It's been up for a little while and I've already asked a few of you for your opinions but thought I'd ask everybody this time. The URL is www.weirfire.co.uk Please ignore the look of the directory as I know it looks a bit shoddy. It's just there to stick the recips Be as gentle or as harsh as your conscience lets you.
This is just IMO and I don't pretend to be a web designer so here goes. To me a web designers site should show off there work and to me it doesn't the title text "The Weirfire Web Designers" at the top looks really simple as if it was done in MS WordArt by my mum. The menu links at the top also seem odd, hovering near them causes a red highlite and then hovering over the text causes it to boldify and the red highlite change in size (in FF) Your recent websites completed all look really good, better than your own site which is good for them but not the best of advertisments IMO. Just my 2 cents, sorry
Thanks dct. Dont ever be sorry for a critical review! I value these more than touching round these subjects. If I couldn't cope with harsh comments then it wouldn't be up for review. Looking at the site again, I would have to agree with your comments and I will changing this on the site tomorrow
First impression: WHOAH.. red and yellow.. my eyes need some water. Second impression: The font in the banner looks like Comic Sans Eek.. Third impression: Pretty slick, but the colors could use some changing. Its not a horrible site, but, with the current colors, not the most pretty either. Nice coding though.. no unneeded junk and stuff. You might try using CSS instead of tables though. Josh
ok if your gonna have an image as the logo, makesure its a nice font. i like what u did with the menu maybe make it a 1px border instead and not make it go bold. hmm yep learn some css i avoid tables where possible (except displaying lists of data from database) for a site i currently making for graphics/design site i made a CMS in php/mysql where the owner can add clients, jobs, downloads, email nicelooking invoices, have a client member section where people can check out the progress of their job, ask questions directly with support... im still adding features daily, trust me its not hard to do. pm me,i can point to you to several great ebooks on stylesheets..
i dont like it at all, looks very amateur, i know you can do better than that, the banner is not great, and its too high, the P.C graphic is poor quality and the writing next to it is too chunky, why do you have 'webdesign' on the page...and in bold? your navigation...the font bolds up, and jumps about. i like the mouseover colour effect..its ok the bit that says recent websites completed is not centered(height) on that border.You need to set up a css at least to have some nice hyperlink effects. The 3 boxes at the bottom are too big..there is too much white space, and the text is too big, and whilst i dont mind a yellow background..it doesnt go well with the red and white. and most badly of all....(unless its just me) i get a sideways scroll bar when i tried viewing it in a 800x600 browser. tables are ok, i dont mind tables at all, in fact i love tables...its just what you have in them, perhaps something like rounded corners will make a difference, but definately do a css for the hyperlinks. (sorry mate )
Do you guys all like me that much you have to say sorry when you're making a critical analysis of my sites? You really dont have to apologise. Just to put things into perspective, I've redesigned my own Weirfire site about 5 times and I haven't been completely happy with any of them yet. I want to try and integrate the red fire idea but wanted to try and keep it to the corporate web site professional look. I may spend a little bit of time this week when I'm in Ireland trying to integrate your ideas so please keep the reviews coming. I appreciate all comments that you make whether they are good or bad. Top prize goes to the person who can find the most things they dislike with the site Be honest though!
its not a like or hate thing mate...its a healthy respect for your freedom to do what YOU want. here's my one, its so easy to use someone else's work as a starting point http://uploadengine.com/getfile.php?file=1119277444.jpg
1. i think you should use a smaller font 2. the color scheme is actually ok but you need to put in more white/pastel that the glaring colors 3. improve the graphics... pretty much what has already been mentioned...
Hey Weiry.... After reading the others comments I think it would be a good idea to change the hover effect on your navigation and redo the header or spice it up a bit somehow. Can't wait to see the changes.
Hey WF! I think there's a lot you could do to buff up the design, especially if you want to take your biz to the next level. Probably the best place to start is by creating a logo (or at least finding a more unique font for your name). A logo doesn't have to be complex or include artwork but it should be totally polished, because it can really detract from everything else on the site. I might even go so far to say that a site design is only as good as the logo....and right now you don't have a logo at all. The header background is cool looking, but it sort of competes with everything else. It might be better for you to see if you can work some cool texture/coloring into your logo. When you're pulling together a design there are three things you want to highlight, 1. your biz name/logo (so folks remember you), 2. what it is you offer and why people need your help, and 3. the final product. There are different ways to doing this of course, but I think what's happening with your design right now is that nothing really stands out (except that header background). I actually like the colors you've chosen but I would look at maybe some different design structures that show off your content better. I will throw you some design samples/ideas but I'm super busy right now and getting ready to leave town (no computer for a whole weekend!!!). If you can wait till next week I'd be happy to give you some more specific examples.
Wiefire, I basically agree with all the constructive critiscm that everyone gave you. Whenever I am in the market for a webdesigner, I always refer to their page to see how good their design is. If it ain't up to par, then I know I need to look elsewhere. Sorry for the harsness. But I"ve always loved Dreamshop's website design
Thanks Kat and Dean for that advice. You can probably tell I'm more of a developer and I appreciate any graphical advice that comes my way. I've actually just agreed a deal with a graphical designer that will do most of my graphics for clients from now on so we'll see how that goes. I shall wait for you Kat to see your templates and I'll certainly try and implement most of your comments. I never mind harshness as long as it is explained. I really dislike people that say "What a crap website" and say nothing else.