Hi guys,

 

Been working on this for a while just tweaking the stylesheet and little bits like that. Please let me know what you think.

 

Here is the link

 

 

Honest opinions welcome.

Hi Matthew,

I think your site has some potential, but is a little lacking on the visual front. I would strongly suggest finding ways of adding more visual interest to your pages, either with some images or possibly a different header image. I would also say that the main content area is too wide. The text is a little hard to read when the lines are that long. You could get around this by adding another column in your main content area with some extra content (lates project maybe?), or at least split your existing content into 2 cols.

The portfolio page could do with some thumbnails of the portfolio items for extra interest and value.

I really like the idea of the colour scheme changer, and I'm impressed that you can do this, but I think the green and the blue need to be a touch lighter - I can hardly tell the difference on my monitor between the two.

Good to see you've used valid html though - excellent

I agree with everything notbanksy said, especially creating a second column in the main content area.

 

Your site is very minimalist, which isn't my cup of tea (I don't even like tea ). But what you have done with the spacing and the minimal colour is really nice IMHO. A little more pizazz (like that second column and some screenshots on your portfolio page) and it'll be a really great site.

That's a MASSIVE sheet of paper you're writing on..

That's a MASSIVE sheet of paper you're writing on..

That was my first impression as well — either that or you have a proper small hand!

 

The website is nicely constructed, good semantics and it validates, which is all excellent. My only qualm is that it's quite bland, it lacks some sort of visual attraction — which is fairly important if you are trying to sell yourself as a designer.

 

If you can inject a bit of colour and design into the layout then I reckon you're onto a winner!

Thanks for the feedback guys, much appreciated.

 

I was never sure about that image but I have finally scrapped it. I was thinking of getting a picture of something 'Web Related / PC' related, ie Keyboard, Mouse, USB connector etc... and blowing it up for a banner closeup (hope that makes sense), but it seems just a little cheesey. The current banner is a little rushed but the more I see it the more it grows on me, only thing is though, it looks like an aquarium site a little now lol.

 

I have changed the margins of the text in the content, I have also added a sidebar to fill the space, I will produce more content for this at a later date.

 

What do you think to it now? It is kinder on the eye now with shorter lines etc. but i was thinking of introducing some gentle gradients onto the headings (in terms of background, maybe a dark blue to white fade?) just to get some more images in.

 

Thanks!

Can I suggest something.

 

Where your pages are of a different height. I.e Portfolio has a scroller and the index doesn't, you will notice a shift to the left in FF when clicking between pages.

 

Stick this in your CSS.

 

html {

height: 100.1%;

}

Done, nice tip. Only Firefox has that issue though right? IE has a scroll bar there all the time I do believe, or at least, mine does

Pretty sure IE always has one, not sure about Safari, I tried to check but obviously you have put the CSS in there so couldnt see. lol!

lol, there is no pleasing some people...

I like it.

 

1 quick point, you say you've validated all your code, yet your portfolio page doesn't validate (w3c result)

 

and your accessibility page definitely doesn't

 

Haven't checked the other pages...

 

I like the design tho. Very clean.

 

I actually like the header image. It's different.

 

Regards.

Lol you are right, so many errors there, it just needed tag tidying, I had a few unclosed tags that were causing problems, totally slack on my part.

 

I didn't realise that the "target" statement in a link line is not compliant with XHTML Strict, thats crazy, I looked it up and most people use a js function to get around it. Well you learn something new every day.

 

Thanks for going so far into the site for me though mate, good call!

 

You like the image ey? I am not so sure, I have become imune to it, I have seen it too many times, we will see what others think.

 

Cheers.

Can I suggest something.

 

Where your pages are of a different height. I.e Portfolio has a scroller and the index doesn't, you will notice a shift to the left in FF when clicking between pages.

 

Stick this in your CSS.

 

html {

height: 100.1%;

}

I really recommend against doing this. I won't go too deeply into the reasons why, you can read more about the pros/cons of it in this forum post.

 

You are basically forcing strange behaviour on your visitors in a similar way to forcing links to open in a new window. Your visitors will be used to the way their browser works, that it doesn't display scroll bars on small pages. Forcing different behaviour will be counter-intuitive and make them have to "think" when they use your website.

 

They picked their browser for a reason so don't force them to be "like the rest of them"

I see your point but that is surely dependant on the audience. In most cases IE will be used because people have IE as a standard. I can see advantages to using this and disadvantages too. it would annoy me that you CAN scroll on a page you can see evrything, thats my main deterant.

 

But I think I disagree with the comment about everybody knows how to use their browser, I work at a college, and the amount of people there that don't know how to go back, forward or refresh is frankly astonishing.

 

To conclude, I agree if its a site for us nerds, but if not then users want things done for them IMHO.

Are you for or against forcing things on people's browser? I couldn't tell from your post above.

 

I'm yet to find anyone who can't use the back button, it is widely accepted that it is one of the most use/abused features on a browser.

 

How will people learn if you forcefully change the browsing experience?

There are two approaches is all I am saying. You have the 'shielding' way where you make things as easy for them as possible, or the 'tough luck' way where if they don't have web browser knowledge they will navigate away from you and maybe not get back easily.

 

Just a quick point, links posted in the forum automatically open in a new window/tab. Maybe that is a convienience thing as this is quite a nerdy area and most people here I assume know their browsers fairly well. That is another justification, that they open in a new window/tab for convienience of the user so he/she can view both pages at their leisure.

 

I assure you there are people that are not very IT literate who don't know their way around their web browser, usually its a generation thing, you find its people who are 40+ with these issues.

 

I think this is an area that a lot of people disagree on but I don't think it is a huge deal if I am honest, maybe its how we are taught...

Thanks for going so far into the site for me though mate, good call!

 

Not a problem mate. We aim to please here at the WDF lol.

 

Besides which, I'm nosey

 

Regards.

RE: scroll bar subject

 

To be honest I don't think its a major issue.

 

There's more chance of them noticing something is happening if the page shifts to one side by 5-10px. Someone with no web knowledge might point out, 'oh whys this page nudge over' and think its a design error, I don't know..

 

Its not as if its forcing the browser to open a page full screen, or to create an annoying pop up that's in your face.

 

It's just something I have used in my sites and I like the way it works. It doesn't affect usability, in-fact, it dont think it effects anything in a bad way.