Is this layout weak?

[cobalt]

This is a layout for a new portal that we are moving to where I work and I was tasked with designing, with mucho management input, and coding it. Personally, I feel it is lacking something, which I just can't seem to put my finger on. So, I figured I would bring it to the folks here for input.

Oh yeah, the site is being developed solely for IE. I asked about other browsers and was told not to bother...

Here's the link to the mock-up: http://www.freepgs.com/bluejavamug/test/testindex.html

[the tree]

Well it looks horrific to me, but perhaps that's because I'm using one of the browsers you were told not to bother with. Who told you this and what were they smoking?

[Green-Beast]

Make it interoperable as a matter of course. Don't listen to anyone telling you to make it for one browser. If you do focus on a browser, make it for Firefox, then fix the IE bugs.

Layout looks okay to me (in IE), though I'm not a big fan of the tabs.

[pmhauer]

Weak in that I see no art, no logo...

I do like the color scheme. I went with a similar scheme on mine. It's very encouraging when I think of what's to come because you're obviously a minimalist when it comes to layout.

Only, why in cyber-world would anyone need that many tabs? Sort of defeats the sense of site organization? Why no drop down menu... OH!!! Here's an idea--an XHTML roll down menu. Some of them drop down so smoothly, you'd swear it was part of the original text. That would be, well... sweet on your site. Still, wouldn't you do better with a site map, instead? I know that Amazon.com adds a sub-menu once you get to a certain sub-area on their site. Anyway, that's how I'd implement if you really need two rows of tabs. Also, I often see and use that many tabs on the industry books that I use. Maybe users would be more comfortable with a set of tabs on the right hand of the site (perhaps bottom in Japanese version of the site).

When you get the chance, please review mine. My thread is "what have I done..."

[scragar]

3 key points:

1) reduce no of tabs, have a tree trail instead(eg you begin at index, 0, then follow a link to a folder, 0-1, then to a file, 0-1-2) this will reduce the cluttered size of the top, which in my opinion belongs on the left anyway.

2) Love the colour scheme, but the darker blue belloe the header appears to demand more attension than the header it's self.

3) open then window small and things fit perfectly, maximise it and you get an annoying white space all around. reduce this to only a few Px(2% or 5px seam standard) and your sorted.


now for the random curiosity stuff:
are you left handed(you type more letters with your left hand on the text ASDFJKL assuming that you feal more confident with this hand).
but why does "link 2" come 6th?

[Stingly]

I agree with scragar - you have far too many links there! Could you not move them to the left side and convert to a vertical menu?

Colour scheme is fine, but maybe you should reduce the size of the dark blue bar under the header to about half the height.

It REALLY needs some artwork. You could put a nice pic below the header and above the menu. Even if its just some abstract image it would help give the site some soul. If you're worried about compromising your colour scheme then find a pic that uses blues or colourize an image to replicate the hues that you're using.

[cobalt]

There actually is a pic below the header, I just didn't upload it to the mock-up. I'll do that today, though, to give everyone a better feel for the look. As for the tabs, they are a necessary evil. In the actual application, they are actually stored in the database and associated with different permissions. I actually see three rows as an administrator. When a tab is clicked, it pulls up a submenu in the light blue area on the left. On some of these submenues there are a ton of links, up to 50, also associated with a set of permissions.

I think I mentioned earlier that the site is undergoing a redesign and this is really the first step, getting the look and feel. The menues are going to get revamped into a more logical order which would make a site map more feasible down the road. As a matter of fact, the site this was adapted from was more or less a site map poluted with an overabundace of framesets and tables. My goal is to make it a dynamic, database driven menu system (buzz words).

scragar, random curiosity answers:
Not left handed, was drinking coffee with my right and typing with my left
No one really knows why "Link 2" comes 6th. I think it just seemed like a good place to put it.

[scragar]

I would normaly have 4 feilds for them:
ID -- a number, duh.
Text -- link text
Group -- what group do they belong in?
To -- what is the URL the link points to.

then by using distinct rows I can omit all the extra groups and can split the list down, In my last site I had 1 table, but 4 layers stored in it(using only 1 querystring that's quite good.)

[jmaresca2005]

i can see that layout developing into something nice

[Xuriwan]

This is a layout for a new portal that we are moving to where I work and I was tasked with designing, with mucho management input, and coding it. Personally, I feel it is lacking something, which I just can't seem to put my finger on. So, I figured I would bring it to the folks here for input.

Well if you wanted something new you could try associative indexing - see Xuriwan posting. Could not work sixty years ago but can now. You may find users feel that the ever-changing buttons represent real interaction.

[Jordanweb]

make it compatible with mozilla firefox. eventually firefox will take over IE....