Topic: kewlster.com redesign...again

OK I redesigned kewlster.com tell me what you think. You'll probably all hate the splash page, as do I, I'm going to kill it as soon as I get time, probably tomarrow so you may not even see it by the time you get there. It's a pretty simple site shouldn't be that hard of a review. Just tell me some stuff I could fix up, or stuff that you like. There's not much content up yet, but when there is this site will pretty much be a whole lot of links as you will see when you look around. Anyways just please give me a good review so that I can make it better, don't spare my feelings.

edit: Hmm I'm looking at the splash page again and I really like the fade in with that picture, but there isn't really anywhere else on the site to put it, any ideas?

kewl

Mad Scientist

[This message has been edited by maninacan (edited 04-22-2002).]

I forget what the old site looked like so I can not tell you If i like this any better or not. That being said..

I like the simplicity of it, but.....The color of the cel background is all wrong for the page... Instead of green, make it a lighter grey maybe. That is all i can see right now, but it is 3am and I was just woken up by my son. I will peek at the rest of the site later.

OK I had a few minutes and put up one with lighter gray, except I didn't have time to remake the buttons. Anyways go here http://www.kewlster.com/new/index.php?page=Home to see what it may look like with lighter gray, I'll mess around with that after school today.

kewl

Mad Scientist

sooooo... anyone gonna review it???? I changed the buttons, and added a little bit of a green tinge (I like green, so sue me) to this one: www.kewlster.com/new/index.php?page=Home

edit: hmmmm. I still like the first green one better? what do you guys think?

kewl

Mad Scientist


[This message has been edited by maninacan (edited 04-23-2002).]

Okay, I like the header logo (could use better anti-aliasing on the end though), the main content box is good. The white on grey text with yellow title and orange links all works good for me.

There are a number of things I don't like:

• The red borders rub me the wrong way. They kind of flash against the background visually for me and draw attention away from the content. Have you tried making the borders black?
• I think the navigation header is not necessary. People will know what it is.
• The header for your main content is often redundant, with the main header not only saying the same thing as the header just underneath it, but also the same font without an underline. I would be inclined to lose the top header, but if you want to keep both you should differentiate the main header by making it bigger.
• I think the navigation would look better if the text were aligned either right or left, not centered.
• The more I look at the navigation the more it seems separate from the rest of the page. Maybe if you aligned it with the main content table...
• You might consider adding a few small images to pull the design together a bit more. For example, you could create little icons for the navigation links, then on each page have a big version of the icon next to the title.

Hope that helps some. I don't necessarily like critiquing others' work because aesthetics is a personal thing. Nevertheless I've taken a lot of art classes, so I've learned how to give and receive criticism without pain.

-jiblet

I would have to agree with jiblet about the red borders. Also, why does your logo disappear when you mouse over it? Maybe it's just me, but I don't like stuff that disappears when I mouse over it; it's vaguely disorienting. But that's just a personal thing, I guess.

Speaking of the logo, the font just doesn't seem to fit my image of "kewl." Someone in a previous review suggested a cartoon drawing of a hipster who's just too cool for his own shorts. Or something along those lines. Anyway, I thought that was a nifty idea. The first thing that popped into my head when I heard that was Slick, from Sinfest. Not saying that you should rip off Slick (he's basically just a hip Calvin, anyway), but that was the sort of thing I thought of. Again, this is pretty much personal preference, so in the end you should go with what works for you.

At any rate, I do think the site is improving!



[This message has been edited by Suho1004 (edited 04-23-2002).]

Thanks for the tips. I'll change the border when I can, I'll try black and then fiddle with it if I don't like it. I'll consider changing the mouseover thing for the logo, I'll probably change it to fade like the splash page does. I sorta want to keep the content header so I'll try some different things with it and see what looks good, and ask your guys' opinions again. I'll probably kill off the nav header, and try to make the navigation menu work with the rest of the page, I have a few ideas already, and I'll see if any of them look good. About the logo, well I'd really like to make it something cool like you're talking about, but honestly I don't know very much at all when it comes to graphics so it's just out of my reach. Could you guys post if you like the green of the light grey one better? Personally I still like the green one, maybe I could mess with it a little, but the site needs to have color, maybe you guys can give me some ideas of what to do with this.

kewl

Mad Scientist

quote:

---

About the logo, well I'd really like to make it something cool like you're talking about, but honestly I don't know very much at all when it comes to graphics so it's just out of my reach.

---

I can relate to that, believe me. I usually use up all my artistic talent for the day spreading jam on my toast in the morning.

As for the background, I think I like the gray better, but that might just be because of the red border. It just seems a bit too much. It might work with black borders, though. For some reason, though, the green looks like an army green to me, and that's what I think of when I see it. Maybe something a little darker (especially since your text is white), like a forest green?

(Now that I look at it again, it is easier to read on the green because of the greater contrast...)

Don't sell yourself short on the artistic tip. Fire up photoshop and start playing around. Do some tutorials and build your understanding of the tools. Before you know it you'll start having all kinds of ideas.


-jiblet

OK, I made some changes, go check it out: http://www.kewlster.com

kewl

Mad Scientist

I definitely like the black border better, and I think the design is a lot nicer here. I noticed a slight (1px) gap in the border on the left side, apparently where the left hand graphic joins the top and bottom borders (this is in Netscape 6.2.1 and Explorer 6; it's fine in Opera 5).

Now that I see it with the black border, I don't have a problem with the green. If you like it, keep it.

I don't see the gap you're talking about, could you take a screenshot? Also what are people's opinions on the splash page.

kewl

Mad Scientist

I don't have any place to host an image right yet... but I think I know what the problem is. There is no gap when I view it at 800x600, but when I view it at 1024x768 two single-pixel vertical gaps appear on the left hand side just between the left black border and the top and bottom borders. I don't know why this would happen, but it's there. It's got to be the blasted tables .

Again, I'm using NN 6.2.1 and IE 6.0.

[Edit] As for the splash page, I'm not sure it really serves a purpose, to be honest with you. Why do you need it?

[This message has been edited by Suho1004 (edited 04-25-2002).]

Now I'm on a higher resoloution monitor and see exactly what you're talking about, and I know how to fix it, so it should be fixed in a few minutes.

p.s. what are your opinions on the splash page everyone?

kewl

Mad Scientist

[This message has been edited by maninacan (edited 04-26-2002).]

someone, anyone...

kewl

Mad Scientist

maninacan: As this has been pretty thoroughly reviewed (I'll add something if I spot it) I'll address your splash screen question. My opinion is that it serves no purpose and should be got rid of (but I think you could have guessed that).

Emps

maninacan: that was my opinion as well (you did see the edit in my last post, right?).

nope, I did not see it. All else I really wanted to know was some people's opinions on the splash page.

kewl

Mad Scientist