http://seoframes.com

 

My main problem is that I am using an ASUS laptop with no adjustable knobs in adjusting the brightness of the monitor.

 

When I checked this design using my parents' PC, it's too dark (but the background graphics are still visible). In the computers in school, some display this website perfectly fine, while in others it's as dark as in my parents' computer.

 

So I want to check how my website appears in your monitors.

 

Moreover, I would like to ask the following questions:

 

With monitor brightness being adjustable, is it possible to create a dark themed website that appears perfectly fine in most if not all possible monitor brightness?

 

Reviews that have nothing to do with brightness are also welcome and highly appreciated.

 

Thank you and God bless!

Can you post a link?

Oh my! Sorry....

 

There! I just edited my first post.

I can just about see the images behind the header...... but don't ask me what they are, because I can't tell.

well i can see buildings in the header, however if its trouble for the visitors shouldn't you make it more clear anyway even if its just half of the visitors.

 

well it all depends on if it matters whether they recognize the header image to be a photo of something or just a header image

It's very striking but giving me a headache sorry

The background image is too dark, and the colour saturation is off putting. Make the image lighter but with more areas of contrast so you can see what it is

Hi notbanksy, Helen, red-X, guezala and sunwukung. Thank you!

 

Thanks also to those who voted without posting.

 

Poll results of today, November 5, 2008 at 10:30 pm GMT

 

All I can see are letters and pictures on a black background - 4

I can see the background graphics but it will be better if you make them brighter - 8

 

I tried to make a lighter design... but here I ended up with a somehow newer design. http://seoframes.com

 

Please don't mind the header's background image for a moment. I intentionally made it difficult to notice. I am still contemplating as to whether replace it with something new or just leave a black space.

 

My concern is with regards to the shades of blue that I used as background to the sidebar, the footer, the page navigation on top. It seems that I am seeing something different in my laptop's monitor.

I think you should experiment with more than one color, where ever you look there's dark blue, it would be nice to see a new color introduced, or even other shades of blue.

Just thought I'd poke my nose in and mention that the copy has many, many mistakes in it you might want to mention!

I don't mind the dark background and can read the text OK, but that dark blue is giving the whole thing an oppressive, blocky and outdated look. Also some of the elements seem very rough-edged and blocky too. Any chance of using a different colour?

I think with dark sites everything has to be smooth because light-on-dark shows up jagged edges much more harshly.

Thanks J.P. and wizely.

 

I saw my website in a darker monitor in the school. It looks better with just a black space on the header instead of that building background so I decided to remove it. However, the page navigation on top does not look nice on darker monitor. Any idea on what changes I should implement on that part? In particular, I don't want it to look spherical but I want to retain the gradient and the quarter circle end.

 

I think you should experiment with more than one color, where ever you look there's dark blue, it would be nice to see a new color introduced, or even other shades of blue.

 

I am not sure about this. At one point, when I tried the brown and green scheme, a couple of guys (no! not that 'couple') adviced me to use single color. Other shades of blue? The gradient and the header tags already covered for that right?

 

Just thought I'd poke my nose in and mention that the copy has many, many mistakes in it you might want to mention!

Go ahead! If there are things about grammar rules that I do not know yet. I would appreciate it if you point them out. I've been gathering notes on English statements/sentences that seems to be grammatically correct but are not. Thanks.

 

I don't mind the dark background and can read the text OK, but that dark blue is giving the whole thing an oppressive, blocky and outdated look. Also some of the elements seem very rough-edged and blocky too. Any chance of using a different colour?

I think with dark sites everything has to be smooth because light-on-dark shows up jagged edges much more harshly.

 

What's wrong with "blocky" look? Outdated!? I did not use bevel.

I think the dark background is fine.

 

A couple of constructive critisisms:

I think the header area is too big considering it only displays a small amount of information.

The white font has too much contrast with the black background. Either darken the font or lighten the background.

 

I think the blue goes well with the dark background in general.

>>Wed Design

 

Gee! I like it. I replaced the #ffffff font color of the main content page with #cccccc and I love the results.

 

Thanks!

The website appears fine, it's readable and in my opinion very well designed in terms of functionality and layout. Content is presented very nicely.

 

However, as other people have mentioned I would certainly consider changing the colour scheme as the dark (and very generic bright navy blue) gives the site a slightly dated feel.

 

I would also look at your logo and perhaps try and improve it's appearance. It's not a particularly eye catching motif and the title and subtitle feel disjointed and alien from each other.

 

However, on the whole it feels like a site that's been built very well.

For me I hate the blue/black combination, no offence. It hurts my eyes a little, I did have a headache when I looked at it. It's too much of a contrast.

Hi Bill Lowe,

 

I am currently thinking of a new logo design. At this point, there is nothing much I can do with the color scheme. Working with photoshops, multiple browsers and notepad is time consuming. Since the comments are not that negative (unlike my previous green and brown scheme), perhaps the color scheme should remain as is while I focus on the content .

 

This description "feels dated" is something that I cannot really understand when it comes to website design. It was like there is an international organization that dictates the standards of website design. For me, website designers should be free to design as how they want. If there is no "international organization" dictating the standards, then no specific designs can be considered as "dated" or "not dated".

 

I appreciate your criticisms. I will change the logo as soon as possible. Thank you very much.

 

Hi traxor

 

It's fine. I guess each has his or her own opinion anyway. Sunwukung on the second post suggested more contrast, and now you are telling me that there's too much contrast.

 

Sorry, no offence. I guess I cannot please everybody. Thanks!

 

-------------------------------

 

Uhmmm! Guys! Can we let this topic submerge?

 

Please stop posting now. If you really think that there is something I need to change with my website, feel free to PM me.

 

For now, I need to monitor the "real" visitor statistics through google analytics. I need to get an idea if people are actually turned-off by its current design. Visitors coming from this message board to critique my work might skew the statistics.

 

Thank you for all of those who posted and those who voted.