I need my site reviewed as quickly as possible

[motormaniac]

Hey guys, I redid my colors and a little bit of the layout, tell me what u think now.http://home.comcast.net/~motormaniac/home.html

[JDM71488]

I like the colors and the upper left logo. I think you should either center the Web site or totally align it to the left as right now it looks a bit out of place. The menu background is messed up in firefox, too. I think there is a bit too much white space in the content. Maybe a smaller layout would benefit you?

[motormaniac]

what do u mean center it, is it not? i fixed the menu background in firefox.
white space u mean as in not enough stuff on my pages. If that is the case then i know, i still am working on it.

PS. what is the best resolution to design for?

[JDM71488]

I usually stick to making my containing divs (the outermost div) 750 because I like to fit in 800x600. It is probably OK to do 1024, but unless your Web site has multiple columns and banners, and advertisements, and most importantly, content, that is not needed.

When I view the page in firefox it is not in the center of the screen. It looks to be about 50-100px off the left side of the page leaving a large gap on the right.

About the white-space. Yes, sort of. I mean you have a lot of space around that one paragraph. Above and below mostly. I do think you could make your font a bit smaller, remove some of the padding, and make the overall width of the layout smaller. Maybe even 600px wide. I don't think Web sites have to be huge, nor logos for that matter. Your menu is also pretty large even with my 1280x1024 resolution.

Your design is also very image based. You could accomplish the same thing with some simple XHTML and CSS with a nice logo, and repeating menu background.

[motormaniac]

how would i get the same effect without images? I like the looks of my page but i understand what u mean about the images. long loading time if people are on a slower connection too.

look at the psp unlimited site under portfolio, do u mean more like that as of layout?

[JDM71488]

Not really. I have most of the same suggestions for the PHP Unlimited Web site.

How to get the same effect: I would use a containing div with the lighter blue background color and maybe a border. It would be 600px wide and centered horizontally. I would do an image replacement for the logo inside a header div that had a complimenting background color to the light blue. The menu would be a bit smaller in height and use a 1px wide image that would repeat across the unordered list for the menu. The content could be two 300px columns or one 600px column varying for different pages if need be. The font-size would be about 0.75em or around 10 or 11 pt. I like to use relative font sizes. I would also add some gradients on the body's background and maybe even at the bottom of the content for some extra neatness. And finally, the footer would use another repeating 1px wide image that matches the menu.

But you have to understand that we all have different styles of design, ways of thinking, opinions, and ways of coding. Most of mine look the same and that is not to say that you even need to listen to me. Over the years I have developed into a routine that I use all the time and vary for different projects as you will over time.

[motormaniac]

well thanks for the help. i really needed it. and thanks for the quick replys.

if u dont mind i would like to see some of the sites u have made. can i get a couple links?

[JDM71488]

You are welcome. You have a PM.

[adamclement]

http://uk.awardspace.com

(and css and js)

[ghippleh]

Was this review also posted in another thread? I just made on a post asking for a review of the exact same website.

[Austin8159]

I think the earlier posts describe the main problem... too much empty space!

What a coincidence! You and I are both 14 year olds with 3 years of experience sort of starting web design businesses. heh. Good Luck.

Find a better host, too, when you can. A good one is agff.net
Free subdomain, tons of bandwidth and a gig of storage.

austin.co.nr

[Austin8159]

also, i really like your graphics. Just make the fonts a little smaller...and add content! Also do you use a server side language? It would make your whole website easer to maintain. I reccomend php.

I even have a guide to starting a content management system using php on the scripts page on my site...

[ghippleh]

Motormaniac: I went to your PSPUnlimited site from your links and just to let you know there is a broken link when you click on the news button. I think there is an additional space added between the .com and the / such as ".com /" which is adding a %20 in the browser bar.


austin, what's your site? I'm interested in that thing on php. Thanks.

[Austin8159]

dragonfly.agff.net

[Austin8159]

its not so much a content management system as you think of one, like joomla, but instead just a system of managing your site.

Just a way of making a site work.

My explanations might not be perfect...

[motormaniac]

well thanks for the suggestions. i add some script so now my navbar has hover effects. I know what you mean about content. i am hoping to get more as my buisness grows. but what kind of content can i put on my homepage and contact page?