Looking for feedback on my website design

[lostingamma]

I am developing a website for my school, and I was hoping you guys could give me some feedback on it. It should look the same in IE5-IE8, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari, I tested it in those browsers. Let me know what you think, and any suggestions you have. Thanks

http://itac.case.edu:81/

The site will eventually be used for displaying surveys for the students, etc. Don't pay too much attention to the sidebar words, I am not sure exactly what content is going to be there as of this moment.

 

[corywoolf]

I am developing a website for my school, and I was hoping you guys could give me some feedback on it. It should look the same in IE5-IE8, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari, I tested it in those browsers. Let me know what you think, and any suggestions you have. Thanks

http://itac.case.edu:81/

The site will eventually be used for displaying surveys for the students, etc. Don't pay too much attention to the sidebar words, I am not sure exactly what content is going to be there as of this moment.

The page looks pretty good. Not sure why you have twitter and facebook placeholders, are people really going to use those links? Try to make it a little more unique and fit in with academic sites.

This schools' website has won awards for design. I really like their layout and usability. Maybe you could make your template match your school colors a bit more. The stripes at the top make me think of a blogger site. Don't be afraid to shun some of the glossiness of web 2.0. Your page really looks like you just took a template and put it up on your server without tweaking it much. But it is not a bad idea to stick with a template, just try to find one that looks more academic.

It's just my opinion, do what you want.
You could stick with your existing template and make some minor tweaks or opt for a free template from a site like this...

http://www.templatesbox.com/premium-templates/website-templates/template202.htm

 

[lostingamma]

Actually, I designed this website from scratch, not a template. But I do agree that maybe it should be more with the schools colors. As for the icons near the top, I probably should have explained what the site will do.

The site is basically for Case, and it will be a website where students can take surveys created by the professors. My employer was students to be able to post their results on facebook, thus I am also going to be making a facebook app after the site is done. As for twitter, students will also be able to tweet their results etc. My employer really wants students to be able to share and talk about their results of the surveys they will be taking. I know thats no reason to need those icons there, but this is just kinda a proof of concept mockup.

 

[63dot]

I would say move copy to left a little and don't indent first sentences of paragraphs.

 

[RonCarr]

This schools' website has won awards for design. I really like their layout and usability.

What school site has won awards? case.edu?

As for a little feedback:

-The "Latest Users" section needs to be moved over. Maybe float it to the left so it is not so close to the main content.
-I agree with 63dot, don't indent the paragraphs, any maybe try justifying them
-Not really a big fan of the dotted border around the container, probably just a solid one would look nicer
-The navigation list needs to be moved to the left a little so the last link is not past the content container
-If you want to keep the social networking icons maybe try moving them into one of the side sections, they look way out of place

Other than those few things it is looking great!

 

[settings]

its fine
maybe a school symbol in header.

 

[corywoolf]

What school site has won awards? case.edu?

As for a little feedback:

-The "Latest Users" section needs to be moved over. Maybe float it to the left so it is not so close to the main content.
-I agree with 63dot, don't indent the paragraphs, any maybe try justifying them
-Not really a big fan of the dotted border around the container, probably just a solid one would look nicer
-The navigation list needs to be moved to the left a little so the last link is not past the content container
-If you want to keep the social networking icons maybe try moving them into one of the side sections, they look way out of place

Other than those few things it is looking great!

Woops, I forgot to paste the link...

www.wccnet.edu

I like the site because it's modern/creative looking and has good usability. I am not saying you could easily create a site like this, it would probably take a long time to put together, just more of the layout and style was what I was getting at.

 

[corywoolf]

Actually, I designed this website from scratch, not a template. But I do agree that maybe it should be more with the schools colors. As for the icons near the top, I probably should have explained what the site will do.

The site is basically for Case, and it will be a website where students can take surveys created by the professors. My employer was students to be able to post their results on facebook, thus I am also going to be making a facebook app after the site is done. As for twitter, students will also be able to tweet their results etc. My employer really wants students to be able to share and talk about their results of the surveys they will be taking. I know thats no reason to need those icons there, but this is just kinda a proof of concept mockup.

Sounds like a good idea then, maybe just put something near the icons to explain their intended use.