A new site layout. Dark and orange.

[quadrafreak]

I just started this layout for my site the other night, and I was hoping I could get some feed back on it. Thanks.

[quadrafreak]

I just started this layout for my site the other night, and I was hoping I could get some feed back on it. Thanks.

[John Rayner]

Hi Joseph,

Welcome to Talkgraphics. Personally, I think the top bar wastes too much space for a professional site. Cut the height a third to maybe half. the blue buttons on the top bar are hard to read. Nice dark colors, usually the choice of younger males. Was this layout done in Xara?

Overall I think it is very cool for a personal site. Age limiting for a professional site. I think only goth girls would like the site... But I could be wrong. Old men sometimes are.

[quadrafreak]

This might be the alternative. Let me know what you think.

[RTK]

Joseph,

I have to agree with John's comments on this one - 100%! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/eek.gif John, I know... it comes as a shock to me also! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif You know I love you! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Yes, the colours in your second example are better... All the black in your first design were too much like a "teen angst", "gambling" or "PC gaming" site. (Maybe even a P*** site! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif) AND it's not meant to be an insult!

My first attempt at a website had a black background also, until someone much more clever than me suggested something a bit more neutral colour. What happened when I switched to white? The pageviews doubled!

Black can still be pretty 'cool' - it depends on your target audience…

If you don't trust John's original comment, once you start getting steady traffic/statistics - switch to a black background, and watch the pageviews! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

However, John's suggestions/comments about the top-bar haven’t been addressed in your second version – it IS quite big... The navigation (and some buttons) also takes up a lot of space...

With the amount of graphical elements that you have - and for it not being online - it's quite tricky to see how fast it will load. It does add a whole new perspective when you can navigate a real website – with content! Flash could also be something you might consider looking into if "style" is important... Then again, "style" will only take you so far – "content" is what will make people come back.

Joseph, John’s comments and mine are not meant to bring you down - you obviously have ideas - play with them, if it doesn't work, try something different!

It’s your website, you can do whatever you wish with it!

If in doubt – go with what YOU think is right for YOU – if it doesn’t work out – mix it up! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Also, I’m not a web designer (which is obvious if you visit my own web site) – so if you are looking for "Pro" input – please disregard mine! But do have in mind that my personal website has a purpose – even though it might not be obvious to the casual visitor... I realized a while back that professional web designers – do make a difference – finding a local one that you can trust, is worth tons! Especially when you can buy them a pint of Guinness and "pick their brains." http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[John Rayner]

Hello Joseph,

I like this one better. The roses are a nice touch. The top navigation bar still looks very high for what it brings to the site. what is the height of that bar in pixels. For a personal site it is workable. For a professional site it takes up too much valuable screen space for what it provides.

This is going to be occupying a good percentage of your website, Do you really need "copyright 2004 Quadratech.net all rights reserved. admin@quadratech.net" in such a prime position on every page? Drop it to the bottom with all the BS information.

Looks great, a very pretty site, just not very practical. If you have much infomation at all, you are going to make people scroll, for what?... "copyright 2004 Quadratech.net all rights reserved. admin@quadratech.net"

[Mike S]

hey Joseph! welcome to TG. i agree with John and Risto (theres something nehuh Risto http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif ?) just kidding buddy. one question what is your site about? maybe if you gave us a description of what the site is allabout input and guidence might be a bit easier for everyone.

i am guessing it is a technology site going by the name quadratech. a few years back a designed a few websites for myself. the1st one had a tiled backgroound intense graphics. and guess what to many complaints saying it took to long to load and was to busy. (i was selling computers and hardware on ebay and on my website.

i took the tild background off and went to a white background and eased up and all the "pretty graphcs and colors" and it 1. looked more professional and cleaner 2. itloaded a hell of alot faster 3 my page views and sales went up.

i hope this helps some along with john and ristos advice. also look at Ristos website. it is clean and fun loads fast and he has alot of stuff there going on but yet it is very clean looking.

maybe also john can give you a few links to th sites he designed and that might help also. after all John is the MAN of code slingers

[RAMWolff44]

Personally I like them both very much!! Now that I'm into the 3D thing I find more 3D sites using black backgrounds quite common, so it's not just gaming!!

The second offering is very elegant and a bit edgy at the same time (if that's possible?? http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif )

Richard http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[quadrafreak]

I changed the top, I think it's a little cleaner now.

[quadrafreak]

After taking a quick look, I noticed that the top navigation for the site takes some looking around to find it. However, the nav on the left is quite obvious. I dont want to resort to the previous top layout, but I still want it to be easy enough to find. And I trink I'll shrink the nav on the left also. Comments are always nice to recieve, even if they aren't.