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Hi guys? am more than happy to show you my first website designs i have been in print graphics for 4 years and never done any web design this is my first project in web design 5 websites at a go. Am just happy i managed to do this but would be happy to know what you guys think obout my sites.
The link to all the sites is www.kindoroko.com (http://www.kindoroko.com) the only site that am still not done designing is Ngorongoro highlands forest lodge the rest are all my work.
I will realy appreciate your critique be as mean as you can it helps.
katgal
07-04-2007, 07:27 PM
So, is it "Escapment" or "Escarpment"???
You use both quite liberally.
www.kindorokohotels.com: Horrible. Colors are awful, graphics low quality. Looks very dated. The photos are a very prominent part of the design, but they don't make me want to stay there. Not inviting at all.
The rest of them, while they certainly could be improved, are light years better than the Kindoroko Hotels site. A few suggestions for improvement:
The green header on the escapement/escarpment site seems too tall. Lots of wasted space. I'd probably cut it in half. And why aren't the hovers on the menu buttons centered?
On the main page, why is the menu one large image with an image map?
I do not like the photo frame treatment on the two backpaker sites. Look unprofessional an amateurish. I'd go without border or with a simple solid color border. (If you learn css, it's easy to apply standard border across all images...or a class of images.)
It's clear you are not familiar with web standards and designing with css. I'd suggest you spend some time familiarizing yourself with the current world of web design so you learn it the right way the first time. I'm self taught, myself, so it can be done!
oh thanks for that, this was my first time to use a web design program (dreamweaver),but am still learning web design so i believe will get better.
As for Kindoroko hotels the idear was to get away from the modern look to something African so i had to change the logo to that which led me to that design of the site.
Manyara Escarpment (not escapment my silly mistake) & Ngorongoro am still working on the logos so after the final logos are approved i will have to do the sites again following the logo so i would say the are still unfinished.
hewligan
07-05-2007, 08:58 PM
I've got to agree with Katgal.
Dreamweaver is a useful tool, but it's no substitute for learning to write HTML/XHTML/CSS properly.
I'd strongly advise having a read of the HTML, XHTML and CSS tutorials at W3Schools (http://www.w3schools.com/) before going any further.
katgal
07-05-2007, 09:10 PM
Honestly, the logo is the worst part of the Kindoroko Hotels site. It's really really really really bad. I'm sorry to be so harsh, but if that's where you got your "inspiration" for the rest of the site, there's your problem right there.
As for the "african" colors. Take a look at the colors you used on the Kindoroko Tours site. Much more successful use of color on that site.
Honestly, the logo is the worst part of the Kindoroko Hotels site. It's really really really really bad. I'm sorry to be so harsh, but if that's where you got your "inspiration" for the rest of the site, there's your problem right there.
As for the "african" colors. Take a look at the colors you used on the Kindoroko Tours site. Much more successful use of color on that site.
yeah! I got that from many guys about the logo,
well I got to that logo because of how the hotel environment is, I was forced to stick to that. The logo may look bad but was trying to potray the look of the hotel it has very beautiful interior deco that gives that African feeling.
darkraven
07-07-2007, 07:52 PM
I suggest you should stick it in one page, you should shorten youre navigation
you should visit other sites then, so that you can have your idea running... be careful on gathering of colors in your website/webpage or it cant invite any visitors at all....
Used these softwares as much as possible: Dreamweaver (for easy setup of Webpage) Adobe Photoshop and ImageReady (for Graphic editing and Website setup) and Flash Animation ( to make youre website more lively and attractful to the visitors)....
see some you the webpage : http://visions/cjb.net
http://jeffplane.cjb.net
http://rjdreyes.cjb.net
[quote=darkraven]I suggest you should stick it in one page, you should shorten youre navigation
Good suggestion there i think i will think of away to shorten the navigation and make the pages lesser thanks for that the sites will always need to be upgraded so i'll start on that, I like your site so simple.
Drazan
07-08-2007, 12:05 PM
I think the color choices are more glaring than the design.
The slicing of theimages is really haphazard. There's many places where the image could be one whole image but your's is sliced into many parts. These sites tend to not load smoothly.
I agree with hewligan, there's more to webdesign than arranging things in dreamweaver. If you were to learn the basics of HTML and CSS you'll find it much better to do websites, update them and make them load a lot faster.
Also if you are going to rely on dreamweaver - learn how to do dreamweaver's templates, and how to set up a CSS sheet in dreamweaver.
IF you are going to pursue webdesign as part of your everyday designing then I highly suggest looking into more of what it takes to make a sucessfull design work for the client. Things like search engine optimization, proper standards of coding, and eventually someone will ask you to customize or build a script. If you can't you'll need a network of coders who can do it for you.
Using Dreamweaver is limiting. It is only a tool and not a substitute for knowing how to build a proper website.
For color pallet choices here's a couple sites to find corresponging colors. Also stay away from bright contrasting colors. Those that may work in print -- do not work on the web. Mostly because all computer screens are made different. Some Reds turn brown, browns seem green, and yellow is usually too bright. Never use primary colors on the web. Use toned down colors. And the more they complement each other the better. My rule is usually only use three basic colors and no more than 5 overall.
http://kuler.adobe.com/
http://colorblender.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Check your links, there's a couple bad ones. Also I would have each site open in their own window.
Out of all of them, the only one that seems well put together is the tours site. Though I prefer to see a gallery popup in a javascript window with proper sizing and a close button than a "new" full size window.
Jade
<<who has 14 years webdesign
Thank you Drazan, to be frank with you color has always been an issue with me so I ease it up by getting the color of the logo then i use that color for every other design that is related to the logo or the company.I do hope the links will be of help.
As for the links am looking that up to correct it. am also woking on a new site this time i'll take your advice and try to come up with more profesional results and for sure i will let you guys see it you have been of good help thank you.
that mike guy
07-10-2007, 06:49 AM
I think they're generally pretty good.
Some pages load pretty slow; maybe you could tweak the file size of the images you use in your design?
or maybe its just my connection tonight....
oh! good to hear that.
That's the best i could do for the images as you can see most of them are jpegs gifs prooved to be heavy.
abdul_al_jahir
07-12-2007, 10:33 AM
maybe i could add some idea but i don't think it can have a real good effect. here:
add some color, use many color combinations, it could make a great appeal on visitors. also you could add some pictures of how the hotel really looks like or anything you want the visitors to know about your subject, pictures make quick explanations of how or what's your website all about.
a simple advice: remember visitors are not readers they are just scanners, most visitors won't give much time reading on your website.
"when a rat calls for a help, rats will most likely give the quickest reply."
a simple advice: remember visitors are not readers they are just scanners, most visitors won't give much time reading on your website.
good idear i didn't have that in my head so it's either shortening my words or increase images coz that information is also important, well i'll look at that and see what is best.
stickleback
07-18-2007, 09:43 PM
if you are going to use african theme why not lose ther background colours andd use leopard or tiger skin patterns - not on the whole thing but in areas. All the blocks of colour make it look quite dated.
my 2 cents...
sabian1982
07-20-2007, 08:33 AM
You've made a good start, as you're new you've gone for tables, although if you really want to go somewhere you need to look at pure css/div layouts as these are easier to manage and limitless for your design ideas!
I've also had a scan over your html code (which as mentioned by a few other people) dreamweaver isn't the best for creating good code. You've used H4 codes for you're text where as you should start with H1 codes, theres a specific order which html elements should follow (especially when relating to text). Check out http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_elements.asp for some basis on how to hand code and layout your html code.
You've been in print graphics for 4 years so im sure you can design pretty much anything you're mind can concieve, its just a matter of find the right method to transfer those ideas onto the web... you're current design is rather inspirational but a good start...
if you are going to use african theme why not lose ther background colours andd use leopard or tiger skin patterns - not on the whole thing but in areas. All the blocks of colour make it look quite dated.
my 2 cents...
Well dont you think it will look busy, i mean burn the eyes of the viewer. I thought so because i tried it once in a brochure that was the reaction it made pages look crowded and too busy and the text seemed swallowed, so that idea could not work well in such places where text is to be applied.
but i think it's up for a try i might try it elswhere play around with it see what comes up. Thank you
You've made a good start, as you're new you've gone for tables, although if you really want to go somewhere you need to look at pure css/div layouts as these are easier to manage and limitless for your design ideas!
I've also had a scan over your html code (which as mentioned by a few other people) dreamweaver isn't the best for creating good code. You've used H4 codes for you're text where as you should start with H1 codes, theres a specific order which html elements should follow (especially when relating to text). Check out http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_elements.asp for some basis on how to hand code and layout your html code.
You've been in print graphics for 4 years so im sure you can design pretty much anything you're mind can concieve, its just a matter of find the right method to transfer those ideas onto the web... you're current design is rather inspirational but a good start...
Thanks for that. Well, coding language seems too complex may be it's coz am too new to web design but thanks for the link it looks helpful am sure i will get better as i move on but the question is where do i start from? I mean the very first lesson to take.
sabian1982
07-26-2007, 12:08 PM
I started hand coding html, if you can master that (and understand it) you have a strong basis to develop whatever style or design of site you want!
I wrote an article a while back about tables vs css - ultimately css allows you to completely seperate content from design! You have the content in your html page and you style it using an attached style sheet.
Do a search on google for 'html tutorials' - i'm sure you'll find a few million suggestions ;)