I whipped up a simple CSS site in Dreamweaver. Take a look at http://www.imponenteweb.com/beta/ Before I continue with the development of the site, do you guys think the colors work well with each other? I would like the site to have a blue theme, just like the logo. Thank you, Anthony
I have to say that I personally don't like it. No disrespect; it's just my opinion. The colour of the left and right columns, and the colour of the banner, ruins it for me. They're very dull blues. They remind me of old-fashioned designs. What's more, if your text in the left and right columns is going to be black, it will not be very clear. One problem with using blue colour schemes that you should be aware of is that they can 'drown' links if the links are also going to be blue. Links should always stand out. Here, check out this free tool. Use it to generate great colour schemes.
Thank you guys for your constructive criticism and your suggestions. I went onto that color scheme designer thing and picked out better shades of blue. I also changed the content container to be white instead of that blue. I uploaded the changes to the same URL, and you can view the changes. What do you guys think of it now? Also, any other ideas for the banner would be nice. I really want the site to match the logo, since I paid good money for that logo to be made. The left-hand column is going to have images for navbar links and the right-hand columm is going to have stuff like links to live support and such, in white.
Yeah, that's better. I still don't know what to make of the colour of the left and right columns, though. I still think that they're a little too dark. Then again, I suppose no one can give a clear opinion of their colour without having seen how they will look with content.
I've continued the development of the site, you can take a look again. I put the navigation into there and the stuff I want in the right column in there.
I find the all-blue to be overwhelming. Here is a color sample with more balance. Here's a suggestion, based on the two colors in your logo, i.e. #0094DA and #0065B3: These two are based off of the lighter blue in your logo, i.e. #0094DA http://colorschemedesigner.com/#3s41T--Omw0w0 or http://colorschemedesigner.com/#3s31T--Omw0w0 These two are based off of the darker blue in your logo, i.e. #0065B3 http://colorschemedesigner.com/#3x41T--Agw0w0 or http://colorschemedesigner.com/#3x31T--Agw0w0 For each of these samples, click into the "light page example" and click inside the sample area to toggle the variations between page elements.
Thank you for your suggestion. I really don't want to put any yellow, reds, or oranges in there. I think the blue theme is fine for now, maybe I'll put a little yellow in there later, but I think this is okay.
I think the background is 'too strong', so it is hard to focus the eyes on the center of the page. My 2 cents
I don't like the color of right/left column .. and like what other said the background is too strong..
The only thing that doesn't look right about that page is the background. Try changing it to a smooth gradient.
Personally, I think it's a little too plain (& boring). There's just too much blue, I personally think if you had a different color up there to mesh with the blue it would be better. (Try the compliment tool from the link above to grab another color to contrast all that blue)
From my point of view (i prefer more modern designs) the body background just has to go. Also the sidebars should probably be changed to a different shade of blue. Then everything should look a lot better.
I agree with the body background.. It makes the whole design look out-dated. Try something else there, & use a more web 2.0-ish/sleek/neater header banner.
I know but I think that we feel this way because we are strongly related to the field, but I think many of the population who may not be used to the web require a careful mix of both simplicity and web 2.0, as some of the newest modern layouts are rather confusing, and could be offputting for anyone with limited experience/of a certain age!
Something interesting: dunno if this link will work, but here's what the site looks like in greyscale: http://graybit.com/files/graybit.php?url=http://www.imponenteweb.com/beta/ (I'm hoping the % characters stay correct on DP... otherwise go to graybit.com and type the page's url in) I suspect it would look readable in any of the colourblindness filters at visicheck.com I'll bet the blue won't look so terrible to developers once there's content in it, IF the content isn't only text. A bit of colour in images or whatnot here and there will do wonders, and the rest of the site can stay blue because it will allow the content to get all the attention (as it should).