Hello, So here is my latest addition to my portfolio of sites. I have created a Digg style rating directory targeting Squidoo Lenses called SquidUp.org . However, unlike Digg this is DoFollow directory. I would really appreciate your feedback on the design, colors and overall aesthetics of the site. This is a custom template that I created. Hopefully i will be done with my About, FAQ, TERMS and Privacy policy pages this weekend to fully launch the site and start getting visitors. Thank you,
Hey thank you for checking it out and providing feedback. However, I would be delighted if you could please elaborate or suggest an idea on how I can clean it up a bit, is there some color that didn't work for you?
Not a bad looking site. Good concept. The only thing that caught my eye is the thumbnails look like they need a little work, it looks like they were larger images that are poorly shrunken down. Any relation to squidoo.com? The logo looks similar.
Pyro, Now that you have mentioned the thumbnails, I do see what you are saying. It is using the GD library, most of the users actually just link to the original image on their Squidoo Lenses so I am guessing if the quality of that image is not good, then the thumbnail reflects the same. Otherwise, I have never had any issues with the GD library before. No relation with Squidoo, the logo is infact a little spin off from the Squidoo logo. I am not really too fond of the logo right now myself, I will change it later if it doesn't work. Right now, I am just pretty busy trying to resolve a few mino bugs. I launched this site on Oct 15th, 4 days ago. So far, Total Members: 32 Total Lenses/stories submitted by users: 82 Total Votes: 200 Are these stats ok or bad? I wish Squidoo would allow Javascript on their lenses so I could make a Digg like EVB (External Voting Button) that people could put on their lenses, which will allow direct visitors to their site to vote on their lens increasing more traffic. Any other suggestions that could work for this type of site? Please let me know. Thank you,
I was also meaning to point out that the larger image can contribute to slower load times, as you have to load the full size image rather then just a thumbnail.
I've always questioned the need for thumbnails on social bookmarking style sites, unless it's in an "image" section. I think it clutters the page otherwise. The colors on your header could use some work, as could the javascript menu behavior, I think it's too quick.