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carterx · Aug 19, 2007, 11:21 PM

Ok, so I have a general outline for my new site now. The logo and site are still up in the air but for the moment I think things look pretty ok.

http://www.mactech.ca

I would like comments on the setup, layout, design etc. if anyone would like to suggest, comment or have questions on. If you don't want to post in this topic I can be emailed at admin@mactech.ca

Please let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Carter

freudling · Aug 19, 2007, 11:58 PM

What I like:

The pictures.
Where the pictures are placed.
Some of the layout.

Things to consider:

First, it looks templatey and therefore uninviting. The colors are also a bit too aqua: I think that would have been really nice four years ago, but now, a bit dated. Why link to another site telling us about you when you have a link on the homepage titled, "about"? If you want to keep with the Mac, keep it simple and don't direct people on a wild goose chase to find more info about you.

What is with the big plus sign beside Question...? Also, the color scheme looks... terrible, in regards to the little symbols next to your links in the navigation bar. Those two shades of blue totally clash - get rid of it.

Hope that gives you some insight from the perspective of one user, albeit one who has over 7 years of experience in web dev and 10 years of experience using the web.

Oh and, on your final version, make very, very clear on your homepage exactly what it is you are offering. So many people make this mistake. Even ones with good websites... they just cloud the site in stuff that is irrelevant, like the local weather or newspaper headlines. Just tell me exactly what you do... you have about 5 seconds to convince me to stay on your site if I am in the market for what you are pushing.

You did the right thing by posting here asking for suggestions. Even the most seasoned web developers should do that.

carterx · Aug 20, 2007, 05:43 AM

Thanks for the comments. A lot of what you say makes sense. Aslo, like I was saying this mostly right now for looks. There is nothing on the site about the business, services, etc.

Once again thanks, will be trying to do what I can to make it inviting to everyone.

Thanks,
Carter

shifuimam · Aug 20, 2007, 08:44 AM

Don't use the "width" and "height" properties of the IMG tag to size that logo - it looks pixelated and cheap. Resize it to the correct size in Photoshop and replace the image with one that is the right size.

Other than that, it looks pretty good - and A+ for using CSS-P instead of tables (or worse, Dreamweaver/iWeb/Frontpage) to design it!!

carterx · Aug 20, 2007, 09:17 AM

Like I was saying in another post, when it comes to web pages I mostly just try to get by and try to learn Dreamweaver but as for this site template, I started from an Open Source template. trying to make changes to it to make it my own but still have who it was designed by at the bottom though not required but prefer to state it.

Once I get time today, going to try and fix up the logo and as "freudling" was saying, going to get rid of the plus symbols.

imitchellg5 · Aug 20, 2007, 09:58 AM

I like it. It's pretty nice. Although it does look a bit like a simple template design, it is pretty easy to navigate around.

carterx · Aug 20, 2007, 01:40 PM

I have made some minor changes to the site today. Hopefully later I will work on the logo and start working on the other pages to the site.

www.mactech.ca

goMac · Aug 20, 2007, 01:48 PM

Careful. The MacTech name is used by MacTech magazine.

carterx · Aug 20, 2007, 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by goMac

Careful. The MacTech name is used by MacTech magazine.

this is why I'm keeping everything with the .ca on the end. Not looking to mess around with such a big company.

freudling · Aug 22, 2007, 12:17 AM

carterx:

Way better in the nav bar. Good work up there - it looks better.

Andy8 · Aug 22, 2007, 12:30 AM

Matthew - The nav bar up the top looks good, but your index page contains your links and your contact details. Are you planning to add a lot more links and a contact form on separate pages as well as the index page?

Oh, perhaps a tad more padding on the right end of your nav bar so your margins are equal all the way around the edge.

ThinkInsane · Aug 22, 2007, 02:03 AM

Nothing to do with the layout or design, but you might want to take a look at the first sentence of the second paragraph in the About Me section. It tends to run on a bit. By my reckoning, you've got about three sentences jammed into one there.

Layout is nice though, I like it.

Oisín · Aug 22, 2007, 04:54 AM

Letter spacing in headlines and the address part is way too tight—makes the whole page look crammed. In general, it could do with a bit of extra space in many places; whitespace is a good thing, it calms the eye.

carterx · Aug 22, 2007, 07:36 AM

Originally Posted by Andy8

Matthew - The nav bar up the top looks good, but your index page contains your links and your contact details. Are you planning to add a lot more links and a contact form on separate pages as well as the index page?

Oh, perhaps a tad more padding on the right end of your nav bar so your margins are equal all the way around the edge.

Once again, thanks everyone for the suggestions !!

The links at the top of the page will be links very soon. The contacts page will be it's own page along with the about me, links etc. For the moment just have them staying to the front page. Hope to get those pages up soon.

I have moved the nav bar in which does help with the top portion giving it a better space/border. Also some spacing in a couple areas.

Originally Posted by ThinkInsane

Nothing to do with the layout or design, but you might want to take a look at the first sentence of the second paragraph in the About Me section. It tends to run on a bit. By my reckoning, you've got about three sentences jammed into one there.

Layout is nice though, I like it.

Ya, your right on this. Was able to add/take away a few words and spit it into two sentences.

Originally Posted by Oisín

Letter spacing in headlines and the address part is way too tight—makes the whole page look crammed. In general, it could do with a bit of extra space in many places; whitespace is a good thing, it calms the eye.

Made some changes to the contacts portion to give it a bit more air. Not sure how it looks yet.

Andy8 · Aug 22, 2007, 08:33 AM

You may like to use Enkoder 3.0 to give the your email links some level of protection from spam bots. It is better than nothing.

CheesePuff · Aug 22, 2007, 08:55 AM

You need to anti-alias those images at the top (at least the iMac) to make them look smoother (Photoshop will do this automatically, not sure what you're using.)

carterx · Aug 22, 2007, 09:07 AM

Originally Posted by Andy8

You may like to use Enkoder 3.0 to give the your email links some level of protection from spam bots. It is better than nothing.

Thanks you the heads up !!!
Really good point. Last thing I want is spamming seeing how I get enough in my personal email. I entered the java code into the site, but when you hover it, in the bottom of the browser is shows the email address still, is this correct.

Tks,

Andy8 · Aug 22, 2007, 09:56 AM

Originally Posted by carterx

Thanks you the heads up !!!
Really good point. Last thing I want is spamming seeing how I get enough in my personal email. I entered the java code into the site, but when you hover it, in the bottom of the browser is shows the email address still, is this correct.

Tks,

Yes that is fine, it is supposed to show up in the status bar.