New website review please

RPDesign

New Member
Hi everyone, I'm new here and also a new website designer. I just created my first website and would appreciate feedback. I am looking for feedback on the layout and design only, please no comments on the content or domain name as these are not finalised as yet.
Please take time to look at my site at http://rpwebdesign.tk
Thanks in advance. :)
 

d a v e

New Member
er, it's not good :)

it's very grey and cold. no real colour scheme to speak of.

poor coding - using absolutely postioned divs when you don't need to will prove to be difficult to work with e.g. at different resolutions and it's full of inline styles

<p style="padding-top:10px; padding-left:5px; margin-top:0px; font-family:Helvetica, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:18.000000px;">Follow us on </p>

no real headings e.g h1,h2
no real visual hierachy - some things that are maybe more important are bigger - but kind of randomly

logo is shite. that sort of font looks horrible in all caps, and the colours look like they were taken from a cheap chinese plastic toy for poor kids. no other graphics - why?

copy text is too big - don't make it too small, but it's too big now

i realise you're offering low-cost simple sites but what you have to show is a complete lack of understanding as far as design, structure, colour and web pages in general.

step away for a while, get to grips with html, css, typography, colour theory, and web design in general and then, and only then should you offer your services for money, or even for free.

if this was a hobby site i wouldn't begin to be so critical but as you're advertising your services as a web designer then i have no qualms at all.

here's some resources to start with and you google for colour, typograpy etc and have a general look round on the net at what looks nice
http://www.w3schools.com/
http://www.htmldog.com
http://www.opera.com/company/education/curriculum/

http://www.cssbasics.com
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/html-css-beginners-guide/
http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/html-css-techniques/design-and-code-your-first -website-in-easy-to-understand-steps/
 

RPDesign

New Member
Thanks for the feedback, I'll buy some web design books and start again, by the way there are not any graphics because I am trying to step away from this part of web design with my hopeful, future career in web design.
But still thanks so much for your time, it is appreciated.
 

d a v e

New Member
"by the way there are not any graphics because I am trying to step away from this part of web design with my hopeful, future career in web design." that's a strange choice, they are such an integral part of design with *very* few sites without graphics. good luck!
 

RPDesign

New Member
Yeah I'm just trying it because my main aim is helping other small businesses just get a website without any special designs or graphics, I just want to help them gain presence online. It's a gamble but I feel there is a gap in the Market for this.
But thanks again, good luck to you in the future as well.
 

helloworld

New Member
This is actually an interesting idea. In my years of professionally making websites, it's something I've honestly never thought of.. Not really sure it is something to strive for for multiple sites. I could appreciate the simplicity of it in theory.. but only with a lot of thought to color and typography, which this is obviously missing. (sorry to be harsh, but..)
 

RPDesign

New Member
This is actually an interesting idea. In my years of professionally making websites, it's something I've honestly never thought of.. Not really sure it is something to strive for for multiple sites. I could appreciate the simplicity of it in theory.. but only with a lot of thought to color and typography, which this is obviously missing. (sorry to be harsh, but..)

No it's not harsh it's probably true, I joined this forum to get comments from experienced designers. I am going to try and find the right colour scheme for my website.
Also I believe this idea could work in the future, I just need to find that gap in the Market in order to gain the correct traffic and potential customers to my site.
Thanks for the comments. :)
 

RPDesign

New Member
I have now changed the colour scheme of my site. Please could you take a look and give comments. I didn't know whether to go with a lighter main background or darker one so please tell what you think would be best after having a look at my choice.
Also I changed the writing size as I thought it was too big before, please give feedback on this as well.
All comments would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance. :)

http://rpwebdesign.tk
 

d a v e

New Member
still not doing it for me. i mean why faded salmon pink? i think you need to make a new logo first that sums up your approach to web design - plain, simple effective (well hopefully ;) ) and then extend that colour scheme to the whole site.

also nothing lines up on the page, centred text is harder to read than lefty aligned text..

give me a little while and i''l try and knock something up to try and help with a few pointers
 

ronaldroe

Super Moderator
Staff member
The type certainly looks better, but the color scheme, IMHO, is worse. One thing that would help a whole lot would be to change the color of the links. The default color is like a punch in the junk against the rest of the colors, and it looks like you don't know what you're doing.

Also I believe this idea could work in the future, I just need to find that gap in the Market in order to gain the correct traffic and potential customers to my site.

It isn't a bad idea, especially if you live in or near a large city.
 

ronaldroe

Super Moderator
Staff member
i think you need to make a new logo first that sums up your approach to web design - plain, simple effective (well hopefully ;) ) and then extend that colour scheme to the whole site.

+1 here. Dave hit the nail on the head.
 

d a v e

New Member
i think you'll have a lot of trouble selling the concept a site with no graphics to customers :)

ok here's a quick redraft of what you have
note how the elements line up, there is a visual hierarchy (logo 72 px, strapline 48 px, section headings 36px, button for action clear, large (looks like a button, not plain text link) and explanation next to it. copy follows ethos of site - Simple. Easy. Cost effective web design.
blue is a colour of trust and business.
simple gradient background

twitter icon reduced - it's not THAT important

well my 2 cents

edit: oh yeah the image
simplesite.jpg
 

RPDesign

New Member
i think you'll have a lot of trouble selling the concept a site with no graphics to customers :)

ok here's a quick redraft of what you have
note how the elements line up, there is a visual hierarchy (logo 72 px, strapline 48 px, section headings 36px, button for action clear, large (looks like a button, not plain text link) and explanation next to it. copy follows ethos of site - Simple. Easy. Cost effective web design.
blue is a colour of trust and business.
simple gradient background

twitter icon reduced - it's not THAT important

well my 2 cents

edit: oh yeah the image
simplesite.jpg

Thanks for that, do you mind if I copy that sort of design for my website. After looking at it, I believe it could work. What I have does not really get across the "simple" message I was trying to portray.
So please could I take a few of the aspects from this example?
 

RPDesign

New Member
I have now revamped my website, gave it another new colour scheme. I would appreciate your opinions and feedback please.
Thanks very much :)
 

reiser

New Member
Website critique

Hi. It seems like several other members have spoken on the subject, and quite well I might add. This website looks like it was created on Godaddy's Website Tonight program, at best. Not the type of image you want to be promoting for your company. There simply is nothing appealing about this design. Hope your next try is more successful.

This site happens to be a friend of mine, http://www.graphicd-signs.com, but the designs are what you should be trying to achieve. Easier said than done though. It takes experience and a lot of trial and error.
 
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Phreaddee

Super Moderator
Staff member
there are not any graphics because I am trying to step away from this part of web design with my hopeful, future career in web design.

so in your "new" design you've added images for your navigation??? and if you are going to use images in your navigation, then at least make it look good. whats with that font and italic? and shapeimage_3 as your alt? oh dear

there and many many sites out there that DO NOT USE GRAPHICS, you are not jumping into a new field there. the difference is the design and typography is top notch on those sites.

as dave mentioned earlier inline styles and absolute positioning will only cause you pain.

also
Code:
border:1px solid #000;
is a much preferred way of making a border on a div, rather than using an image again.

sorry, I've nothing positive to say about it.
 

Phreaddee

Super Moderator
Staff member
also have a really good look at what dave has given you.
reproduce it exactly. I can see possibly 2 images in that entire design. the nav background and the twitter logo.

if you cant do that then you'll have no future in this industry.
 
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