January 16, 200917 yr New to the forums, so hi everyone! Just completed my personal portfolio site for a university assignment. I have only been doing web design properly for 18months, so am still learning and trying new things Would love to hear your thoughts and opinions about my site, and areas where I can improve it. Link: http://www.joecharlton68.co.uk Thanks, Joe.
January 16, 200917 yr Welcome to the forum. Your website is pretty nice. The only thing that distracts me is the Reflection of your name at the top of the page. Try reducing the opacity or try using a mask combined with a gradient to make it fade out. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, forget it
January 16, 200917 yr Hey, welcome to the forum I like your site although its a bit too gradientie (I just made that word up) for me.
January 16, 200917 yr Author Welcome to the forum. Your website is pretty nice. The only thing that distracts me is the Reflection of your name at the top of the page. Try reducing the opacity or try using a mask combined with a gradient to make it fade out. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, forget it I understand what you mean mate, might have a play around with it sometime Thanks.
January 16, 200917 yr There are a few things I personally dislike about the site. Now I'm not saying all these things should be changed, or necessarily are bad, but these are my observations, and this way you'll be aware of them. - The gradient in the background on the blue skin does not look very well when it fades from blue to dark grey, to light grey, there is no "flow" in the gradient and it seems akward. The gradients on the other color styles work better as they are more clean. (the light blue one, probably being the best) - The lack of uniformity in the footer bothers my eyes a lot. The roundness of the half rounded rectangle which holdes the credits and valid xhtml / css links does not fit that of the rest of the site, and that just seems strange and sloppy to me. - When you go to your portfolio, where you should be branding yourself and showing of your works, you display some random hockey image in the bottom and some outfaded screens of work you've done, thus rather drawing attention to the picture which is of no interest to the viewer is the viewer is indeed looking to see your portfolio, all for the purpose of being able to use a "nice" opacity hover effect? And why the hocky picture in the first place? Seems as if it was just put there to fill out the page so that the height would match that of the other pages'. The above makes me think of the following quote: "a designer knows he has reached perfection, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there's nothing left to remove" - it seems as if you added it without any specific purpose. - In your header you've added both a drop shadow, gradient and a reflection which also is a bad mix of styles in my opinion. The reflection and gradient gives the impression that the text is literally standing on a glossy surface which continues in the depth, however the drop shadow gives the impression that the text is howevering above a flat surface which is not consistent with the other style. Once again it seems as if there was not put enough thought into it, and the effects were just applied "to look cool". - I think the design lacks a lot of details, and too many things have been added, the same goes for the additional color styles, I would suggest making just one of them look proper before starting making additional ones for the visitor to choose from. My last comment is directed at the forum rather than you specifically. I think this thread has once again proved that this community is "too friendly". I'm guessing the thread creator made this thread to get some actual criticism and not just pats on the back, and welcomes which will only lead to a false sense of achievement. BR Ubbe
January 17, 200917 yr I agree with some of the above, especially the quote, i have that quote scribbled on my wall above the monitor. I have a tenancy to be long winded, both in writing and in design. Remove any unnecesity's, remember less is more, and atleast half of the site is irrelevant information. The nature of how you've built the site offers accessibility flaws, and limits yourself. Expanding the text, causes it to spill over. Which also means if you were to add more content it wouldn't physically fit in. Remember, you need to sell yourself, entice potential clients. The site seems very blocky, and alot of harsh gradients. i personally avoid strong gradients, but i do often use very subtle ones. Your site structure, and seo value is a bit off. You can use one h1 tag on a page to reinforce your brand, but you've used it on "welcome". You've applied text to the images that could have actually been html text, and i.e for your logo, you need a text (preferably in the h1 tag) with your actual site name (you can indent the text to something like -9999 to make sure it doesn't appear in the viewport, but can still be read by screenreaders etc.) There's alot of basics points that you seem to have overlooked, but you can code well, you just need to read up a bit on semantics, basic onsite seo, and be a little more creative. just my $0.02
January 17, 200917 yr Author There are a few things I personally dislike about the site. Now I'm not saying all these things should be changed, or necessarily are bad, but these are my observations, and this way you'll be aware of them. - The gradient in the background on the blue skin does not look very well when it fades from blue to dark grey, to light grey, there is no "flow" in the gradient and it seems akward. The gradients on the other color styles work better as they are more clean. (the light blue one, probably being the best) - The lack of uniformity in the footer bothers my eyes a lot. The roundness of the half rounded rectangle which holdes the credits and valid xhtml / css links does not fit that of the rest of the site, and that just seems strange and sloppy to me. - When you go to your portfolio, where you should be branding yourself and showing of your works, you display some random hockey image in the bottom and some outfaded screens of work you've done, thus rather drawing attention to the picture which is of no interest to the viewer is the viewer is indeed looking to see your portfolio, all for the purpose of being able to use a "nice" opacity hover effect? And why the hocky picture in the first place? Seems as if it was just put there to fill out the page so that the height would match that of the other pages'. The above makes me think of the following quote: "a designer knows he has reached perfection, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there's nothing left to remove" - it seems as if you added it without any specific purpose. - In your header you've added both a drop shadow, gradient and a reflection which also is a bad mix of styles in my opinion. The reflection and gradient gives the impression that the text is literally standing on a glossy surface which continues in the depth, however the drop shadow gives the impression that the text is howevering above a flat surface which is not consistent with the other style. Once again it seems as if there was not put enough thought into it, and the effects were just applied "to look cool". - I think the design lacks a lot of details, and too many things have been added, the same goes for the additional color styles, I would suggest making just one of them look proper before starting making additional ones for the visitor to choose from. My last comment is directed at the forum rather than you specifically. I think this thread has once again proved that this community is "too friendly". I'm guessing the thread creator made this thread to get some actual criticism and not just pats on the back, and welcomes which will only lead to a false sense of achievement. BR Ubbe Wow, a rather large post. I agree with some of your comments, and will take some of your ideas on board. However this site was developed for a university assignment, and it was a site 'about me'. I decided that I would also tie it in with a bit of advertising for my services as well. Its more of personal site rather than a portfolio at the moment, hence the 68 at the end of my domain. I also have just joecharlton.co.uk which soon become primarily a site offering my services and nothing else Is there anything you do like about my site? lol Everything just seems really negative to be honest. Im new to the web scene and always willing to learn. I dont think its a bad attempt for my first site though I agree with some of the above, especially the quote, i have that quote scribbled on my wall above the monitor. I have a tenancy to be long winded, both in writing and in design. Remove any unnecesity's, remember less is more, and atleast half of the site is irrelevant information. The nature of how you've built the site offers accessibility flaws, and limits yourself. Expanding the text, causes it to spill over. Which also means if you were to add more content it wouldn't physically fit in. Remember, you need to sell yourself, entice potential clients. The site seems very blocky, and alot of harsh gradients. i personally avoid strong gradients, but i do often use very subtle ones. Your site structure, and seo value is a bit off. You can use one h1 tag on a page to reinforce your brand, but you've used it on "welcome". You've applied text to the images that could have actually been html text, and i.e for your logo, you need a text (preferably in the h1 tag) with your actual site name (you can indent the text to something like -9999 to make sure it doesn't appear in the viewport, but can still be read by screenreaders etc.) There's alot of basics points that you seem to have overlooked, but you can code well, you just need to read up a bit on semantics, basic onsite seo, and be a little more creative. just my $0.02 I never even new that kind of stuff existed to be honest lol. For SEO I just used www.domaintools.com and achieved a score of 89% which I thought was pretty good? Thanks for your input fella.
January 17, 200917 yr Author The pictures aren't random, they reflect his personality and that he is into sport... etc mentioned in the about page. That said, as personalised as that is I don't feel your website shows much creative flare. Technically it may be fairly correct and it's nice and clean but I'd rather see a little more flare. I love your portfolio though (ps. i'd kill the reflective text in the header it looks a bit naff) char That was exactly why I added the pictures I agree with your comments 100% After looking around some of the sites on here, many feature something different, something which my site is lacking. However I believe I did the right thing in creating a site that is technically correct for me to build on in the future. I've been considered messing with the logo. Thanks for your input.
January 18, 200917 yr The pictures aren't random, they reflect his personality and that he is into sport... etc mentioned in the about page. They don't reflect his personality much, rather his interests. If I'm looking to hire a freelance web designer, whether or not he plays hockey doesn't exactly matter a lot to me. The site states it's a personal portfolio of a freelance webdesigner and I reviewed it as such.
January 18, 200917 yr Site looks tidy, not bad for 18 months, but from a design perspective I'd say it's a little bit "old skool" - and I'm 37... While rounded corners and reflected logos were once de rigeur, I'd say that contemporary web design has moved on to new pastures (though may well return). Chunky serif type, warm or acid colours, and often a very "natural" look to the site is quite common now: http://www.nameless.co.uk/ - note the use of type and colour http://www.webnewly.com/ - plenty of inspiration http://www.csselite.com/ - note how many use vintage themes and subtle colour schemes. I agree (to a point) about the gradients, there's a bit of overkill there, and the use of primary colours is a little jarring IMO. I'd maybe skew those values to one side, maroon instead of red, corn yellow instead of yellow etc. etc. Maybe even make each colour option slightly more analogous to each other. On your portfolio, I'd opt for either some bigger thumbnails or even some banner sized images to show off your sites. Still, like I said, not bad.
January 18, 200917 yr In my opnian your portfolio is not with a very professional, I think you should let him clean it ... because this looks a very basic ... but you are going in a good way ...
January 21, 200917 yr Author Site looks tidy, not bad for 18 months, but from a design perspective I'd say it's a little bit "old skool" - and I'm 37...While rounded corners and reflected logos were once de rigeur, I'd say that contemporary web design has moved on to new pastures (though may well return). Chunky serif type, warm or acid colours, and often a very "natural" look to the site is quite common now: http://www.nameless.co.uk/ - note the use of type and colour http://www.webnewly.com/ - plenty of inspiration http://www.csselite.com/ - note how many use vintage themes and subtle colour schemes. I agree (to a point) about the gradients, there's a bit of overkill there, and the use of primary colours is a little jarring IMO. I'd maybe skew those values to one side, maroon instead of red, corn yellow instead of yellow etc. etc. Maybe even make each colour option slightly more analogous to each other. On your portfolio, I'd opt for either some bigger thumbnails or even some banner sized images to show off your sites. Still, like I said, not bad. Exactly the kind of feedback I was after mate. Those links are a great help for ideas and inspiration. I've decided that i'm going to have 2 sites in the future, one solely advertising my services and portfolio as a freelance designer, and a separate site that's personal to me. Currently i've got a bit of a mixture lol. Like I said its only been 18months and I know ill soon get better Got a first for my uni assignment which is most important, so I met what was needed
January 21, 200917 yr Author In my opnian your portfolio is not with a very professional, I think you should let him clean it ... because this looks a very basic ... but you are going in a good way ... Not really sure what you mean or who your talking to, to be honest mate. Cheers anyway.
January 22, 200917 yr While design isn't perfect but what is? The navigation is great! Easy in use and even a child can understand. I think its a pretty basic website with nice coding. If you work a little bit more on the design it will be a nice looking & working website! btw i spot a malfunction. When you change the colors of the website to black/gray it doesnt work correct. It leaves some spots blue while they should have been black/gray. Good luck with all the advice. Greets Raoul de Boer
January 22, 200917 yr The site looks good, I love the colour changing function you have on there. Only a few of things I would suggest is change the footer to match the shape of the header, I think that would work much better. I agree with some others that the reflection under your name doesnt look as good as it could, I'd lose it all together and make the title larger and use a funkier font. Also I agree the blue to grey gradient doesnt work all that well, it would be best to remove the blue and just leave it grey. Thats all really, I think its a very nice site and I hope you do well with your studies and your career.
January 22, 200917 yr i never see the point of having options to change the colour of a site. It is pointless. For me i feel its a lack of colour ideas a designer has so gives the user an option to choose his/hers preference... ----------------------------- DP Online
January 22, 200917 yr i never see the point of having options to change the colour of a site. It is pointless. For me i feel its a lack of colour ideas a designer has so gives the user an option to choose his/hers preference... Agreed, mostly. I think it's ok to have a high contrast, and a style free version (rather then the user turning css off, allow them to use an almost css free version, with just some basic margins and padding). I did see one website the had a foliage meter, you could decrease the number of leaves on the website, that was a novelty, but pretty pointless. Although in saying that, i've just told you about it.... so maybe not that pointless Something new and creative, and naturally people will link to it (:
January 22, 200917 yr i never see the point of having options to change the colour of a site. It is pointless. For me i feel its a lack of colour ideas a designer has so gives the user an option to choose his/hers preference... ----------------------------- DP Online yes and no, I mean in terms of viewing his site having the option to change the colour is pointless. But the way i see it is that its a way of demonstrating a particular skill he has so in that sense it has a point!
January 23, 200917 yr Author Thanks for the replies guys. The colour changer/style selector was added to meet a requirement of my assignment. I had to show I was catering for people with certain disabilities. One of these was colour blindness or visual problems, some people struggle with certain colours on a certain background etc. It basically gave me a point to mention and then back it up in my design Thanks for all the comments though, will definitely taken them on board.
January 26, 200917 yr New to the forums, so hi everyone! Just completed my personal portfolio site for a university assignment. I have only been doing web design properly for 18months, so am still learning and trying new things Would love to hear your thoughts and opinions about my site, and areas where I can improve it. Link: http://www.joecharlton68.co.uk Thanks, Joe. awesome homepage
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