Site Ratings & Reviews - Site critique

Author

Site critique

Matthew

2004-07-07, 12:16 pm

I'm new to web design/programming etc. so I have probably made a tonne
of mistakes already (feel free to disregard my feelings...it's only a
web page). I figure before I go too far, I would ask for critique.

The old site design:
http://www.rpgplanet.com/morrowind/ozmorrowind/

....and the new one I'm working on (the one I want suggestions on),
comparisons with the old one (better/worse etc.) would be appreciated:
http://www.rpgplanet.com/morrowind/...nd/4_index.html

It's only the home page and a typical page (use the 'click here for
the sample page' link at the bottom). The site code and css both seem
to validate (except for the ALT image attributes for the navbar
bullet/divider things...but I think I'm going about that the wrong
way, am I?).

I'm targetting people who might not be very experienced on the
internet. A scenario question that you might take time to answer:

You click a link saying 'Download the Morrowind Character Profile
Creator' (you already know what Morrowind is) and you are taken
directly to the front page of the new site. You want to download the
Morrowind Character Profile Creator, what link do you click first to
try and download it?

Any comments/suggestions etc. are greatly appreciated. Also, ad free
hosting is _not_ an option.

2004-07-07, 12:16 pm

"Matthew" <matted@bigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:cad5a66b.0407070502.1cf10529@posting.google.com...
>
> The old site design:
> http://www.rpgplanet.com/morrowind/ozmorrowind/
>
> ...and the new one I'm working on (the one I want suggestions on),
> comparisons with the old one (better/worse etc.) would be appreciated:
> http://www.rpgplanet.com/morrowind/...nd/4_index.html

Huge step backwards. At least the old site filled my browser canvas. The new
one does not!

And what is that bright orange wart at the bottom of the page? Oh, I see, it
is advertising. Lose it.

--
Cheers
Richard.

The Doormouse

2004-07-07, 12:16 pm

matted@bigpond.net.au (Matthew) wrote:

> http://www.rpgplanet.com/morrowind/...nd/4_index.html

The menu is inconsistent and the text is a bit light in all colors. The
bottom menu is all but illegible. I am not going to use a 4pt menu.

The Doormouse

--
The Doormouse cannot be reached by e-mail without her permission.

michael

2004-07-07, 7:18 pm

I personally like it better than the old one, much cleaner design.

As far as the comment that it doesn't fill your canvas...if it did someone
would complain that they had scroll bars...I tend to lean on crisp and clean
over fill every space available.

The text can be resized so no problems there.

The advertising on the bottom...I know it has to be there...but I still says
it gives some credit to the site. It says to me 'oh look a gaming site'.

A couple of suggestions:

The upper left hand side is crying out for a graphic, maybe something that
runs along the edge of the screen and fades into your welcome sign.

You might consider separating the 3 headings somehow, my first reaction was
oh there's the profile creator but that is actually news. Keep in mind how
the eye reads a page (Z).

mb

"Matthew" <matted@bigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:cad5a66b.0407070502.1cf10529@posting.google.com...
> I'm new to web design/programming etc. so I have probably made a tonne
> of mistakes already (feel free to disregard my feelings...it's only a
> web page). I figure before I go too far, I would ask for critique.
>
> The old site design:
> http://www.rpgplanet.com/morrowind/ozmorrowind/
>
> ...and the new one I'm working on (the one I want suggestions on),
> comparisons with the old one (better/worse etc.) would be appreciated:
> http://www.rpgplanet.com/morrowind/...nd/4_index.html
>
> It's only the home page and a typical page (use the 'click here for
> the sample page' link at the bottom). The site code and css both seem
> to validate (except for the ALT image attributes for the navbar
> bullet/divider things...but I think I'm going about that the wrong
> way, am I?).
>
> I'm targetting people who might not be very experienced on the
> internet. A scenario question that you might take time to answer:
>
> You click a link saying 'Download the Morrowind Character Profile
> Creator' (you already know what Morrowind is) and you are taken
> directly to the front page of the new site. You want to download the
> Morrowind Character Profile Creator, what link do you click first to
> try and download it?
>
> Any comments/suggestions etc. are greatly appreciated. Also, ad free
> hosting is _not_ an option.

lime

2004-07-11, 11:15 pm

> ...and the new one I'm working on (the one I want suggestions on),
> comparisons with the old one (better/worse etc.) would be appreciated:
> http://www.rpgplanet.com/morrowind/...nd/4_index.html

> You click a link saying 'Download the Morrowind Character Profile
> Creator' (you already know what Morrowind is) and you are taken
> directly to the front page of the new site. You want to download the
> Morrowind Character Profile Creator, what link do you click first to
> try and download it?

Answer: In the download section, first item.

Very nicely laid out, easy to understand, neat & clean in comparison to the
old version.

Very nice.

The Truth

2004-07-17, 7:16 pm

Your old site looked amateurish and too "blocky" for me. Your new one is a
step in the right direction - a lot cleaner, less cluttered and the
navigation window is a lot better. I lik eth ebackground for the center box,
but as it is a gradient you may fall foul of low bit colour settings, so
your visitors will not see the sexy gradient, just a block of lines. Make it
solid I think...

I am working on a site with this small box in the middle thingy.. trendy and
very vogue at the mo.. it is looking good. If I was being fussy I would make
each content box the same size in the dead middle, and write my content
accordingly - if you have a lot of content break it down into small chunks -
people like that apparently. I would like to see smaller font sizes as these
look a little special needs for me.

Hate the bottom banners but I always have on any site, unless you are part
of an affiliate programme lose them - they will never match your colour
scheme and can ruin a good look. All in all a very good redesign. Nice one!
:)

"Matthew" <matted@bigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:cad5a66b.0407070502.1cf10529@posting.google.com...
> I'm new to web design/programming etc. so I have probably made a tonne
> of mistakes already (feel free to disregard my feelings...it's only a
> web page). I figure before I go too far, I would ask for critique.
>
> The old site design:
> http://www.rpgplanet.com/morrowind/ozmorrowind/
>
> ...and the new one I'm working on (the one I want suggestions on),
> comparisons with the old one (better/worse etc.) would be appreciated:
> http://www.rpgplanet.com/morrowind/...nd/4_index.html
>
> It's only the home page and a typical page (use the 'click here for
> the sample page' link at the bottom). The site code and css both seem
> to validate (except for the ALT image attributes for the navbar
> bullet/divider things...but I think I'm going about that the wrong
> way, am I?).
>
> I'm targetting people who might not be very experienced on the
> internet. A scenario question that you might take time to answer:
>
> You click a link saying 'Download the Morrowind Character Profile
> Creator' (you already know what Morrowind is) and you are taken
> directly to the front page of the new site. You want to download the
> Morrowind Character Profile Creator, what link do you click first to
> try and download it?
>
> Any comments/suggestions etc. are greatly appreciated. Also, ad free
> hosting is _not_ an option.

matted@bigpond.net.au

2004-08-26, 12:27 pm

I have to insert a banner on every page unfortunately. Gamespy are
hosting me for free (and I get all the benefits of paid hosting,
including no quotas or bandwidth restrictions) and request that I have
a banner on every page (I get to choose where to put the banner
though). I didn't spend much time on it so I'm glad it at least appears
okay.

The Truth wrote:
> Hate the bottom banners but I always have on any site, unless you are
part
> of an affiliate programme lose them - they will never match your
colour
> scheme and can ruin a good look. All in all a very good redesign.
Nice one!
> :)

matted@bigpond.net.au

2004-09-02, 7:15 am