NOTE:- this isn't 'finished' in the strictest sense, I just wanted to get something out there then iterate on that.

 

I've been sort of wrestling with this for a while now, I just cannot satisfy myself when designing my own website.

 

But alas, i finally managed to just power through and get a my site done (though it's not really 'finished' and probably never will be).

Why is designing for yourself so damn hard?

 

http://www.andrewsmorris.co.uk

 

I sort of spent a few months learning wordpress, from scratch, and quite a lot of php, which I wasn't great at before(and still aren't really).

 

I designed all of this myself, I didn't even use a blank theme, just a css reset.

Not cutting corners now and learning the entirety of what WordPress is and can do as a CMS I seen as quite beneficial and worth the effort.

 

I intend to use it going forward now for client sites etc.

 

Anyway, fire away folks.

I had a mixed response to your website:

 

Positives: I like the clean design but I think its a little too plain, needs some additional graphics to register with the visitor. I love what you've done with the mobile phone and I like your contact form.

 

Negatives: The site took quite awhile to load initially and navigating to the different pages was slow. I think there is too much movement which does more to distract the eye than attract it, particularly with the main nav. The different pages need to be a little more unified. The down arrow on the home page looks like it should be clickable but it isn't.

 

Impressive what you've done with WordPress and a css reset!

I get a block of white nothingness when I open then the portfolio images.

 

Have you tried using a 960 grid system to handle the design elements. Makes life alot easier

 

http://960.gs/

I had a mixed response to your website:

 

Positives: I like the clean design but I think its a little too plain, needs some additional graphics to register with the visitor. I love what you've done with the mobile phone and I like your contact form.

 

Negatives: The site took quite awhile to load initially and navigating to the different pages was slow. I think there is too much movement which does more to distract the eye than attract it, particularly with the main nav. The different pages need to be a little more unified. The down arrow on the home page looks like it should be clickable but it isn't.

 

Impressive what you've done with WordPress and a css reset!

I had a mixed response to your website:

 

Positives: I like the clean design but I think its a little too plain, needs some additional graphics to register with the visitor. I love what you've done with the mobile phone and I like your contact form.

 

Negatives: The site took quite awhile to load initially and navigating to the different pages was slow. I think there is too much movement which does more to distract the eye than attract it, particularly with the main nav. The different pages need to be a little more unified. The down arrow on the home page looks like it should be clickable but it isn't.

 

Impressive what you've done with WordPress and a css reset!

 

Thanks for the analysis, yeah I know it's slow for some reason, I'm talking to my host at the moment.

To be honest I have no idea why it's slow really, the site is pretty light in terms of http requests and media and it's certainly not complicated.

 

 

I get a block of white nothingness when I open then the portfolio images.

 

Have you tried using a 960 grid system to handle the design elements. Makes life alot easier

 

http://960.gs/

 

Can you take a screenshot?

 

Grid systems are a pointless waste of time in my opinion, just make your own elements.

Edited January 25, 201313 yr by andys

Im digging your site. I like how things fade in as your scroll to them. I also like the sub scrolling on the iPhone.

 

There are a couple of things that bug me though. The icons for the main menu come from the bottom. It would be much more smooth to have them come from the top, or just simply fade in.

 

The porftolio section is really weak as far as design. The hover effect on it make it so its active almost 100% of the time. Try letting the user enjoy the image instead of having that white block with the text annoy them almost the entire time.

 

On the home page, the place for your work is kinda random. I know what it is for because thats what we do right... but there is nothing letting the normal user know that it is your work, and not there for just decoration. Just some clarification would be cool. Same thing with the latest tweet. It took a sec to figure out it was a tweet and not something that was part of the site itself (or rather about the site).

 

Your footer... no one really cares about you using Wordpress and what fonts/icons you use. It just takes up space.

 

The arrow at the top of your home page makes me want to click it, but it does nothing. Really weird.

 

But overall really good.

hi,

i too thik its too whity,

yes "less is more".. but this feels more like "empty"

 

tghere's a big empty square just under the header in your home page.

is it work in progress or a browser bug?

First thing I noticed was that you need a hint that your homepage is scrollable. Unless you notice the vertical scrollbar on the browser it looks like there is no more content than what you initially see. It only has to be an arrow or move the text up a bit etc.