What Do You Think Of This Design? my first half decent attempt

[shadowx 0]

Hi all, the title says it all really, im looking for some feedback on my first decent design of a website, its in image form below

 

 

I like most of it, im not entirely sure about the greys though, i think they could be lighter but i think it looks reasonable. The idea is to have that layout centred with white edges for users with wider screens.

 

What do you think? Constructive criticism is welcome

 

EDIT: Apologies for the double post

Edited September 14, 2007 by shadowx (see edit history)

[galexcd 0]

Nice I like it, is this for a template that you are going to offer on your website for others to use or are you going to use this on your website?I think the links at the top should be css menu's or even flash, and the top needs some kind of image besides just the name. Perhaps a company logo? or even (I can't believe I'm actually suggesting this) a banner would help fill up that blank blue void you have going on at the top of your page.For the news you should add arrows under the content that let you switch between older and newer announcements/news, or whatever content is going to be there. Kind of like an rss ticker.

[BooZker 0]

Well i love the stripes and the blue. There will be a problem however with the titles. Those are not web based fonts, so you would have to make an image for every title. Otherwise looks good for a techy/gamer site.

[shadowx 0]

I might use it myself as i want to offer a site similar to hotscripts or something, thats why itried to make it look techy

I like the idea for the drop down type menu, that would be very good if each of the link titles were like categories eg "Downloads" then with sub-selections that appear on hover. And the news idea is good too, it would allow the webmaster, or me, to add more content than the confines of a static box would usually allow like having multiple news updates etc.

AS for adding to the top banner, im not so sure, The design is heavily based on a tutorial i found and the end result of the tutorial was similar to my result but i didnt actually follow the tutorial. The idea, for me at least, was to create something simple and hopefully give a glass or water style banner, hence the reflection, if you want to use the banner and add to it then feel free!

so you would have to make an image for every title. Otherwise looks good for a techy/gamer site.

I never thought of that, though i could use the background of the cell/area set to be the blue with stripes and then have the text as a transparent image over the top or something, shouldn't be too bad on loading times.

When i can be bothered ill have to save the individual elements and code the website, see how it works.

[galexcd 0]

I'm glad you like my suggestions And you are right about the banners its just it looks a little plain on the top left of the page. Perhaps a nice search box can find its home there.

so you would have to make an image for every title

I was under the impression that every page would have the same title: the title would be the name of the website.

[shadowx 0]

I was under the impression that every page would have the same title: the title would be the name of the website.

The title i meant was the "content title" part. That way the background for the top of the table or DIV could be a small tiled image to reduce loading time and the text for the content title and news text could be an image with a transparent background, that way i have more flexibility methinks.

[Tetraca 0]

The design looks decent. However, the real question is whether the code will be decent. It's another question whether it will load during a decent time frame for users of dial-up and other lower speed (but better than Dialup) connections like IDSN. Will you use XHTML or HTML? Will you use the new CSS3 attributes to ease your design or stick with the currently well supported CSS2 and CSS1?This also seems like a design which will use Javscript. Will the javascript degrade gracefully when you have it turned off? Will the site look good with a text-only browser?You must ask yourself these questions.

[Chocolat_blonde 0]

I really like the layout but the blue is too blue, the blue-ness and the stripes are very distracting. And I don't really like the the title reflection, but good use of greys.

[etycto 0]

the desighn looks nice but i'm not a big fan of the white and grey. but i do like the blue and the site tittle

[Sprnknwn 0]

I think that's a nice template, but the grey could be lighter I think. And you may need some graphic content besides the blue stripes or otherwise make the colors much lighter overall. And the website tittle looks like it's not so differenced from the news and content titles... too uniformized to my taste. Probably you have to think of some format issues, because for example inside "news", you may want to put first the date in another font/color, etc and the same in content, to separate different texts that are not related. So I think is a good template but you need to develop it a bit before I could give a worthy opinion. It could turn into a cool website or a boring one.

[bishoujo 0]

It's quite neat looking. What are you going to use it for? Personally, I prefer brighter and more pastel colors, and greys don't really do much for me. But then, it really depends on what the theme for your website is. Also, maybe you can use more compact looking fonts like Arial or Verdana. Otherwise the whole effect can be a bit cluttered and overwhelming.

[Forbez 0]

I like it, very simple design which works perfectly. The website title, you need to make the refelction with less opcaity and move it up abit. The content text you need to have a better margin around, have it 10px inwards. all sides.Also add another bar at the bottom of the content boxes for users to have "Written by ****" or other details. Or you can make it more clear where you would want that.Brillant design, those are only suggestions. Keep up the good work.

[hitmanblood 0]

I like your design its really cool though I think that the letters are two joined together because in certain text boxes I just cannot read what is written there. And this might show as difficult for the poeple visiting your site. Also I'd like to know where did you get idea for such design. And which tool are you using to design it.

[MiniK 0]

Nice design. I sent you a message but in case you didn't get it, I was wondering if I could use this design on a website I am making? If so, I can link to your site. Thanks.

[shadowx 0]

Also I'd like to know where did you get idea for such design. And which tool are you using to design it.

I got the idea from the link i posted on my first post and to create it i used the GIMP but any program capable of custom brushes {for the dark diagonal lines} Gradients and lines/boxes is perfect for something like this. Good times!

Nice design. I sent you a message but in case you didn't get it, I was wondering if I could use this design on a website I am making?

I just replied to your message but for the benefit of the other people, anyone can use this design, i used a tutorial to make it and so i cant claim full ownership really, so as far as im concerned anyone can use this design and/or modify it in any way and you dont need to link to my site either. Good times for everybody