redesign for webdesigner site~please review

[nebiyu]

Hey everyone,
Can ya please check out the redesign of the index page of deoxic studios?
Just tell me what you think about the layout/code...
none of the links work just to tell ya
i know its kinda plain....but i just wanted simple....yet stylish.....fast loading...etc.....
thanks a lot everyone
oh yeah if it says page/server not found its due to your ISP not having updated the nameservers yet

http://www.dadreamonline.com/deoxic/beta.html

[edshuck]

Hi

Please review.

[Nicky]

This website is really nice. It works well together with different resolutions and browsers. I was extremely mean and tested it in Netscape 3 and it held up well. The only problem with Netscape 3 is that it does not recognise the "align=center" table attribute so if you really want to make sure it centres then add the <center> tags before and after your table. Does your table need to be 500 wide? I would experiment and go for at least 600!

Colors are good, white and blue are one of my favourite combinations, and you have used them well. Some people tend to overuse blue which is a mistake because it tires the eyes quickly but your blue is understated and a good, relaxing shade. Good choice and use of fonts too, very readable text.

I love your logo, my only gripe with it is that "The Evolution of Web Design" is the same shade of blue as your links hence I tried to click on it thinking it was a link too. Why don't you try and make it a couple of shades darker?

Rollover menu works nicely and I see Dreamweaver has done a good job of creating cross-browser compatible JavaScript! Menu is easy to use and successful in letting me navigate. When you rollover the text turns black, it would be a good idea for this text to stay black depending what section you are on as this will give your users feedback. For example, if I go into the About section the word "About" on the menu would remain black and not rollover but remian static. This should apply to all the other sections. You do not have a link to return to the homepage, is there a need for this? Maybe you can make your logo into a homepage link!

Ok, you wanted comments on your code. My advice - throw away Dreamweaver and use a text editor! This is not in any way a flame against a WYSIWYG but you need to tidy up that code for maximum efficiency! For example, this is a very common Dreamweaver quirk:

<font color="black" face="Arial,geneva,helvetica" size="2">
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
<br>
</font>
</font>

I have copied and pasted this from your site. We have here two font tags with nothing but a break tag between them! You have obviously typed in some text, applied the FONT tag and then deleted the text, leaving the FONT tag behind!

You should also be using color code rather than color names for your colors. i.e. black = #00000 (It's not hard honest - I have a sheet by my computer with all the color codes on them!)

ALL your images need ALT and TITLE tags- no exceptions. I also recommend that you provide some sort of text alternative to your menu, usually done in small unobstrusive text at the bottom of the page. A good addition would also be some sort of Copyright/Legal statement somewhere on the site.

One last thing, add your Meta tags and you are ready to go.

Just a bit of tidying up to do really but excellent site and well done!

[edshuck]

Hi

code question: Just after the logo and before the start of the table for the bottom part of the page, there is a bit of code:

<p><a href="index.html">
<center>
</center>
</a> </p>

What is it?

code question: Near the bottom of the page the br tag has been provided a clearleft attribute.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><br clearleft>
</font></p>

What is it?

Try centering the logo in the td tag and see if you like the look better.

All the positive comments from Nicky go for me as well, just could not have said them as nicely.

peace

[Sparkie]

It's so...so..white!

It crosses me as kind of simple, but that's not always bad. Not a lot of code errors, except for the ones already mentioned. Everything you have on there is nice and tidy Whatever happened to the light-colored background image you had there? I think it complimented the site well. I love the slogan, that's really cool. I think if you added a bit more pizzaz to it, that would really increase the appeal, but overall its very neat and I wish you continued success with it!

[Isaiah]

Hey there nebiyu!

I must say, when I first loaded your site I was kind of shocked that there wasn't any more content as far as design, but now, after looking at it for a few moments, I like it much better than most developer's sites.

For one thing, your site doesn't appear cluttered whatsoever, and that will be a plus for possible clients who want to "get to the cheese" without having to wait for extensive, snazzy graphics to load.

While I do like the clean design, you might want to add a couple more graphics to make the design a little more creative. It shouldn't affect your already awesome load time by too much and will give your site more personality.

Viewed on a 800x600 screen, IE 5.0 & 5.5, and 28.8k AND T1 line (not at my house, though, darn it).

Hope This Helps!

[Umair.ms]

This site seems to be designed in Dreamweaver. Its good to see that you've preloaded the images. Logo is nicely designed. But the site? Its just TOO simple.

Your site MUST prove that you're a web designing company. I do not want to criticize the design. Although its a fast loading, browser independant and screen-resolution depedant design. But taking this into account:

"Deoxic Studios is a small webdesign company specializing in the creation of artistically designed websites that convey a sense of professionalism."

Your site MUST give a look and feel of an artistically designed, professional looking site.

Clients do NOT get impressed with few lines of self-praising text but they do get attracted by professionaly presented work. I would suggest you to take a further look on your site's design. I just do not want you to loose your customers.

[nebiyu]

Thanks everyone so far
especially Nikky with her really long critique
as to address the comments some of you had
yes it was created in dreamweaver because i could not think of a layout at the time i had designers block lol
I admit I usually dont use dreamweaver except for getting a basic layout....but at the time I was rushed and didnt get a chance to look through the code really.....but rest assured I will.
Also I plan on adding a few more things to the layout....i know i know its soooo white as sparkie says lol.
Nikky & Edshuck
I did make the logo a link back to the index page but i think the code got broken up....hmmmm....
"<p><a href="index.html">
<center>
</center>
</a> </p> "
the logo was supposed to go with the link but i guess it got messed up, rest assured all the bugs will be fixed.

DriveSeeker ->thanks for your concern, i see where you are coming from this....but we did not want to go overload on the design, the thing is for right now it will be this simple version of the site, but we plan to add a high bandwith version flash, really artistic and professional, etc..dont worry this is just a beta of the layout, thanks a lot though.
Isaiah and Sparkie->thanks for the wonderful comments, dont worry i will be adding more graphics/features.
Edshuck lol i will fix those with my handy code editor lol...i would do it all in css but it wouldnt work in netscape 3 or so....i want to make sure everyone can access it, we dont want to lose business...
thanks everyone, more comments please

[KMxRetro]

In a word, excellent!

I do like the choice of colours and I think that the blue works really well when combined with the minimalist style of design. You may wish to make the blue just a touch darker though, as it is a bit TOO pale on my monitor. Probably just my setup, but nonetheless....

I have to mention the "W e l c o m e" text also. The way that you have spaced it complements the rest of the design perfectly and if it wasn't spaced, it would probably look out of place.

The date text above the second paragraph could probably do with losing the underling, it just doesn't "go" if you see what I mean. Also, the Livehelper.com button isn't quite centered properly when compared to the menu items and although you can't change the orange bar on the box, I think it would look a bit better if it was lined up neatly.

Those two points aside and without going into the code, well done! It's pleasing to the eye for the most part and looks professional, polished and stylish.

As for being TOO minimalist, I think Driveseek may have a point but with that said, too many design houses go way over the top with their own sites with Flash, Java and goodness knows what else, just to create shabby looking sites for their clients. I would happily ask you to build my site if I needed a designer. I would agree that the promotional text be taken out of the page body.

Maybe you could fit it under the logo or something, just three words, seperated by a single period. "Professional. Stylish. Design." or something far less cliched
<Edited by KMxRetro on 01-19-2001 at 08:12 PM>

[webmaster2000]

Nice design. Good company name. The Livehelper.com customer support feature is nice, assuming you have it staffed. The site is a bit, well, plain for a web design firm -- but that isn't always a negative thing. You should explain why you think sites should look the way yours does. Why simple is better than flashy and slow loading. Very concise site. It accomplishes its goal. Good job.

Good luck,