I've done some research and had initial feedback on my site, and made some adjustments. I now have two versions: http://www.pubbsoft.com and http://www.pubbsoft.com/alt/ Thoughts as far as which one you like more, why, and how to improve conversion? Thanks!
I like the first, and nice to see some good colour in there too, the orange and green Brighten it up nicely.
again? first is best, and loose the bevel and emboss-buttons! The marker and scroll buttons for the slider isn't very hot either, but that's minor. I've been doing web design for a living for 12+ years now and I'm very good at it, so this button-thing I'm on about is not just fiction. They really gotta go.
style0 - thanks for the feedback. Can you give me some examples of good ways to avoid the bevel and emboss? I can remove it, but it looks flat/boring. I'm sure you are correct with 12+ years experience, but I would like to have some specific example on how to improve it. Thanks.
I also think that the first looks better without the border around the main content. I looks nice full width. If you are looking for some button tutorials check this out: http://speckyboy.com/2009/08/11/30-useful-photoshop-buttons-and-badges-tutorials/ Aside from the buttons I have a few more comments... It is hard to figure out within a few seconds what exactly your site offers. If your goal is to target people looking to create a free iPad/digital book or comic or childrens book I think you need to describe that better on the homepage in actual text instead of just in the page title and in the top right corner. This will also help drive some search engine traffic to your page. Perhaps add some of the content from the 'learn more' page to the homepage.
First one looks good. But I feel these both pages take little bit more time for loading, and footer in first one seems down in chrome..