Maniac; a web design site

MotorManiac · March 9th, 2008, 04:14 PM

Hi,
I have posted my site on these forums several times now. I am hoping this is the last, at least until a redesign. I would like all the help i could get on design. my homepage text is mostly just filler text so i know it probally doesn't sound good. but mostly i would like constructive criticism on the design. and also my portfolio page and banner need some work.

any suggestions?

Jordan

unitedcraig · March 10th, 2008, 08:46 PM

nice clean looking site, i think that the text in the navigation should be centered vertically as well though, and think about adding an active affect to the current page?

Good job on the valid code, and the use of CSS for layout is good

on the contact page the submit button is too far down, it's not quite in the red box

I am not sure what but i think your homepage needs something to help it stand out, it seems a little plain at the moment

Hope this helps

Craig

MotorManiac · March 10th, 2008, 09:00 PM

yes, i agree with the homepage comment. im not sure what, ive been thinking for a while. i might be on to something, ill post back if i get it.

any other comments.

EDIT: well, the idea i had planned didn't work. so i would like my page(being a web design services site) to stand out a little more, kind of make it more unique, any ideas?

crackafaza · March 12th, 2008, 07:44 AM

Its not a bad basic website, but if you are offering a web design service, you want to show off an amazing looking portfolio website, and I don't quite think you've pulled that off in my opinion!

But I am struggling to think what you could add to make it stand out more, I will think and get back to you if I have any ideas

Cracka

MotorManiac · March 12th, 2008, 06:31 PM

yea, that would be great let me know, ill keep working on it and see what i can up with. keep in mind i would like to keep it asscesible.

any other suggestion or ideas would be great!

Thanks
Jordan

unitedcraig · March 12th, 2008, 06:48 PM

Are you any good with graphics?

If so then include something like on this site

http://www.webdesignerwall.com/

not as intricate and complicated as that, but something around your container, as you are a web design site i think this would make it look good and grab your attention

MotorManiac · March 12th, 2008, 07:00 PM

I can do graphics, but i only have gimp because my photoshop crashed. but i can try for something like that. what do you think for my portfolio page.

unitedcraig · March 12th, 2008, 07:04 PM

do you mean do i think you should have a different one for your portfolio?

If you feel you can do this then i would definitely do this, take inspiration from some of the many sites out there, it will definitely attract users to your site, it is well coded and designed at the moment but is a bit plain, (no offence meant here)

Craig

MotorManiac · March 12th, 2008, 07:09 PM

No, i mean my portfolio, the way i have it set up right now i do not like. I would like a diffrrent way to display my work.

unitedcraig · March 12th, 2008, 07:17 PM

instead of having links to actual sites, you could just have an image of your site and have it pop-up with javascript

http://simplyfreeware.co.uk/craigmoran/portfolio.php

This is what i mean.

If you do not like the look of this then the best thing to do is look around other people's sites and see if they have any good ideas you could borrow and modify

MotorManiac · March 12th, 2008, 10:14 PM

yea, ive tried that lightbox thing before, i didn't really like it. i am trying to get a decoratie border like you suggested but i cant find a good way. i need it to be able to repeat on longer pages but i just cant figure out a good way. any help?

Heres what i have so far. it looks horrible

http://maniacstudios.com/testing

unitedcraig · March 12th, 2008, 10:16 PM

could you not set it as a background image, and leave gaps for your content, like in the example below?

http://www.webdesignerwall.com/wp-co...es/main-bg.jpg

MotorManiac · March 12th, 2008, 10:28 PM

yes icould but that would be a massive file size

unitedcraig · March 12th, 2008, 10:31 PM

if your image is repeated you could do something similar to this

http://cov-design.com/

and repeat it twice?

MotorManiac · March 12th, 2008, 11:00 PM

well, i kind of got it to work. but all the ways ive tried are not worth the trouble. maybe you could take a look at my code and see what you think.

unitedcraig · March 13th, 2008, 04:20 AM

not sure if im missing something but there does not seem to be any change

MotorManiac · March 13th, 2008, 06:27 PM

sorry i met take a look at my original site and see what you think, because i tried about 3 different ways and finally put it back to the way it was.

heres my site
http://www.maniacstudios.com

and this is what i came up with
http://maniacstudios.com/testing/

crackafaza · March 14th, 2008, 06:20 AM

Hi

I Have looked at your new design graphic, and I must say I am not a fan, it looks to boxed off, if thats the right phraseing, because you can clearly see the rectangled shape of the image. You should fade out all the edges.

Cracka

MotorManiac · March 14th, 2008, 05:12 PM

i dont like it either. thats why i asked if someone could take alook and suggest something

crackafaza · March 15th, 2008, 08:22 AM

Its not that I don't like the design, its that it is too squared off, if you fade all the edges to your background colour white, do that and show us the results!

Think that would look alot better!

Cracka