Template Under Construction under construction

[inverse_bloom 0]

Mmm.. the second one does look better but i think you should stay away from the grain texture effect within the text. If you wanted to steer away from too much blue as a couple poeple have suggested, i'd suggest incorporating grey color's or straight black or white into the design.

 

Personally i'm focusing on the background color as the required change, maybe a slight dark grey to grey or just straight grey would be suitable. Also having that much blue stimulates the visual senses to the point where it detracts attention away from your textual content (a bit too strong).

 

Also all your banner text so far focuses in toward the viewer (for example drop shadows and embossing outwards). Maybe if you tried something that recesses backwards that would be better (again adobe did this with their recent products, but you could easily do something uniquely different).

 

As i mentioned in the previous post you could use a straight color for the banner (not necessarily white) and make a feature from it. Kinda like what google does when they dress up their logo sometimes. Perhaps a simple colored graphic that compliments the design.

 

Immediately what comes to my mind for ideas on a graphic for you is things like moving electrons, bubbling chemistry sets, solar systems, science and art integrated together, forces in action, etc...

 

...and have the graphic in close proximity or on top of the banner text.

 

Also the sans-serif font for your body text works well, probably is verdana. But perhaps the banner font could be changed to something i little more unique. I dont know what you've got in your collection, but another sans-serif font could possibly work easily.

 

(sans-serif= font without the doo daky's)

 

Or maybe something decorative, here is a font site www.fontsquirrel.com/ which may help you out there.

 

Dont mean to seem picky, just giving a few suggestions.

Edited October 7, 2009 by inverse_bloom (see edit history)

[TheDarkHacker 0]

Well this is nice template.Its simple but i don't like your background.Make it more complicate to look like template which is downloaded but add copyright that you made that template.Everything other is nice...You just need to photoshop it.If you don't have Photoshop i can give it specially for you...You don't need to JavaScript it!Just few PHP lines and you can make nice blue shoutbox.When you will finish that please publish it!I will give you what you want for the website,because i can see there is design in your spirit I can give you free hosting,no ads,free php,free photoshop and everything just i want to see this template how will work on the Internet.I can make some php script to count your visitors without any ads from free counters...You can make very very nice website

[contactskn 2]

It is a good simple template. After completion of this please post a link also so we could see the whole template. But the good begining of simplicity shows your professionalism and sense of colour combination . Basically I liked the templates image view.

[Baniboy 3]

Hi everyone, I haven't replied here because I have noticed that I can't really make nice looking graphics when I have school on the same day.
Anyway, thanks for your replies. I'll be replying to them below.

The second banner looks better in my opinion, the design is simple and readable, I like it, the only thing I would continue to work on would be the banner, it's just to plain, even though it might be alright if you would fins aomekind of cool font and would work with it, maybe it would look better.

I made a new banner with a gradient stroke kinda thing. Looking forward to see what you think about it. I'm using arial for it.

Aw... what? Why didn't I see this thread earlier? I'd be spamming this thread with "Congratulations!!!" in big capital letters. But anyway...
I just can't believe you made the whole thing yourself!!! Wow!!! smile.gif You must be pro. I just take a good template off the internet and work from there. But wow... so, are you going to use that on Drupal, Joomla or Wordpress? Or are you just going to do everything yourself? Then that will be REALLY cool... but I'm not helping your with anything, Am I? I'll have to give you some constructive comments...

(About your first post... are you implying that I spam the forum too much with my "Help on Drupal!!!" threads?) - Just joking... tongue.gif

OK, here goes the constructive criticism comments:

I do believe that there is too much blue... maybe you can mix it with some other colour apart from blue and white? I don't know, you can just add a colour that complements with the light blue that you have chosen. I just think that that is a bit too much blue, that's all... and it just maybe degrades the site down a bit. It does look a bit homemade (not that I can make anything near or like that myself in the first place...).

Um... I agree with someone that posted on this thread earlier... the text IS a little too big. And some graphics might be good as well... You made your website actually look like a blog template, so I'm implying that you will be using that as a blog? If not, you might want to change that too...

I suggest you to go online and look at different blog templates to get some ideas for your own template, because currently it looks just a little and a slightly too plain and simple in my opinion.

I'm trying to be honest with you, because I would like it if I receive more criticism than praises when I make my own thread like this... smile.gif

The buttons are a little too big and plain too, so you might want to look into that. I have no suggestions for the logo though, because you can only successfully see your logo after you have finished the template of your site. Because what I've found is that your logo actually changes as you change your template so that it suits your site, and I have actually already made many different versions of the same logo for my blog as I experimented with different templates, so I can't tell you anything about the logo right now, apart that it looks very good and it suits your site...

And that's it for now, I guess. You might also want to put those meta block thingys under the main content of your site, which is currently what I am trying to do right now without any success.

And that's all, I guess. I hope my post has helped you... smile.gif I like giving constructive comments, though most of the time, if not all, the website that I am reviewing is always better than anything that I can ever hope to make. Including yours... smile.gif You're really pro to me. I hope that that will change soon though, and that I will be able to be good enough to make my own template, or at least customise the template to whatever I want it to look like, and not what my limitations allow me to change.

And so far I've only been able to correct some minor typo errors, which is pretty lame and stupid. But anyway... keep up the good work and keep us updated with the progress of your site for more comments!!! smile.gif

I like it.

Yes there is a lot of blue, so guess how I solved the problem? By adding more blue! Well, not actually, I just tuned down the brightness a little bit.
I made the text smaller, 16px.
Its task is to be plain and simple, I'm not reconstructing microsoft.com here am I.
I'm assuming by buttons, you mean the links in the navigation. Well, let's wait and see if I come up with something to change them to...
I don't get it, how it looks like a blog template? Because it's a two column layout? I didn't get your point on this. There are many sites that look like that without being blogs. Maybe it's not that it looks like a blog template, but most blog templates just happen to look like that. This kind of layout is useful, I think...
Thanks for replying

All I can really judge about it is what I can currently see. So I must say the colors really aren't that bad. I prefer a darker (such as blue) background than a white one because it's easier on the eyes (especially at night).
When you have a more complete version (possibly already uploaded for more testing?) I'll be able to better evaluate it.

Yes, I lowered down the background colors brightness to give people's eyes a little rest, the first design was way to bright.
Thanks for replying, however, I hoped you would've replied a little more in depth and judged the design a little more, so I can make it look better. I'll upload this, but after I'm done with it.

Mmm.. the second one does look better but i think you should stay away from the grain texture effect within the text. If you wanted to steer away from too much blue as a couple poeple have suggested, i'd suggest incorporating grey color's or straight black or white into the design.
Personally i'm focusing on the background color as the required change, maybe a slight dark grey to grey or just straight grey would be suitable. Also having that much blue stimulates the visual senses to the point where it detracts attention away from your textual content (a bit too strong).

Also all your banner text so far focuses in toward the viewer (for example drop shadows and embossing outwards). Maybe if you tried something that recesses backwards that would be better (again adobe did this with their recent products, but you could easily do something uniquely different).

As i mentioned in the previous post you could use a straight color for the banner (not necessarily white) and make a feature from it. Kinda like what google does when they dress up their logo sometimes. Perhaps a simple colored graphic that compliments the design.

Immediately what comes to my mind for ideas on a graphic for you is things like moving electrons, bubbling chemistry sets, solar systems, science and art integrated together, forces in action, etc...

...and have the graphic in close proximity or on top of the banner text.

Also the sans-serif font for your body text works well, probably is verdana. But perhaps the banner font could be changed to something i little more unique. I dont know what you've got in your collection, but another sans-serif font could possibly work easily.

(sans-serif= font without the doo daky's)

Or maybe something decorative, here is a font site https://www.fontsquirrel.com/ which may help you out there.

Dont mean to seem picky, just giving a few suggestions.

I tried adding some science things to it, but it didn't look good, so I stopped. I'm using arial in the body, so I used that in my new banner too.
Thanks for replying.

Well this is nice template.Its simple but i don't like your background.Make it more complicate to look like template which is downloaded but add copyright that you made that template.
Everything other is nice...You just need to photoshop it.If you don't have Photoshop i can give it specially for you...You don't need to JavaScript it!Just few PHP lines and you can make nice blue shoutbox.When you will finish that please publish it!

I will give you what you want for the website,because i can see there is design in your spirit laugh.gif I can give you free hosting,no ads,free php,free photoshop and everything just i want to see this template how will work on the Internet.I can make some php script to count your visitors without any ads from free counters...You can make very very nice website

I didn't exactly get your point? Why should I photoshop it? it's already coded.
Thanks for the offer, but I was going to add some functionality and interactivity with javascript, which hasn't anything to do with server-side scripting.
I don't like using pirated copies of products. Anyway, thanks. I'll publish when ready.

It is a good simple template. After completion of this please post a link also so we could see the whole template. But the good begining of simplicity shows your professionalism and sense of colour combination . Basically I liked the templates image view.

Thanks, remember to reply to the updates too!

Anyway, I made a new banner, 2 different background gradients and images, tell me which one is better?

[TheDarkHacker 0]

I didn't exactly get your point? Why should I photoshop it? it's already coded.Thanks for the offer, but I was going to add some functionality and interactivity with javascript, which hasn't anything to do with server-side scripting.
I don't like using pirated copies of products. Anyway, thanks. I'll publish when ready.

Photoshop it its not like coding.How did you made the whole template?You need some graphics editor.So i mean to change some colors or buttons with gradient,shadow etc.,with blending options.Your template is very good and because i don't know what your website will have,what it will be,blog or simple private web-site.If it's blog i offered server-side functions,and Photoshop.Me too,i don't like using pirated copies of software,and i don't want to talk about my Photoshop...

[Baniboy 3]

I used gimp to make the graphics. As for the server-side scripting, I've chosen sNews cms to do the job, I'm currently coding in PHP to get this template to work with sNews.As for designing in Photoshop, here's how I make templates:1. Write out the layout in HTML and CSS. This makes the structure.2. Adjust fonts, make graphics and stuff like that which give the template its look.3. this isn't a part of the actual template, but I code the php scripts for the site at this stage.EDIT: here's the sNews theme I made:This is a raw version, I still have to play around with fonts and their colors.And yes, more ideas to make it look better are still welcome!EDIT2: oops, there is a typo in the screenshot...

Edited October 11, 2009 by Baniboy (see edit history)

[mahesh2k 0]

Nice. +1 to theme. blue color layout looks cool and i was thinking white layout at the content side will make it readable. because any other than white color behind readable texts is painful. it's just my opinion though.

[TheDisturbedOne 1]

Not bad. I don't like that color blue for websites, but people who do like blue would like that template. I'd suggest getting rid of the underlines on the links at the right though. Not a big fan of that.Overall well done though.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

Based on the last picture, it seems very plain but everyone has to start somewhere. The fact you did it completely on your own gives you credit in my eyes. Therefore it gives you a foundation to create a better one in the future.Keep up the good work!

[inverse_bloom 0]

Yeah that banner is a much better improvement on the old ones. Its probably good you cut out the gradient on the background, as your file size will also be reduced a bit more. I reckon you should do something to emphasize the right navigation portion i.e "home", "archive", etc. This is so you give it distinct visual hierarchy compared to the one on the left.It'll confuse people if you don't do it as people naturally read left to right. A suggestion might be to include a carefully selected orange tinted with a little white to subdue its intensity and include it in the right menu (this way it wont conflict with the existing color and is probably the most elegant solution to the problem). I strongly suggest you keep both the left and right Nav bars the same size also. Just wondering how you would go if you changed the 1px black outline bordering the main graphic. (The one underneath the banner) to 2 or 3px and the same color as the text in the banner, that would further bring strength to your design.The text layout is good, great work.

Edited October 12, 2009 by inverse_bloom (see edit history)

[Baniboy 3]

Hi all, I decided to chill out a little and then start doing this thing again from scratch. So this time I have a completely new layout and the color theme is... you guessed, blue. But with a white background so it's readable. This layout is also liquid 80% width with the sidebars maintaining their original width, which 200px.I have no banner, because I want to design the site first, then add the banner. I already have some ideas for the banner, like a small electron orbiting a proton for the "o"-letter. I really don't know how to add something that gives the impression of graphic tutorials, coding tutorials and maybe some other stuff. Any other ideas for the banner are appreciated and welcome.So, are the navigation buttons good? I'm not really sure about what to put as a font color in there for the navigation, dark or bright colors? The top menu is for the pages. I'm going to have a static project page(for downloads, project files, you know), I'll link to it that way. The navigation for the categories will be in one of the sidebars(the one on the left probably, I won't have any problem with text-aligning). The category navigation is not going to have any particular background, only a transparent one to have a larger area to click on.Moving on to sidebars, are the top and bottom images good, how about the background color? So, I tried to make a reflection-like thing.. I'm not sure about the bottom image tho. I mean, if it reflects that way and it looks like the light is coming from above, then it has to have a shadow-like thing in the bottom. Or should I just clone the top image, flip it and use it as the bottom image.I'm using arial font, is it readable enough? The font size is 16px in the content-area and 20px in the top page-navigation.About the footer, it's going to be a simple grey box inside the white content-area. Keeping it that way(simple, I mean, any other changes are welcome).Overall, how is it?I also have a small question. I don't know if I should make this a wordpress theme or a sNews theme. sNews has its benefits, small, lite, simple. But I don't know how to upgrade sNews if a new version is released. Wordpress is an easy upgradeable, but it is such a pain to try and deal with all the code. And I would have to keep track of every freaking margin, new cpanel, new features in the source when a new version comes out so I don't end up with a screwed up theme all over the place.Here's the screenshot(dial-up alert):

[inverse_bloom 0]

Good design and a good improvement on the last one!Its good in the way that the design looks well considered and very deliberate. Regarding the side bars they are good, if you want to make a stronger effect with the highlights, i suggest making the specular highlights a gradient from a certain percentage of transparency towards white. So for instance the white highlight would begin more transparent at the bottom and arrive at the same color (or brighter) at the top. Like wise you might want to put a slight gradient overlay on the blue.Its good as it is though, but the changes i described above will give the effect more depth. (up to you though) The only fault i can really pinpoint is the text in the middle column, its to sparse and the width should be reduced a bit so their isn't so many words on one line. 8-12 words a line will be much better for your design. It will also even out the proportions more and make the design look a little more "typical" while still retaining its uniqueness. In design, going back to basics or keeping things simple is an ideology many designers live by, this design when compared to your other one is a good example of that. It has clear visual hierarchy and visual flow. Just make sure when you put your second nav bar in that you make it less prominent than the main nav bar, this will continue the "deliberate" aesthetic you have created for the design.Im not sure if you have put a slight gradient on the main blue banner, but perhaps putting an overlay of black to white and putting the opacity at around 5 percent will yield positive results. Good work!

Edited November 25, 2009 by inverse_bloom (see edit history)

[Baniboy 3]

Thanks a lot for replying, inverse bloom! And as for ones who didn't reply, I'm very disappointed in you. nah just kidding! Reply, or I'll come there and... you know, screw up your collection of pirated movies!

Yes, you are right, this was kind of a "back to the basics".
Anyway I did try out the white gradient overlay, but it didn't work, but thanks for suggesting. It made it look like a box and it didn't really work out as I don't want a blue and wide border for the sides of the "box". But thanks for suggesting, whenever I want to make a glossy box, I'll remember this. I made a copy of the nav button hover image(actually are in the same image, just sliding the thing around to make it work) and put it as top and bottom border, although you may not notice it due to different backgrounds. I've changed my mind a bit, I don't want glossy or reflecting and bright lights, I'd rather go with smooth stuff until I'm ready to make a totally shiny template with reflections and stuff like that. If you still have more suggestions, please feel free to say them. Are they now better than the originals?

As for the line width and middle column problem is that this was intended to be liquid 80% wide of the available space. The sidebars would've always been 200px wide and the middle column would've just filled the rest, so it really depends on your window size and screen resolution . I put my trust in you now and made it a fixed 960px now. Does it look any better?(and I'm expecting other people to reply to this question as well, I need multiple opinions, even tho inverse is so excellent in designing)
Which is better for tutoring purposes, fixed 960px or liquid 80 % width? I just thought that people with high resolution screens might not want the content be in a "small box" in the center of the page.

Im not sure if you have put a slight gradient on the main blue banner, but perhaps putting an overlay of black to white and putting the opacity at around 5 percent will yield positive results.

Yes there is a slight gradient on the main blue banner.I tried out the black to white gradient with 5% opacity, but it didn't have much effect so I raised it to 10%. Still, no big difference if you ask me.

Thanks for helping me out man, and I'm loving your 3D modeling images(the ones in your site's portfolio). And I'm waiting to get more replies(hopefully from more members this time)

EDIT: here's the screenshot:

Edited November 29, 2009 by Baniboy (see edit history)

[mahesh2k 0]

Ah looks perfect template to me. Are you planning for wordpress theme for it ? Few more changes and this template is ready for wordpress template. Nice work baniboy.

[jlhaslip 4]

Nice. I could convert it to an sNews CMS Template as well.