Need your guys' opinions!

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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WithHisStripes
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Need your guys' opinions!

Post by WithHisStripes »

Heya,
I need your guys' opinions. I have a website I'm designing http://www.firstcause.org and I really don't like it so far. Now, I used frames, :/ I know, they suck, I'm in the middle getting rid of them, but other than that, what do you guys think about this site? Be brutal but constructive! Thanks!
You can view my PHP scripts at http://www.firstcause.org/php_scripts.zip

-Spence
Last edited by WithHisStripes on Mon Oct 03, 2005 9:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Charles256
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Post by Charles256 »

brutal: man.wrong forum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
constructive: i'll go look at the site
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feyd
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Post by feyd »

Charles is right, PHP - Code is the wrong forum to ask for feedback on your site.. Moved to UI.
WithHisStripes
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Post by WithHisStripes »

Whoops, okay I forgot to add a link to my php scripts, thanks! :/

-Spence
Charles256
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Post by Charles256 »

i'm not a big fan of how you did the nav bars..on the top and bottom..it just is...I don't know..it bothers me... non-standard and all..I do like the effect when I hover over the links.
WithHisStripes
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Post by WithHisStripes »

Yeah, it kind of bothers me to, I wanted to create a structured feel, but it turned out more like cramped. On the updated version, that navbars are still top/bottom, but they are confined to the viewable area in the browser, meaning, you scroll way to the bottom depending on how much information is between the to. I want this to be original, but I can't quiet find a good place for the navbar without it being too plain, any tips?
Charles256
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Post by Charles256 »

only tip I have is that there is a reason nav bars are where they are.it's just natural:-D but do what you will :-D
WithHisStripes
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Post by WithHisStripes »

Yeah, I guess that usability, at least for this website, is more important that creativity. Thanks for the input bud!
Charles256
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Post by Charles256 »

no problem.tell me when you've made some changes and I'll go look again:)
pilau
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Post by pilau »

I suggest that when the mouse moves out of the navigation buttons reverse the green leaves effect, otherwise it just stands ther and interrupting with the text labels reading.
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Post by foobar »

Roja
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Re: Need your guys' opinions!

Post by Roja »

WithHisStripes wrote:Heya,
I need your guys' opinions.
- Kill the frames
- Kill the flash for navigation menus - try turning off flash and navigating your site. Can't.
- Make the nav menu actually display - By default at 1024x768, I only see one and a half nav choices in the frame.
- Fix the html to make it html-compliant: http://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1 ... cause.org/
WithHisStripes
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Post by WithHisStripes »

Good point about turning flash off. I would really like to keep the flash on the site however, but that's a totally practical point, so do you have any suggestions on how I could maybe have the site check to see whether they have flash or not, maybe automatically install it on their computer, like a font, --OR-- have regular html buttons appear as an alternative.
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Nathaniel
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Post by Nathaniel »

WithHisStripes wrote:Good point about turning flash off. I would really like to keep the flash on the site however, but that's a totally practical point, so do you have any suggestions on how I could maybe have the site check to see whether they have flash or not, maybe automatically install it on their computer, like a font, --OR-- have regular html buttons appear as an alternative.
You just need to kill the flash, man. Accessability is always better than the cool factor... although the cool factor is sometimes hard to give up, I know. ;)
Roja
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Post by Roja »

WithHisStripes wrote:Good point about turning flash off. I would really like to keep the flash on the site however, but that's a totally practical point, so do you have any suggestions on how I could maybe have the site check to see whether they have flash or not, maybe automatically install it on their computer, like a font, --OR-- have regular html buttons appear as an alternative.
There isn't (as far as I know) an effective way to test for flash that can occur in a single page view. You can detect it in js, and then redirect to a second page, almost invisibly, but its not very reliable.

Honestly, ask yourself why you want it, and what it adds. Right now *all* it adds is a cute animation on the buttons. Buttons, which I cannot even see all of, and which I will *actually look at* to navigate perhaps 1/100th of the time I am on your site.

With that in mind, it should be a more clear choice: Meaningless bells and whistles for 1% of the experience isn't worth the headache and hassle.
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