silverscribbles web & graphic design

silverscribbles · July 14th, 2007, 11:01 AM

hi, this is our first site, just went up this afternoon, any suggestions?

p.s this is just an in-between site, we're working on a new one but its going to take a while to complete.

1840dsgn · July 14th, 2007, 11:10 AM

Well...I wouldn't hire you. Its not a very professional looking site. I don't like the scrolling banner.

Well done for not using tables though. Although your code does havew 20 validation errors.

I'm sorry ot sound harsh but this looks like a "my first website" kind of thing. Where your just dipping your fingers into learning html.

Sorry.

As a pointer. search web design (wherever you live) to see your competition. As a customer would ytou hire of them or yourselves?

silverscribbles · July 14th, 2007, 11:49 AM

thanks for the comments, i know what you mean by "its not a very professional looking site", but we were trying not to make it look too... business-like. maybe thats a bad thing?

VanessaJW · July 14th, 2007, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by silverscribbles

thanks for the comments, i know what you mean by "its not a very professional looking site", but we were trying not to make it look too... business-like. maybe thats a bad thing?

First of all I think it's great that the three of you have got together to set up this business, and it's obvious you are serious about what you are doing, and that you want to learn and develop. I don't mean this to sound patronising, but I really admire it when I see people of your age doing something like this.

I do like some of your design ideas on the site, but it does need taking up a few notches in terms of professionalism. By 'business-like' I assume you mean formal, but a site can be informal/relaxed/fun and still come across as business-like and professional.

As an example, have a look at this one (which is a site from one of our very own Webforumz people!):

http://www.fyneworks.com/

Listen to comments you get on here, ask lots of questions, and don't give up

Pádraig · July 14th, 2007, 12:49 PM

I agree with the above comments. However, in my opinion, if you are going to start up a business you need to act professional. Word gets around quickly, so you don't want to get a bad reputation.

I suggest you take a look at CSSMania to see what you are up against, and to get some inspiration!

VanessaJW · July 14th, 2007, 12:54 PM

That's Padraig, one of our other (very fabulous) 14 year olds I mentioned in the introduction forum! Have a look at his site - www.padraigcurran.com

silverscribbles · July 14th, 2007, 12:56 PM

just came up with rough design for new site - what do you think?

www.silverscribbles.com/ideas.html

p.s: nice site padraig!

Pádraig · July 14th, 2007, 01:03 PM

Thanks Vanessa & silverscribbles!

The new mock up looks better, but it still needs alot of work!

VanessaJW · July 14th, 2007, 01:39 PM

I think you're going too far the other way with this new mock-up, it's fine and would do the job, but it looks quite standard and plain which I don't think you yourselves would be happy with. The scribbling silver pencil and the header written with the silver pencil in your original one were good ideas, it was more the quality of the graphics that were a problem. It's fine to have a young, different design, just really work on the quality.

pa007 · July 14th, 2007, 02:59 PM

I agree with what has been said above. Let me offer a bit of advice, no matter what level you are working at and no matter what you are doing it is very important to look at what you want to achieve and plan around that. Whether its web design or writing an essay you need to plan.

Do this and see what happens. Pick three colours that work well together and that you like. Also make sure that they have a professional feel to them, you'll know when you have the right three. Then, without even thinking about the colours you have chosen, decide upon a layout. Where on the page do you want the different elements to go. Take a look at some sites that you like and see how they are layed out and how those sorts of layout could work for you. Draw, either by hand or on the computer, your layout and that will be your blueprint. The next step is to decide where thos different colours will go. You may have the darkest colour for the header, the lightest for the main content and the other colour for your navigation. Play around and see what fits best where. You may find that you need to try some different shades of the colours you have. Take you time until you have something that you are happy with. Now you have basic colour and layout you need to look at the overall 'feel' of the site. Play with some fonts, text sizes and images. Add some space between the different layout elements, try rounded corners instead of standard square ones, you may also decide to add some depth to the design gradients shadows etc. Then add some content and play with the formatting of this until you have something that you like. Do this before you even think about the code. Be methodical and logical and you'll get something to be proud of. If inspiration strikes you at any point then follow it, and don't be afraid of starting again from scratch. Never be too precious of your work.

Thats basically how I do my sites often starting with a pen and paper but before anything think about what you want to achieve, you need to look professional so something sleek and refined could work, then again I've
been playing with two design recently for something that are the exact opposite of each other. One is entirely hand drawn (the sketch look) the other is sleek and heavy on fabulous photos.

Don't feel disheartened at all, I'm on about the 9th and 10th design of my portfolio site and have been working on it for months, in between other things. You will go through many revisions and sometimes complete redesigns when doing your own site. You are the toughest client you will ever have, its always the way but you also have the freedom to do all of those things that no client would ever go for.

You are going in the right direction and I wish you the best, if you ever need any help then don't hesitate to post again.

Pete.

bruno89 · July 14th, 2007, 08:54 PM

i havnt read what every one else wrote couse i dont have time so if every one else has said this tell me to shut up but... i wouldnt hier you simply becouse your site looks like a school kid got let loose on dream weaver... no ofence i mean iv had my fair share of bad sites but reli its not to had to come up with a nice site..

all the best tho and no offence im just being truthfull

sannbe · July 15th, 2007, 03:21 AM

I actually agree with Vanessa. I do prefer your first attempt. Yes it needs work, yes it should be more 'professional', but it definately shows potential. Remember this....you want to be considered professional designers, everything from your website to yourselves will have to be that way. It is not a case of being stiff and unyielding. And it is not something that happens overnight. You have a good solid start.... please do not be afraid to ask questions.

Marc · July 17th, 2007, 11:08 AM

Once again, i like most of the above posters, your website isnt up to scratch for a person looking to try thier hand at Web Design. Fair enough if the website was for Personal Use, but it isnt.

It is very obvious from looking at your code you have just started out in web design because you are using no "H" tags (bad for SEO).

Again, why have you got this at the bottom of your homepage "P.S This website is best viewed using the latest version of Internet Explorer"? That gives out a bad impression to people, they pay a Web Designer to make them a website that works in all browsers, not just one! If i was a potential customer that would most definatley scare me away.

As for your content it is VERY hard to come by, and it doesnt attract me to choose you to build my website.

If i were you, i would definatly get a different host, i am running VERY fast broadband and it would take me 1-1.5mins for your page to load!!

Sorry for being so picky! But everyone has to start somewhere and you have a solid building block! Your ideas layout is certainly better, although to me it is just a little too much, i feel once the content is in there it will be cluttered. Although once again, thats my opinion; its yours that matters!

silverscribbles · July 17th, 2007, 12:40 PM

we've tested the site in other browsers and it does work, we put
"P.S This website is best viewed using the latest version of Internet Explorer" because when we tested the site at school they were using an older version and the png transparency didn't work.

anyway, we seem to have solved that now, so we can delete that bit, it does sound a bit misleading.

and the pickiness is very much appreciated!

bruno89 · July 17th, 2007, 01:02 PM

why are you using png's for transarency?? why not gifs? this way they are suported in all browsers.. and quality doesnt have to be downgraded all the picks on my new site ( www.bruno89.co.uk/thefreeway/ ) are gifs and the quality is just as good as anything else...

Marc · July 17th, 2007, 01:11 PM

Yep, i agree with that, Bruno. What is the point in adding a hack for a PNG when you can use a GIF and you dont need any hacks?

silverscribbles · July 17th, 2007, 01:15 PM

we made a header for a website about shakespeare's globe they made us do a couple of months ago at school in PSP and tried exporting it as a gif, it looked awful so we started using PNGs instead.

pa007 · July 17th, 2007, 01:49 PM

There is a little JS hack that gets around the PNG problem in ie. Google it.

Pete.

silverscribbles · July 17th, 2007, 02:36 PM

thanks pete, we tried the js png hack, and it seems to be working!

silverscribbles · July 17th, 2007, 06:27 PM

silverscribbles.com update

over the past couple of days, we've taken all the (VERY helpful, thanks!) advice we've got on here and made a few changes to our site, namely:

1) validating our html
2) changing/adding headings
3) removing the unnecessary scrolling in the content <div>
4) changing the background/colour scheme to something a bit more subtle and (hopefully) a little better
changing fonts, font colours etc.
5) horizontalising the navbar
6) making a few very slight content changes

we'd love it if we could get any more constructive criticism on how to further improve the style/design/professionality/etc. of our site

thanks,
yasmin, claire + izzy