Analyze This — OZONE Asylum, home of the Mad Scientists

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Your Text: Insert Slimies » Insert UBB Code » Close Last Tag \| All Tags UBB Help	I am not a web designer by trade (hopeful for the future, but realistic about the present), so take these comments as viewed by an average user as much as a fellow coder. THE PRAISE: I liked the sizing of your intro paragraph; text that runs from end to end really bothers my eyes. On that note, the font you chose for the intro paragraph was very clear, and I would stick to that throughout the site. The navigation was simple to use, and I never had any trouble finding my way back to the home page. Also, I didn't notice any spelling errors (a big pet peave of mine on sites), which is essentially important given the content of your site. Your choice of a white background is probably best, especially considering that you have several things that home educators might want to print. THE CRITICISM: 1. I think that you should settle on a few distinct colours and work off of them instead of five or six. In my opinion, sites look more uniform and complete when a designer displays a "theme palette", so to speak. Taking the OZONE site as a reference, you can see about three main colours on the page (and the same on each page). I counted five different shades of blue on your site alone (if you consider cyan in the same family). It doesn't add to your site, so I'd find your favourite 2 colours and work off of them. 2. I don't think you need the blue background behind the td class buttons for the menu. They are shaded, so they shouldn't pose a problem for users to find. Again, I am a believer in "Less Is More" for design, so I'd go for no buttons at all and opt for tables with the cell backgrounds shaded instead. 3. I agree with the previous poster (a name I forgot at 2:45am, sorry!) about the transitions and the animated gif's. To me, that simply says "I did this site myself!" Considering the content of your site, I am sure you'd rather visitors be impressed with your professionalism and organized structure. I would use actual photographs to add visual interest instead of animated gif's (as long as they load quickly). Again, thinking of your content, photos of families or children would warm the site up a great deal. 4. On that note, I am a homeschooling mother myself, and I would rather see a site that appears really professional and organized, to encourage me in my plight for the same thing. I think you could work some more on your logo (don't recall if you mentioned doing that in your post or not) - something more than just a casual, san serif font against a plain background. I expect that CHEC supports many families in the Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati area. I think your logo and design should reflect this degree of impact that you have on communities in your area. I would try to design this site with the concept of creating a national educator's site, or a publisher's site, that sort of feel. This, I know is purely personal, but I thought it might have some merit coming from a homeschooling mother. 5. You may not be done with this page yet, but I didn't quite understand the purpose of your notification form. I assume that it will be used to submit to the Dept of Education as notification that a parent is choosing to homeschool instead of enrolling them in public school. That wasn't outlined in the text, and the word FORM made me look for a SUBMIT button (perhaps out of habit) at the end. Did you want parents to print this out? Those are my thoughts. I know that most of what I posted could be considered design "opinion" and not design "law," but we are here to give our impressions as well as our learned edicts. Take care, ~Nethermind ~~~~~~~~ If we listened to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go into business, because we'd be cynical. Well, that's nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down. ~~~~~~~~ Loading...
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