What's new
By:
Photoshop Gurus Forum

Welcome to Photoshop Gurus forum. Register a free account today to become a member! It's completely free. Once signed in, you'll enjoy an ad-free experience and be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Opinions on website design


The colors are off, the background is too noticeable, the font doesn't look good and neither does the header image. Those three bamboos don't look right, and buttons are a mess.
There's no flow, and nothing is connected to anything.
Take out a piece of paper, and draw a page. Something that would be better.
Also, horizontal navigation would be better.
 
Last edited:
Fade the background a bit, and decrease the contrast.
Use a texture for the main page part, use a horizontal navigation, use ONE bamboo stick.
 
Ok I have made some changes. I have added a texture to the background (regards the colour and contrast I like it, so it stays.) I have gotten rid of the borders on the top and bottom of the website, I have moved the menu to the top of the page now instead of down one side. I have made all the pages the same size and added a menu to the bottom of the pages, The menu and titles are in Papyrus, I kept the 3 bamboo sticks as it ties in more with the Concept of Fusion Martial Arts & Fitness. There will be more references to 3 throughout the rest of the website but I am trying to be a little subtle. I welcome all feedback. Thanks.Home Page.jpg
 
Hi Luke, You've done very well with it. I like it; so much cleaner than before.

I have a small critique. IMO, the "HOME" should be alone above the line. Would it be possible to move the other credits (or whatever) like the CRB down in a line above the FB, etc.

Then the text along the left edge bothers me just a bit. I think maybe it is a bit small, not to make it as large as the header, but a little bigger. It seems like it should travel further down the page or otherwise be contained, like in a box -- which I don't recommend. But that's my take.

O/W great improvement. I like the bamboo border at that thickness.
 
The three tabs for first aid/CRB and the white one i can't make out, should be below the facebook link - leaving that upper area clear.
 
Hi there the fonts and design concepts are great...just the navigation down the bottom left is a bit out of the way..
Have you considered using Wordpress for your site? Its free and has all the navigation etc built in...and very easy to update. I have designed a few sites with it.
 
Thanks Clare, made the improvements you suggested. Although, I have put the Page Titles on their own in the same place to make them uniform. But they sort of look out of place where they are. Can you give me any suggestions of what to do with it.
Marianne thank you, yes I have tried wordpress but so far not impressed.Website.jpg
 
Ok, the site layout is simple and effective. One thing you would do well to do is proofread the textual content. Take this paragraph for example:

"I put Fusion Martial Arts & Fitness together because I am passionate about Martial Arts.
I believe that to be a good Instructor you must accept that you never stop being a Student and your ability to learn is only ever stopped by your belief that you have nothing left to learn,
Fusion Martial Arts & Fitness teaches Martial Arts using various combinations of techniques and movements while incorporating the philosophies of their creators and teachers. These elements fuse together to provide students and instuctors alike with a very versatile and flexible system that can be used and evolved by anyone to suit their personal movements for street defence or small space combat."

The red text seems to be the end of one sentence and the start of another. You have a comma where a period symbol should be. Now the navigation at the top should be made larger. At first I didn't even notice it. When I did see it, it was very difficult to read the text against the blue background. I would recommend changing it to the graphics of the bamboo rods that ibclare did. Also, and I'm not sure if this is relevant or not. But what is the purpose of the buttons on the left side of the page? They don't seem to be directly related to your website. The placement of those buttons suggest to users that they are child pages. When a user clicks on one of them, I promise they will expect to see an internal link within your website. Maybe move these links to the bottom or to the right of the main content. This has been suggested by other members of this forum and I have to back it up. Move your content section down a bit so we can see the background image. It is a nice image and doesn't deserve to be obscured. Lastly, the navigation at the bottom seems like it belongs at the top of the website. When site navigation is "buried" below the fold, no one will see it. One is left to wonder if there's more to the website or not, and most times impatience dictates that the user won't investigate to find out. Overall, I think you have a good thing going on here. Just work on the placement of elements and don't be afraid to ask for feedback. You'd be surprised at the good feedback you can get from members of this site.
 
Oh ok, nice buttons there Luke. Can you make nice buttons though Clare? ROFL!! As if I know what I'm talking about. This is what happens when a dork like me gets hooked up on too much coffee and starts to make a dating theme website template to go on my portfolio site. I'm a geek and I love it.
 
Just off the top of my head Luke, I would say, shrink up the space there, which will include making the pic smaller but I think it'll still be a good size. That may make the HOME seem like it is floating less. Another option would be to put it into a cell and float it. Depending on the format you're using, you may or may not be able to do that. Yet another option would be to not use it at all. Then if you are worried about whether people know, you can play with your nav buttons: make them a different color for the page you're on, maybe even make the current page button larger as well as colored differently.

That's about all I can think of. I don't design websites anymore. Can't wrap my head around all the programming so I leave it to the younger generation. My own hasn't changed much in years and isn't likely to change :mrgreen: But I do consider myself a designer, or at least someone who knows enough about design to give a critique and maybe offer suggestions.

Also, I agree with Marianne about the bottom of the page navigation. Usually they are straight across the page and for a good reason. It works; it is clear and easy to find and separate the links and it looks good. If you shrink the top of the page, it should fit in your preferred vertical space. Just bear in mind that that doesn't matter that much. People's monitors will all be different sizes and resolutions (to some degree) and some will magnify their screens, etc. Most people expect to scroll down, just not across. Chris makes some good points; I just haven't examined the issue he mentions.

You're going in the right direction and I'd say it's quite acceptable for what it is, so now you're into the finessing stage!
 
ChrisHPZ said:
Oh ok, nice buttons there Luke. Can you make nice buttons though Clare? ROFL!! As if I know what I'm talking about. ... I'm a geek and I love it.
Click to expand...

It occurred to me that you meant the bamboo buttons way back when ... I did make those but just using Luke's bamboo divider transformed. Anyway, anything else, not me.

As for you being a geek and loving it? We do too!

So Luke, I went to the site online and I think it looks fundamentally OK. The HOME doesn't look too lonesome, but I can see where you could still improve it a bit.
 
As long as I have been around these forums, I'm just now realizing that 'pop' means stand out. Not sure I should have admitted that, but I have no reason to be introverted here.
 
Back
Top