Preserved Topic: Basic layout Critique, Please

Ok guys I just uploaded the basic layout for my site and need some constructive comments on it. The only link that works is the Forum (which I need to change the colors and graphics on). Please flatter me and imagin the page with a ton more content on it.
http://www.grafxcenter.com




"Into everyone's life, a little rain must fall, but this is ridiculous."

Looks pretty good! You picked a good color. <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif">

A couple of things I noticed....

On your graphical headers for What's New, News of the Week, and Misc. you stroked them at 1 px with black. Well, your bgcolor is black too. that makes the header look 1px smaller than the rest of your column on each side. I know its just a little nitpick, but I noticed that pretty quickly.

Also, on your Site of the Week and Image of the Week the highlighted image on mouseover is barely noticeable. It almost seems like a wasted effect. One thing that works well with blue colors is inverting them for your mouseover state. You might try that or increasing the brightness just a little bit more because as is I can barely notice the mouseover at all.

Good start!

hi!
nice layout, and nice color scheme!
a few criticisms
my first impressions of the pictures was "woah! lens flare overkill!" the font isnt too bad, and the 'x' looks great, but im not too sure about your text effects, and defintiely dont like those 6 lens flares. but that's just a personal taste thing. it also dont look that natural on the 'gem' thingy on the left.
and those littel link buttons! well, you can guess what i think of those! <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif">
those squares next to the 'gem' look cool, but im note sure about the white around the bottom two rows of squares.
those "what's new" "new weekly" and "misc" titles look good, but i dont feel the gradients add much there - they arent very smooth, and look like a littel overkill (but nothing too bad at all, still looks fine)and the blue outline around the text im not totally sure about.
other than that, i really like it, the colors are nice, and i like the mouseover effect on the buttons too. real simple and effective.
the bg behind the top logo looks nice too, i really do like it, just felt i should tell you the few things that didnt totally agree with me.
but i think i could really handle revisiting a site like that, its has a very friendly feel, with no overpowering gimmiky 'flaming logos' that look bearable the first time, then suck afterwards.
really nice.

Thanx guys, much appreciated.

Krets, your absolutely right with everything you said.

I also noticed the 1px difference in the top headers. I will fix by either changing the bkgrnd color or just takeing the stroke off, you tell me what would be better.

The site of the week and Image of the week Images are really crappy IMO, and your right the rollover effect is barely noticable. I will fix them with new images of the same type or make them like the top headers that span all the way across the table.


And bunchapixels, I also agree with you 100%.

Lens flare overkill, LOL yea I know. I had the text about twice the size when I was creating the effect and then decided that it was to big. So I sized it down and it seemed to have lost its luster so I went crazy with the flares, LOL. I will just simply redo the text all together, minus 5 flares.


And the gem thingy (what I like to call Orange Blossom) if you click on "Image of the week" you will see the original image. I will just redo that image with a blue sphere instead of chaging from orange to light blue.

Ill see what I can come up with on the grid background with the white lines, not sure what yet. It might be a little over powering (the white) as compared to the rest of the page.


The gradients on the headers, when you say over kill are you saying that for the whole site or just for those images?

I think what Ill do is make those headers a solid color, then stroke the text in a way that it will look better on a solid background rather than the gradient.


Well Im glad you guys seem to like the basic layout and the colors, Ill work on the problems tonight (time permitting) and see if I can improve it a tad.



"Into everyone's life, a little rain must fall, but this is ridiculous."

Hey, nice layout X. Never had the pleasure of talking to you, you do some really nice work. Anyway I agree with the mouseover effect, its not overlly noticable and to me, I think you could have used a better button then those. You could also use the "ice-like" text used in The Graph X Center banner to create something cool. Also, you really don't need that much space to post your buttons. Place one of the buttons below the other and then make the News Weekly table a tad bigger. Its kinda small to contain all your information and content. Anyway thats the only things I could think of that I dont like, its a really good site, kinda reminds me of that site Pank did a little bit ...

[This message has been edited by Jestah (edited 19-12-2000).]

:: there's not much depth to the site, the graphics feel very flat, know what i'm saying? the contrast between the solid black background and the blues gives it a very static look.

:: despite the fact you tried to make the top graphic fade into a black at it's top, there's still a definite line of distinction between the graphic and the actual black background. perhaps try to make the 'black' area between the blue squares truly black, that way it just looks like blue extending into the background.. much better look to it i bet.

:: in the title image it looks like you're trying to work in way too many styles. we've got some checkerboard, some intricate horizontal bar, obligatory "mini-boxes," 1px lines that travel across the image but don't really lend anything to it, and finally a somewhat interesting (though the original novelty wears off quick) graphic is slapped onto the left side. and there is the name of the site in the top right.. oh boy, totally not doing it for me--maybe solely nuking the lens flares would save it, but i'm not so sure.

:: the mouseovers actually show just how flat your page is.. the only time any attempt is attempted on your page is with the drop shadows that appear on your buttons when you mouseover. while they might work on another site, on this one it's not really a great element because they just don't fit in. artificial and cheese, maybe try adding some shading differences to the huge blue field you leave untouched as well as the text itself.

:: i'm not sure if you noticed, but your main graphic is more narrow than the section where your text and information is displayed. that doesn't look good and it's unnatural for the eye to follow while going down. if anything the title graphic should be wider than the info below.. design layouts are easiest to read in the form of a funnel, not a pyramid.

:: section heads ("whats new" "news weekly" "misc") don't look too great because the edges aren't well defined and they get lost in the background. you really have to squint to make them out, big no-no when it's the graphic that's telling people what's what. also, what's the deal with the different light sources on all 3? it's certainly not consistent: the first one has light from the left, the second one has light from the right, and the last one has light from the left.

:: you need cellpadding between your graphics/text and the edge of the table. not just the right and left either, there needs to be some space between the last line of text and the end of the table.

:: some sort of footer would really pull the design together i think.

[cross-browser note: see those blue horizontal lines you have in the bottom 3 tables? well they show up as ugly gray lines that are taller than the blue lines too... might want to fix that up]

it's business as usual tonight at the asylum, wahoo.

cheers.mikey.milker

Quote from mikey...

"...the only time any attempt is attempted on your page is with the drop shadows..."

Was it a very late night in the Asylum? he he

Attempt? Attemption? Attemptionating? Don't attempt this at home! <g>

Yah, the thing everyone is calling "lens flare" is too much, that's an old, static sparkly-bit thing from the 70's, IMHO. Please, can we call it something other than lens flare? I already use something else called that! ;-) One or two of them always look cool at first, but then the logical part of the brain kicks in and say "well, if there's one *here*, then there *has* to be one *there*..." (Repeat endlessly, heh.) It's a hard one to do in a subtle way, once you open that can of sparkly brush you're screwed, you gotta go too far.

Mikey's spot-on with the business of the top header image, leaving out the title and the jewl, we have three distinct patterns, one after the other, and then we have the white lines on top of that, it's too much for me. Maybe if you changed just the top pattern to match the little boxes pattern (somewhat, match in size, but not necesarily tint), that might help that part out. Possibly, maybe you could "free the jewel", make it bigger than the rest, float it over the pattern? Might help pull it all together.

The headers definitley need to be stronger. I'd take that effect you used on your logo and run with it, see how many other places you could use it, might give the whole site a better overall continuity.

Hmm, the header is kind of *tall*, isn't it? And then we have all of that black before it eve starts. At 800 x 600 the content doesn't start until you get past the halfway point, I like to only give maybe the top 1/3 of my page to header and interface, preferably less.

Oh! You got the URL for the forum wrong! <g> (My fault, heh.)

Your pal, -doc-

hmmmm.... ok, sorry doc, it aint a lens flare...
its more like the "game show host teeth sparkle" effect?

fuck all...

the only time any attempt is made to add depth or perspective to the page is with the stupid drop-shadow mouseovers

happy now?

Careful milker, you might end up as hated as I....::smirk::

Oh I dunno twitch^, I suppose you and Mikey have become about equally hated. Actually, until about a month or so ago you were almost bareable ... almost

J/K

damnit.

I'll have to work on that. I hate being bearable...unless it's cute-little-teddy-bearable, at which point I feel warm and fuzzy.

(edit) forgot to put in an insult: "You're a jerk."

[This message has been edited by twItch^ (edited 20-12-2000).]

Hmmm.... I posted commentary here, but I don't see it anymore. Now the site is in "Coming Soon" status. Bummer.

...swept out through the cracks beneath the door...

Please excuse me while I struggle to regain my motivation to participate in this constuctive arena.

Everything I had originally posted is now gone and of course, irrelevant. But I worked hard to do my part, so now I'm venting. I cared about your work. I worked to give you input. And i'm sorry it didn't matter.

...swept out through the cracks beneath the door...