Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
critique my website please
- Thread starter noelister
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I like it a lot! Its very clean, and I can tell that you are planning on doing some really cool things with it. You have inspired me!
Here is mine... any opinions/critiques are appreciated.
http://www.derekbalsley.com
Here is mine... any opinions/critiques are appreciated.
http://www.derekbalsley.com
It's nice and clean, very simple. I would just change the highlight color to something other than orange - I feel it is too distracting.
irmongoose
irmongoose
The height of the boxes size dynamically with the content. I guess I could increase the padding to even them out. However, if a visitor uses the contact form the contact box will become larger but I guess that would be fine.
Thanks for checking it out mac
Terry,
Your site design looks very clean and has a nice aesthetic. Although you don't really have any content on the site yet, it seems to make it easy for the user to easily browse and read information. The only minor inconsistency is in the spacing of the white space between the contentWrap div and the "About Me" grey box in comparison to the wider spacing on your other 2nd-level pages.
Otherwise, random suggestions:
1) You may want to consider highlighting the active link in your navigation bar. Right now, the navigation bar highlights the link on mouseover, which is good. However, it'd be better to also have the active link highlighted so that the user always knows where they are on your website.
2) On the topic of keeping your users informed about their status, depending on how complex the information architecture of your site becomes, you might want to add a basic breadcrumb at the top of each page. However, if your site doesn't go much deeper than two or three levels, then there isn't really any need for a breadcrumb -- it'd just end up detracting from the aesthetics of your site.
3) Depending on the breadth of content you put under "Getting Personal", you may need to to change this label. For example, as it stands right now, you have a photo gallery of your art and photography work. In this case, renaming this section to "Photo Gallery", "Gallery of Art Work", or "My Art and Photography" would do a better job of conveying the nature of the content behind this link. The trick is trying to find the balance between descriptiveness and being too wordy. You be the judge.
4) I'm nitpicking here, but try differentiating the nav bar from the header/banner image a little bit more. Something as simple as an extra white line on top of the nav bar text would help separate it from your nDesign logo. Yeah, I know, it'll take a complete doofus to not be able to identify it as a nav bar, but hey, the devil's in the details.
5) Think of ways to add value to your site. I assume this will only be your personal homepage, so this shouldn't be a high priority given your user base. However, think of ways that you can provide your visitors with features and links that they will find useful.
That's my $0.02. Take it with a grain of salt, and exercise your own judgement. Keep up the work, and post back with your design updates.
Your site design looks very clean and has a nice aesthetic. Although you don't really have any content on the site yet, it seems to make it easy for the user to easily browse and read information. The only minor inconsistency is in the spacing of the white space between the contentWrap div and the "About Me" grey box in comparison to the wider spacing on your other 2nd-level pages.
Otherwise, random suggestions:
1) You may want to consider highlighting the active link in your navigation bar. Right now, the navigation bar highlights the link on mouseover, which is good. However, it'd be better to also have the active link highlighted so that the user always knows where they are on your website.
2) On the topic of keeping your users informed about their status, depending on how complex the information architecture of your site becomes, you might want to add a basic breadcrumb at the top of each page. However, if your site doesn't go much deeper than two or three levels, then there isn't really any need for a breadcrumb -- it'd just end up detracting from the aesthetics of your site.
3) Depending on the breadth of content you put under "Getting Personal", you may need to to change this label. For example, as it stands right now, you have a photo gallery of your art and photography work. In this case, renaming this section to "Photo Gallery", "Gallery of Art Work", or "My Art and Photography" would do a better job of conveying the nature of the content behind this link. The trick is trying to find the balance between descriptiveness and being too wordy. You be the judge.
4) I'm nitpicking here, but try differentiating the nav bar from the header/banner image a little bit more. Something as simple as an extra white line on top of the nav bar text would help separate it from your nDesign logo. Yeah, I know, it'll take a complete doofus to not be able to identify it as a nav bar, but hey, the devil's in the details.
5) Think of ways to add value to your site. I assume this will only be your personal homepage, so this shouldn't be a high priority given your user base. However, think of ways that you can provide your visitors with features and links that they will find useful.
For example, think of creating a website devoted to...PlayStation. On this site, you might have reviews of popular games. For each individual review page, instead of just providing your text review, help your users out by also providing deep links to online retailers who sell that game, that particular retailer's price, etc. C|Net does a good job of this, and this adds value for their visitors by allowing them to 1) buy the game immediately, 2) find the current prices of that game from various online retailers. All this without having to completely leave the C|Net site.
How can this be applied to your site? For example, to help visitors see the greatness of your web design proposal for Shawnee State, also provide them a direct link and screenshot of the current Shawnee State website. You spent all that time redesigning the website, and I'm sure it's a lot better than the actual current site, but I really don't know unless I can actually compare it to the real website. Rather than forcing me to pop open Google and look up the Shawnee State URL, provide me a hotlink. Make it easy for me (the user) to find relevant information, and it'll directly influence how easy it will be for me to see how good your work really is.
These kinds of value-adding features can also be extended to search bars. Maybe add a search bar at the top of each page that allows the user to search within your site. If your site gets big enough and complex enough, this would be a nice feature for those people who are too lazy to flip through each page of your website to see if you offer the goods. Don't make them bail your site and go to Google -- make Google come to them via your website.
How can this be applied to your site? For example, to help visitors see the greatness of your web design proposal for Shawnee State, also provide them a direct link and screenshot of the current Shawnee State website. You spent all that time redesigning the website, and I'm sure it's a lot better than the actual current site, but I really don't know unless I can actually compare it to the real website. Rather than forcing me to pop open Google and look up the Shawnee State URL, provide me a hotlink. Make it easy for me (the user) to find relevant information, and it'll directly influence how easy it will be for me to see how good your work really is.
These kinds of value-adding features can also be extended to search bars. Maybe add a search bar at the top of each page that allows the user to search within your site. If your site gets big enough and complex enough, this would be a nice feature for those people who are too lazy to flip through each page of your website to see if you offer the goods. Don't make them bail your site and go to Google -- make Google come to them via your website.
That's my $0.02. Take it with a grain of salt, and exercise your own judgement. Keep up the work, and post back with your design updates.