Need suggestions for my site.

[stacywacy]

It ain't the purtiest thing you've ever seen, lol. I'm going to start learning php later this week and I want to incorporate it in v2 of my site. Any advice/suggestions on the current design is appreciated, so go ahead and tell me what you like and don't like, and don't hold nothing back, lol.

www.meanmug.org
.

[ronalfy]

One thing you can do on the back-end is place your CSS in its own file and use the <link> tag. I would add a descriptive title to your website instead of just your domain name. You could even have a "random rude comment" show up on your main page.

I like your site concept. You have a good intro and purpose. The design could use some work because it's not really inviting. The colors are too bland and the animated gifs are distracting.

I would also watch out about posting your e-mail address unless you want to get spammed. When you learn PHP, investigate some e-mail forms.

Overall, I like your site concept, but the design could use re-working.

[KDLA]

[Yikes! Remind me not to p*ss you off -- especially since you live so close by! Looks like you've made a great study of being "mean."]

Interesting site. You might go through and check your spelling/grammar.

I'm not particularly sold on the design. The animated gifs make it seem like this was posted by a 14-year-old. The serif font doesn't seem to work, either. Lastly, in IE, the left-hand navigation appears quite a ways down the page - there's close to a 150px gap between the banner and the top of the nav.

Good Luck -
KDLA

KDLA

[the tree]

Your markup isn't bad, but you could try to use a more semantic navigation list (http://css.maxdesign.com.au/listamatic/vertical06.htm), and a lighter background wouldn't hurt but I'd really try to get that header image flowing into your design more.

[Sheldon]

Wehn you learn PHP later this week you should start with http://php.net/include
It will make alot less work for you.

The design and flow need alot of work I think, but nice enough content.

[stacywacy]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I'm just going to scrap all the formating and start from scratch. I'm having trouble making php work with my apache server so that's on hold for now.

ronalfy,

I like the randomly rude comment suggestion. Heheh, I can already think of few daily put-downs. I agree with the animated gifs. There are too many on one page. I recently learned how to link style sheets after years of trying (okay, only 2 tries over 2 years, lol), so I'll have an external style sheet. I agree that the background color is too boring. I might just go with a white background. I do have an e-mail form for my advice column, I'm just too lazy to create (okay, copy and past) another one. I've only gotten 1 legitimate (although hateful) e-mail from someone regarding the content of my site, :D and the rest is spam. I'll just change the e-mail when I create a form for it.

KDLA,

Nah, it's all in fun. ;) I'm not sure I see the 150px gap with my browsers. Yeah, the grammer will never be perfect (was never an English major in college, but at least it's not as bad as the e-mail I get asking for advice :p); everytime I go over the pages I find something I missed the previous time around. Sans-serif was a random font I picked because one of my validation errors at the time was to pick a generic font - so I picked one.

Thanks for the links thetree and Sheldon.

Well, I guess everyone can see that I'm heavily selling this site on its content alone because the design leaves a lot to be desired.

Oh, here are some other banners I made with my limited resources. The words still look faded like on the original one, so maybe I'll just change the color from red to another more vivid color. Which do you like best?

Banner 1 (http://www.aliaspathways.com/MeanMug-banner3.jpg) or Banner 2 (http://www.aliaspathways.com/MeanMug-banner4.jpg)
.

[the tree]

Use whichever you like so long as you can make it flow into your design better.

[KDLA]

I like the original better. The other two look cartoonish, like it would be a comics site.

[stacywacy]

Thanks everyone. :D

New Design (http://www.meanmug.org) and Old Design (http://www.meanmug.org/V2)

I didn't have time to incorporate php into my site. Maybe the next design sometime in the future. I might use an includes, but I didn't feel like going back and changing everything. Also, instead of a random rude comment, I'm going to have "messages of inspiration" posted on different pages, but those types things are hard to think up.

Comments?
.

[Compguy Pete]

Ha I love the topic of your site...

I also noticed you have your version number in the corner that brings back memories when I did that for a site I used to work on all the time.

I think the layout is much cleaner and easier on the eyes than the old one. Keep up the good work!

[Terrorke]

The new design is much better than the old one.
But still needs a lot of work.

Your intro part is moving when you hover over the left-hand navigation.
Maybe you should fix it.

I like the concept and the concept.
Keep up the good work.

[meinsla]

Not bad.... just one thing though: Did you check his pockets for an IPOD? Well did ya? I didn't think so, MYSTERY NOT SOLVED! :D :D :D :p

[stacywacy]

Your intro part is moving when you hover over the left-hand navigation.
Maybe you should fix it.


Yeah, I should...but, I'm not :D. I messed it up yesterday when I spent an hour or so trying to get my images to display. I couldn't figure out how to fix it, so I'll just leave it for another day.

Not bad.... just one thing though: Did you check his pockets for an IPOD? Well did ya? I didn't think so, MYSTERY NOT SOLVED! :D :D :D :p

Funny. :D

Thanks Compguy Pete, Terrorke, meinsla. :)

I'll keep looking for ways to improve it, but I'm happy just to get this far.