[glen_wright]

Hi all,

I am new here but will probably be around a fair bit as I am getting back into web design/programming after a prolonged absence.

I am going to launch this site soon and would like some honest feedback/critique.

Thanks in advance.

Glen

http://test.folkdirectory.co.uk

[RobbieD90]

I can see 1 error on the homepage here is a screenshot form google chrome.

 Untitled.png (180.2K)
Number of downloads: 42

[glen_wright]

Hi Robbie,

Thanks for the quick response.

As it happens, I am aware of this issue as it has been driving me mad for some time. I just posted this thread asking for help with it: http://www.webdesign...__1#entry366769

Any ideas?

Thanks for the screenshot, I will post that to the thread.

Glen

[jheg]

Hi Glen

I'm not sure about the black background and the main content area having those rounded edges. It looks a little dated to me. If it were me I'd try to have that banner and footer stretch the entire width of the screen with a background of the body and main content area an off white type of color say #f7f7f7 with the main content area contained within it as you have done already.

I also prefer when I hover over menu items like in the statistics section to have the item change color with the same font weight because then you don't get the slight jigger when you hover over each item where it changes from normal weight font to bold font.

I think all your text is black? Perhaps a #444 (gray) would look more subtle? Your font looks dated too I prefer a softer verdana type font but again its all personal opinion and I'm sure there will be others who disagree.

With regard to usability I think its OK and fairly intuitive although I would expect a bit more of an impact when I land on your site to get an idea quickly what the site is about.

Hope it helps

J

This post has been edited by jheg: 22 December 2011 - 12:18 PM

[D.Schuster]

jheg, on 22 December 2011 - 12:16 PM, said:

Hi Glen

I'm not sure about the black background and the main content area having those rounded edges. It looks a little dated to me. If it were me I'd try to have that banner and footer stretch the entire width of the screen with a background of the body and main content area an off white type of color say #f7f7f7 with the main content area contained within it as you have done already.

I also prefer when I hover over menu items like in the statistics section to have the item change color with the same font weight because then you don't get the slight jigger when you hover over each item where it changes from normal weight font to bold font.

I think all your text is black? Perhaps a #444 (gray) would look more subtle? Your font looks dated too I prefer a softer verdana type font but again its all personal opinion and I'm sure there will be others who disagree.

With regard to usability I think its OK and fairly intuitive although I would expect a bit more of an impact when I land on your site to get an idea quickly what the site is about.

Hope it helps

J

What he wrote, also no need to add title properties to the menu if your menu items are txt, you add titles and sometimes tooltips if your menu items are images, hovering over search and having it say search again with smaller fonts in the ugly grey default browser tooltip is a useless move.
Some might say you did it for people with seeing problems that need a speech aid for using the computer, if THAT is really your goal then I suggest you use javacript to hide the title effect, this way people with a speech plug in can still hear what it is and it won't bother other people.

I would say disable as the percentage of potential costumers on a music instrument website is close to 0% but then I would have to go to hell.....so I'm not going to do that.

The yellow tones seem a bit .....pale and make the website seem a bit dated

[jamesosix]

D.Schuster, on 22 December 2011 - 12:27 PM, said:

What he wrote, also no need to add title properties to the menu if your menu items are txt, you add titles and sometimes tooltips if your menu items are images, hovering over search and having it say search again with smaller fonts in the ugly grey default browser tooltip is a useless move.
Some might say you did it for people with seeing problems that need a speech aid for using the computer, if THAT is really your goal then I suggest you use javacript to hide the title effect, this way people with a speech plug in can still hear what it is and it won't bother other people.

I would say disable as the percentage of potential costumers on a music instrument website is close to 0% but then I would have to go to hell.....so I'm not going to do that.

The yellow tones seem a bit .....pale and make the website seem a bit dated

Regarding titles it isnt just a usability thing, but it also aids in SEO (when they are more than just what the button says). For example rather than just title="about" I would have title="about Folk Directory".

Personally I think the site also looks very dated. It reminds me of websites I designed back in 2000. Damn, now I feel old

This post has been edited by jamesosix: 22 December 2011 - 12:35 PM

[MikeChipshop]

Hi there Glen, Welcome to the forum.

Hopefully you'll take this as constructive critiscm as it is intended

• Drop Shadows - Too harsh! Tone them down a lot!
  
• Colour scheme - It's very bland. I know the folk styling is supposed to be quite muted and 'ye olde' but i still think you can brighten it up and make it more visually interesting.
  
• Padding - the main content butts up to close to the sidebars. You could quite comfortably widen the whole site and give the content a lot more breathing space and still be in the minimum monitor size safe area.

Hopefully that'll help a bit.
Cheers mate.

This post has been edited by MikeChipshop: 22 December 2011 - 12:36 PM

[D.Schuster]

jamesosix, on 22 December 2011 - 12:35 PM, said:

Regarding titles it isnt just a usability thing, but it also aids in SEO (when they are more than just what the button says). For example rather than just title="about" I would have title="about Folk Directory".

Personally I think the site also looks very dated. It reminds me of websites I designed back in 2000. Damn, now I feel old

I am aware but when I add titles to stuff I usually either use a tooltip script to style them up, or hide them from showing, especially if its titles for text, you see me and you know why it's useful to add titles, the usual visitor does not, and most of them will think of it as a bother, having a big font say Search and when you hover over it a smaller font sais the same thing in an ugly grey border

[businessnet]

I really like this website.. it is very user friendly.. so much so that iv'e just found a local event!

I also thought a very dark charcoal background (just off black) could make the website more effective.
The hobgoblin banner on the index is very cramped and as a result its edges are fuzzy.

Over all I think you've done a great job.

I'd be chuffed if you built it for me.

Joel.

[glen_wright]

Hi all,

Thanks for your comments - I really appreciate that you've taken the time to have a look at the site. This is the first site I've built in about 5 years, so I am well out of practice and it is great for me to get some ideas. After staring at this design for a few weeks, I could no longer tell if it was good/bad etc.

I will have a rethink over the Christmas period and repost it.

Thanks again,

Glen