Need your opinions on website design

[Phatfiddler]

I just did a complete revamp of my website, doing almost everything from scratch (except the obvious logos and icons), and want to know what can be improved. Really, my eyes and opinion can take me so far, but I need external viewpoints, such as yourself! If you have viewed it recently, please refresh the page so the new details take effect.

Click to View Website (http://cutlersoftware.com)

If you don't like a feature or specific layout, let me know what you think would improve it. This a community website, so your opinion really does matter, since the Ubuntu audience is the main target. All criticism is welcome! Also, if you would post why or why you didn't like something, I would most appreciate it!

Ok, heres what I have fixed so far:


Changed navigation icons to look less "Microsoft"
Removed "Optimized for Firefox" text and logo
Lightened the background grid so that it doesn't interfere with text
Removed icons from drop-down menus
Uniform margins throughout the site and content centered
Added background color in current menu selection
Modified original home-page slogan
News page now actually contains News :)



What I need to fix or consider changing:

Create several different options/packages for users
Try different fonts?
Modify the logo/remove the "Solaris" sun rays
Add screenshots/pictures of features
More content in some pages


I think this is a step in the right direction, and I appreciate everyone's help so far!

[maniacmusician]

Nice job. I like it a lot better than the old layout, which I thought was a bit of an eyesore. I myself have a bad eye for graphics so I can't comment on it much, but I can at least say that it's a lot more comfortable than the old one.

One thing that threw me off a bit was that I couldn't click on the projects that are "coming soon," but it makes sense that I can't. It just confused me for a couple of seconds. But that's probably because I was intentionally looking in that section :)

[Dragonbite]

Looks like a good start, clean and simple. I'm not sure if you intended it, but the rising sun over the box look's vaguely like the one Sun put's over their Solaris logo (name), and I don't see any reference to Solaris on the site.

Something just doesn't sit comfortably with me, though, with your Mission statement on the first page (and it may just be me and I'll be the frist to admit I may be alone and everybody elses "gets it")
..non-commercial, non-profit site dedicated to spreading the word about Linux through providing free hosting for developers and enthusiasts.

Not sure how "spreading the word about Linux" and "providing free hosting for developers and enthusiasts" are related.

I see your projects also mixes this, with a tutorial (installing on Ubuntu) and project hosting (Wubi) but lumping them together seems to be confusing.

"spreading the word about Linux" to me sounds more like a social site, like the tutorial you have listed under projects. Tutorials and the like can be well served with Wiki's or some easy means for somebody to upload and edit online content with links and graphics.

"providing free hosting for developers and enthusiasts" sound like a more technical site along the lines of SourceForge. Project hosting uses more file storage, collaborating tools and email, and providing users the ability to download the files. Things like how much space a project gets, how much it costs (that doesn't have to be stated right in the site, but it is one of a project's considerations), bandwidth throttliing, anti-spam/anti-virus scanning for emails and bug-reporting (Bugzilla?) may be of more interest to these people.

I'm not saying you can't or shouldn't do both, but they seem different enough you may want to consider splitting them out by their goals.

Now, there's a tutorial... how to host a project with your site! ;)

But I like the clean look and think this looks like a great start (I'm bookmarking it right now)!

Hope this helps because that is my intent. Even if you don't change anything, if you think about it for 2 seconds then this is well worth my typing. If I'm way off-base then flame me until I'm charcoal!

~Drew

p.s.
You list ASP as one of your services, is that ASP (Classic) and/or ASP.NET?

If you want to continue the open/Linux focus then I would look into Mono (http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page)and mod_mono. They once had a site called Monoforge for users to upload Mono based ASP.NET applications but it went down before too long.

[Phatfiddler]

Thanks guys, that's the kind of info I am looking for!

The old design looked too dark and clumsy, and was only meant as a temporary solution until I finished with the current design. The funny thing is, the main thing I disliked about the old design, is that I could see fingerprints and dust on my screen because of the darker layout lol.

I guess the main page should state more clearly what the goal of the site is. None of the projects are mine - only hosted for users. The main point of the site is to provide free tools and space for projects that may otherwise be overlooked on a forum (get moved to a back page due to more recent events/stories), or don't have a permanent home. In that sense, it is similar to SourceForge. The site is maintained and funded entirely by myself, and is non-profit and non-commercial, meaning I make no money off of it what-so-ever. The cost for running the site isn't that bad, so I don't use advertisements (something I should probably note on the actual site!).

I can offer up to 10,000 email addresses for users, along with database services, and tons of applications. Instead of having users contact me with their needs, do you think I should set up individual packages that users can select to suit their needs? I know most users wont need a database or frontpage extensions, so theres no need to set them up if they don't need them.

I also agree with you on the Solaris logo. I don't use Solaris, so I have never paid any serious attention to the logo, but yes, it is very similar - too similar in fact, so I will adjust it.

The site supports ASP, but I will have to try out ASP.NET.

[23meg]

I wouldn't put the "Optimized for the Firefox browser" text on top, with such a large font; it visually interferes with the menu, and you're giving it too much priority by placing it there. It would be more at home at the bottom, maybe in the lower right corner, with a smaller font, and a lighter shade of gray, not black.

[WiseElben]

I like it better than the old one. It's much more simple and functional. The colors are more pleasing to the eyes.

I do, however, have a couple of suggestions. Perhaps you should reanalyze your choice of the grid background because makes it look like a math website of sorts. The way it is not aligned with the body text also makes the text a bit harder on the eyes. Also, this might only be me, but the icons you use look a lot like Microsoft icons. You don't want that, do you? Displaying the icons on the menu content (when it rolls out) seems redundant. I think it would look better if you just displayed the menu content with only text.

Overall, it is a pleasing website. Good job!

EDIT:

Oh, I forgot some things. You should also keep the margins in mind. Each of your pages have different body widths and margin size. I would keep it consistent, and perhaps shorten the body width in the FAQ. The lines are really long, which makes it not only harder but more tiring to read. These are trifling matters of course, but if you really want that "perfect" website... =)

[Phatfiddler]

The icons come with any stock Kubuntu install:) But I guess they do look similar to the MSN guy, minus the tie of course. Maybe a lock/key combo for Access, and a book stack for Knowledge....now that I think about it, someone yelling doesn't really relate to knowledge...

Yeah, I couldnt really find a good place for the "optimized" text. I should probably just put the small logo somewhere without the text, denoting the preferred browser. The main reasons for this are for the fact that Firefox is open, and that IE doesn't properly display .png transparency.

I'll have to think about the grid:) I really have become attached to it! Maybe use a lighter shade so that they interfere less? The color of the navigation and background aren't absolute, so that can be played with to help out. I aimed for a very easy to use site that would focus the main attention to the body, and not to the obligatory stuff. And yeah, the margins really are an issue I need to address.

[Phatfiddler]

Moved to first post^

[BrokeBody]

Work on your code.

[dbbolton]

i'd like to see different fonts

[zorkerz]

uhoh
i thought you meant the new ubuntuforums layout. either way i think they are both pretty good. Its tricky as people see the poll before they see your post. A modified post title would help alot. I think your site looks quite nice simple and easy on the eyes.

[Phatfiddler]

Work on your code.

The code is valid 4.01 transitional. The scripting could use a little tidying, but otherwise it should work just fine. If you're referring to all the white space, you can thank Nvu for that :) I'm not sure if that was fixed in Kompozer or not. To be honest, I only use Nvu to get a rough start, then edit in Kate once I have everything situated, so thats an easy fix.

dbbolton - Any particular fonts in mind?

[WiseElben]

The icons come with any stock Kubuntu install.

I knew I've seen it somewhere! I think that was one of the reasons I ran way from KDE, that Windows "feel."

As for the grid, it looks much better now fits perfectly. It is very refreshing. On your old one, I remembered the menu links having a different color when hovered over (or maybe that was just the icons playing tricks on me?). I would use a hover color because it makes it easier to tell where you're clicking.

For the "optimized by" signature, I wouldn't mind seeing it on the footer, where you might (though it's not necessary) put your copyright statement and/or links to About or Contact or something else.

After you fix the margin inconsistency (don't forget about the margins in the links that are there after you took out the icons) and add a hover color for the links, it would be pretty much perfect.

EDIT:


IE doesn't properly display .png transparency.

There is a javascript-based fix for this. Messy, of course, but if you need it: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bobosola/
I would just screw all the IE 5.5 people over. =)

[euler_fan]

This might not have come up yet, but there are those of us out here who turn off all our Java and JS stuff, and when that is off your menu bar at the top of the page does not show up. Maybe you should but a little footnote or something saying "If you can't see the menu at the top of the screen, please turn on Java/JS" or something.

[Phatfiddler]

The drop-down menus had a very light off-white color behind them when you hovered, but i guess I removed it when I changed the logos. The JavaScript notice is probably a good idea as well. I posted that you need it in the FAQ, but I guess that doesn't help if you can't navigate there!:)

I could place the Firefox notice along with the Javascript notice in the footer together to save some space.

[daynah]

I REALLY like this layout. Very well done. White space is the totally in thing this season in webdesign. ;)

I would bring the graphic up a little closer up up to the bottom of the paragraph. It's looking like an akward pause.

Because of the grid background, I actually think that font is appropriate... but for the record I usually hate it (anything with such distincy serifs) and recommend Georgia.

Under Projects you have two "Coming Soon" That's very circa Netscape and is seen as tacky. I don't want to see the cows being slaughtered (aka "steak: coming soon!") and similarly, I don't want to see a website "in process." If you're putting it on the internet, it's in public, putting on it's best face. Otherwise, it's bummin' it, in jeans and a tshirt saying, "Oh, well I clean up well." Same with the news. Put some news up there. Make up some news, or don't have a link to it. It proves that your website is a new one.

Bold "free hosting for developers and enthusiasts." Or Italiacs. Something to show that that is the point of the paragraph. Or rewrite it so that you have some bullets (remember, at least three bullets or it looks silly).

On all of the webpages, center it like you did the main webpage.

When I switch hosts (like every 6 months, I'm finiky... bleh) I really appreciate getting a preview of what the cpanel is going to be like. Or lack of cpanel as is the case of the current host UGH! You might want to add screen shots of such.

On FAQ (and possibly the other webpages), make the links something other than the default blue. That blue has become something of a hated color. Even if it would go with a layout, it never can, it is so dispised. Use CSS. If you don't know CSS, PM me. I'll teach it to you in an hour using methods I have used teaching it to middle schoolers. ~bows like old asian kung fu guy~


All of these things are like little nit picky things. You have a gem of a layout there, darlin'. I'm very jealous. These things wont take 45 minutes to pick, if you don't need to learn CSS.