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jordanste said:
get rid of the opacity, it looks really bad, and its not valid css at this point. the background image is incredibly ugly. what's wrong with a solid colour? I think the logo needs work as well. The biggest thing I see overall, however, is that the whole design is very cramped. It doesnt appear that you have used any padding anywhere n your design. I would heavily recommend it. The way the text runs right up to the border just makes it more difficult and annoying to read.

Just trying to help. If you have any questions about any of this, ask away.
Click to expand...

I'll probably redo the logo, I agree it is a bit ugly. How do you mean the text runs right up to the border and makes it difficult and annoying to read. I like this constructive criticism because it will help make the site better. I was away this weekend and haven't done anything to the site, this week I am also a little busy but I'll try and make some amendments to make my customers happy :) Any suggestions for the actual content etc?
 
sorry, for the incorrect statement about the opacity being invalid, i was under the impression it was only valid under css 3.

now, im looking at your markup and it looks like in your "main" div you have an unordered list put you dont have any list items... just paragraph tags, try grouping your articles in <li > list item tags inside the <ul > tags. Then try adding padding to each <li > tag add this to your css.

Code: 
div#siderbarleft,div#sidebarright,div#main ul li {
    padding: 0 4px;
}

that should help it breathe a bit. i think a lot could be done to help this site out, but i feel like thats a good start in the right direction.
 
One thing I don't think has been spoken to yet is that I find the link styles very inconsistent. In the center div, you have a header that is underlined, but is definitely not a link, then within the content of it you have links that are underlined and look nearly identical in style. On the sides, you have links that are not underlined and titles that are (but aren't clickable), and it's very confusing for a visitor. I would recommend either underlining your links or removing all underlining from the site (except perhaps where it's being used for emphasis). If you want a different method emphasizing links (which some method is definitely recommended, as you want people to know they can click on them), try making them bold, blue, or some other distinctively different style. I personally prefer making my links bold and some color that fits with the theme of the site (in your case I'd recommend making them blue, the same or similar to the blue in your background).

jW
 
Hey thanks for that. I knew to start with that it would be confusing but with the original style it was impossible to tell where the links were in the "What's New" section. I'll try making them bold then blue and see which looks better. :)
 
much better without the opacity. I'm on my phone and can't see your source but try the padding and the above suggestion regarding link formatting would help a lot as well.
 
I tried out the code you suggested and well... it didn't turn out too well lol. How do you want the padding to appear? I'm unsure what you are trying to get at.
 
Misread your post, I changed the html too and it looks a lot better now. Thanks :)
I've made the links blue. The topic titles don't look right now. How can I leave them black but make it obvious they are links without underlining? They are underlined anyway because they are the headers...
 
Actually, I would suggest removing the underlining and leaving them blue. If you want them to be black, just define them in the css (you'll have to add a class= to them, probably header or something similar) and it will override the link style. Either way I think they would look better without underlining. You still need to make the links in the navigation on the left and right (right side especially) obvious, and again probably remove the underlining from the headings which are not links. Even if you aren't using underlining to indicate your links, most people assume any text on a web page which is underlined is a link because that's been the convention for a long time. You'll find that italics or bold text is a much better way of indicating a header or emphasis.

jW
 
I'm experimenting with my right sidebar organization and the only way the headers can stand out is if they are underlines. Check out the page currently online to see what I mean.
 
Anyone got any idea how to display PhpBB forum posts on the homepage like MacRumors.com does? At the moment I'm having to post to my homepage using wordpress and add a forum post separately. Any suggestions?
 
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