Hi,

 

My name's Nathan and I'm pretty new to the world of web design. With my limited knowledge I have managed to create a very basic website for my side business using the blogger platform and I could do with some feedback. I look at it now and I know it can be improved, but I'm struggling with ideas.

 

The home page especially is pretty bland in my mind. The thing with blogger, is it's very hard to move images around to where you'd like them in the post editor. Whenever I try to just experiment with the code (I know nothing) I just mess it up and end up and then . Is it possible to create a landing page in dreamweaver (something fancier) and then export that code or whatever into the home page bit easily? Also, some general ideas about what I could do to improve the site would be extremely helpful.

 

The website is http://www.virtually-staffed.com

 

Thanks for reading

 

 

 

An Irishman - welcome to the forums!

 

I haven't used blogger before so I don't think I would be able to help you on that (I would have used Wordpress though and still use it on some sites, although coding a full template is a bit out of my expertise for now).

 

Some criticism about site:

 

• I think it's a bit too blue, but I do like the background, so I wouldn't change that...
• The main banner / logo is not too bad, but it's very big (probably just my opinion but maybe make it smaller in height so the main body text is more visible).
• The background on the menu, I don't think matches the site and I don't see that same gradient colour elsewhere.
• The main body content seems a little plain (not exactly sure what you could do to spruce it up)
• Also maybe add a footer, with details like, copyright nav etc...

Hope this helps!

Al.

Hey man, thanks for the reply! Wasn't expecting one so quick

 

Y'know, I actually had the same though about it being too blue as well. I was just so far along at that point that I just left it. The background menu? Yeah, tell me about it. There isn't an option where you can input your own colour hex to match up with the rest of the site. All they give you is a few colours to choose from which annoyed me no end! Also agree on the main body content. I hate it. There's nothing eye catching or engaging about it at all really. I'll work something out though

 

I'm actually starting to think that maybe i'd be better off with one of those website creation app sites where you get a lot more options. I just don't want to incur the costs haha. Cheapest one I know is Homestead (work uses it) and they charge about 30 euros a month!

Well if you are not a web designer / developer coding your own site, I would say have a look at Wordpress(.org). It's free and there are quite a few free themes and plugins to improve the site, and you wouldn't have to do any coding. Granted you might be limited to what you can change on certain themes but if I were you I'd still have a look, and plus the control panel is very simple to use.

 

I guess you will have to have hosting set up, as you will need to create a database - Wordpress has plenty of documentation on installing and setting up.

 

Good luck man, let me know if you need any help.

Hello,

I totally agree that there is too much blue on that website. With this tone of blue and background I firstly thought that it's a website of some baby-sitters organisation or a toy shop I'd strongly recommend to change it to something else.

 

Wordpress might indeed be the best choice for you. I'm also ready to help

Edited August 15, 201313 yr by MiloszB

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I have changed the website to something I think is, at least, an improvement. Still not entirely happy with it but it's getting there I guess. I've already paid for a year's subscription to Blogger so I don't really want to have to pay to get Wordpress too, even though I know it's better customization wise.

I'm going to make the logo half the height at some point as well, to go with your suggestion, mrludable: I agree with you that body of text needs to be more visible! Thanks again, man.