KingTarquin

Instead of just picking between both websites, I've decided that both websites are going to get evaluated. Website 1 Website one kind of looks like it was designed in FrontPage to run on Internet Explorer 5. The distinct two columns of links either side of the off-centred white background. The use of Comic Sans makes me very sad inside, and personally want to vomit all over my screen just so I can't see it. Websites should be neutral and balanced with colour, and this one isn't. Green leaf salad and Caesar dressing springs to mind. Clicking links is rather fun though, they get bigger when you click them. Endless comical fun. I guess I should suggest how it could be improved (without changing the design)... Firstly, centre it. Off-centre websites aren't visually appealing and prevent the user from viewing the whole viewport properly. Additionally, colours should be balanced across the entire website, using complementary colours to provide a balance, and to increase the aesthetic appeal. Also, the block of white containing the body doesn't look too good with the pastel green background. When utilising links as well, they should be a different colour to the rest of the text. This provides the user with clear distinctions between text and links. Also, the banner image at the top doesn't provide balance between itself and the rest of the content. Website 2 Website two is both aesthetically pleasing and user friendly. Personally, I think that the use of current technologies such as jQuery while keeping the traditional approaches to web design has been done well. The colour scheme is pretty well balanced, and the background provides a breakaway from the large block of white used for the body. However, there are a few things that bug me as a web application programmer/designer. The menu bar for "Home" only has one option, this should be turned into a static link instead of waiting for th user to drop it first. I would sent the background for the dropdown menu to be a neutral dark gray with white text. The green background and transparencies make it hard to read. The gold text is a bit over used. Use a dark gray or similar as this is much easier to read on the white background. Increase the margins between the content and the right navigation. Disown the green text there, pick something different (green should never be seen). Perhaps put each block inside it's own container in the right hand bar. This will break up the content making it eaiser to follow. Reduce the site-wide font size a little. I know it's easier to read when large, but you don't have to scroll as much. Move the footer text into the gray bar at the bottom, make it an off white so that it blends in. The HTML Entity code for © is © The table border spacing, set to 0. Border spacing is soooooo 1995. Frame the pictures in the product description and throw them on the right hand side. Other styling concepts could be used on the pages to break the content up even further. The social network links both point to the same website. The second one (in my opinion) is far superior to the first as it boasts a well used structure, it utilises a healthy colour palette, and provides a modern touch to a classic website. The content is pretty much static, so the use of jQuery on the website has turned it from something FrontPage produces into a well designed and trustworthy website.