Preserved Topic: A few sites!

in my efforts to bring people an easy time to navigate and get information. I'd like a little critique .. I've got three sites for review if you will.

http://www.unitedrealms.com

This site is not FULLY done yet .. but the layout is typical and redone throughout the site (accept the forums)

http://lochshin.theageless.com

I'm seeking out a new layout as we speak but I would like some feed back on this original layout. most of the content is their.

http://auria.theageless.com

NO content .. but this will be the layout for the site.

Reviews are greatly appreciated



CEO

In the interest of good faith, I welcome the opportunity to critique three sites in one sitting. I am also pleased that you chose to make your sites public enough that I am allowed to critique them. Further, I ask that you not be offended by what I am about to say...

• http://www.unitedrealms.com
• con·glom·er·ate -- A corporation made up of a number of different companies that operate in diversified fields. Fine...you may very well be a conglomerate; but I see no facts backing that up. It's all semantics anymore.
• the a:hover tag with the overline and the underline is kinda irritating, but I can get over that.
• The splash page itself is poorly optimized. A good rule of thumb is that gif files should have lots of solid colors, jpegs have the gradients. It's one of the push-pull things that we designers have to go through from time to time. Sure, it may bump your size up (though it may go down), but it's worth it for the higher-quality image. Especially on a splash screen, where you're convincing a potential client to come into your site; it looks like it was optimized with 12 colors. ::cough::
• Now I've entered your site. Many of the text links to the left side are completely illegible (even on a PC!) because they're white (or light yellow) on a light green background. I say go with a solid color behind ::all:: text. Especially when you're worried more about navigation and information--we can't read it, we haven't learned anything.
• The ... horseshoe (???) in the corner on top of the right bar is confusing . . . what is it for?
• The top bar has a big gaping 10-pixel hole in the center...I see that text is going over it, so I assume that it was intentional...but it doesn't make even a lick of sense.
• the UR Auction link is of such poor contrast I hated clicking on it--red and green are closer neighbors than you wish.
• You refer to your company as both UR and URC; pick one. Consistency is terribly important in ease of navigation issues.

• http://lochshin.theageless.com
• First impression is that it is waaaay too busy, the color scheme is uninventive, and the side bar makes the text almost unreadable. That being said, I'll move on.
• The polling psuedo-window on the side completely contradicts all the colors in the rest of the site. It draws your eye to it and upstages the "content" that you said is more important to you.
• You've got a lot of wasted space at the bottom; might want to shore that up a touch.
• Hierarchy. Lemme say that again; HIERARCHY. I see absolutely no delegation of what is more important than anything else, save for a few color changes in text. Typographical hierarchy is so incredibly important, I cannot stress it enough. For third-level content (ie, the bulk of the content on a given site) the font should be a san-serif (Arial or Verdana or the like), the second-level content (ie, the sub-headers) can be whatever you wish, so long as the first-level content (main headers) are much larger in feel; you show no typographical vision in your site. Kinda scares me.
• The feel of the site changes as you go from one page to the next -- as you drill deeper into the site. Thank god the black background stayed, or I would've thought I had left entirely.
• Always give the user a way out other than the back button of their browser. Always. ALWAYS.
• For the purposes of reiteration, all the options on the left side are hard to read, the colors are uninventive, and there is no typographical variety anywhere, and your users are stuck in the second-level of the site (ie, once they've clicked a link on the left).

• http://auria.theageless.com
• This one is the most bearable of any of them. The white background isn't so...brooding and pensive as the black backgrounds on the other sites.
• Since there's virtually no content anywhere, and there are no secondary/tertiary pages, I can't really comment on it....so I won't.

I hope this is what you were looking for, kid. Keep at it.

(edit) typographical errory

[This message has been edited by twItch^ (edited 22-12-2000).]

all I can say is OUCH .. no seriously .. I appreciate the critique and actually enjoyed it .. this was the first time I got something better then .. "oh nice layout and image, a little hard to read but nice over all" .. I guess I finally came to the right place.

please keep them coming, since it seems people here take designing alittle more seriously.

Thanks twiTch^

but all I have to say is OUCH .. will be working on changes sooner then I thought .. but I can change the look of the fonts and make it bigger! .. that is alittle bigger .. back to the drawing board

[small note: twiTch on the http://lochshin.theageless.com site, it does change layouts from the main page to other pages. But I do have a Home link atop of every page, and the Conglomerate is a play on words for the URC, but you are right need to stay to UR or URC. Thanks again]

ps. I would take offense to the "kid" part of your post to me. I'm far from a kid, but maybe a kid at designing compared to you guys



CEO

Believe me Rammstein you will never get anything from twitchy but brtual honesty. However, wrapped up in the harsh exterior is a chewy center of good advice.

Another thing you have to hate about twitch is that he says all the things that everyone else is thinking. I saw the little 10px break... He commented on it. The voter poll clashing... yep got that one.

I would say print yourself a copy of that that crit and stick it somewhere visible!

Good luck!

edit: One other thing I just noticed... When you go to the different realms on your theageless sites each one has a different colored table thing on the left. Pick a color. You want to have some unity especially since you use the same graphic at the head of your page. If you insist on the changing table colors then recolor the header to match...

[This message has been edited by kretsminky (edited 22-12-2000).]

awwwwwwwww, you called me twitchy.

::cough::

RammStein ::: Though I personally think that my critiques are useful, you needn't take it all to heart. Just so you know. It's not as if what I say is The Good Word. It's just another designer giving an opinion based on navigability and ease of use. So, don't take it personally. Though I do hope you take *something* from it. THanks for letting me talk about your sites.

I think twITch spends more time on this forum than he uses to design. Good for us!! When are we going to see some of your work?

Rammstein: No time to comment, I'll come back later...

Andreas

Hyperpark

bahahahah

The fun part is that I really don't spend much time on here... I'm just an expert typist at 120wpm.

But have no fear, my newest site will be unvielded tonight... Bwhahahahahahhahahahahhaha......::cough:: I'm getting too old to laugh like that. hurts the poor throat that I've beaten up with smoking...though it's a very brooding laugh.

Hey, I could type at 120 wpm too if all I said was "Bwhahahahahahhahahahahhaha"

Bastard...You'll pay for that comment.

::and just to be a jackass:: Bwahahahahhahahaha

http://www.unitedrealms.com:

I think that color scheme (green/pale yellow) works very nicely, and the green texture looks yummy. What I don't like is the black background. I suggest making it a very dark green instead. Black just sucks the energy out of a site in my opinion.

The logo helps soften the sharp edges a little, so it does'nt look to hard. Nice site.
http://lochshin.theageless.com:

This needs a lot of work. Personally I hate Times New Roman on most websites, especially on dark sites like this. The menu on the top does not catch the viewers attention because it looks just like alll the other text on the page. Neither has the page got any "identity", if you know what I mean. The banner with the logo looks more like an ad-banner. Sorry, no positive things to say about this.
http://auria.theageless.com:

This looks better. Again your graphics look neat and sharp. The layout is good and the color sheme works well. Looks a bit unfinnished, so you should post it again when it's more complete.

Sumary: http://www.unitedrealms.com: Good http://lochshin.theageless.com: Bad http://auria.theageless.com: Hard to say.

Keep going.

Andreas



Hyperpark