My first site

I'm a print designer for the most part, and have done some banner ads in Flash, but have been trying to teach myself more Flash, and Dreamweaver.

Here's my first real attempt at a live site, this is where I work during the day.

www.smggo.com (sorry, guess I can't use live links yet!)

Comments/critiques very welcome! Thanks!

 

I like the flash buttons and such but the banner just doesnt feel right for some reason

 

Assuming you mean the banner at the top? Can you be more specific than "doesn't feel right"?

Appreciate your input, thanks!

 

Seems good for a begginer.

 

looks better than my first website did. good job man.

 

The designs is okay, however I think the bar on the right attracts more attention than the navigation itself!

 

Looks pretty good. I like it.

 

For a beginner a nice result.

Tips: The site got too much white space in my opinion.
The banner doesn´t look too good. The logo is okay, but the gradient from white to green is just too much "white again".

I know it´s hard to find the right colour usage, but if you want a green/white site you must add more green. It can also be light green.
Atm it´s way too much white. My first impression was "the site is empty" because of the white.


Play around with the colours and then you´ll do good.

As I said before, great result for a beginner!

 

Thanks for all your comments, everyone!

 

Weird. I don't have the same feel when I am touring around the site. Probably it is a subjective matter and it is hard to find the good usage of white space.

 

yeah, with white space it's sometimes hard to find the right balance. But it's very important to do so, and I thought I was doin ok with it on the site. And after doing some research on "web 2.0" designs, white space is a big part of that "revolution". Although now I realize some other elements I have on the site are not "2.0" friendly.

 

better than my first site!

 

thanks, LP!

I'm reading into the whole web 2.0 movement, my next one will reflect some of that, I think.

 

Very good first effort. The button effect is pretty good. Center your site and make the headers and the right side bar solid (looks flat).

 

very good for first time (much better then my first side) i like the designe (but too much white, and the "menu" on the right is much more visible then the menu on the left (right menu)

and this is cool:
We call it "whatever it takes" service.

 

Thanks for your input. I tried both these suggestions, the site is updated. I think it does look better, and now hopefully the nav buttons have equal billing vs. the words on the far right.

The boss loves the header, so until I persuade him to change it, it's gotta stay.

 

No kidding...too funny...Hiya Mac! I actually just read your post on my thread. I actually also work for a Print/Marketing companyy myself up in Syracuse, NY! Out on leave for now recovering from back surgery. Been fiddling with the net now for a while and getting into Dreamweaver and Fireworks myself. I have so many awsome programs for web design now...we should talk. Pm if you like. Small world though...I think we have actually worked with SMG - perhaps out of Utica, NY if my memory serves??

At any rate...Great job on your first web design...I'm working on mine now...maybe we can share some pointers!

 

another thought...I think it's simple, clean and professional...which is what most marketing companies go for these days! I have to say I'm not too crazy about the flash effect in the home link though...love the colors. A fantastic first site!

 

Hey zander (sent ya a PM) and diego... OK, not sure what you guys mean about the effect in the home link. I'm assuming you mean the kind of "heartbeat" effect (at least that's how I imagined it) on the home link... it's actually used on every page, designating which page you're on. Or are you referring to the way the type "jumps" when you roll over each link?

 

Does need to be centered on the page, and it could do with another colour which goes with the green.