Critic a site?

It doesn't matter if you do all the error checking in the world, or if you have the most beautiful graphics, if your site or application design isn't usable, it's not going to do well. Get input and advice on usability and user interface issues here.

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infolock
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Critic a site?

Post by infolock »

Well, d11wtq hooked me up with a test domain to work with, and so i've decided to actually try and do something with it... at least something semi-cool..

it's definatley a work in progress (the text being yellow just screams for a change, but I placed it that way simply until i found a color i am satisfied with), and none of the links are yet working. i'm more or less just playing around with the layout and how i want it to look..

Added php.net's search engine on it too. anyways, gimmie hell. :twisted:
Last edited by infolock on Mon May 02, 2005 2:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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shiznatix
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Post by shiznatix »

not bad, yes the yellow definatly needs changed and i think you should change the font in the banner to somtin a little smoother. maybe the left side image should strech to the bottom of the page. other than that its pretty good, keep it going!
malcolmboston
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Post by malcolmboston »

without meaning to sound critical of your work, as i know your a top coder from when i was more active on devnet but that site just simply looks like <span style='color:blue' title='I&#39;m naughty, are you naughty?'>smurf</span>, no offence, you ask for feedback and im giving it, the site just looks "amateurish" like something from geocities...

i personally suggest you start again and use some CSS styling.

My $0.02, sorry if i have caused any offence to you, but personally, i would prefer someone to tell me if i had done it.
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JayBird
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Post by JayBird »

malcolmboston wrote:without meaning to sound critical of your work, as i know your a top coder from when i was more active on devnet but that site just simply looks like <span style='color:blue' title='I&#39;m naughty, are you naughty?'>smurf</span>, no offence, you ask for feedback and im giving it, the site just looks "amateurish" like something from geocities...

i personally suggest you start again and use some CSS styling.

My $0.02, sorry if i have caused any offence to you, but personally, i would prefer someone to tell me if i had done it.
Sorry Mal, i know your not the kind of person just to slate a site, and saying something is "<span style='color:blue' title='I&#39;m naughty, are you naughty?'>smurf</span>" is all well and good if you give your reasons as to why you think this and suggest possible improvements.

Thats how a crtique usually works
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pleigh
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Post by pleigh »

i would suggest changing font properties like styles and colors...
malcolmboston
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Post by malcolmboston »

i agree i was somewhat harsh, as i dont know if hes purely concentrating on the PHP at the moment or what...

however i would still say that the "generated" or whatever HTML should be changed and made more "slick"

It may be benificial to use stylesheets to edit some properties such as the fonts used, colouring schema, navigation system etc.

Also the "banner" that fills the top and the left side of the page should be changed or removed completely as it will not look right when retrieving large amounts of dynamic data, you could employ some CSS attributes to stop this but in my opinion you should remove it.

Also, is there any good reason for using images for your navigation system? looks to me like exactly the same thing could be dont just using plain html definitions, doing it your way causes a few issues with older versions of browsers etc and simply increases load times of your pages which is completely unnecessary
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infolock
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Post by infolock »

thanks for the feedback, it's very much appreciated.

Malcom, dont worry about your feedback, I would much rather someone be 100% honest with their opinion rather than feed me bull ;)

First, yeah the html sucks. I think you could ask d1 and he'd tell ya i put it up in less than a day heh.

So, i had to make some quick code work. The layout though is what i'm more or less worried about. I honestly had that side image placed there so that I could eventually just move the above top links to the side with some sort of tree navigation or something of the sort, so i could more or less get an idea of how it would work. I honestly also haven't touched it since I finished working with it heh.

As far as CSS goes, beleive it or not, I don't know it at all. I simply just handcode some html, build the tables, and then throw the rest of it in.

Besides the font, I'd have to admit that this was an honest attempt at trying to design. I'm more of a backend guy who just writes scripts that do things, not the guy who actually works out designing it for eye candy lol.

in other words, i'm about 98.1% left brained and 1.9% right brain (meaning i have all kinds of math skills, just absolutely no drawing/artistic skills).

In any case, I'll definatley take your advice and look into css.

I guess my main problem is that I don't understand what things makes a good site.. This, believe it or not, is hard to explain.. I mean, I can think of how a site should look, but I can't put it together cuz I don't understand enough about drawing or (as in your suggestion) css.

So, I'm limited to just what I can do. Again, thanks a lot for the input (both positive and negative). I'll take your advice and think about redoing it. I don't think i'll go so far as trying to use flash, although i'm sure it wouldn't hurt to learn it.

Thanks again =)


edit : sorry for making this a long reply. you know how long-winded i can be sometimes ;)
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feyd
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Post by feyd »

Moved to UI.
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infolock
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Post by infolock »

sorry feyd.. forgot we even had that heh..


anyways, after some thinking, i guess i *could* just buy a site off templatemonster and just build from it, though i kinda wanted to get an idea as to how to make a good solid site without the aid of a template..
malcolmboston
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Post by malcolmboston »

infolock wrote: I guess my main problem is that I don't understand what things makes a good site.. This, believe it or not, is hard to explain.. I mean, I can think of how a site should look, but I can't put it together cuz I don't understand enough about drawing or (as in your suggestion) css.
anyone who tells you how to make a successful site is being naive, there is no magic formula, just be creative, code/design with users in mind and hopefully it will be a success.

The rule is tend to use is make it as simple and intuitive as humanly possible to use, we might be internet experts but many others are not, remember this..
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infolock
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Post by infolock »

Well, I finally have my own domain and a new design. I kinda like the new look I got going on now, and think that this is my final try to do anything.

Comments welcome


http://www.jonhibbard.com
Roja
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Post by Roja »

infolock wrote:Well, I finally have my own domain and a new design. I kinda like the new look I got going on now, and think that this is my final try to do anything.

Comments welcome


http://www.jonhibbard.com
- Html isn't valid.
- Html is closest to 4.01 transitional (Go for strict, or even xhtml)
- The "header" blue (background to Site News, Nav Menu, etc) clashes a bit with the orange highlights
- The "item" blue (background to Nav menu items like Home) is a touch too dark. - Try to match it to the fantastic () color.
- Links dont work ;)
- Love the quick rollovers (css?)
- The header background (php-code) is a little cheesy, but if you are gonna go with it, add a larger dropshadow on the domain name
- The header background (php-code) could also use a different, less fuzzy font.
- Add a photo or image of somekind, possibly a few on random rotation to break up the monotony
- Switch to PNG's. ;)
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infolock
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Post by infolock »

Roja wrote:
infolock wrote:Well, I finally have my own domain and a new design. I kinda like the new look I got going on now, and think that this is my final try to do anything.

Comments welcome


http://www.jonhibbard.com
- Html isn't valid.
- Html is closest to 4.01 transitional (Go for strict, or even xhtml)
- The "header" blue (background to Site News, Nav Menu, etc) clashes a bit with the orange highlights
- The "item" blue (background to Nav menu items like Home) is a touch too dark. - Try to match it to the fantastic () color.
- Links dont work ;)
- Love the quick rollovers (css?)
- The header background (php-code) is a little cheesy, but if you are gonna go with it, add a larger dropshadow on the domain name
- The header background (php-code) could also use a different, less fuzzy font.
- Add a photo or image of somekind, possibly a few on random rotation to break up the monotony
- Switch to PNG's. ;)
Yeah, none of the links work as I just kinda put it all together..

The header was actually made by a friend of mine. Told him I wanted something simple and cut and dry. I like it though the code may change and i'll see if I can't add a drop shadow to the domain name.

and yeah, png quality is what i've fallen in love with as well ;)

As for the rest, I'll try my best to redo it. (btw, yeah the quick rollovers are css). Thanks bro ! :)

I'm trying to make a nice place for employeers to find out about me. I'm getting sick of my job and gonna try to find something better.. the first step in that is a good solid website. Thanks for the input, as it's much appreciated.
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mudkicker
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Post by mudkicker »

i really liked your css menu. :D
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onion2k
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Post by onion2k »

Roja wrote:- The "header" blue (background to Site News, Nav Menu, etc) clashes a bit with the orange highlights
Blue and orange are compliments of each other, how can they clash?
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