Another design of mine

[theblahman]

Hey all,

Well, I've been working on another design for my site and I finished it today. I hope you like it!

http://www.theblahman.net/

Peace out!

[SixThree]

Nice, but generic.

[theblahman]

Nice, but generic.

Thanks. Yeah, I tried to keep it really simple, but have a few focus points, like the title and the search button. That's where the leaves come in

[punky]

Looks really nice, I like the combination of the gray bars and green leaves, but I would change your background color, the white background isn't too nice...

[naked jesus]

yes that off white is quite disturbing. Clean it up aswell, the info down the right side looks very cluttered. Space it more or have a more obvious spacing?

I also think you have overused bold text as yes, i notice it more, but when i notice one word i see a whole load of other words that make me think it's cluttered.

I would make it softer.





P.s. we'll all be dead by next year, don't worry.

[Blink]

Have you really been doing for XHTML & CSS for three years? That's two years longer than me!

Anyway, the site design is basic but functional and if that's the look you were after then it fits the bill. Maybe a bit more of a dash of colour would please the eyeball.

Of course I can't help but look at the markup and suggest improvements. The first thing I noticed was the first header on your site is a h3? You should have a h1 and h2 preceding it if that's the case. For your logo I would suggest changing this:

Code: Select all

<div class="icon">
    icon
</div>
   
<div class="banner">           
       <a href="http://www.theblahman.net/" class="upper" title="To homepage and beyond!">theblahman.net designs</a>          
</div>

to:

Code: Select all

<div id="banner">
   <h1><a href="http://www.theblahman.net/" class="upper" title="To homepage and beyond!">theblahman.net designs</a></h1>
</div>

This is a lot leaner and semantic and also means you can apply the leaf background to the banner div, instead of having to create extra pointless divs..

Perhaps think about re-ordering your headers so they make more logical sense in the HTML. A very good practice to follow is to right pure basic HTML that explains your content in the most logical way, and then start adding in divs and spans as you need them.

Try not to write HTML to fit the CSS.

Don't forget anything can have an ID so wrapping a navigation ul in a div can be improved by just adding the ID to the ul itself.

Just some tips

[KILLA-COW]

It's functional but not really striking. I guess it serves a purpose but that is about it.

[ShaDoW]

What Blink said.

Overall, my opinion is that the site looks rather flat.
I can see where you were going with the colors but you really messed up with styling your text.

Being a web designer and knowing your code is good but knowing graphic design (and more importantly, user interface design) is just as important. A fine example is the blog page because it's a giant jumble of black text; it's hard to figure out which stuff belongs to what.

Keep it up though, you can still turn all of that around quite easily.

[RawMeat3000]

I'd suggest dividing the layout into 3 parts, one center piece that contains all your links, images and text, and two borders on either side.

[no00dylan]

I see where you're going with the style, and all, it just doesn't look lik you use enough things. Overall I like it, but it needs more designs and pictures to really cut down on boredom of looking at a blank/cream-colored screen.

[theblahman]

Looks really nice, I like the combination of the gray bars and green leaves

Thanks

but I would change your background color, the white background isn't too nice...

yes that off white is quite disturbing.

Well, I've worked out that my monitor is washed out or something because the background is a really nice creme for me. I'll darken it up some more. Cheers.

I also think you have overused bold text as yes, i notice it more, but when i notice one word i see a whole load of other words that make me think it's cluttered.

The bold text generally refers to a url, but I've had other feedback on the urls and the current bold urls aren't working. I was talking to Blink about the urls and he suggested using a different colour rather than making it bold. I'll try some alternatives.

the info down the right side looks very cluttered. Space it more or have a more obvious spacing?

I'll try putting in some more vertical padding.

Of course I can't help but look at the markup and suggest improvements.

Thanks I'll take a look and apply necessary fixes tonight

The first thing I noticed was the first header on your site is a h3? You should have a h1 and h2 preceding it if that's the case.

Hmmm, I thought I'd put in h1 and h2's. Apparently not

Try not to write HTML to fit the CSS.

Wise words.. wise words

I can see where you were going with the colors but you really messed up with styling your text.

Thanks, I'll get onto that asap. Maybe more vertical padding and more letter spacing?

A fine example is the blog page because it's a giant jumble of black text

That should be fixed when I redo the text styling. edit: should look better now, I think it does.

Keep it up though, you can still turn all of that around quite easily.

Many thanks

I'd suggest dividing the layout into 3 parts, one center piece that contains all your links, images and text, and two borders on either side.

Hmmm, I like that idea. I'll do a test and see how it looks tonight. Cheers

Overall I like it, but it needs more designs and pictures to really cut down on boredom of looking at a blank/cream-colored screen.

Aye, I'll add some more we'll see how it goes

Thanks all for the criticism. I'll spend the next few days applying the changes.

edit:

well, I've changed the background to something darker, hopefuly it's not as lary.

The content has been given some more vertical padding and a 0.3 pixel letter spacing has been applied.

I changed the urls, but meh, I don't really like them. Maybe remove the bold all together. That's what testing's for