New Design

[Tusserte]

Hello everyone, I am hoping to revamp my site and include PHP functions to turn it into a fully interactive web site. I would like any feedback about the look (if you haven't noticed, none of the PHP is in effect yet, and the site is just a static XHTML/CSS layout. You will need to use the links below to navigate (the URLs basically describe what you will see). Comments? Suggestions? I wouldn't be here without all of you, thanks so much for your help over the past (almost two!) years :)

http://www.ultimate-reviews.net/templates/redesign/index.html
http://www.ultimate-reviews.net/templates/redesign/gamereviews.html
http://www.ultimate-reviews.net/templates/redesign/moviereviews.html
http://www.ultimate-reviews.net/templates/redesign/gamereviewexample.html
http://www.ultimate-reviews.net/templates/redesign/moviereviewexample.html

[dera]

i find the lines on the background to much of a contrast and busy, i would go for a more solid look (one colour) or not use black and white. the green line effect looks night, maybe try using a diagonal lines on the background with just one or two pixel white space with a less contrasting colour scheme

[Tusserte]

What's your screen resolution? To people with 1280x1024 and smaller, the background doesn't seem to be a problem. The basic idea of the current background is to center the visitor's view on the middle of the page where the content is. Thanks for giving your opinion, I will look into alternatives :)

[dicicco2]

Your logos header text and button text is very choppy around the edges. What are you using to make graphics?

[dtm32236]

To people with 1280x1024 and smaller, the background doesn't seem to be a problem.

People use different resolutions and different screen sizes, you can't base your layout on a 1280x1024 screen. The majority (54%) of the population has 1024x768 and 14% still use 800x600 (i dont know why). And this is always changing and evolving.
http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_display.asp

I agree with them about the graphics, they do look very choppy. And changing the cursor to the 'target' icon over links throws people off (it's a little annoying - for me at least).

I'm also not sure how I feel about the rainbow colored 'latest reviews' links.

The 'navigation' up top is pretty creative, I think I like it (even though it's worthless to have.)

The site is definitely off to a good start. Keep working at it.

[Tusserte]

I am using an older version of Photoshop to make my images, and I didn't really bother to blur the edges of the letters. The latest review links are colored like that just for an example. Normally, the titles will be colored based on their ESRB/MPAA ratings (blue = E/G, green = E10/PG, etc). It is likely that there won't ever be any red, and the order will change, so I just used every color as an example. About your screen resolution comment, I was saying that I did design the site to look good in 1280x1024, 1024x768, and 800x600, and it's the bigger resolutions that won't look as good (although I did make the background image big enough to accommodate these people). I have been receiving a lot of criticism over the crosshair (+) link cursors, so I will take those out of the final design. Do you think I should redo the ultimate/reviews? I still have the original files....

[dtm32236]

yeah, i think that the 'ultimate/reviews' needs to be re-done as well as the other links (home, reviews, media, community).

they're very choppy and pixelated, and this gives the site an amateur look. images on a 'professional' site should always be crisp and clean.

[Tusserte]

I'm not sure on a good way to fix the navbar links... but here's a link to the replacement header:

http://tusserte.learnwebdesign.org/ultimatereviewsheader.gif

I basically rasterized and duplicated the type layer, and then blurred the top one twice. It makes the shadow around it darker, but the overall effect is a much smoother image. If you have a better strategy, I'd love to hear it :)

One more thing, do you like the look as ultimate/reviews? The site is supposed to be called Ultimate Reviews, and because the domain is ultimate-reviews.net, many people become confused about what our actual name is. I'd like to be known as Ultimate Reviews, but with the slash in the header and the dash in the domain, it seems people get mixed up. Should I leave it out (the way this redesigned image is)?

[dtm32236]

that link doesn't work - i comes up with a "Error 403 - Forbidden" page.

in any case, i think that you should make the banner read 'Ultimate-Review' to avoid confusion.

also, why did you duplicate the text and blur it? you can get the same effect with the 'Outer Glow' layer effect..... well, you can get that same effect 1000 different ways, but you might want to try using the outer glow.

you should really clear up those images.

[Tusserte]

Technically, I think I created both an inner and outer glow effect. It will have to do until I can buy a new version of Photoshop that has vectors. In the mean time, I will have to stick with what I have :)

[dtm32236]

Photoshop doesn't use vectors. Ever.

Illustrator is vector-based, where as Photoshop is bitmap-based (i think that's what it's referred to).

but you don't need vectors for this.

it looks to me like you created the ultimate/reviews logo as a transparent gif with 'white' as the matte color. this is why you get the choppy white pixels around the words.

you're better off creating the logo with the background behind it, and saving it as a jpg. it should be simple enough to do this and include it in the header of your site.