Topic: Need site review...

http://www.solstadesign.se/taifun/

[Emp edit: new URL for reviews is: www.solstadesign.se/taifun/ordet.asp ]

So I skipped the frames...
And now i need to know what you think about the site...interface, layout, colors, fonts etc
please help me out here, just tell me what you think.

thanks


/m

[This message has been edited by Emperor (edited 05-08-2002).]

Hoboy. Ok, for starters...the BG, I just don't think it's right...pastel color? And you are going for a Tech-look, right? Hmmm...I don't see that working...and where taifun is, you've used green for text...maybe a black/dark-blue background? And all text that green? the glass tubes are cool, I think, but the nav steel tubes lack that 'round' feel (they are too flat)...more gradiant work, maybe? And of course, you've got some jaggies, both in the upper left graphic, and the Valkommen text...and the text in the nav parts looks crammed into the nav pieces...maybe more free room? Well, that's my look at it...

Well I have to start by disagreeing with WebShaman about the BG color. I rather like the departure from the 'dark and brooding' tech thing.

But he is correct that the metal tubes lack that round feel and the jaggies. I'm sure if you do a quick Google search you can find a host of tutorials to help that. As I recall, Eyeball Design fxZone has a whole collection of tuts that might help refine your tech feel.

I am not sure what to do about the nav stuff, you have a lot of sections that have long names. You may have to look into re-designing that bit of the interface to make it work without it being crammed.

DigitalUbiquity

hallon: Glad to see you dispensed with the frames - you'll not regret it. Some thoughts:

1. The background colour - its a flying school isn't it so that colour could work nicely for you there.

2. DU and WS have touched on this area but doing something like this is all about 'suspension of disbelief' - making people think they are actually seeing some hi-tech interface and so even the smallest touch can help add to the effect but problems will spoil the illusion. The jaggies and the need for slightly more (hyper) realism has been mentioned but I would also not use a styled text link in the bar - work it in with the graphical theme so possibly give the text an embossed look and throw a rollover in there (in fact you might want to make the top left corner graphuc change as it help to add to the idea of it being a joined up piece). The screws on the miffle left don't look quite right either (there looks to be a problem with the top right). The navigation bar and left panel would probably have some kind of suspension in real life too.

3. For me there is a missing character in 'G_bok' in the top bar and 'Intr_' in the club information section (in IE6 - Op6 works OK) - they are both a umlautes so use the HTML special character ä and define the content-type in a meta tag.

4. The connecting pipe effect doesn't work in Op6 but does in IE6. It could be the setting of the spring width to 3%. I'd try and do that by having the spring tile across behind the buttons.

5. Fill in those ALT attributes.

I like the progress you've made The graphics probably need a little polish to make them look more 'real' and they could do with a few tweaks to make them work cross-browser but I can think this is coming along nicely.

Emps

thanks!
some thoughts...
the bg...yeah thats a problem, i went for a light-yellow one at first that i liked. well see what i do....probably nothing

the green text in is soon gone, havent thought about that so much but now when i do....

but for the nav-tubes...i had more gradient for a while but then you didnt see or focus enough on the links/text, so i lightened it up...i like it, think ill stick with that....

jaggies....yeah...I feel a shame

im gonna change all the åäö to å ä and ö soon...aswell as the alt-tags...


/m

some updates done....
any suggestions?
anyone else?


/m

OK, the text in the metal buttons, I think they need some space on either side of the text, it gets so crowded in those buttons. (ie: The "K" in Klubbinformation is only 1 pixel from the left edge of it's button. Maybe you could put an   on either side of the text, that should be an easy fix for that. I also agree on the definition of the steel buttons, I think you need the last 3 pixcels (top and bottom) to blend to a much darker color, that'll make them jump out of the page a bit more.

Your pal, -doc-

Nice; I would not trust tables with image on and text
May be better image on layer with hotspot;
would be suitable a nice bg image, or simply on layer
100% wide centre image.

The text from the big TK Taifun is good...why not on the nav cylinders? Also, the elements...somehow, they just don't 'fit' together...the shield with the other 'tk taifun' just doesn't seem to go with the other 'techie' stuff (IMHO)...and the 'new' text of välkommen and nyhether just doesn't work...hard to read...

since you all mention the nav tubes...now they are updated
but do you actually like it better this way?? i think i dont...

nobodywebsite: i cant see whats the problem...?

and the bk taifun shield is some kind of club badge so i'll have to keep that...

and for the välkommen and nyhether text...well thats not how its going to look...


/m

Hi hallon! OK, you are correct, they suck as they are right now, sorry about that. ;-) When I was talking about getting dark at the edges, it's important to understand *why* it gets dark there, something I didn't explain. You can have a dark edge because something is in shadow, you can also have an edge dark because you're looking parallel (sp?) to an edge. So, what happens is it gets dark at both the bottom, where you'd expect, but also at the top, where the light is brightest (and you would *not* expect!)



The other thing is the need to be subtle. We're dealing with sharp square boxes here, so the look will never be one of true realism, but we can simulate it more closely. (If I wanted photorealism, I would never have had a 1 pixel black outline around a button!) Still, this can work for you.

The headers, I'm anxious to see how you treat those two buttons/texts, they're next, I assume? Keep at it, this is coming along.

Your pal, -doc-

since the nav-bar sucked.... im gonna skip a few headlines, place them as sub-lines...so now...well the only page to criticize right now is http://www.solstadesign.se/taifun/ordet.asp
the other ones isnt changed...skip em...im gonna change them but right now i havent got the time....in a few days maybe...

and yeah for the nav-bar...i hope its a little better now, as above: http://www.solstadesign.se/taifun/ordet.asp



/m

I must say that the 'new' look is rather pleasing...and I would say...I rather like it, now. Not bad. It's starting to really come together.

what I mean, yeah really no problems, just some prudence: I found that tables and tetx (default) can change size depending of the browsers, location and os, while image and layer looks better and can be more stable. + A layer w 100% can have 2 or + bits and be resizable to suit to different screen res.

BTW NOW , MORE SPACE FOR THE LINKS IT' S SAFER, THE REST IS COOL.

I think that it would do a *world* of good to change the background to a darker color. The light blue background with the "chrome" tubes make it blend too much. With a darker background color I think the tubes and the chrome effect would stand out better.

Try maybe a medium/dark brown??? Don't know. Just think it would be better to have a darker background.

I don't know what the site is about though. I don't read that language (not really sure what it is, German??)

Later,
C:\


~Binary is best~

hallon: The navigation graphics seem to have disappeared. I'll try again tomorrow.

PS - I've added the new URL to the first post in case some people don't bother reading the thread (I'm not going to name names but I know who you are!!).

Emps

since so many of you, including myselt actually, didnt like the bg....there is now three looks:
>- 1 -< almost as before, light-blue bg...
>- 2 -< with a tiled background...is 12kb to big for a backgrounf image?? does it load well??
>- 3 -< with a brown background...

tell me which one do you like?? if any...

any other suggestions??

cprompt: the language is swedish


/m

[This message has been edited by hallon (edited 05-10-2002).]

hallon: The last 2 look pretty similar (very simlar) have you posted the same page twice?

I do like the light blue as its uits the aeronautic feel but the dark background really sets off you interface well.

Emps

I really like the last two...the darker background makes a big difference (IMHO) - also works with the other colors...

It looks pretty good to me.