Topic: Need some advice

Hey all,

This is not really a site review, but I could think of no better place to post this.

I have a potential client who would like recommendations on improving their site. They want to add some dynamic content with the ability of doing updates themselves with an admin area. I got that part covered.

As far as the aesthetics of the site go, I would like to know what kind of suggestions you might give. I am fairly new to the freelance thing, used to be I was told what to do, and I did it. One of the downfalls of being a corporate drone, is you lose your ability to think for yourself.

Anyways, I have learned a lot from everyone here just by lurking and I hold your opinions and advice in the highest regard. What do you see wrong with the site? What could be improved upon?

Oh, the address: http://www.metplas.com

Thanks in advance,

Ramasax

edit: fixed link



[This message has been edited by Ramasax (edited 08-29-2003).]

Right of the bat -

1) Get rid of those terrible bevels!

2) Lose that horrible grainy-fade junk at the top and bottom

3) They are badly in need of some more effective visual heirarchy. As it is now, things are just kind of tossed on the page.
There is a lot of lost space with the whole left side having jsut those few buttons, and the top and bottom lost to meaningless graphics.

They need somc colors that give a bit more punch. That blue is a very flat blue, and nothing else on the page gives any visual interest.

That scrolling text junk is one of the most annoying things possible.

The navigation down in the bottom right corner is about useless. I would drop it altogether and implement something that is
a) more relevent
b) more attractive
c) better located

Graphics like this -

Take up *way* too much realestate for what they offer. Anf again...that blue - ick. Flat, dull, ugly.

On a different note - they need a doctype, they need encoding specified, and would be well advised to move to a CSS controlled layout with proper markup. The code is relatively clean, but is very outdated.

FWIW




[This message has been edited by DL-44 (edited 08-28-2003).]

Worth a lot, thanks DL

haha, you don't like the java scroller, come on? I love to see that little java icon pop into my systray.

Ramasax

I personally am ok with the blue. But the design its quite unnapealing. My eyes wont get hurt, but they will slowly close until i got slept ;P Play a bit more with geometry in any case, and some other blue tones.

The beveled menu items stand out of the flat (flat as in two dimension, in stark contrast with the 3d buttons), and it does not really fit. If you still want a 3d effect, i would suggest a plan box (as square/rectangle) with a drop shadow. But you may need to give to some other elements that effect as well, to give some consistency.

The noise fade is really ugly. I'd suggest those gradient effects instead.

I dont like the font style. It does not suit the layout. Neither those '94 styled table, like here: http://www.metplas.com/reachus.html Too much blank space around as well.

The rollover here should be viceversa. But i dont like it, so get rid of it ;P


The previous

I agree with everything said above so far, just got a a little thing to add.

The menu link leading to the page the user is currently on should not be a link since it doesn't lead anywhere. The menu should also have some kind of hover effect, doesn't need to be much only something so show me that I'm hover over the link.



_________________________
"There are 10 kinds of people; those who know binary, those who don't and those who start counting at zero"

Ahhhh! My eyes, my eyes! ...Oh wait, I have Java and marquee tags disabled (god bless firebird)

Seriously, lose the scroller. Don't even replace it with a <marquee>. And yes, the grainy fading thing looks horrible.

Not much to add, but those rollovers that say "Click here" after you roll over them? You'd think the rollover image itself, as well as the changed cursor was notice enough. I think we realize it's a link, so no need for a reminder.

Doctype, encoding. Go, go, go.



[This message has been edited by ozphactor (edited 08-29-2003).]