Improving design, working on content

antonovon · #1 (**permalink**) 07-09-2009, 03:07 PM

More comments please, others opinions are so helpful!
http://www.imstreamline.com

sgtmac66 · #2 (**permalink**) 07-09-2009, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by antonovon

More comments please, others opinions are so helpful!
http://www.imstreamline.com

Took a gander at your site. Right off the bat, I noticed how cramped the layout looked, with all the surrounding white space in the margins....Not to worry, I have the exact same problem...

My layout at first was 900px wide, and just moved it up to 950. Some friends here have suggested making the layout as wide as your resolution with some saying 1000px wide or more.

I like mine at 950 as it gives me a bit of margin in the surrounding space with a resolution of 1024.

I would suggest you consider maiking your layout a bit wider and less cramped.

Your colors aren't bad, and in most cases, I like a white background. But since the layout colors are so bright, you might experiment with a slightly faded background color, just to make it a bit easier on the eyes...This is personal preference however, but I like the page.

The page is fast loading on IE-8 and all links are fast. In most cases, I see page length as too long, but yours is short..You have plenty of room to add some content.

I don't necessarily like my horizontal header links on the right hand side. But one thing I noticed with your page, is that scanning your links also focuses ones eye on the Google Ads...

Nice going

James · #3 (**permalink**) 07-09-2009, 08:32 PM

sgtmac66 has made some good suggestions. I would agree with his thoughts and add a few of my own. Your page now has a light blue background so you must have done that already. I like it.

While I do not go to either extreme as to underlined links (some people like them—some do not), in your case with as many links as you have I would definitely not underline them all as they are now. It is just too much. The links under Popular Tools and Recently Added would look just as good and be more readable considering the smaller print size without the underlines. The contrasting color is more than enough to identify them as links.

One specific detail that stands out as needing attention is the "PC performance Improvement" link immediately under Reviews. The spacing and line up needs to match the second entry, "Web Site or Web Business," especially eliminating the big space after the link image. This is a rather glaring layout issue and would get priority attention if it were mine.

The top horizontal menu needs some attention. It looks really crowded and needs a little style. You might want to try using buttons like those in the left column menus. At the very least I would insert a little padding (space) between them.

Finally, you have no images on the page at all other than those tiny ones for the links lists. As you add content you need to think about adding images. At the very least you can use things like call out texts boxes or something. If you pop over to Lisa's 2CreateaWebsite, for example, you will see how good images can help your site.

themegrrl · #4 (**permalink**) 07-09-2009, 11:27 PM

Hi there, You've obviously taken great time and care in creating your site. It's easy to navigate. However if you're after honest feedback, I have to be honest and say that the site design looks a bit outdated.

Much in the same way we can date a clothing style or outfit to a particular time period, the same goes for web design. And right now your website is rockin it 90s style!

I understand that if your target audience is techies, they might not care so much. However when it comes to distributing software - if your website has an out dated design, visitors might assume that the software is outdated as well.

Changing your font from times new roman to arial or verdana might go a long way in updating the look.

bluefox · #5 (**permalink**) 07-11-2009, 05:42 AM

I hate to agree with Themegrrrl but this site is ok just for a 'learning site', what I mean is for someone who is starting off learning HTML.

I took the liberty of downloading your page.

I noticed there is no Style Sheet often referred to as Cascading Style Sheet, this is your next logical step to learn CSS. I think Lisa has some great resources on Style Sheets.

Just a tip! I would nick a website template and learn to modify HTML, Style Sheets and Java Script from studying tutorials and modifying, customizing a web template.

This way you get the best of both worlds. Potentially a great looking website and you hone your coding skills at the same time.

Some might regard using a template as cheating, though any way you can find to get better results faster and with less work, well who cares if people think its cheating.

When techies criticize non techies

W3Schools

antonovon · #6 (**permalink**) 08-01-2009, 11:59 PM

Thank you so much everybody, really helpful!

jonathanfigaro · #7 (**permalink**) 08-02-2009, 01:36 PM

Your site seems a bit cramped together. Once I got on your site i had a hard figuring out what the site was about.

1. Change the bunched up layout you have.
Give it a fresh new look.
Imagine you were a customer, Would you go to your site or something else's. Be honest.
If you wouldn't then change it so you .

I hope it helps..

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