now rotated 180) is not long enough. There is a gap at the bottom of my screen.
See kartbuilding.net/misc/mark2.jpg
With your gradient upside down - your background colour is the same as with your horizontal nav - is this what you wanted?

2. The & sign should be done using the proper notation in xhtml on the About Us page.

3. The whole "This site is ......" Xhtml 1.0 Strict should do fine.

4. The green scroll bars are a little too green. Lighten them up or change colour.

5. Your portfolio is layed out better as alternating. I still wouldnt mind seeing some alternating row colours for each site. (each site would have a lightly coloured background)

One question - I really like your "Inside" site in your portfolio. I have to create an Information Portal, and would like to base it on something. Did yourselves make it from scratch or sit it ontop of a CMS?
Have you got a larger screen grab/ old demo site? I too am battling with usability - this is the hardest to do. Any help/ ideas would be greatly appreciated -cheers.

Chat later,
-steve

[redbullmarky]

hi steve, thanks for your comments again!

[!--quoteo(post=361597:date=Apr 4 2006, 05:39 PM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 4 2006, 05:39 PM) [snapback]361597[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
1. The background gradient (now rotated 180) is not long enough. There is a gap at the bottom of my screen.
With your gradient upside down - your background colour is the same as with your horizontal nav - is this what you wanted?
[/quote]not what i wanted at all - i guess i forgot about the higher resolutions for a minute...i've (hopefully) sorted it now.

[!--quoteo(post=361597:date=Apr 4 2006, 05:39 PM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 4 2006, 05:39 PM) [snapback]361597[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
2. The & sign should be done using the proper notation in xhtml on the About Us page.
3. The whole "This site is ......" Xhtml 1.0 Strict should do fine.
[/quote]whoops. sorted

[!--quoteo(post=361597:date=Apr 4 2006, 05:39 PM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 4 2006, 05:39 PM) [snapback]361597[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
4. The green scroll bars are a little too green. Lighten them up or change colour.
[/quote]on to it. for some reason, the green in the scrollbars comes out differently to the same shade of green elsewhere...

[!--quoteo(post=361597:date=Apr 4 2006, 05:39 PM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 4 2006, 05:39 PM) [snapback]361597[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
5. Your portfolio is layed out better as alternating. I still wouldnt mind seeing some alternating row colours for each site. (each site would have a lightly coloured background)
[/quote]yeah i'm still considering the ideas. i like the idea of a backshadowed panel for each item, but don't wanna put all the work in if it's not what i want for definite.

[!--quoteo(post=361597:date=Apr 4 2006, 05:39 PM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 4 2006, 05:39 PM) [snapback]361597[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
One question - I really like your "Inside" site in your portfolio. I have to create an Information Portal, and would like to base it on something. Did yourselves make it from scratch or sit it ontop of a CMS?
Have you got a larger screen grab/ old demo site? I too am battling with usability - this is the hardest to do. Any help/ ideas would be greatly appreciated -cheers.
[/quote]the 'Inside' package was written from scratch, starting about a year ago for our own use but has recently (over the last 2 weeks) had a total facelift to turn it into something marketable. it's based on my web control panel (plesk/virtuozzo) which i believe is based on the look/feel of windows XP. i'll drop you a PM.

otherwise, thanks for your comments!
Cheers
Mark

[steviewdr]

The gradient looks ok.
Your website - with the top heading graphic looks similar across browsers - apart from lacking the opacity in Opera.

I dont know if this will be any good - but its a similar design to your own:
[a href=\"http://www.iccconcepts.com/FAIM16/\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.iccconcepts.com/FAIM16/[/a]

The dark green of your scrollbars which matches the a:hover is OK - only.
If you *really* wanted (Id say its a bit ott) I think you can style or mimic scrollbars using DHTML for firefox. - Not sure if its worth it tho.

Ive just one thing on my mind :-

Like I know you have put a good bit of work into the positioning and layout - and a job well done. But currently it still looks like a "simple" (basic re. colours and DESIGN) website to the ordinary user.

Id say you have 2 routes - a 3d effect with shadows or a "rounded DIV" effect/design.
Your portfolio page is your most decorated and colourful page.

Perhaps you need a dedicated "image position" on each page - where you can put a nice design'y image of something nice.
Like on jcombs website -> [a href=\"http://www.jcombs.net\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.jcombs.net[/a] he has a nice picture of a RJ45.
Even on my own latest site -> [a href=\"http://www.staff.ul.ie/sburke/es/\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.staff.ul.ie/sburke/es/[/a] I try to have a different graphic on every page.

Ya - its currently nice. Some graphics will make it.

-steve

[roseplant]

Just a few quick observations:
[ol type=\'1\'][*]Perhaps you might make the current page's nav link a different colour to the mouseover link. It just doesn't look great when you mouseover the link next to the one currently selected.[*]The page looks very narrow to me[*]As has been said before, it looks too simple - fine for a static brochure site for a museum or whatever, but for a design site I'd expect to see what the designer is capable of when he is pushed to the limit if you know what I mean.[*]This is almost unnoticable, but as you are perfecting your CSS you might be interested to know that the nav bar is 1px smaller in height than the blue box to the left of it.[*]There is one page (Portfolio) which has a TEXTAREA. In Firefox at least (my IE isn't working at the moment due to a botched IE7 upgrade) if you resize the window smaller than the borders of the textarea, you can't see the scrollbars of the textarea and the page itself has no scrollbars. Hope you know what I mean by this, I'll elaborate if you don't understand.[*]The inputted text textarea in the Contact page is too small, and in a different font to the rest of the form.[/ol]
This little screen grab illustrates points 1 and 4:

[a href=\"http://www.theimagehosting.com\" target=\"_blank\"][img src=\"http://images6.theimagehosting.com/crashnburn.gif\" border=\"0\" alt=\"IPB Image\" /][/a]

Hope this helps!

[redbullmarky]

[!--quoteo(post=361763:date=Apr 4 2006, 11:45 PM:name=roseplant)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(roseplant @ Apr 4 2006, 11:45 PM) [snapback]361763[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Perhaps you might make the current page's nav link a different colour to the mouseover link. It just doesn't look great when you mouseover the link next to the one currently selected.
[/quote]
you're right and i'll have a play around with colours at some point today

[!--quoteo(post=361763:date=Apr 4 2006, 11:45 PM:name=roseplant)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(roseplant @ Apr 4 2006, 11:45 PM) [snapback]361763[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
...The page looks very narrow to me...
...This is almost unnoticable, but as you are perfecting your CSS you might be interested to know that the nav bar is 1px smaller in height than the blue box to the left of it.
...The inputted text textarea in the Contact page is too small, and in a different font to the rest of the form....
[/quote]
i've added an extra 150px to the width and the problem with the 1px difference was i had a problem with the nav that left a hairline under it so shifted up the main page to 'cover' it until i worked it out. i've fixed it now so it should be fine. i've also sorted out the fonts - seems that textarea needed an '!important' for it to take note of the font.

[!--quoteo(post=361763:date=Apr 4 2006, 11:45 PM:name=roseplant)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(roseplant @ Apr 4 2006, 11:45 PM) [snapback]361763[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
...if you resize the window smaller than the borders of the textarea, you can't see the scrollbars of the textarea and the page itself has no scrollbars...
[/quote]
i had a line in my css that removed the scrollbars from the main window, as they were appearing but unnecessary. i've changed it to normal so hopefully you can see what i mean...(on IE, anyway)

[!--quoteo(post=361763:date=Apr 4 2006, 11:45 PM:name=roseplant)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(roseplant @ Apr 4 2006, 11:45 PM) [snapback]361763[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
As has been said before, it looks too simple - fine for a static brochure site for a museum or whatever, but for a design site I'd expect to see what the designer is capable of when he is pushed to the limit if you know what I mean.
[/quote]
to be honest, i never really planned to do a site for web work - it was more of an CSS/XHTML + Anti-Table exercise as i've not done a layout without tables before. i'm actually considering something more along the lines of [b][a href=\"http://www.phpfreaks.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=83161\" target=\"_blank\"]obsidian's[/a][/b] site in terms of it being more 'interpersonal'. who knows...

thanks for your help though, it's been helpful!
Cheers
Mark

[steviewdr]

Looking good.

The different colours on a:hover for the menu - are different and sort of nice.

Im glad to see you made it a little wider - does look better.

Your portfolio page - looks nice with the divs and background colours. - One thing tho - The content (divs and layout) of that page looks nicer that the webpage itself. So the Divs with the borders and light haze of a background look cool. Its just that you dont want to "outstyle" your website with the content (not the actual pictures- the styles used in the content).
Get the idea? - Same on the Contact Page. Perhaps a better matching of colours would be better.

-steve

[redbullmarky]

[!--quoteo(post=361912:date=Apr 5 2006, 01:05 PM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 5 2006, 01:05 PM) [snapback]361912[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Looking good.

The different colours on a:hover for the menu - are different and sort of nice.

Im glad to see you made it a little wider - does look better.

Your portfolio page - looks nice with the divs and background colours. - One thing tho - The content (divs and layout) of that page looks nicer that the webpage itself. So the Divs with the borders and light haze of a background look cool. Its just that you dont want to "outstyle" your website with the content (not the actual pictures- the styles used in the content).
Get the idea? - Same on the Contact Page. Perhaps a better matching of colours would be better.

-steve
[/quote]

hi thanks again steve.
i've actually done a bit of a sweep through website critique looking at other people's homepages and a few stood out a little. AndyB - lots of content, well styled and thorough. and obsidian/jcombs as they're more 'personal' sites incorporating their web design into it. to be honest, i've had a think about taking my own site further and decided that i'd probably prefer to have a more 'personal' site along their lines.

i think the hover colours on the nav kind of make things there a little less bland.

in terms of:
[!--quoteo(post=361912:date=Apr 5 2006, 01:05 PM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 5 2006, 01:05 PM) [snapback]361912[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
One thing tho - The content (divs and layout) of that page looks nicer that the webpage itself. So the Divs with the borders and light haze of a background look cool. Its just that you dont want to "outstyle" your website with the content (not the actual pictures- the styles used in the content).
Get the idea? - Same on the Contact Page. Perhaps a better matching of colours would be better.
[/quote]
do you mean that it's 'outstyling' the outer content (ie the header/sides, etc) ? if so, do you have an suggestions?

don't suppose you noticed the large '@' symbol on the content's background did you? knocked it up in Fireworks and i reckon it looks kinda nice. i may try something for the top left (in the red/green crossover area) to see if that makes things a bit better.

otherwise, i'm pretty much finishing a blog/news part to go in there so hopefully will have things done and dusted by end of the day...

Cheers
Mark

[steviewdr]

I like your improvements.

1. The white division lines between your Navigation buttons - Lovely.
2. The dark blue and green line (1 px thick) on the left and bottom of the white content area - Lovely, [b]I think you need to do more of this - giving the areas & divs proper definition.[/b]
3. The blog - The background " looks nice - however dont over kill on it. I seen your earlier blog - with 5 entries and the " background was a bit too much. Perhaps a tone down in the grey (make it lighter) would be better.
4. The colours of the 1px lines in the contact form now look out of place on the nice coloured div & background.
5. The image on your Home page immediately make your site look better - it draws focus and attention. However as with the images on your porfolio - I think that all your images need proper placement and definition. It would be nice if you had a special div for images with a nice border (v.v. light grey, or perhaps a darker right and bottom line - giving shadow effect - I think you are at this as we speak)
6. Ya - your images in the portfolio need tidying up. The padding on the right etc. needs to be fine tuned.
7. use proper styled bullets in the About Me.
8. Yes - Your content is "out-styling" your website (colours etc) a little IMO.
9. obsidian/jcombs websites are very very sweet - well done lads.

[redbullmarky]

well you've probably noticed i've got well distracted with this. sod the work for today hehe....

[!--quoteo(post=361974:date=Apr 5 2006, 04:54 PM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 5 2006, 04:54 PM) [snapback]361974[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
1. The white division lines between your Navigation buttons - Lovely.
2. The dark blue and green line (1 px thick) on the left and bottom of the white content area - Lovely, [b]I think you need to do more of this - giving the areas & divs proper definition.[/b]
[/quote]both were purely accidental, especially the first whilst i was trying to fix something. i wasn't 100% so i left them, so looks like they're there to stay now...

[!--quoteo(post=361974:date=Apr 5 2006, 04:54 PM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 5 2006, 04:54 PM) [snapback]361974[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
3. The blog - The background " looks nice - however dont over kill on it. I seen your earlier blog - with 5 entries and the " background was a bit too much. Perhaps a tone down in the grey (make it lighter) would be better.
[/quote]the background i think looks ok, but you're right, the problem is finding a colour that sits as 'lightly' as possible compared to the background, just like the '@' sign at the bottom right of the white content area. i can't seem to find a nice balance here without them contrasting too much

[!--quoteo(post=361974:date=Apr 5 2006, 04:54 PM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 5 2006, 04:54 PM) [snapback]361974[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
4. The colours of the 1px lines in the contact form now look out of place on the nice coloured div & background.
[/quote]i've (temporarily) changed them to grey to match some of the other parts.

[!--quoteo(post=361974:date=Apr 5 2006, 04:54 PM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 5 2006, 04:54 PM) [snapback]361974[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
5. The image on your Home page immediately make your site look better - it draws focus and attention. However as with the images on your porfolio - I think that all your images need proper placement and definition. It would be nice if you had a special div for images with a nice border (v.v. light grey, or perhaps a darker right and bottom line - giving shadow effect - I think you are at this as we speak)
[/quote]yeah i've been playing around with shadow effects like on my boxes, but sometimes with the images they're so so subtle that they're almost not worth having.

[!--quoteo(post=361974:date=Apr 5 2006, 04:54 PM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 5 2006, 04:54 PM) [snapback]361974[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
6. Ya - your images in the portfolio need tidying up. The padding on the right etc. needs to be fine tuned.
[/quote]not quite sure what you mean here.

[!--quoteo(post=361974:date=Apr 5 2006, 04:54 PM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 5 2006, 04:54 PM) [snapback]361974[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
7. use proper styled bullets in the About Me.
[/quote]on to it.

[!--quoteo(post=361974:date=Apr 5 2006, 04:54 PM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 5 2006, 04:54 PM) [snapback]361974[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
8. Yes - Your content is "out-styling" your website (colours etc) a little IMO.
[/quote]i'm struggling on this one, if i'm honest.


cheers!
Mark

[steviewdr]

It sure is quiet here on this Discussion board this week.

Anyways, here are my few more comments:

The borders around your images are too thick. A 1px light grey boarder (same on all the sides) may be best.

On the home page - the image looks out of place. There is a TON of padding on the top and V.LITTLE on the left. In My Opinion (IMO) the padding on the top should be the same on the left.
This is the same idea on the portfolio page. The padding on the top is WAY MORE than on the left.
Also the BTH Ltd portfolio has a very thick dark border around this picture.

The blog is good, and the faded inverted comma looks good.

I still think you need more styling on the top (red area) and on the left (green) and the bottom.
Perhaps a 3d background image with x-direction on it or something.

-steve

[redbullmarky]

[!--quoteo(post=362183:date=Apr 6 2006, 12:31 PM:name=steviewdr)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(steviewdr @ Apr 6 2006, 12:31 PM) [snapback]362183[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
It sure is quiet here on this Discussion board this week.

Anyways, here are my few more comments:

The borders around your images are too thick. A 1px light grey boarder (same on all the sides) may be best.

On the home page - the image looks out of place. There is a TON of padding on the top and V.LITTLE on the left. In My Opinion (IMO) the padding on the top should be the same on the left.
This is the same idea on the portfolio page. The padding on the top is WAY MORE than on the left.
Also the BTH Ltd portfolio has a very thick dark border around this picture.

The blog is good, and the faded inverted comma looks good.

I still think you need more styling on the top (red area) and on the left (green) and the bottom.
Perhaps a 3d background image with x-direction on it or something.

-steve
[/quote]

hi steve
once again some great points. i'm not gonna be able to do much for the next day or two so if you don't see any changes, it's not because i've ignored them, as i pretty much agree totally with ALL of the above mentioned points.

thanks again!
(ps yeah you're right, it is quiet. oh well, at least youre here to help things along!)

cheers
Mark

[redbullmarky]

right then. i've added some minor cosmetic changes following on from some previous suggestions.

any more thoughts?
cheers
Mark

[jcombs_31]

I don't understand why you have the fixed height? The scroll bar bothers me.

[redbullmarky]

[!--quoteo(post=367183:date=Apr 21 2006, 02:36 PM:name=jcombs_31)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(jcombs_31 @ Apr 21 2006, 02:36 PM) [snapback]367183[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
I don't understand why you have the fixed height? The scroll bar bothers me.
[/quote]

i guess the initial idea was to keep everything fairly neat, compact and in one place. sure, it's not conventional and i could have had things going down the page for miles, but just wanted to try keeping everything together.
if the page was longer than the browser screen, then the scrollbars would still be there anyway, just not on the actual browser window itself.

[jcombs_31]

[!--quoteo(post=367186:date=Apr 21 2006, 09:42 AM:name=redbullmarky)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(redbullmarky @ Apr 21 2006, 09:42 AM) [snapback]367186[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
i guess the initial idea was to keep everything fairly neat, compact and in one place. sure, it's not conventional and i could have had things going down the page for miles, but just wanted to try keeping everything together.
if the page was longer than the browser screen, then the scrollbars would still be there anyway, just not on the actual browser window itself.
[/quote]

but at my resolution 1280x1024 the website only takes up about half my screen and then a get a scroll bar. There is no neeed for it and I would personally let the page expand down.

[redbullmarky]

[!--quoteo(post=367195:date=Apr 21 2006, 03:19 PM:name=jcombs_31)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(jcombs_31 @ Apr 21 2006, 03:19 PM) [snapback]367195[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
but at my resolution 1280x1024 the website only takes up about half my screen and then a get a scroll bar. There is no neeed for it and I would personally let the page expand down.
[/quote]

ahhh ok, point taken. i used to forget about those on 800x600, now i'm forgetting the ones with the bigger screens! Will see what i can do.

cheers
Mark

[jcombs_31]

[!--quoteo(post=367200:date=Apr 21 2006, 10:40 AM:name=redbullmarky)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(redbullmarky @ Apr 21 2006, 10:40 AM) [snapback]367200[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
ahhh ok, point taken. i used to forget about those on 800x600, now i'm forgetting the ones with the bigger screens! Will see what i can do.

cheers
Mark
[/quote]

There's nothing wrong with the site expanding down. If a user is at a low resolution, or browser isn't maximized, they would probably get 2 verticle scroll bars which would be more confusing.