SwiftMailer.org - Redesigned

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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Chris Corbyn
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SwiftMailer.org - Redesigned

Post by Chris Corbyn »

http://www.swiftmailer.org/ (Sorry I feel like I'm on a mad promotion spree with this recently :P)

Looking mostly for comments on usability/accessibility - art/design comments are welcome too though.

(Contact page is being added and a "plugins" page but I don't have time tonight).
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Nathaniel
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Post by Nathaniel »

Looks like good stuff. The only thing I would change would be the Latest Release box. It needs rounded corners to tie in with the rest of the site.

Otherwise, good stuff.
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RobertGonzalez
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Post by RobertGonzalez »

I dig it. Very clean, nice color scheme. Easy to follow, not a lot of fluff. Well done.
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Oren
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Post by Oren »

Never saw the old design, but this one looks great. One thing though... I think you should use more colors cause it looks a little bit plain right now.
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Chris Corbyn
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Post by Chris Corbyn »

Oren wrote:Never saw the old design, but this one looks great. One thing though... I think you should use more colors cause it looks a little bit plain right now.
I like plain :) Nobody can struggle to read plain and plain doesn't dsitract the eyes too much. Thanks for the input though :)
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Chris Corbyn
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Post by Chris Corbyn »

Nathaniel wrote:The only thing I would change would be the Latest Release box. It needs rounded corners to tie in with the rest of the site.
I was toying with the idea, although sometimes it's easy to go overboard on a particular look which I was concious of... I have to admit I didn't try it though so I'll give it a shot and see how it looks. I also considered just keeping it square but adding that really fine gradient you see on the rounded boxes.

Glad nobody's said anything tricky to find or anything :)
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RobertGonzalez
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Post by RobertGonzalez »

If there is one comment you should NOT get is that anything is tricky or difficult to find. As for the rounded edges, it would look nice but would add a lot more markup to the base HTML. Leave it the way it is. It suits its purpose. And besides, I doubt any developer would going to your site to check out your markup anyway. What they really want lies behind all that. :wink:

God job d11. Keep up the good work.
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Post by pickle »

  1. As has been said - very clean. There's not too much content on one page, so it's not difficult to find one's way around.
  2. I'd get rid of the 'ruler' div between the "Latest release" box & the Google ads box
  3. It doesn't validate: W3C
  4. The navigation tabs are elevated a bit in Firefox - the bottom of the tabs isn't flush with the big blue header. I'm not sure if that's by design or not.
  5. I agree with ~Nathaniel - you should round the corners of the 'Latest Release' box - maybe making it the same blue as the header would give the site some more continuity.
All-together, a pretty decent looking, useful & usable site.
Real programmers don't comment their code. If it was hard to write, it should be hard to understand.
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Chris Corbyn
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Post by Chris Corbyn »

pickle wrote:
  1. As has been said - very clean. There's not too much content on one page, so it's not difficult to find one's way around.
  2. I'd get rid of the 'ruler' div between the "Latest release" box & the Google ads box
  3. It doesn't validate: W3C
  4. The navigation tabs are elevated a bit in Firefox - the bottom of the tabs isn't flush with the big blue header. I'm not sure if that's by design or not.
  5. I agree with ~Nathaniel - you should round the corners of the 'Latest Release' box - maybe making it the same blue as the header would give the site some more continuity.
All-together, a pretty decent looking, useful & usable site.
1. Cool :)
2. Hmm...
3. 8O that must have happened when I threw the paypal button in :oops: It did validate. I'll fix that asap.
4. Intentional, there's actually a 3px white line on the bottom of the tab image.
5. OK I'll try this now :)
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Chris Corbyn
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Post by Chris Corbyn »

Okie I've rounded off the corners and fixed that validation issue (<form> didn't have a <div> inside it).

Not sure why but the corners ain't wanting to go nice and round, they look round in Gimp but so much not in firefox :( Does it look better?
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RobertGonzalez
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Post by RobertGonzalez »

Man those corners look like hell :) . No, seriously, they are not round in the output. It looks like that are either getting stretched sideways or squished upwards.
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Chris Corbyn
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Post by Chris Corbyn »

Ooops... I think I know what that is :oops: I have an 8px margin on the right hand side of the box I've forgotten to account for.... Must trim my image(s) :)
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Post by Chris Corbyn »

Fixed.... if the box wasn't going to vary in height depending what versions are in the repository I would have added the vertical gradient but it won't work right. Cheers everyone... I think that's all :)
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Nathaniel
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Post by Nathaniel »

Hey, much better :)
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Post by pickle »

Yep - better.
Real programmers don't comment their code. If it was hard to write, it should be hard to understand.
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