TheShadowNest - review time

[phrenetical]

Nah i can remove that last paragraph for advance, just me dropping keywords for anyone who cares really.

lol yeah im gonna remove all that hobby crap,

I've fixed the h1 up, it now says "wollongong web design & development" right up at the top. So its not stuffed with keywords and thats the most likely search term anyway, wollongong web design etc..

Most of the other headings are h2's, havn't bothered with h3's.

Yeah not sure whats up with google ads actually, i might remove them entirely, they actually slow the site down quite alot when your using onDomLoad javascript, because they take the longest to come back to the JS cant attach itself till they are resolved, i like the fact i got them to display the mortgage broker websites on the front page, but your right what is up witht he WOW gold stuff. Still havn't figured that one out yet...


- Updates
-reworded some portfolio stuff
- removed the hobby crap from bio
- de-personalised alot of the text

[DCS]

Im 24 actually, so your assumptions are fairly bad.

You could find a similar site to any other site typically, so im not sure if thats helpful.

And im not trying that hard to justify anything, your not really offering anything useful you just called my site crap cause it reminds you of a gaming website, where as i don't see the resemblance, theres lots of sites with left and right menues and content in the middle, doesn't make the a gaming website...

16, 24, not a whole lot of difference really.

Not once did I call your site crap, in fact quite the opposite I complimented you on your skills. I said I did not think the design was appropriate for what you are trying to do, present yourself as a professional design company.

Taking what I said out of context does not change anything. No the 3 columns alone does not make it a gaming site. remove the content show it to 10 people that have design experience and 9 of them will say gaming site.

Now I will say this, if you don't see the resemblance then you are not a very experienced designer or you are just too stubborn to admit it.

and with that I will waste no mpre time with you but spend it helping those who appreciate the advice of those with experience and constructive criticism and know how to use that to their advantage to make their site better.

[ramnathhero]

the site is pre-made and is CMS so what you want to change on? maby the colour and try to place some image to look nice. other than is perfact.

[jimbo_dk]

the site is pre-made and is CMS so what you want to change on? maby the colour and try to place some image to look nice. other than is perfact.

I hope you see what DCS is trying to say. Despite all your hard work, users end up thinking the site is a common nuke theme.

[phrenetical]

Well there you go, this is what happens when people tell me things can't be done. A few people in here said ajax contact forms were useless, and my boss also questioned there use. Well read on.


Ajax contact form. Submit with no scripts or scripts disabled.

http://www.theshadownest.com.au/general/contact.php


good points

- ajax contact forms are better from a user experience point of view as things are faster and more instant
- if you dont have scripts it will submit anyway.
- works in firefox 1,2 ie6,7 (havn't tested others yet)


bad points

- javascript is not unobtrusive.



I will post this in the blog which is almost ready to start being used


feel free to criticise that also

http://www.theshadownest.com.au/blog/

[phrenetical]

I hope you see what DCS is trying to say. Despite all your hard work, users end up thinking the site is a common nuke theme.

dcs probably registered that account back in 2006.

anyway fine it looks like a php nuke site, not gonna argue that anymore

But im wondering if anyone caught on as to why its like that. i want contained areas so everything is draggable/removable and you can mold the site to see what bits you want to see. If it was a different design it wouldn't work as well with the dragging/remembrance.

The sad part is how hung up people got on this whole php-nuke thing, DCS called me 14 years old, then dismissed it totally as irrelevant when i corrected him, so that says to me he isn't someone i should be listening to because he is proven wrong and then tries to dismiss it.

Then he said im not listening to criticism, which if he'd read the other posts would indicate i've changed quite alot of the site based of criticism which i was really happy to recieve from everyone.




Anyway please keep the feedback coming, and yeah i get it, it looks kinda php-nukey, lets move on pweeeeese!

<3

[DaveMaxwell]

OK, everyone. Please play nicely. I don't want to have to close a review because people are acting like children.

Phrenetical -

Just to make you aware, that blog you want people to check out an comment on is technically a second review request. Since you've made more than your required 3:1 review ratio, I am going to let it go this time, but just be aware that you technically would have needed to do three more reviews, and then started a new thread. Just a heads up...

[Contrid]

I respect the work that you have done with this site and the amount of passion which motivated you to do so.

Personally, with all honesty said, I don't like this design at all. There are a few things about it which I don't like.

1. 100% body width. I'm on a 1600px screen width width and its just too much. The only time when a full page width really works is with forums, wikis and other related content rich sites.

2. The metalish, tech look doesn't really fit the image that a web designer/developer should be passing to potential clients.

3. The design is dark and dull. People love color. They really do. But it's not only color that matters, it's a fresh look that makes people feel comfortable with browsing your site. Dark designs like these usually have a hard time carrying over the fresh feel to a site.

4. Google ads on a sales site is a no no.

5. You need a logo which will serve as your identity. It doesn't have to be an amazing logo that takes you two weeks to design. Just something with a splash of originality. If you have a good logo, you could just as well leave the rest of the site white with content and it can still look professional.

6. Putting a version number "v4.0" on a site won't mean anything to people. I've considered this in the past and realized that it doesn't have any purpose. Sometimes, I think that users will consider that you have had 3 failures up until now. It probably isn't that way, but it might be possible.

Question...
Are you the only individual in this company?
Or do you have a design/programming team with you?

[phrenetical]

Just to make you aware, that blog you want people to check out an comment on is technically a second review request. Since you've made more than your required 3:1 review ratio, I am going to let it go this time, but just be aware that you technically would have needed to do three more reviews, and then started a new thread. Just a heads up...

Ok, fair nuff, just figured if it was in same post it wouldn't be an issue. my bad.

[phrenetical]

Question...
Are you the only individual in this company?
Or do you have a design/programming team with you?

Just me.

respect everything you said except the 1600 screen, mine is 1650 * 1050 and it looks good to me. but your probably right, fixed width gives much more control.

[schnellerkeller]

Given that the clients you list stem mostly from the financial services industry, I am concerned that your site will land as a bit too slick and edgy for their tastes. Bankers tend to be a rather conservative lot. The old adage that "like attracts like" applies well here. I spent a decade marketing and selling into the financial services industry. Based upon my experience, the current design strategy will not likely play as well as it could. I would recommend you try to mirror more closely their more conservative aesthetic. If you can find a compromise, brilliant! I think they will respond well to some edge, just not a lot.

You may want to take a step back and ask, “What emotion am I trying to elicit from the visitor?” Right now, I cannot pinpoint the emotional message. My recommendation would be to go with something like “Feel confident and excited that you are choosing the right firm. We’re going to make you (individual prospect) look like a rock star for hiring us.”

On a personal note, I have difficulty reading white, sans serif fonts on a dark background. Actually, white on dark can be categorically tricky for people with reading disabilities and old monitors. (I fall within the former category.) Although I don't know the statistics for percentage of the Australian population with reading disabilities, I do know that the world is chocked-full of cruddy monitors. You may want to consider loosing the edgy, cool factor of white on dark text in favor of readability.

Btw, you have a great list of clients. I would highlight them more and add some testimonials – with at least one really good quote about your services right up front. Make it big, bold and beautiful. That would be a great way to introduce a prospect to your services.

And finally, I would highly recommend dropping the Google Ads. It was the first thing that caught my eye. For me, it looks so out of place on a B2B site.

I hope this helps!

(My browser is Firefox 2.0.0.2)

[DanLar75]

Looks good! Personally i don't like the 'forum like' layout, and the lack of colors but for ones who do i bet it works well.

You convey your skills in a good way, and all necessary links are there.

Good luck!

[phrenetical]

thanks dan, it is something i tried to explain in an earlier post that i am trying to convey my skills through the design.

updates

I took everyones advice and put tooltips on the image menu, i will work on wording of them to make them clearer i just needed some text in there to begin with.

I didn't really like the prebuilt tooltips i found around the web like moo-tools or GLT from robert nyman, they are ok but just so much JS for something relatively simple.

So i built my own, you may have noticed them before on some text elements, but now they can work on any element and the title of a div doesn't get in the way as bad as it used to now.

i just wanted clean and fast tooltips,

you think they do the job?



Im currently working on a new skin, its a very slik white/light grey thing with big funky icons. So people will be able to choose between the light and the dark theme

will add it onto my options cookie to remember which one you used last time you were there. But i will probably leave the dark one as default. Who knows i might make a site poll and let people vote for the default.


Guess after all the feedback i got in here i realised iv still got some work to do.


PS. Does anyone know how to remove this thread from bloody google?

[Contrid]

Just me.

respect everything you said except the 1600 screen, mine is 1650 * 1050 and it looks good to me. but your probably right, fixed width gives much more control.

I think we are on the same resolution. There isn't a 1650 setting in my display settings, but I'm currently on a 1600x1050 on a 22" widescreen.

Regarding the fact that you're an individual...
I've learnt that if you are one person working alone, don't hide it! Be proud of it. I know this not always the case, but a large amount of clients loved the idea that one person will be taking care of their needs. In other words, don't put "We" on the site if you're not a "We"

I'm not a professional (though sometimes I like to think so. hehe. ), but I thought I'd post my tips from what I've learned over time.

1. A color structure is important. Choose 1-3 colors that compliment one another. Off course, you can use different shades of one color, like light green and dark green. Here is a great site : http://www.colorschemer.com

2. Use rich surfaces, posssibly with gradients where needed, but NEVER overdo your gradients. Choose you gradient colors very carefully and don't let their shades part too far.

3. If you use dropshadows...don't make them obvious. Make the distance, spread and size very slight just to give a touch to certain design elements. Dark dropshadows are very ugly.

4. Rounded corners on the right places always look appealing. Don't make them to rouned though. A radius of anything from 4px to MAX 8 px looks good. Ensure that you don't "Free Transform" elements with roundings after you have rendered the shape on your canvas. Also make sure that the rounded corners don't look pixelated.

Anyways...just some tips. Like I said...I'm not a professional and you probably already know these things, but I thought it might be useful to post them.

Good luck with your site! And NEVER give up! If you do...you'll simply never get it right. If you don't, you'll soon realize that you made the right choice by not giving up!

[phrenetical]

sorry i stuffed up res, its a 22" widescreen lcd @ 1680*1050

[jimbo_dk]

PS. Does anyone know how to remove this thread from bloody google?

Not too sure if there's a way, but if you remove the link after this thread is done, it'll be gone after awhile.

Like your new tooltips as well.

[phrenetical]

kk, pesky google spiders.

Cheers

[Contrid]

Oops...so did I

[phrenetical]

Hey i made it into the top ten google.com.au results for my keywords

"Wollongong Web Design"

Im number 10

for "wollongong web" im number 6

Least i did that part right

Don't think i can get it much higher because of pagerank, mines at 1 right now, and the sites above me are all higher then that.

anyone wanna link to me, lol?


Updates -

- Added "node up" node down" controls to the window objects. You can re-order without removing now.
- Removed google adds, they were making the site to slow anyway

[abelking2648]

Cool design. You have shown your skills in a good way, and all required links are there. But I would like you to make those fonts a little bigger as it is difficult reading on a dark background.