Site crit
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- jonathanC
Finally got round to putting a little Textpattern site together for my company: http://19seventysix.co.uk. I'd be very interested to know the thoughts of the Newstoday headz?
JC
- nografik0
nice'n simple but google ads?
- jonathanC0
Yeah I know, they ain't so pretty, but I was kind of interested to try 'em out. And I personally getting far more used to seeing ads on sites now. Doesn't bother nearly as much as it use to.
- dippy0
It's a little bit of a mish-mash to me. You have diagonal stripes on the left, but then you also have distressed, worn edges on the right. Looks like you just decided to put some random design elements together. It's not cohesive, and it's also already out of date.
- Dancer0
Just had a quick peek. Looks good just a few comments though.
I think you should drop that roughened effect inbetween your centre column and the ads It does not fit with the rest of site.
The blue you are using is really vivid, perhaps tone it down ALOT!
When I click on a link for a brief second the site appears with no styles and then the styles kick in. I have never seen this before but it makes me think your styles are taking a while to load Which is not good if you are seeling yourself as a web designer.
Good start though
- jonathanC0
The diaganol blue lines weren't random. Overall I wanted a paper-like look with the sharp blue links and logo on top. It's a look I'm very keen on. However, it soon became clear the the menu section needed to made more distinct from the main section. That's where the diagonal blue lines came in. I realise there a bit old hat, but they work in seperating the sections and sort of remind of ruled lines on actual piece of paper. I like that.
- jonathanC0
Dancer are you using Safari? I've seen that delay also, and I'm looking into a fix. It is defnitely CSS related.
- Dancer0
Safari
OS X.3.9As I said never seen it before
Gud lck
- instantok0
regarding the google ads...isn't that a conflict of interest for you seeing how it advertises other design companies / cheap hack "new company logo and website for a dollar!" things...same with linking to design portals and such...why advertise for your competitors?
- jonathanC0
True enough instantok, but you can filter out the ads now with Google. So, in theory you could filter out any really competitive ones. Personally I'm not sure if I will, as, strange as it may seem, I sort of like to keep it open.
- loahn0
I think you've made a good start and perhaps taking on board some of the previous comments might help to improve it.
My biggest problem is the Google ads - is it necessary? Is it part of your hosting or something that you have to place a google banner on it or are you after the pay-per-click ££££s?
- jonathanC0
loahn, I'm certainly interested to see if the pay-per-click works? Do you realy think it's a problem? These ads seem to be on every site there days...
- loahn0
"These ads seem to be on every site there days..."
I think banner ads like that are awful but its a personal thing. It just depends on what kind of impression you want to give potential clients who perhaps don't know that you could provide them with a wonderful solution to their brief but are instead put off by non design-led advertising on a design website.
I think advertising on the web is the next big thing. And that's not to say bigger banners that fill the page but a more press/billboard/tv style campaigns will start emerging.
Advertiser are wising up to the fact that tv is too expensive for such a little return in a mutli-channel culture so they'll aim for internet users. 'Everyone' uses the web now - over 50% have broadband.
Joe Bloggs sitting in his lounge thinking of buying a dream yacht won't wait for the advert to come on television - he'll google it himself to find that perfect yacht.
Oops, I've digressed. In short - Ads are fine, good even - if it's down with taste. And in my view - google ads are not tasteful.
:)
Keep up the good work
- ********0
I wouldn't hire anyone with google ads on their site. Makes you look desperate to earn a few pence. Which you won't.
Maybe you could have a big banner for smileys there too?
Tis a bad idea.
- donal0
not to harp on about the ads, but i think they are draining the credibility from your site.
you WILL lose work because of them, as although people are more adept at filtering out ads these days, that is more in the context of information they want to see (news, banking, functional websites) as opposed to content you want them to see - your work.
i cannot say your site is good apart from the ads as the ads are an integral part of the design at them moment.
- jonathanC0
Hmmm, I need to think this over...
- kld0
loss the google ads, or lower your rates to match the advertisers
- jonathanC0
So I changed the Google ads to image only, less control design-wise but also less ads from competitors.
- bighappen0
i sgree with the folks above about the rough edges, think it would be nicer with clean lines.
I also get that css delay, as to the google ads i think it looks a bit weird, nice design next to utter rubbish. this is what i got, doesn't exactly sell you site.
