Toronto realtor site (image only)

[klanga2049]

http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/1958/fluffykittensyy4.png

I have not started work on the Rails back-end and interface yet so I don't have anything interactive to show. After looking at the site for so long I've lost my objectivity so I just want to know whether I'm on the right path here visually before I start on the programming. My major concern is whether it's simply too rich visually even though it seems quite good to me.

Thanks.

[donatello]

Not bad.
I might experiment with subduing the colors a bit as to not distract from the content. (Blue sky, silhouette faded out a bit...)

Nice concept.

[webmaster54880]

I like the concept, but visually it is going in different direction. The red banner is really bright ( maybe take the color down a few step and then compare images side by side, that can help). I like the sky background and the silhoutte at the bottom. Here is my only problem: I think the silhoutte maybe over kill and with your current design I doubt many customers are going to even see your beautifully detailed work because the content segment will be set to high in there browser.

After looking at it again can you shrink the silhouette of the skyline and integrate it into the banner at the top of the page? Or, make the silhouette more subtle and extend the banner to have an even width with the silhouette. It will be more visually balanced.

But in general I think it looks really good. I think I would have to see it with some dummy content to get the actual feel for the design.

[klanga2049]

I'm going with the same banner color as the initial site, the original logo just happens to have that particular vibrance. I've softened it up a bit with a light gradient at the bottom and a faint weave, but as for making darker or desaturated, I'm unsure. I'd probably have to get their opinion first. Perhaps I'll extend the gradient.

The silhouette isn't typically going to show up, the listings are generally going to be so long it's going to be off screen unless scrolled into, however I have it nevertheless because listing details will probably be fairly short and in those circumstances it will complete the scene. But it is a footer afterall which is why I made it a silhouette rather than a finely detailed texture.

The banner initially scoped the full length of the page but I gave it a finite width later. The red/blue discontinuity at the top was indeed better looking. Integrating the skyline into the banner is an interesting idea, I just tried it but at least in this particular case it was too distracting, even at low opacities. Much visual chaos. Seems to work if I shrink it much and place it to the side rather than behind the letters, but I'm undecided whether it's worth leaving the skyline at the bottom bare, even if not always visible... unless I have it in both locations at the same time.

By the way, here's the menu design I've decided to go with. I had a few ideas but this seemed most sleek and original. Fortunately there were few enough items to make it work, but I suppose I can just expand the radius if that becomes necessary.

http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/5186/76030525gk0.png

It's probably gonna be a few weeks before I can post the finished site. I have a hell of a lot of data I need to transfer, then make the agents control panel, then all the clever sortable tables and a good search engine. Ways to go.

[donatello]

It's probably gonna be a few weeks before I can post the finished site. I have a hell of a lot of data I need to transfer, then make the agents control panel, then all the clever sortable tables and a good search engine. Ways to go.
What are you using for clever sortable tables? This is something I could use.

[klanga2049]

I have no idea, but it might start with the extjs framework. Otherwise I'll just do some old fashioned programming. Of course server-side sorting would be trivial so I might just stick to that, but a responsive client side sort would be very nice indeed.