Hi all, I have a website that is just ugly, it has good content (i think) but it just doesn't look good. Could you guys suggest what I can do to make it prettier and more user friendly? Website is http://www.in4matrix.co.uk Thanks a lot!!!
Your site is beyond help, you need to: format /www/*.* Just kidding, like glen mentioned you should back the corners smooth and rounded. If you can't do all of this one by one you could try looking for a cms system which you can convert your site to. In other words, transfering your files and text to the cms system, once that's done editing and deleteing info will be a breeze. And the good thing with the cms system is that there are many templates you can download to change the look of your site with a few clicks. Goodluck
Rounded corners and shadows could be the way to go for now. Many thanks for the speedy suggestions, keep em coming'. I have recently added a website submission area so anyone here at DP can plug their sites for absolutely free, just trying to give a little back to the DP community.
I don't know if i would call it "ugly" - but yes, nice and plain. My main site is very 'plain' (borderline ugly) but my visitors love it.. (and I was just featured as one of Google Adsense's Case-studies.. and it will be in Google's Adsense blog in the next week or two..shhh.. i haven't posted about that publicly yet.).. So it seems ugly can be a good thing.. Just like mom always said "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" .. although I think only the mom's of the ugly kids said this..
I don't think its that bad. You just need to put in some uniformity in box sizes and use cellpadding for boxes so that the content looks properly arranged. That should do for now.
of course not, same width for navigation boxes and the empty space between the left, centre and right boxes should be uniform (margin). The text should not stick to the box borders so use some padding. Use uniform margins and padding for boxes for starters.
There are many things you could do to change the aspect of your site. First play around with different color schemes to give it a livelier look. Also try to create a nicer logo so that things will look more professional.
Tbh i dont think its that ugly, your elements are nicely spaced - your site has definate design structure you just need to look at perhaps making elements a little more graphical. If you could just create a stunning header section and logo where the black at the top is, this would really stand out and set the tone for the rest of the site design. Best of luck with your site development.
Sanjay, First of all you need to let your visitors know what the site is all about. It is not very clear. Secondly you can use some very good ready templates freely available on the net. Lastly, remember content is the king, not looks. Ever seen Microsoft's site. Think it looks good ? Nah !!!
Hi guys, thanks for all th helpful suggestions. I have taken a lot of them into account and have made several changes. Firstly I mage a Web 2.0 style logo using photoshop and an online tutorial. I like it but what do you all think? I have got some rounded corners going on as well (not in CSS though, just images) And finally I have moved a few elements around. The new page can be found at http://www.in4matrix.co.uk/index.php The original page can be found at http://www.in4matrix.co.uk/index2.php Please let me know if this is better than the original and what still needs to be done to make it better. Thanks
That really is an improvement well done - the search box feels like it should be moved down in line with the top of 'latest news', also the text links under the search box arent clearly defined as being text - vast improvement though, well done!
I agree, but that does leave me with a bunch of white space at the top of the page now. Any ideas what I could do with it? Or is it best to leave it as white space?
ad banners or a search box that is less intrusive (if you know what i mean) or maybe just make the logo longer?
you should pay a dude to make you a new fresh design. with $100, you would have a great look for your site... including logo, favicon, etc... search DP and you'll find good designers.
Don't really fancy paying someone to do it, I actually enjoy writing the code myself, it may take me some time, but I will get there sooner or later.