Hello everyone,
I did this site for a marble company who wanted a nice professional website. I would appreciate any and all comments, especially critiques.
Thanks
Castelli Marble, Inc
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Hello everyone,
I did this site for a marble company who wanted a nice professional website. I would appreciate any and all comments, especially critiques.
Thanks
Castelli Marble, Inc
Heres some pointers ( in my eyes ). Its a good start.
The GM logo does not separate enough from the background. Maybe a white border will do the trick or skip the marble pattern.
The top has a lot of empty space that needs to be filled with something.
Personally Im not to fond of Times as general text font.
When viewing on a monitor with large pixel dimension, like 1200 ( width ) the tiling of the top graphics are off.
The background of the image gallery ( grey ) is kind of dull.
Usually , having thumbnails share the same height , will make the appearence better.
The headlines for each section is sort of blurry and are not aligned properly vertically ( and to much effects on them ). Also the kearning of the letters are often off.
The shadows of the images are not consequent. Some are down right and some are up left.
Thanks
I'll work on the things you've pointed out - but I would like to get some more comments from people so I can do it all at once.
By the way, which font would you use for the general text instead of Times? I personally like Times better than Arial, but I'd rather use whatever looks better on the site.
I didn't even notice the shadows - so thanks for pointing them out!
I would suggest Georgia as a replacement for Times if you want a serif font.
I often use Helvetica Condensed Bold for main texts and sometimes straight Arial or Helvetica. I also do like the VAG Rounded.
As far as the empty space goes at the top - I didn't want it to look too "cluttered". I wanted just a nice simple heading. What do you think? If I added another picture to the row, do you think that would be too much? Maybe instead of adding a picture, put something small - like a site map link off to the side or something.
The thing is, they have customers that still use 800x600 resolution, so a lot of that empty space is off their monitor.
I tried to line up those headings with that little bit of free space under the images - Maybe I should just get rid of that all together and use the space above the body of text as the page header. Any other options or suggestions?
By the way, thanks for your time.
The images take up only 430 pixels of the 770 available for a 800x600 monitorQuote:
so a lot of that empty space is off their monitor.
The main part is 714 pixels wide though, making the white space obvious. It would be different if the empty part would have the green marble pattern. A empty white space wil always be percieved as....empty.
i agree with much of pellepiano...
other observations...
in my browser... firefox... the menu is misaligned... looks ok in IE though... common problem...
http://addesignconcepts.com/images/menu.jpg
i am not fond of big headers like this... it pushes the content and menu too far down the page requiring scrolling.
i think the logo and title text with the marble texture needs to be sharper... try tracing or simulating in flash for a more vector look.
i like the darker green color of the header on the pdf catalogue... darker.. more blues... it looks more authentic... the green on the web page might be too green... more color variation...
also i would like to see deep bevels on marble header element... like marble
the whole thing kinda looks too cut up and doesn't flow as 1 piece... the way the header is seperate from the body... the way the menu is seperate from the header and body... the rounded border on the body... there is no reason to label the menu... and underline it...
try using some borders, mouldings and or medallions from their product catalogue in the design to pull it all together... that stuff can wow a client...
you need to hyperlink images as well as text beneath them and vice versa on the resources page...
i don't like the way the gallery pages are set to _blank target... i would prefer them to load inline with the page.
the intro on the header is nice. the design and text. i just don't feel the rest of the site matches the quality of that.
i would open that header up and do the whole thing in flash.... if the $ is there to warrant such a design or you are looking for a 'showcase' site for your work.
thats my honest opinion.
good luck!
...ahhhhhhh, ..I see. - By the way, great point Pellepiano
I can't do anything about the color - it's the one he chose even though I one of the options was the the color from the catalog. :p
What do you think causes the misalignment in Firefox? - and how do you fix it? I've checked it on a buch of different computers and it was fine - but they were all IE.
Yeah, some of the images got pixelated when I was compressing them - pretty much cause I did it wrong. I'll definately go back and change those.
The main problem when designing this was how to keep the balance with making a great looking website - but make it "customer friendly". It's a sick thought, but almost half of their clients either have dial-up, or are still using windows 98.
(feels like a newb) - Thanks for catching all those mistakes.
P.S.
I'm curious as to how you would use their products in the design like you were talking about. It sounds great - my brain just can't picture it.
it occurs in Netscape as well... not sure about others. to tell you the truth i cannot remember off hand what the fix was... something to do with verticle cell alignment perhaps try 'valign=top'?Quote:
What do you think causes the misalignment in Firefox?
for starters i might experiment with a mosiac pattern or a moulding on the borders of the header... where you got that 1 pixel white line running through...Quote:
use their products in the design
maybe instead of the arrows on the nav mousovers... try a medallion... just play around... try and make it more 3D... not just dropshadows...
that's a good idea.
The thing I don't understand is, on the services page it does the same with the 3 pictures as it does to you with the menu on one of the computers in the office - only this computer is useing IE. I've checked it on a bunch of computers and they're all fine - except for this one computer - and they all have the same stuff (IE, 98, NT, XP...)
not sure i understand... you mean the menu alignment issue?Quote:
on the services page it does the same with the 3 pictures as it does to you with the menu
we have 7 computers in my office. 2 are on nt with IE - they look fine; and two are on 98 with IE - they look fine; and 3 are on xp with IE - 2 of which look fine, but one of them one the "services" page shows the 3 pictures in the body of the page (above the metal, stone, and mosaic links) - the pictures overlap the text above it. Like how the menu text floated down on your browser - on his browser the pictures on that page floated up on top of the text.
It only shows it like that though on his computer and I can't figure out why or if it's doing it on anyone elses.
ok, i had a look at your code... i see you are using CSS for layout and positioning...
i would just put them in an html table... i use html tables for layout and poisitioning... it works every time.
sorry i do not know enough about your CSS code to help with these issues.
A side from the technical stuff there are some eye sores that are giving me a headach. The over all size of the graphics seem to distract rather then draw in. You navigation arrows are bothering me to no end make them a bit smaller. The drop shadow is working against you its not really an added bonus, its just another design goof. It seems very photoshopish over all and thats never a good thing. The text graphics contained within the movie are difficult to read because of the styles applyed to them, I dont think thats what you are going for but who am I to judge.
I don't know CSS at all. I used Dreamweaver for the layout and used layers to position the pictures and menu - but on those two issures it's like the layers have floated off. But the thing is, it's not consistant - so far it's only on two browsers - yours and one of our other computers. So I have no idea if it's in the design or if it's in the browser. Maybe I should just put it all on the same layer or convert the layers to template.
Thanks for the help Admedia - I appreciate your advice.
But as for ZeroInspiration. Sorry man, I don't take design advice from someone who produces stuff like this:
http://www.phenomcreations.com/stlp/template.html
Wow thats rude... Oh well to each his own do as you like
And you expect constructive advice after making a comment like that?Quote:
Originally posted by GetMaximum
But as for ZeroInspiration. Sorry man, I don't take design advice from someone who produces stuff like this:
http://www.phenomcreations.com/stlp/template.html
I think I'll keep my advice for someone who needs it because you're obviously a master of design.
I dont know I can take constructive critisism unlike this person. On thing I dont do however is blast someone for their critique... Its in bad taste to act like that espcialy when you are new the suroundings. Ive had my moments here before when I have been out of line but I dont think I ever have outright insulted someone for no reason.
Oh well like I said to each his own he is entitled to his opinion and has the right to be like that if he wants to be. I know Im not a very good designer but thats not why I do this... I do it simply because I have fun doing it I could care less if other people like my work or not, the extra cash doesnt hurt either :). Im done here I try not to surround myself with negative people, good bye Im sure you will make lots of friends here. :rolleyes:
By the way your site is nice
j_hunter182 very different :)
Hey getmaximum-
If you want a site to look professional then get a professional to do it. It seems that you cannot use constuctive criticism so I will just give you criticism:
I think its pretty clear that you dont have much web developing experience:
1. you probably want to put a clear link back to the homepage in your menu or something (thats pretty common for webpages) :)
2. Your site doesn't flow very well...Like on the "services" page, on any one of the 3 links I can tell thats not your work. If your going to snipe code (like you did for that image gallery) at least massage it a little or find a way to implement it into your own template or interface so it doesn't look so cheesy opening up in a new window. Also, whats the deal with the name of the image displaying underneath the picture? I dont think that is very relevant to a user who is curious about the services this marble company provides.
3. your rollover buttons in the menu are pixelated way beyond anti-alias. They look burry because you exported them as jpgs...try them as gifs.
4. copyrighted huh? I don't think you have anything to worry about :D
5. You're very drop shadow happy...there is no consistency. Shadows are usually to give emphasis or give depth to a page...are you emphasizing everything or is your site just really deep? Also there are too many different levels of intensity for your shadows (glows).
6. nevermind
Ohhhh snap :D