Howdy folks, I only joined up today and am in need of some feedback. I'm a relative newcomer to web design, although i have some very basic CSS knowledge. I'm trying to knock together a redesign for our site which originally went live summer last year - You can view it here:

 

http://www.morphehs.com (would love some feedback on this as well !)

 

I've been at it for about a week, and have come up with the following:

 

http://www.webacorn.com/testarea/

 

Its a real departure from what's in place at the moment. I've shown it to a colleague who says it a little too simple (she described as a 'newspaper'!). There's still a long way to go yet, and a lot of tidying up of the code etc.

 

In the meantime, your feeback and comments would mean a great deal

 

By the way, which forum application is used here ? It doesn't look like PHPBB, Vbulletin or Punbb ???

 

Thanks

I think it's great! Very neat and simple. Maybe what it lacks is a "wow" factor - nothing really jumps at me; there's no focus for the eyes to grab upon as an entryway into the page. Try popping whatever you want visitors to latch on to first.

I think that your colleague does you a disservice. I really like it's simplicity.

Thanks for the feedback guys, much appreciated. Point taken Chima, i will try and bring something more into focus, possibly some kind of 'banner' beneath the sign in section. Problem is, i;m not too bright with graphics ! Will give it a go though.

 

thanks again

Yeah, you have a little bit of cleaning up to do:

 

HTML Validator

 

Your css is fine though.

 

 

I like the look... though I hate to say it, it looks a tiny bit templately (like a blog template), but this is only because you have that repeating background at the top. Other than that I like the layout. It's very simple and very clean.

 

And although I can't say I like how you used tables instead of straight up CSS to do the page layout, it works well here.

Yeah, you have a little bit of cleaning up to do:

 

HTML Validator

 

Your css is fine though.

I like the look... though I hate to say it, it looks a tiny bit templately (like a blog template), but this is only because you have that repeating background at the top. Other than that I like the layout. It's very simple and very clean.

 

And although I can't say I like how you used tables instead of straight up CSS to do the page layout, it works well here.

 

 

Cheers gdehms

 

Feedback also much appreciated. Point taken on the template-feel. It wasn't the look that i was going for; i really wanted more of a stripped down look that gives the site functionality over the garish colours that were there previously. Maybe some imagery on the page would steer it away from from a 'templatey' feel ?

 

Point taken on the tables as well ! It was a challenge to try and get it to work in both IE and Firefox and also maintain its integrity in differenmt screen resolutions. As i say, i'm something of a novice at all this, but there is a sense of satisfaction.

 

Cheers bud

I really like the design of the site. It is not too simple at all if there is such a thing as being too simple. It is a massive improvement on the first design.

 

All you need to do now is re-build the site using css and not tables.

I think that's a bit cheeky! Making the switchover from Tables to CSS is a quite a lot to take on - specially if you are a designer first and programmer somewhere further back down the list.

 

I'm struggling with it right now. Having grown up designing for print I have kicked and screamed quite a bit!

 

I like the new logo and header part, the site layout is clean and clear but I don't think it has much feeling of an idea about it - it reminds me of a blurb page for a software download.

 

On the other hand it's very functional and versatile so it probably has lots of potential to develop which is always handy.

I think that's a bit cheeky! Making the switchover from Tables to CSS is a quite a lot to take on - specially if you are a designer first and programmer somewhere further back down the list.

 

 

The thing is if you want to be a web designer, it is best to learn the correct way to be a web designer. If someone designed something for print at 72 dpi and in RGB and wanted it printed out in high quality and the colours corect, using the excuse I am a web designer first doesn't make the printer print the design high quality, it will print it in low quality. Coding is part of being a web designer and as such if you are just learning it is best to be told that you are doing it wrong, rather than to go a long thinking that it is fine to use a table for a layout. So it isn't cheeky to tell someone who want to be a web designer that they aren't doing web design correctly, it is just stating a fact.

 

 

 

@Maresca, the design is really nice and I really like it, I don't think it looks much like a template. I do however agree with shawzy85 (as if you couldn't tell already ) you need to learn how to code correctly, you obviously have a talent for design, but if you want to be a web designer you need to be able to do more than just make nice graphics. I would suggest looking at this site : http://htmldog.com/ as it is very useful in learning how to code a site in the correct way. It will benefit you in the long run and also the sites that you build will be a lot more accessible and friendly to everyone who wants to look at them.

Thanks for the feedback Dizi.

 

I am reasonably happy with the layout and colour - Its needs tweaking in a few places though.

 

Point noted on the CSS/Tables issue - The original site, as you may have seen, is a bit of a monster and its going to take some time before i can start to really clean through the code. We have a few other projects on the go so time is a huge factor in getting everything completed.

 

 

I'll defo have a look through that link you posted, it looks very useful

I didn't mean my comment like that. I'm not saying it's OK to do things wrong - I welcome CSS because it is so fluid and versatile, but for someone used to drawing what they need or creating page layout in a grid system - I am even old enough to have done paste-up with COW GUM - it demands a different mind set to make the transition from creating something visually with shapes and colors and images where you want them to writing instructions which will produce the same effect. I think it's all a bit magic and weird still! Someone on here once commented it was like The Matrix.

 

This person did say they were a CSS novice, so their use of tables is valid at this point and I just thought that remark about rewriting in CSS was cheeky given that. Maybe that's the ultimate plan anyhow.

Ok,

 

So i;ve made a sligh change to the site by adding a a grey background to the RHS column. Not a drastic change, but maybe it makes a difference:

 

http://www.webacorn.com/testarea/

 

Currently working on the coding, so hope to have that updated soon !

I like this site very much - it's clean and makes good use of white space and typography.

 

I'm a copy writer so that's the angle I tend to look at design from, so have got some things to consider from that angle...

 

Should the content in the right-hand column start a little further down so as not to compete with the main column's header?

Will the 'read more' links have more meaningful text in the live version?

In the header the strapline "Environment, Health and Safety" has the 'health' in italics and the "safety" faded-out a bit. It's a little odd looking - I guess you're trying to emphasise the 'health'? (Oh... is it really "Environment, Health and Safety" and not "Environmental Health and Safety")

The various input boxes are very faint - I like the look but it's hard to notice them and they especially look too faint next to the 'classic windows style' buttons.

There are plenty of errors in the copy - I hope that isn't live!!!!

 

Just some thoughts on tiny things because I think the site is a good example of minimalism done very well.

 

I like this site very much - it's clean and makes good use of white space and typography.

 

I'm a copy writer so that's the angle I tend to look at design from, so have got some things to consider from that angle...

 

Should the content in the right-hand column start a little further down so as not to compete with the main column's header?

Will the 'read more' links have more meaningful text in the live version?

In the header the strapline "Environment, Health and Safety" has the 'health' in italics and the "safety" faded-out a bit. It's a little odd looking - I guess you're trying to emphasise the 'health'? (Oh... is it really "Environment, Health and Safety" and not "Environmental Health and Safety")

The various input boxes are very faint - I like the look but it's hard to notice them and they especially look too faint next to the 'classic windows style' buttons.

There are plenty of errors in the copy - I hope that isn't live!!!!

 

Just some thoughts on tiny things because I think the site is a good example of minimalism done very well.

 

 

Cheers Wizely, much valued feedback.

 

To address those points:

 

By Right hand side, i assume you mean the section that has the icons and begins with 'Join Today' ? I;ve moved it down a little, but i'm still not 100% convinced it looks right. I don't like the dotted line divider - Any ideas ?

 

The read more links are just going to follow onto the main news page where the stories will be in a little more detail. When you say 'more meaningful', can you expand on that a little ?

 

The header was supposed to be Environment, Health and Safety - I had removed it from this version, but forgot to change the banner !

 

I;ve changed the input boxes as per your suggestion, and you are right, it looks much better and stands out much more.

 

Have a look if you get a moment :

 

http://www.webacorn.com/testarea/

 

Once again, i really appreciate the feedback, and a big NO, this is definetly not the live version ! lots more coding and tidying up to do yet

Input boxes much better!

I actually meant the far right section starting with "Ask Morphehs" - sorry, should've explained that better! Move that one down too perhaps?

 

I quite like the dotted divider and the 'troublesome' middle column - but I'm no designer so that's just from a user point of view.

 

What I meant by the 'read more' links is that you can use them as a more useful 'hook' to get people to read on or to catch 'scan readers' and it also helps with accessibility and SEO not to just put 'click here' or 'read more'.

 

I don't know what the next level of content is for each one. But you can use something like:

 

Read more on the EHS Regs database updates

or

EHS Regs database updates full article

or

EHS Regs database updates continued

 

Or something like that.

 

Hope I'm clearer this time!!!!

Once again, my thanks for clearing that up Wizely !

 

 

Will try and sort out that middle column and the far right one as well.

 

Point taken on those links - It's a bit basic just asking them to 'read more' - More detail will defintely 'hook' people in.

 

Cheers bud