Xara Website Designs

[RAMWolff44]

are the ones that I think convey's a nice profesional looking site. Easy on the eyes and I like the layouts.

I esp like #9, I love the icon you have up in the left hand part of the screen [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

RAMWolff [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[Wolfgang]

Dale,

I prefer #9 and I agree with John that some of the others are hard on the eyes.

In a way, I also like #10, but maybe with different colors.

Wolfgang

[Ross Macintosh]

My likes: I like 10 most, then 3,6,9.

Regards, Rossy

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>

[gwpriester]

works the best for me. It is clean, approachable and professional. There are some very good designs here.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

<a href="http://www.gwpriester.com">
www.gwpriester.com </a>


XaraXone

[Christine Farrelly]

#3 - but please correct the spelling mistake.

Christine

[dalel]

Which word is mispelt (joke) [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] in #3?

And Judi: I have disciplined myself to include everything on every page in a primary table, whether it is needed or not. I'm trying to develop a good habit. I am learning Dreamweaver, but I hand-code everything now, until I am totally comfortable using tables.

By the way, my favorites are #'s 10, 8, 9, 6, 3, 4, and I seem to be the only one who likes #7.

Thanks to everyone! I will make some changes based on some of your suggestions, before I submit these examples to my client.

Take another look when you get a chance, because next week I will eliminate a few of these; adding new ones or reworking the ones that didn't get any votes. Also I will tweak the good ones based on the suggestions of you highly talented people! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Your keen eyes & feedback are enormously helpful! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Dale

[This message was edited by Dale Landry on April 06, 2002 at 10:11.]

[BobInce]

Consensus seems to be #3, and I agree, it really screams "health centre"! Only criticism would be the obvious, harsh oblique in the font you're using: perhaps you could find a different variant, or another, similar font with a better italic/oblique version?

#8 and #6 are good too, unadventurous but solid. The small illustration on the left of #6 doesn'T quite fit the style for me though. Few comments on some of the others -

#1: The left side looks dangerously reminiscent of a FrontPage default layout! Also, the elliptical element will hinder you if you want to have the text inside it resizable and reflowing to fit a liquid page. Flexible design requires that the main text area of a page be extendable horizontally and vertically. This doesn't mean you're stuck with only rectangles, but an ellipse is very tricky to accommodate.

#2: Such a bright cyan against black could be perceived negatively, with all the dodgy homepages out there using bright primary on black; perhaps a more muted version? The pink of the flowers is an interesting contrast - could perhaps be used as a highlight for other elements in the site too?

#7: I quite like this one too, in a #3 vein, though there could perhaps be a small amount of stronger colour somewhere on the page, for contrast (body text colour maybe)? Also the aspect distortion on the masthead looks a little over-pronounced to me.

[toograffic]

Make sure you keep the ones not chosen for future reference. A couple of them do have a 'Frontpage'-ish look, but it wouldn't be hard to tweak that out of them.

I realize you are doing these samples in Xara as one big graphic to facilitate showing them to the client. The following suggestions are just things to keep in mind if they pertain to the client's needs:

1.Use decorative fonts sparingly. To make a page like #5 or #7, and have it look consistent on the majority of computers, you would need to use graphics for most, if not all, of the text. Graphical text makes the page "heavier", and it won't be indexed by the search engines when their bots crawl the page, unless you use the 'alt' tag in each graphic (which is a good practice!), and then only some of the search algorithms check the "alt" tag.

2. Unless the client specifically asks for more "rough drafts", I suggest picking out the 3-5 samples you feel best represent the clients wishes, and present those. If none of these make them happy, or at least give you a place to work from, you need to go over again what the client is looking for. If you give them too many choices, it may be overwhelming and they will either take forever to choose, or agonize over whether they chose the "right" one.

3. If you're going to use graphical buttons, avoid strictly rectangular buttons unless the design absolutely demands it. For instance, #5 has the buttons on the left with the squared off end. I think a rounding of the buttons' left sides, to match the arc in the page "background", will look better. Squared buttons almost always scream
"Front-page Express" or AOL homepage to me!

Of course, these are all IMHO, for what it's worth. For an example of a site I recently finished, and I think it is the first one I've done all the graphics in Xara, visit Alliance Medical. I did one layout, and all they asked for was to include the PowerPoint presentation (see the Manufacturer's Presentation, if you can stomach PowerPoint!).
This was a very simple layout, client's wishes, client's colors.
I am also doing a "website in progress" for my sister's band, Buck Hummer and the Pickups. This one is for free, so they don't have a lot to say about how it looks! But it is a good example of having to use graphical text at certain times. Their only stipulation was to use the same font for the title "Buck Hummer and the Pickups" as they had used on some bumperstickers and T-shirts.

And of course, if anyone reading this wants to say I'm full of it, you're entitled to your opinion, no matter how wrong it is!

Gary V.

"I'm not an artist, but I play one on the internet!"

[dalel]

I've never used Frontpage, and have no idea what a Frontpage design looks like (or an AOL homepage, for that matter.) I'm just experimenting with different designs.

The mention of using decorative fonts, especially in text and links, is correct, and I had intended to change those before submitting the designs to my client.

I have tweaked all of these designs except the blue monster #5.

Dale

Why, I’m afraid I can’t explain myself, sir, because I’m not myself, you know...
- Lewis Carroll

[AjIsCoool]

No. 9, then 4 then 10