New Web Site Design. What ya think?

[dontmaimyourself 0]

I would like your opinions of my possible new website layout (I intend to use it but would like other opinions before I do so). all comments are welcome especially ones that improve the layout.

 

I would especially like to know:

 

A] Do you prefer this or the current layout.

B] How it displays in browsers other than Firefox and Internet Explorer, as it has only been tested in these two browsers.

C] If you hate it and think i'm generally rubbish at everything, you can tell me if you like it too .

 

here goes:

 

Current Layout [mk:I]

Possible New Layout [mk:II]

 

p.s. the links currently link back to the old pages.

[biscuitrat 0]

Here we go:A] I prefer the first one if you made the text dark on a light background or something like your second one. Perhaps you could merge the two? I like your header on the first one, by the way.B] It looks fine in Opera and IE. You need to fix an error in your CSS and revalidate. The jigsaw validator said the error was on line 55. But your XHTML validates just fine :DC] Nah, it looks great! I do recommend a slightly different color or decoration for when you roll over links on the second one. You can barely see any change in the coloration. I'm gonna say 8/10 because it's classy, but could use a just a little brightness.

[Tyssen 0]

If you boosted the contrast on your current design (including in the header), I'd go for that. The new one is quite neat but it's not very interesting/inspiring. The first one's got a bit more style to it but is generally just too dark.

[Saint_Michael 3]

i go with the second one the color contrast is perfect, the banner in the first one killed it.

[electriic ink 1]

I'm gonna have to go with the second one, because the loading on the first one took forever. You really ought to decrease the size of those banners and the first one doesn't have vaid css. Although I like the way the valid coding images fit in with the background.The second one is quick to load without looking awful. It had both xhtml and css valid. The design was simple and easy to navigate round but the valid coding images didn't fit in with the background.If you could get the graphics on #1 to be easier on the loading, I'd have voted for that but they aren't so it's #2 :DCurrent: 8.5/10Possible New: 9/10

[Becca 0]

a] Ilke the new layout, but Ilike the old layout colors and width.b] - c] The first layouts image is seriously crap. Even thought the colors on the first layout look nicer the ones on the second are mroe sleek and professional colours combined. Also a light textbox on a dark background is better than a dark on dark.Both of the layouts are nice and simple but not very original.. Imean anyone could copy that layout within 20 minutes or less.

[Dragonfly 0]

If given a chance I would go for the first one. The second one though it looks wider in bigger resolutions, it will look too small in small screen resolution. The first - the current page is fixed if I'm not wrong and will display correctly in all types of resolutions, which is a concern, for many people are still using 800x600 pixels screen resolution. But if you increase percentage width to 100% it may well work but it will be looking funny in huge resolutions again.The second one design is too simple, I would rather go for the first one. But I feel in both the cases its too dark. I don't think users will feel like going to completely dark website. If background is dark, the fonts and others must be lighter, just for the visitors' eyes only.

[shigajet 0]

Since I tend to favour designs that are simple and don't have all the proverbial "bells and whistles", I actually prefer the second design. It looks really clean, although using more contrast might help your website a bit. Having said that, I liked the first design for its style...but I'll so with number 2 for its simplicity.

[Zaccid 0]

Current layout I dont like for the reason that you can hardly read the writing .. its not that good on the eyes ... I would give that a 6/10The one with index2.shtml is a lot better ... however I would still do some changes on the Font Color. Apart from that it good ... I would give this one a 9/10 ... removing one point for the color also, but nowhere near as bad as the current design.

[dontmaimyourself 0]

Thanks everyone for your comments, my biggest worry about the new design was that the validation buttons and the 'site design: ' bit along the top would annoy people. but only cmatcmextra mentioned the validation images not fitting with the background (I intend to change this by the way). also yeah the new layout does look funny in 800x600, but so does the old one. And yes I know neither are very original. anyway I'm going to move the validation images into the main text block (in one of those divisions that go all the way across) underneat the main text. and i'll increase the contrast (while it doesn't bother me, it ain't good design to make some thing that only you like) kind of a mixed reception for the new one, but I hope with a little tweaking it can appeal to a more people.

[dontmaimyourself 0]

I'v changed the layout slightly to help improve some of the negative comments I recieved...Changes:A] Background is lighter, text is darker.B] Moved the validation images into the main content block.C] Colored the links so they are clearer.D] Fixed width at 700px.It still works ok in Firefox 1.0.6 and IE 6.0, don't know about other browsers though. hope the revised version has cleared up most of the problems. but if not I am more than happy to listen to your constructive criticism, and help to resolve any problems with the site layout.

[biscuitrat 0]

Much better! But I still think it could use some visual pizazz. Maybe a different header image and some accent colors?