Comments please?

[Waldo]

http://www.aliasentertainment.co.uk/test/

Please check out the above link... what it is the beginning of a new design for a webby. Obviously, it is nowhere near the finished product as I have a lot to add. However, I like to get un-biased views (ie - YOU LOT! :)). One person told me it looks brilliant (brown noser) and another told me it looked crap (son of a bitch).
Therefore, I assume it is somewhere in between. Any suggestions for layout changes, graphic advice, anything really?
BTW, the links don't take you anywhere! Just done the Index page so far.
I appreciate all comments, but please make them worthwhile. I don't want any :
"Thats feckin terrible"
I would prefer :
"That is feckin terrible because... reasons in here!"

Many thanks.

[Waldo]

Also you might wonder why I am wanting your views now? I prefer to get everything sorted in ONE page before progressing with the other sites. Too many times before I have half finished the layout idea and started the other pages. Since I don't use CSS (perhaps I should start!) it means a lot of stuff to change. Also, it often leads to pages that just don't look right and a buggered navigation system.
Also, the bar at the top... another friend told me it looks quite similar to the Microsoft one (WHAT!). I have checked and it does, but I am unsure about changing it? Any colour scheme suggestions?

Cheers.

[Spidery]

Its a pretty much average-lower proffessional design due to lack of colour, variation and content. BUT that menu bar at the top is pretty cool!

Looks like you got the coding part of it done, but perhaps a little bit more work on the actual design? Appart from that its cool, it works, and is therefore not bad at all!

[alpha]

There's not much there to comment on really. Change the colour of the border on the menu thing if you can, and change the page link colour to a paler blue slightly closer to the colour of the text in the logo if you can.

[Waldo]

Cheers for the comments so far - keep 'em coming.
As for the coding... yeah, I concentrated on that first, and I haven't given masses of thought to the design :(
As for Spidery's comments... obviously there will be lots of content when the site is finished! As for the lack of colour - I am struggling to add more colour without making it look really cheesy. One of my friends (no doubt of lesser inteligence) suggested wallpapering the background :) I feel that looks poor in 9 out of 10 cases.
As for [TA} Alpha... what colour for the border? As for the links... yeah, will be changing them to light blue.
As before, keep the comments coming.

[Waldo]

There was one other thing I was thinking about, which might spruce up the page a bit... I believe that it is possible to add a picture to the menu bar (instead of it just being black)... I know this can look good, but I don't really know how... check out the source code and if you think you can figure out a way then post it here - would be really appreciated.

[DTD sIckNesS]

There is absolutely no doubt that I am going to get heavy opposition here, but, how about usin some flash. I dont mean a startion intro, but for example once you have the design of the site made, u can create some menu bars, with minimize and restor buttons, and also you can make them draggble, which would provide a lot more user customisation, and also doesnt depend on you having set areas for your menu bars, allowing you to use the whole of the space available.

Anyway, thats just my opinion, cos i think vector graphics like flash, look a lot more classy :)

[AGERSTONE]

Use some different colours like white and blue and some slight shading..:)

[mr_grumpy_man]

I can't really see much there to be commented about from a design/layout point of view m8.

It looks, however, like it will go down the route most sites have taken before of being a very linear scroll-down-the-page experience.

Colour wise, before choosing think about how they want to appear to the browsing public. Don't necessarily choose colours because they look good together, but look to existing brand image (if any) for inspiration.

The dhtml menu is all very nice, but scroll down and *boom* it's gone. If you have screens more than a page long then you immeadiatly lose what it added to the site.

IMO :cheese:

[Waldo]

Ok, some more good comments for me to digest... methinks a bout of indigestion coming on here :E
As for the Flash suggestion....... one of my expert friends is working on a Flash intro now... however, i don't want to build the entire site around Flash.
As for our brand image....... there ain't really one :) Hehe.
And as for the whole scroll down menu thing.... I looked at a code that made the menu bar 'follow' the screen... whereby when you scrolled down the menu bar was always at the top of the screen. However, it looks 'jerky' and unprofessional (you could say the same about the site :))
If you want, check out the original at http://www.aliasentertainment.co.uk - those demanding more colour certainly wouldn't be disappointed. Compare the two if you can.
I was thinking a way of improving it would be this. The part of the test site (www.aliasentertainment.co.uk/test) where the main text is running down... make this table have three columns, the main one with the text and two on either side of this main column. These side columns would have a graphic... say a gradient from Pale blue (to fit in with the logo) to transparent/black? It may not be the most original idea but it might imrpove the look of the site?
What'da all think?

[Waldo]

oh, oh... sorry, one more thing. See the menu bar at the top... would it be possible to put this code in a frame?
I don't personally like frames...ever, ever... at all. But could I just make a top frame or would this not work? Also, how easy would it be to alter the code to relect this use of frames?

Cheers once again.

[DTD sIckNesS]

<html>
<head>
<title></title>
</head>

<frameset framespacing="0" border="false" frameborder="0">
<frame name="topbar" noresize target="contents" src="topbar.htm" scrolling="NO">
<frame name="main" src="main.htm" scrolling="auto">
</frameset>
<noframes>
<body bgcolor="#000000" text="#008000" link="#008000" vlink="#008000" alink="#FF0000"
topmargin="0" leftmargin="0">
<p>Sorry, but your browser doesn't support frames, please download the most recent version of IE or netscape</p>
</body>
</noframes>
</frameset>
</html>


should the frame thingy m8 :)

[mr_grumpy_man]

Putting the menu in a frame may cause issues with the dhtml - it might need to have a frame window large enough to accept the menus - which would give a lot of dead space to the site.

[Waldo]

Yeah, I am worried about the whole DHTML and Frames issue..l does anyone out there know if this will work or whether, like MrGrumpy said, I would have to size the frame to accept the menu... that would be a BIG problem with the dead space and would look pretty crap. Maybe I will just experiment a bit tonight and see what I can come up with.
Also, I assume it would fairly simple to change the code in the DHTML menu to use the main frame?

Cheers.

[mr_grumpy_man]

Just taken a quick look at the source code for the menu, and it looks like it uses layers... but I don't know if they mind crossimg frame boundarys.

Just have to give it a go.

[Waldo]

Mr Grumpy Man... will give the frames a go later tonight if I have time ;)
However, you can now see a changed version of the site... again the address is
http://www.aliasentertainment.co.uk/test
So far the reaction has been good. I think the site looks neater, it uses more colour (nice gradient effect) and graphics. Also, with the layout the way it is the only page that any will have to scroll on should be the Forum!
I appreciate everyones help - now it is time for you to start again looking at the site :E

Cheers.

[Waldo]

Ooops... forgot to say. That comment about scrolling on pages... that is of course assuming the user is browsing in 1024x768 or above! Bit of an assumption there :)
BTW, there are a few bugs in this 'new and improved available at all good retailers' version, so don't moan about that.
Just some more helpful comments about the design and layout pwwwwwwease!

[J@ck]

My (personal) two-penneth,

Purely on a design front, I don't like seeing web pages obscured in any way, by drop-down menus.

As a crap analogy, I think it's akin to painting a portrait then slapping a Post-It note on the face, reading "Mona Lisa, L.da-Vinci."

(Although I'm sure, da-Vinci never had problems with frames!)

I just don't think it's the best use of the medium.

Sorry.


Jack
(once again, sticking his nose in where it's not wanted)

[Waldo]

Maybe you are right J@ack! I don't know, however I got the idea from the Microsoft site and found the code on a good site that offers this stuff. Professionaly, it may be incorrect to obscure some of the site, but the person looking at it would have to be really, really stupid not to be able to browse the site.

[7ths0n]

Purely on a design front, I don't like seeing web pages obscured in any way, by drop-down menus.

F*cking oath.

Personally I have this 'thing' against black backgrounds, don't ask me what it is... i can't describe it, personally i'd go for a white background but that might not be fitting for the content of the site. um... uh... that header image, the text... looks a bit grainy round the edges. Other than that, the menu and the black background, it looks kewl.

Cheers,

^7th^

[J@ck]

> "F*cking oath"

Explain ?

[revlis]

I think that means he agrees with you :D

[J@ck]

I thought he was calling me an 'Oaf' for a second.

I had me shirt sleeves rolled up, and everything !

[Waldo]

:E Hehe.... well there has certainly been some good advice. I think I will settle for a design soon, trying to take into account the many opinions expressed here :)
As for the whole black bg colour... well, I don't like white ;) I was always taught that white is a bad colour to use as a background because staring at it for a while hurts your eyes :)
Also, the graphics may be a bit dodgy at present... still have to be touched-up (ooo, err :cheese:) and finalised.

Cheers to everyone who took the time to post, and thanks to everyone who didn't!

[J@ck]

You're very welcome.

Keep us informed on its progress.

J.

PS. Our 'Infonet' site at work copied the Microsoft drop-down menus, as well. It appears to be quite popular !