Website Critique

[crimsonhead]

Hey guys,

I redesigned my site and would like to get your opinions. Only the homepage is up for now and the remainder is not completed yet, but the design is there.

I'm having a single issue that I don't know how to fix that only occurs in firefox but looks fine in ie7 and opera. In firefox, the problem is with the textured background and when it meets the same textured background from the table, they don't seem to line up for some reason....anyways, critique away. Thanks.

www.crimsonoptic.com (http://www.crimsonoptic.com)

[mac.FINN]

I'm having a single issue that I don't know how to fix that only occurs in firefox but looks fine in ie7 and opera. In firefox, the problem is with the textured background and when it meets the same textured background from the table, they don't seem to line up for some reason....anyways, critique away.

It happens in IE6 too. That background texture really makes everything hard to read...it's really distracting.

[crimsonhead]

It happens in IE6 too. That background texture really makes everything hard to read...it's really distracting.

I had some people send me screenshots on their different resolutions and browsers, just out of curiosity, do you see the background texture as a simple and subtle diagonal texture, or are you seeing something different? I'll post a version without the texture later on to see what people think. Thanks.

EDIT: ok, here it is without the texture:

http://img182.imageshack.us/my.php?image=crimsonoptic1ht6.jpg

[urstwile]

I like it much better without the texture.

I was seeing diagonal lines, but it was really not adding to the readability at all, nor did it seem to really enhance the site. I'd lose the texture.

[crimsonhead]

Ok, texture has been removed.

[Workshy]

I am far from an expert but am looking on my laptop and when i am trying to look at the portfolio images i mainly see white (orange) space and have to scroll down to see the relevant image.
Then i hit an advance button to see the next page and same thing.
I am notoriously lazy and probably wouldn't bother going past the first few pages

[crimsonhead]

I am far from an expert but am looking on my laptop and when i am trying to look at the portfolio images i mainly see white (orange) space and have to scroll down to see the relevant image.
Then i hit an advance button to see the next page and same thing.
I am notoriously lazy and probably wouldn't bother going past the first few pages

you're right, i redesigned for better layout. only issue i'm having now is with the contact form. it displays fine once again in firefox and opera but ie7 has it way too high and i don't know why. also, for anyone using ie6 or another browser other than those mentioned, are you seeing the contact form in consisten color form as the rest of the page. meaning orange background, yellow text? thanks.

[Crimson]

I like the name. Do you do only business cards and logo work? It all looks very techie or modern. Not that is really a bad thing. You have style. good stuff, Hope the rest comes along well

[lattequeen]

I think I would like it more without the diagonal lines. I can't really figure out why they are there. Crimson's right - the look does fit your work since it looks sort of techie.

[John G]

PLEASE DON'T USE AN ALL CAPS FONT FOR BODY COPY IT MAKES IT HARD TO READ EASILY. YES, EVEN IF THE LEAD LETTER IS BIGGER THAN THE REST OF THE COPY. SEE WHAT I MEAN?

Do I really need to be able to contact you with a form... with a ridiculously small Question & Comment box... from every page? Or just not in the top left at least. That's pretty much going to be the first place just about anyone will look to when the first enter the site and your eyes just sort of stop there until you realize there's more.

Quicklike:
I don't know what page I'm on. It always looks like I'm on the "Home" page from your navigation.
At first glance it doesn't look like there are more "pages" with each portfolio section. I don't know where I'm at in each section. I don't know how many pages in a section there are.

Crimson Optic: It's hard to seperate the Crimson and the Optic right off.
Crimson Optic.. is orange?

The kerning on most of your text makes just about everything come off really annoying to read. Everything has the same extra spacing. It takes away any sort of focus or highlighting effect that extra spacing can generate and mushes it all together. I'm not overly fond of the letting in your project descriptions either. Seems to seperate them more than it should for a title and description.

[crimsonhead]

PLEASE DON'T USE AN ALL CAPS FONT FOR BODY COPY IT MAKES IT HARD TO READ EASILY. YES, EVEN IF THE LEAD LETTER IS BIGGER THAN THE REST OF THE COPY. SEE WHAT I MEAN?

Do I really need to be able to contact you with a form... with a ridiculously small Question & Comment box... from every page? Or just not in the top left at least. That's pretty much going to be the first place just about anyone will look to when the first enter the site and your eyes just sort of stop there until you realize there's more.

Quicklike:
I don't know what page I'm on. It always looks like I'm on the "Home" page from your navigation.
At first glance it doesn't look like there are more "pages" with each portfolio section. I don't know where I'm at in each section. I don't know how many pages in a section there are.

Crimson Optic: It's hard to seperate the Crimson and the Optic right off.
Crimson Optic.. is orange?

The kerning on most of your text makes just about everything come off really annoying to read. Everything has the same extra spacing. It takes away any sort of focus or highlighting effect that extra spacing can generate and mushes it all together. I'm not overly fond of the letting in your project descriptions either. Seems to seperate them more than it should for a title and description.

ah, blunt honesty, I love it. The all caps deal on the homepage is due to the background I'm using, I tried to do it in so many different forms and colors to make it readable and consistent, and this was the only way I found it most readable, although I will continue to try and adjust it as to avoid all caps. As for the contact form, I do feel it's necessary as I don't feel putting a simple email and number is enough, so that's staying, the only issue is getting it fixed in IE7.

The issue with navigation you're having may be due to the fact that aside from a portfolio and 'home' page I don't have anything else. I wanted to have all information available on every page to avoid having 3 separate pages (about, contact, portfolio) because the information on contact and about would be so minimal that it wouldn't make sense to give them their own page and would just make it more of a nuisance than anything. In my opinion (obviously), I though the navigation and understanding of the pages would come easily, although I won't make any final conclusions until I get more opinions regarding it from various people.

It's interesting you mentioned my name being crimson, and the color being orange :D. All my previous sites have been red, but I didn't want to constrain myself to that color alone anymore and wanted to explore another option that would be more soothing to the viewer...and I feel metaphorically the name doesn't have to actually make all other aspects be red (meaning, what the actual color symbolises is enough), so I'm fine with that for now.

Lastly, the tracking in the text was simply a design choice to fit layout and such, I will explore other options on that as well to make more readable. Thanks for your input, I appreciate it.

[crimsonhead]

I like the name. Do you do only business cards and logo work? It all looks very techie or modern. Not that is really a bad thing. You have style. good stuff, Hope the rest comes along well
I also have other work aside from logo and business card in there as well, such as websites and brochures, although I haven't linked the sites yet. Let me ask you, are the next and back arrows in the portfolio pages obvious, or did you not see them? I ask because the first image in most the portfolio pages are business cards, and perhaps the arrows are hard to see and people won't actually click next to see other work? Thanks for your comments, and cool name :D.

[jessicam]

I'm at 1024x768 and it makes me scroll to the right to see much of anything relevant.

[crimsonhead]

alright guys, redesigned it....john G's critique really helped. thanks again.

[CamarotaDesign]

much much much better. Looks a lot more professional.

I think you need to introduce another color or two. Maybe a gray/metallic gradient. or something, seems like it's just slightly monotone.