headcoat

that's real good, very nice. as mentioned above the box on right is too big, in fact i'd go as far as to say lose this box (put mobile and e-mail elsewhere on page). reckon it'll look tops then!

hi i think on 1024*768 the logo is too big. also given the darkness of the grass to the side of the road perhaps the black in the crvs is too dark as well? it kind of gives the banner a gloomy feel. nav menu is in a good place though i'm not keen on the font - i'd opt for all capitals or all lower case, maybe even verdana with a bit of letter spacing? maybe try boxes for the nav see here (it's only a mock up but will give an idea of what i mean) http://www.mikeswebdesign.co.uk/workinprog...es/photos5.html http://www.mikeswebdesign.co.uk/workinprog...es/photos6.html second link doesn't seem to work in ie6 by the way. and for me the green background to central content area is too much, perhaps try a bordered white or just a line to the right or a more subtle bg colour. final thing with the logo / banner is it possible to recrop the image so the road doesn't run entirely central (ditton the crvs letters), general (very general) rule of thumb with photogrpahy (and design) is to use the rule of thirds e.g. don't centre faces but have at intersection thirds - image a grid with lines at each third, same rule applies to any key point of focus i.e. the road and the letters crvs. it's not an absolute but it might add some dynamics and match up with the content and manufacturers list which are roughly 2/3's and 1/3. finally i'd lose the valid css and / or xhtml logos, it's good to validate....and not centre align the copyright as if you tweak the other areas to better link up you'll find it suits best either left or right with say 10px of padding. overall try and think of the areas (banner, content, navigation, list of manufacturers) as seperate but linked, sqaure banner with rounded corners on content for instance? you did ask!!!

Yep top top article. Really useful. Though I've always tested in many browsers including Ffox and IE6 the idea of using these two early given they are complete opposites is quality. If it works in IE6 and Ffox then odds on it'll work on virtually every browser. It's a good idea if the code on a page is going to repeat across say 20 pages to test this early in IE6 and Ffox. I made the mistake recently of having to go over 80 pages of photos to delete any white space to stop the IE6 white space bug. Safari could be one to add to that list. IE5 for Mac used to test in this but have Leopard now and IE5 don't run in Leopard! Fingers crossed.

Dr Lurid is cool by me - gets my vote Welcome to the forum.

Wow cheers people, I feel all warm and welcome. The BBC role is something I took on a few years back as we had no-one in the department looking after the intranet site - it's additional to my actual Beeb job!!!. It's served me well as a learning board so can't complain

Try http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html

>Web design theory >The Priciples of Beautiful Web Design - This book will teach you all the basic theory of design, in relation to web design. You'll >learn how to lay solid foundations to a website, that will allow you to create 'sound' designs, way before you even think about >how it is going to look. Rob suggested the above, I'll second this gives a real good intro. Maybe also find some books covering design you like, The Retro Graphics Cookbook has done me proud for colour and font reference as well as design ideas.

Hello For HTML / XHTML and CSS start with Elizabeth Castro's "Visual Quickstart Guide - HTML / XHTML and CSS." Excellent for the starters and intermediates. I'd be lost without it. Then maybe "Eric Meyer on CSS" For web graphics Lynda Weinman <designing web graphics> For useability try "Don't Make Me Think" by I think! Steve Krug For a nice bit of design in css try "Transcending CSS - the fine art of web design" Hope that helps.

Hello all New here. I'm a freelance web designer and also part time at the BBC where I look after two intranet sites that I designed and developed. Not bad with CSS-P, XHTML and Photoshop. Currently studying mySQL, then PHP, JavaScript, Flash / ActionScript, XMl and online purchasing systems. Completed a web design and development post-grad diploma at Birkbeck University of London last year. Would love you to visit my site www.mikeswebdesign.co.uk cheers