Do you like this?

[alekdesign]

So what do you think of this design?

2 things:

1. nevermind the content, did it for the design, not the content
2. if u want to suggest doing something about the menu font, well I kinda boop booped and flattened image.. hehe silly me

http://www.alekdesign.tk

------------
Alek
(signature picture pending)

[Big Perm-dizzle]

its pretty good

here are something

frames are bad
New times roman is bad
the header could be tighter vertically
overal not to shabbly

I think there are better solutions for the design of the boxes on the side...just think about it maybe some kinda of treatment like the header....

JUST LAUNCHED - www.hirethisdesigner.com (http://www.hirethisdesigner.com) - check it out

[D-Zine]

Good color scheme.
I agree with BP that you could tighten the header vertically. It's a lil heavy but the pattern and colors are nice. I also would for sure lose the Times Roman for sure because it seems harder to read and is kinda boring. Makes me thing NEWSPAPER (ugh) ;o) I like the overall layout but maybe you could make the buttons a little smaller across the top - they seem kinda large to me. Good start, keep us posted! :o)

http://coastalcarousel.com/GDF/metatag3.jpg

Who says doodling isn't constructive?!

[Ryan8720]

Not bad. In Mozilla the header image hands below the background, so it doesn't match up at all. I hate frames. The blue links are hard to see on a blue background. The color scheme is pleasant. The header image looks a little too flattened. It is also not a good idea to use one image with image maps for navigation. Search engines won't know what they are following and if the image doesn't load, everyone is lost.

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

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

[alekdesign]

Thanks for the reply, and I agree with most of it. Except two things. Why dont you like frames? I like it alot. Makes it easier to make a page and easier to browse a page.. Second. Ryan. about the image maps, what would be the alternative? Slicing up the image and making buttons of them? I want to use graphics alot as a part of my page for two things, just text is boring and especially on this page, its the graphic and design that matters and not the content =)

thanks for your inputs

Alek
(signature picture pending)

[Big Perm-dizzle]

frames are old school and search engine dont like them.....

your last statement is half true...content does matter especially in search engine ranking

JUST LAUNCHED - www.hirethisdesigner.com (http://www.hirethisdesigner.com) - check it out

[alekdesign]

old school? um. okay... all I can say to that is.. I had long hair when it was out and cut it when it became in..

search engines? um. okay... and why I am worrying about that?

ok, sorry, no need to get sarcastic. I am not trying to make a actual website that ppl will find on Google. I am just self learning design. So if you could comment on that, it would be great. =)

Alek
(signature picture pending)

[Ryan8720]

Yes buttons would be better.

Frames are bad for search engines, bad for accessablity (text-only browsers, screen readers, etc.), and I find them annoying. I like the whole page to scroll, not just part of it.

While you may not be worried about SE ranks now, you will probably want to make a site sometime and your client will. It is better to make good habits now.

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

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

[YellowDart]

OK, first off, the blue links on dark blue bgcolor in your navbar makes my mind hurt... Big time color vibes coming off that... maybe change your links to white, arial/verdana, bold; or make them graphics w/ some rollover effects. Actually, I agree w/ what is stated above: Ditch the Times New Roman. Sans Serif fonts are the most widely used now, and offer the cleanest look, imo.

-=[edit]=-
Also, the scripts on your home page aren't working right... check your status bar, they're kicking back errors.

Post Edited (YellowDart) : 5/28/2004 5:32:24 PM GMT

[Big Perm-dizzle]

back to the design....

the header look like a tutorial gone bad....like said above its very flat (the dot fun blends right into the header)....the logo is a bit old (1998ish) tribal meets techy....

you scaled the logo vertically in some of the interior pages which distorted the logo and made it choppy.

honestly there is not place for my eyes to go...no visual hierachy

here is what you need to think about....

where are the best sites on the internet? Now go look at them and ask yourself these questions....Do they use frames? Are there sites flat in color use? Are there headers that huge?

Actually I cannot find any GOOD professionally done sites that use frames....acura.com , bwmusa.com none.....

I should not have said Old School more of the term 'dated'

frames were a bad trend (in 1998) and I would not try to bring them back...

you asked for our opinions if you dont use them thats purely up to you....

JUST LAUNCHED - www.hirethisdesigner.com (http://www.hirethisdesigner.com) - check it out

[alekdesign]

i appreciate what you say perm, but i feel its kinda odd that you claim YOUR comments to be that 'its outdated to use frame' and 'the best sites on the internet dont use frames'. As a matter of fact the logo isnt 6 years old, I made it like 2 weeks ago :P
I must honestly say that though I would like to design stuff that appeals to a broad audience, I refuse to care if some ppl consider it '1998ish'. If you feel so strong about it, I can drop the frames, but I quite like my logo..

The header looks fine on my monitor, no trouble reading the text, though I do admit its a bit big..

The scaled logo, well its just a page breaker really, with the added logo for more color.

PS. Last line of defence for frames, i prefer having the menu accessable at all times...

edit: PPS. The scripts are not mine. sorry, but that is popup ads from the webhost. =(

Alek
(signature picture pending)

Post Edited (alekdesign) : 5/29/2004 2:53:31 AM GMT

[Big Perm-dizzle]

put an html menu at the bottom if you are worried about accesibility of the menu

or a bread crumb


when I say your logo looks old...I am not referring to the exact date of file creation...more of the style during a period of time it looks like it came from

like if you design a retro 1960 poster it doesnt mean you made it in 1960 it means it look like it did...get it?

if you dont care what people think if you site looks old then why did you post a design critic?

JUST LAUNCHED - www.hirethisdesigner.com (http://www.hirethisdesigner.com) - check it out

[alekdesign]

hehe. Perm off course I 'got it' I was just joking about the date.. I was just hoping to get some other pointers than what time period my design comes from, thats all.

Alek
(signature picture pending)

[Big Perm-dizzle]

saying your site looks dated is a design critic...it means you need to spend time look at modern trents etc....and learn Photoshop better...filter and effects can only get your so far

JUST LAUNCHED - www.hirethisdesigner.com (http://www.hirethisdesigner.com) - check it out

[bunwhisper]

Hi Alek

I have some thoughts on your site, hope you will find them helpful.

I like the header at the top--the texture is interesting. And the color is nice.

The buttons are fine but need a different font. As someone said, lose the Times Roman. Its the web equivalent of Courier. It looks like default text and does not match the high tech look you have going in the header. It would also be nice to see some rollover action in the buttons.

The words News and Links down the side are too tiny--I had to really look closely to read them.

The bright blue type on the blue background needs to go... that is absolutely unreadable. Again, find another font here. If you want to use a standard web font, try verdana, it looks more high-tech.

The text in your content area also needs help as far as formatting. Change the font here as well, and dont center the type. Stacks of centered type are hard to read. You can center a headline if you want, but the rest of it should be flush left.

Hope these are helpful critiques--you have a good start here.

Libby

[alekdesign]

thank you Libby. apprciate it =)

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0VAAjY2kbB7XjzOWo4*ywWUe6MoIDw!xsJuTnaZYZ29w!g1G09 RRoTZ699wuNRSP8IBi1D6Uf0ZRaVyb8UtAqLSzbH76StXrWiTd KkV6Zh9CtCgxp9hUriSjHTJNcA!5!/aleksig1.jpg?dc=4675474218847903746

[brother_psychosis]

gotta love my mozilla popup blocker :)

http://www.methodlab.com/members/brother_psychosis/sig_tourr.gif (http://www.methodlab.com/members/brother_psychosis/pf/)

[Ryan8720]

amen brother (no pun intended)

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

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

[alekdesign]

Changed the font and color on the links. Dont have time to do the whole remake yet.

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0VADYAl8bOLLjzOWo4*ywWd2pHAMMTmOCLHLqsEYd4*tOZMXso PiX2G8p1D5Z6s2wHNXpZphjh9ztPFepreIvs*WjLrJDY4X2dSG HkF!ymPqMPnx2U9zf3fICgkOdaSa0/aleksig2.gif?dc=4675474306271772168

[D-Zine]

Moving right along Alek ;o)

I myself like your header, as I stated above. It could be tightened up some vertically but doesn't necessarily have to be depending on the rest of your design.

Is it possible to add a little more space between your links to make it easier n the eyes? The larger font and color change looks MUCH better...but I think maybe a little more space there would help design-wise.

I'm all about your color scheme because it does make everything much easier on the eyes and that is important. I mean when you are looking and looking at the computer your eyes are straining anyways and this blue / grey feel is calming and relaxing.

For the copy...I went through your pages and saw that you have different font sizes and some of the text is center while other pages are flush left....I would go with making all the copy flush left to give it a more clean and uniform look.

I like your logo alot actually. Not sure what it is about it...I just like the design. I did notice that on some of the pages it is distorted when you used it for the breaks. If you went with all flush copy then you could use the logo for say a 'bullet' maybe for each section. Right now when I look at the centered pages, my eyes are drawn in a line right down the center bc of the logo...it's so much of a focal point that I lose the copy. I was just trying to think of suggestions to help with that :o) Does that makes sense? LOL!

dotFUN - I don't have a problem with this test blending in. The 'dot' does blend a little but I thought that was the effect you were going for because you wanted 'FUN' to stand out more. If that was the case, you succeeded.

Please keep us posted with updates...nice job so far!

http://coastalcarousel.com/GDF/metatag3.jpg

Who says doodling isn't constructive?!

alekdesign welcome to the forum. I like the colors I just thing everything looks alittle big to me.

Great design for a self learned designer. Keep it up and I hope we get a chance to see more work from you.

[Benjamin]

Hi Alek,

The design is very impressive. I like the logo and the tiles pattern in the header, very cool!

As you make more websites you will learn that frames are often a bad idea. The basic problem is that people can land on a frame without getting the frameset, which will completely alter the site for them. Search Engines index your site by looking at the text. There's no text in the frameset so this doesn't get ranked highly. Instead the frames themselves will get indexed.

http://www.jackfruitdesign.com/
Om Namah Shivaya

[alekdesign]

thanks for your input guys. So I have remade the site a bit. Still frames, dont have time to do it all over. I think I prefered center alignment.. What do you think?

http://alekdesign.tk

edit: Gah For some reason the humor link shows the old page, even tho i deleted that file and replaced it with the new. Cant figure it out.. Oh and I put the warez page back, could someone please tells me if linking to my page here, is a breach of this forums rules? If so I will remove it again..

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0VADYAl8bOLLjzOWo4*ywWd2pHAMMTmOCLHLqsEYd4*tOZMXso PiX2G8p1D5Z6s2wHNXpZphjh9ztPFepreIvs*WjLrJDY4X2dSG HkF!ymPqMPnx2U9zf3fICgkOdaSa0/aleksig2.gif?dc=4675474306271772168

Post Edited (alekdesign) : 6/2/2004 1:44:40 AM GMT

[YellowDart]

alekdesign said...
thanks for your input guys. So I have remade the site a bit. Still frames, dont have time to do it all over. I think I prefered center alignment.. What do you think?

http://alekdesign.tk

edit: Gah For some reason the humor link shows the old page, even tho i deleted that file and replaced it with the new. Cant figure it out.. Oh and I put the warez page back, could someone please tells me if linking to my page here, is a breach of this forums rules? If so I will remove it again..

Try clearing out your temporary internet files. If you're seeing an old version and you're absolutely certain you've overwritten your old file, then you're probably seeing a cached version stored on your hard drive.

[alekdesign]

yea must have been something like that Yellow. its fine now.

D-Zine. Now they all flush left? Do u think its better that way? I am very ambivalent about it..

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0VADYAl8bOLLjzOWo4*ywWd2pHAMMTmOCLHLqsEYd4*tOZMXso PiX2G8p1D5Z6s2wHNXpZphjh9ztPFepreIvs*WjLrJDY4X2dSG HkF!ymPqMPnx2U9zf3fICgkOdaSa0/aleksig2.gif?dc=4675474306271772168

[deva mx]

Hi alek- What did you use to create your orange A logo? Photoshop? or something other? If photoshop, what did you use to make that 3D look (that bubbly- reflective 3D extrusion)? Could someone recommend a good web site for Photoshop tutorials?

Thanks.

[D-Zine]

I like it better all flush left because the eye follows better. When you had it all centered and then had the logo seperating each section, my eyes were drawn directly down the center without even noticing the copy...with it all left aligned it doesn't do that. You're getting there and the site is defiantely improving. I noticed you also tightened up the header too (vertically) and that looks much better I think. Keep up the good work. I wil look at the site again this evening in more detail but I gotta jet for now! :o)

http://coastalcarousel.com/GDF/metatag3.jpg

Who says doodling isn't constructive?!

[alekdesign]

thanks D-Zine.

Deva X : Yes its made in photoshop. The 3d look on the grey circle and letter is just bevel and emboss. on the sphere it is useing gradient. I will PM you some links to tuts =)

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0VADYAl8bOLLjzOWo4*ywWd2pHAMMTmOCLHLqsEYd4*tOZMXso PiX2G8p1D5Z6s2wHNXpZphjh9ztPFepreIvs*WjLrJDY4X2dSG HkF!ymPqMPnx2U9zf3fICgkOdaSa0/aleksig2.gif?dc=4675474306271772168

[Mirror]

Yes. Agree

Mirror<h1> http://www.mirrorservice.com</h1>