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Site Design and UI usability critique
Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 4:05 pm
by PrObLeM
Hello,
I would like a critique of my site
http://www.sp0rk.com/ , not only the design but the usability of the site as a whole.
Sp0rk was created to help friends communicate with eachother no matter where in the world they may be. Now sp0rk has evolved into a place where anyone can join and meet new people. By using new technology and standards sp0rk has been trusted into the web 2.0 era.
Some Features: (more comming)
-blog
-image hosting
-tagging
-comments (using ajax)
-friends list
-itunes playlist upload
-playlist stats
-you can buy albums directly from the site via amazon
A few buzzwords, that apply to sp0rk, for all of thoes VCs out there
* AJAX
* RSS feeds
* Javascript
* PHP
* Social Networking
* Taging
* Folksonomy
* iTunes
* ham sandwich
site url:
http://www.sp0rk.com
my personal page:
http://www.sp0rk.com/users/mike/
Thanks alot.
Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 4:45 pm
by Charles256
Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 4:56 pm
by feyd
First the validation errors:
HTML: 61 errors
CSS: 1 Error, 7 Warnings and a bunch of notices
Fails WAI
Fails Section 508
OK, so now on to design:
Logo: plain, but readable.
I feel your header control bar could be better positioned under the logo, or jazzed up with something as it doesn't pop on the page enough to catch my eye. I feel whitespace is just as crucial as positive space, so the tags are very cramped, although If find the ~random size changes interesting.. the central column could use some more whitespace as well, and the right column somewhat feels like noise...
I think the page may work a little better if centered, but the page is still unbalanced due to the volumn of color and shapes of the right side over the left and center..
Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 4:59 pm
by Charles256
hmm.the word too busy comes to mind...just seems cluttered to me...
Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 5:44 pm
by PrObLeM
I Fixed the xHtml Errors. silly me, also the Section 508
Tags block: This is very similar to how other major sites lay out their tags. i.e flickr, collegehumor etc etc.
And I'm going for a minimlistic look that has worked for other big name sites. How can i still have the content on the front page while still having users browse the site?
Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 6:05 pm
by jayshields
my criticism:
- google ad gets in way
- content block too thin
- random font sizes on left looks a bit weird
- the goombas in top left are too big
- sounds too much like
http://www.b0rk.co.uk/
- logo is too simple
how to improve:
- move the link bar at top in place of google ad and make it bigger, if you want to keep the google ad move it out of sight, ie. very bottom of page
- make the link bar have image buttons with rollovers or something snazzy
- reduce white space in sign up block
good points:
- nice and simple
- two tone colour scheme
- straight to the point content
sorry if im harsh, im just trying to give constructive criticism.
Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2005 3:28 pm
by PrObLeM
jayshields wrote:my criticism:
- google ad gets in way
- content block too thin
- random font sizes on left looks a bit weird
- the goombas in top left are too big
- sounds too much like
http://www.b0rk.co.uk/
- logo is too simple
how to improve:
- move the link bar at top in place of google ad and make it bigger, if you want to keep the google ad move it out of sight, ie. very bottom of page
- make the link bar have image buttons with rollovers or something snazzy
- reduce white space in sign up block
sorry if im harsh, im just trying to give constructive criticism.
I fixed that stuff. Any more suggestions?