Feedback on a new design of mine

[theblahman]

Hi All,

I've been designing a new design for my site and I would like some feedback.

First off I want to say that the orange is NOT going to be the color scheme, when I came to make the image set in photoshop, that was the color that was in the pallete. I have yet to think of a suitable color scheme so thoughts/ideas would be much appreciated.

And for the first time ever I have fixed the CSS for IE so it looks pretty much the same in IE7 as it does in FF.

Currently none of the links are working, so don't click them (the links on the actual site, not the ones posted below)

Index Page
and
Index Page (LOGGED IN)

Cheers.

tested in:

Firefox 2.0.0.14

Internet Explorer 7.0.5730.13

Internet Explorer 6

[Blink]

Hmm, it looks very similar to another site I visit, can't place it....

The layout is not bad but it needs more subtle colours on the typography. Black text on white background is quite a harsh pallette for the eyes. It's hard to ignore that gross yellow though.

It's good to see you embracing web standards (I noticed valid xhtml and css) but the site is a ghastly mess in IE6, which most users have as their primary browser. Writing IE6 hacks are full of frustration and stupid rules, it took a long time to get interlopers rendering nicely in all browsers.

Google will provide tonnes of sites to help you.

EDIT: Had a look through your source as well (natural habit) and I would recommend more semantic HTML. Which means use the HTML that gives it the most meaning. This involves using things like <ul> lists for your navigation and the forum latest, or even <dl> for the forum latest if you prefer.

A good technique I use is to turn off styles in Firefox and see if it makes readable sense. Try it on lopers home page to see what I mean (View -> Page Style -> None).

[theblahman]

It's good to see you embracing web standards (I noticed valid xhtml and css) but the site is a ghastly mess in IE6, which most users have as their primary browser. Writing IE6 hacks are full of frustration and stupid rules, it took a long time to get interlopers rendering nicely in all browsers.

I haven't had the chance to test IE6 as I don't know any computers that are running it. But I'll find one!

I'll take a look into the background color, maybe a subtle gray. Still haven't got a color scheme to get rid of that horrible yellow placeholder, but I'll find one soon.

I had tried using a ul for my menu, but I couldn't get it working the way I wanted it so I ditched it, but I'll give it another shot and try to get it working.

Thanks for having a look. Another update coming soon =)

[JakeParlay]

browsershots.org for a sneak peak at how your site looks w/ other browsers. handy

[theblahman]

Oh that's nice! Thanks Jake!

[RawMeat3000]

I love that your site's mostly in Latin right now. So far the layout is very appealing.

[Blink]

I haven't had the chance to test IE6 as I don't know any computers that are running it. But I'll find one!

I'll take a look into the background color, maybe a subtle gray. Still haven't got a color scheme to get rid of that horrible yellow placeholder, but I'll find one soon.

I had tried using a ul for my menu, but I couldn't get it working the way I wanted it so I ditched it, but I'll give it another shot and try to get it working.

Thanks for having a look. Another update coming soon =)

If you want all versions of IE from 3-6 then use this: http://tredosoft.com/Multiple_IE

You can pick what versions you want, I installed 5.5 & 6 as they are the oldest ones that are most common. However I read that PayPal are planning to ban certain versions of IE as they stated some people visit their site using IE3! Madness.

There are two ways to tackle the lists, but my preferred way is to float the list items, so as a quick example:

Code: Select all

#nav li {
float: left;
margin-right: 10px;
}

There is tonnes of stuff around the net for CSS menus, so have a look.

[theblahman]

I love that your site's mostly in Latin right now. So far the layout is very appealing.

Thanks =) Lorem ipsum is great filler text

If you want all versions of IE from 3-6 then use this: http://tredosoft.com/Multiple_IE

You can pick what versions you want, I installed 5.5 & 6 as they are the oldest ones that are most common.

Oh that is awesome, thanks!

visit their site using IE3! Madness.

This.. is.. Web 2.0!

Thanks for the CSS for a ul menu, I'll try and get it sorted (pun! ) today.

[theblahman]

Ok, I've redone the color scheme, I really hope you like it - I love it

I have also tested in IE 6.0.

Please tell me what you think.

[Blink]

That looks much nicer, and it looks fine in IE 6 as well. Plus you used better markup for your navigation I see.

Top marks squire.

[theblahman]

That looks much nicer, and it looks fine in IE 6 as well. Plus you used better markup for your navigation I see.

Top marks squire.

I started to fix it for IE5.5 but gave up shortly after, no matter what I did it would not center

How does everyone find the yellow links on the page? Some people say it's too harsh whereas others think it's perfect :S

[Blink]

Yellow links look okay to me, but that banner is bit aliased. Those trees look really ugly. Maybe consider a better screenshot quality?

[theblahman]

but that banner is bit aliased. Those trees look really ugly. Maybe consider a better screenshot quality?

Okiedokie, I'll try and find another image or chuck all the settings onto uber and take that shot again.

[theblahman]

Ok, I've changed the banner, please tell me what you think. HDR might be a wee bit too bright

[ixin]

Looking nice and clean - kinda buggy with the background and layout imaging though.