your opinions please

[indigo]

hi,

i've been working on this site and just can't get it right. my client is one of those people who knows what he doesn't want, as opposed to one that knows what he does want--we all know the type.

he says my design doesn't look professional(guess he should have hired a professional and paid professional rates). i'm being paid peanuts for this job, but i need stuff for my portfolio.

i like it, but maybe i'm a little to close to it to form an objective opinion.

please give me your opinions, good and bad, for this header/navigation system.
i intentionally left out the logo, the tag line must stay, client wants no hover function for the first menu, and he requires the outset border on the grey second menu.

were going for a corporate feel. the logo has the same color beige as seen on this page.

http://home.comcast.net/~brdwlsh/headers/top.html

thanks for the time.

[casedsgn]

Well, there's not much there to crit but I get the jist. It's nice and clean, but it could use some polish.
The secondary nav on the top may be a little tight, I didn't notice it up there until my fourth or fifth read.
The main nav is pretty straight forward, but feels a little too 'framed' by the darker grey box. The buttons also feel 'cookie cutter' with the standard bevel effect...maybe try losing the buttons a together and let the text rest on the grey bar?
The dot pattern in the header does some strange things to the eyes and I'm guessing any kind of logo dropped on it will make it even more apparent. What about a screened back 'techy' texture or someting? black and white photo? explore some options, do you need a pattern at all? Your starting to grab some attention with the header tagline but all the effects (bevel, drop shadow) are awfully distracting. You'd probably gain a lot by cleaning that up a bit.
All in all you're on the right track and aren't far from from a professional look and feel. Good luck and keep us posted with any changes.

[indigo]

bad news if you didn't see the secondary nav until the fourth time--i'll try to work on that.

i too hate the grey button look in the main nav, client was very specific about this feature unfortunately.

the screened back image in the middle area is a good idea--i'll implement that tonight. i feel like i need something to break up the monotony.

thanks.

p.s. my client designed the tagline--wants to keep it as is!

Post Edited (indigo) : 3/16/2004 5:07:53 AM GMT

[axoi]

Okay from the code point of view...hide all the ugly css in a file somewhere and link to it.

I think the font size is a bit too thin on the main nav. Change the font weight to bold or change the rollover background color to a contrasting color of the banner. Perhaps texturizing the brown background of the container of the nav buttons will help also.

What is the clients theme? Electronics? Perhaps work in some shots of products behind main banner...perhaps behind the text logo to offset the design?

- Bill

[indigo]

revised:
http://home.comcast.net/~brdwlsh/headers/top.html

i'll definitely hide the css in an external style sheet, i'm just being lazy now!

thanks again

[style]

wot bill said about some product shots.. but otherwise nice...
just thinking you know the tagline... well can you change the font of that to the same font that their is in the logo?

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/instyle/sigi.jpg

[Ryan8720]

The revision is MUCH better. Great job.

Also, you should run the page through HTML tidy. That CSS could be condensed quite a bit. And it looks like your page would already validate as XHTML, so why not?

http://edgewebdesign.org/ryan2.gif (http://www.edgewebdesign.org)

C:\DOS
C:\DOS\RUN
RUN DOS RUN

[indigo]

my client designed the tag line, he wants to keep it. /emoticons/violent.gif
i'll try to clean it up once we decide on a background.

still waiting on some product shots, or confirmation of what kind of products should be used for the screened back image.

my CSS validates, but it is atrocious! one of these days i'll get around to using shortcuts and condensed markup. i'll play around with HTML Tidy tonight.

what are the advantages of XHTML, i may as well read about that too on the W3C site.

i'll post a revision when i get some images.

thanks

[Ryan8720]

Well, it is eventually going to replace HTML. It allows for cleaner, stricter markup. It's made to go with CSS and works toward better compatibility and semantic design.

http://edgewebdesign.org/ryan2.gif (http://www.edgewebdesign.org)

C:\DOS
C:\DOS\RUN
RUN DOS RUN

[indigo]

revision:
http://home.comcast.net/~brdwlsh/headers/top.html

if he doesn't like this one, i don't know what to do. he'll have to pay somebody else peanuts for what he wants--if he ever figures out what he wants.

glad i got my deposit.

[3howards]

indigo -- i still think that header bg needs work...it just doesn't mesh well with the logo and the layout. i also agree with the others on that tagline, it just plain stinks. maybe you could design a second version utlizing a font that is similar to the logo and show it to him as another option. i think that plus the bg make it look unprofessional.

ryan -- i diasgree that xml will replace html. everything i've read about xml says the opposite. you have to remember what xml is intended to do, and that is to carry data. although similar to html, it is not a replacement for html. xml and html were designed with different goals: xml was designed to describe data and to focus on what data is; html was designed to display data and to focus on how data looks. html is about displaying information, while xml is about describing information. info taken straight from w3schools.com

[style]

i like the colours a lot better on this one!! it goes better with the logo... maybe change the tagline font!?!!? pls pls pls!! /emoticons/wink.gif and move it down a bit it doesnt look vertically centered!! much better though!
good luck!!

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/instyle/sigi.jpg

[Ryan8720]

3howards said...
ryan -- i diasgree that xml will replace html. everything i've read about xml says the opposite. you have to remember what xml is intended to do, and that is to carry data. although similar to html, it is not a replacement for html. xml and html were designed with different goals: xml was designed to describe data and to focus on what data is; html was designed to display data and to focus on how data looks. html is about displaying information, while xml is about describing information. info taken straight from w3schools.com
Not XML, XHTML. They are very different.

http://edgewebdesign.org/ryan2.gif (http://www.edgewebdesign.org)

C:\DOS
C:\DOS\RUN
RUN DOS RUN

[3howards]

ryan -- saw that after i wrote it...my bad

[indigo]

thanks for all the input.
i redid the tag line--he wanted something similar to his, i did the best i could, still hate it.
changed the bg a bit, and added some content.
clent asked for minimalist design, i think thats what i created.
i think the logo positioning could use some work.

http://home.comcast.net/~brdwlsh/hoff/mockup2.html

all suggestions welcome.

[Ryan8720]

I think the tagline would look better in a bolder font. Other than that it looks good. As long as the client is happy it is good. Plus, you get what you pay for.

http://edgewebdesign.org/ryan2.gif (http://www.edgewebdesign.org)

C:\DOS
C:\DOS\RUN
RUN DOS RUN