Finished site and Beginning site

Can you guys tell me how these sites look. I know i not nearly as good as you guys so don't be so hard on me.

http://www.signaturemoves.com

http://68.114.46.168/musicforthemaster/template1.htm (Just the main layout) no other pages are included.

Thanks.

well i don’t think im any better but here is my input

the first looks nice the only change i might make is the menu on top it really does not fit in with the rest of the scheme. I don’t know if you got those form Dreamweavers built in buttons, but it has some like that (there is nothing wrong with that) other that that it looks sharp.

The second one - the layout is clean, the colors on top on (those were probably given to you) are a little harsh. and image files have jagggies around the edges.

Im only looking for things to point out if i ran into them whil browsing i would continue to look thought them

Nice job

Dave
www.fs3d.com

Thanks allot. I'll probably make those changes to the nav buttons on the signature site, i always wanted to change those. Yes, i did get them from dreamweaver. I'll make some of my own.

The 2nd one, yep the customer wanted those colors she is very adimant about those colors. I said "OUCH" also.. Thanks for the input i really appreciate it allot. I'll definately make those changes.

Link.

Link,

I couldn't access either of the two sites... Is the server down, or is there a minor hiccup that's preventing connections at the moment?

sorry all. I'm hosting the sites at my house and I am doing some minor upgrades to the box. I'll have the server back online by Wednesday night. Sorry.

The signature site looks fine, excluding the buttons (as mentioned by someone else) :-)

How did U create the linear effect across the graphic behind the text ' Signature Solutions that empower your Web Presence'??

Cheers

I did the linear affect in Fireworks. It was pretty simple. Here is a link to the tutorial Scan Lines Tutorial . I use fireworks for all my graphic design. I'm not the best at it, but I can get by. I hope this helps you out in your design efforts.

Hey everyone the sites are back up now. Sorry for the delay. I am going to change the Buttons on the signaturemoves.com site this weekend. I'm juggling between school, clients and work, so please bear with me.

Thanks

Another way might be to create a 2 pixel X 2 Pixel image with the first 1 x 2 row is the dark or light color and the 2nd 1 x 2 pixel row is the other color. After you have created that in your favorite graphics program save it as a gif and set it as the background of your <td> element. Now you should have the same look and alot less download time.

of course this is only for 2 color like the above mentioned site has it.

the fireworks way seems good, just wanted to give an alternative.

Dave

Alright,

Here's my $0.02 on the sites...

For the Signature site, the button issue has already been discusses, so I won't mention much else other than the fact that the last button "Site Map" wraps around to the next row, which throws everything off.

The colour scheme is fine... I'm not a fan of that mix, but it doesn't look too bad. One thing I would change is the baby-blue text, it doesn't fit well. You may want to try another colour...

The music site looks nice... The colours are very soft, which I like. I would add some padding to the content though. When the text is so close to the edge, it makes the site look very "dirty" and "amateurish"... Add some padding to both the left and right side (maybe even the top and bottom), and you'll notice a nice difference.

You may want to try another colour for the links... The default blue doesn't seem to go well with the baby blue... I would have suggested white, but then it may look too washed out... So black may be the best way to go about it. But play around with different colours. Style sheets may it easy to change!

Great! I really appreciate those comments. Its criticism like this that I need to make my sites better and be a better designer. I'll make those suggested changes and let you guys check it out again.

Thanks.

Hey, no problem... I'm glad you took it in a positive way. That's the only way you can improve your skills. I've been designing for a few years now, and I still ask for feedback on my work... The way I see it is, it's always good to have another set of eyes look over your work. You may not see things that others do.

Sure, feel free to post the updated links...

Hiya Link,

Couple of suggestions from a web usability standpoint on the signaturemoves.com site:

Your top 4 inches are your key web real estate (since it's above the fold), so you should try to include your important content in that space. I could be mistaken, but I think right now, your important info is below the fold. I might either try to reduce the size of the signature solutions graphic or move up the webdesign, free domain, hosting plan, databases row and move the row above it down.

Make sure you include alt tags for all your graphics (particularly the logo). Some of your nav graphics didn't load when I looked at your page, which means that my ability to navigate your site is impeded.

The site also took awhile to load on my slow (*time to get highspeed*) connection, probably because of the number of large images. Try to have it load in less than 10 secs on a 56K connection. You might do this by making the description of the services (i.e, webdesign) text instead of graphics.

Add metatags for your description. When your site is picked up in the search engines, you want your description to display (as opposed to it being left blank or being one that the search engines have come up with).

You might want to add a copyright at the bottom of the page.

The home button should usually be located on the top left hand side, as that is where most people are used to seeing it.

Make your top graphic clickable to your home page.

HTH

me again,


just had a chance to look at musicforthemaster.

similar thoughts re: alt tags, large top banner/screen real estate.

This page loaded much faster.

Couple of other comments:

It's harder for people to read centered text, so for large chunks, you're better off using left aligned. I agree with FrankieShakes comment about the cellpadding around your table, so the body text doesn't run right up to the side.

You'll want to have a sitemap on here as well (you've probably thought of that, since you have one on the other site).

Also, don't know if you realized this but because you haven't specified a font for your bottom bar, it comes up times new roman on my computer. That's not a great font for reading online, better to use Arial or Verdana (which you've done in other places). Use those stylesheets! Easier to ensure consistency in your use of fonts. Then you can define the class for paragraphs, footers, headers, etc.

I'm loving all the feedback i'm getting from you guys. I am about to make those changes sometime today or the upcoming week. I really appreciate all the tips because i'm just trying to make my skils that much better. I've never had any formal training as i'm sure allot of people have not. I'm more of a backend guy but it never hurts to be able to design your clients frontend also. Stay tuned for updates and thanks again to all.

Hello everyone, can you please give me some button suggestions for the signaturemoves.com site? I'm stuck. Every idea i've come up with i scrapped it. Any suggestions would help.

Thanks.