[Site ReDesign] Advice on what to improve

[iceangel89]

I have a school project to improve this NatSteel Site. i feel kind of weird cos i am not really into steel stuff.. .its like the lecturers any how gave a funny site for us to improve. anyways, any suggestions?

My opinions on the site are

• too many words
  
• too littile pictures
  

for too many words i am thinking of making headers with a short summary thing

for too little pics, i am lost... finding steel pics in google gave me stuff i dont really think fits... some do of course

any advice? sites, for example/inspiration? resources? should i use flash(which i am just beginning) or regular HTML with scripts(also not so pro either)

[phkninja]

quick answer.

The design layout that is currently there is a professional one. The more informtion given the better, and the lack of pictures is to stop the site from being too "busy" to read (e.g. too many pictures makes the site load slowly but also takes the focus off the words on the page. the problem with too many pictures is it makes the pages difficult to read).

One suggestion would be to changethe layout, yet keep something similar for the content. Keep it professional yet change the colours a bit, change the navigation from the top to be on the bottom or one of the sides. I also noticed hat the pictures that are there are loading slightly slow on my machine ( i have 2M bothdirections). Maybe change the pictures to progessively loading jpgs rather than the standard ones that are there (the picture will start slightly blurred then get better definitioon as time passes, rather than it loading line by line).

i would also reduce the size of the navigation bar so it doesnt take up as much of the screen, at the moment it takes up 1/3 the screen space on my screen at a resolution if 1024x768. Compress it so it gives a bit more space for the information. Also you could add a javascript to check the screen reolution of the client computer then dynamically size the page accordingly

(e.g. instead of putting <table width="600" height="800"..... you could put

<script language=javascript>
getheight()
{
.....
}

getwidth()
{
....
}
</script>
<table width="java script:getwidth();" height="java script:getheight();"

this code is only an example, it has not been tested and is only to show an idea of how you may create a dynamicly sized layout

Also I know alot of people like using flash, but personally I would stay away. Wuth flash you have to wait fo rthe file to download (taking longer than a strict html and jpeg/png build, and also required the user to have flash player installed.). To create the "flashy" layout use some mouseover effects etc (not that i approve of too many effects either). The siple rule is keep it siple. the simpler it is to read, and the less flash, the easier it makes for the reader.

Edited April 24, 2007 by phkninja

[iceangel89]

I will take note on what u said... so like my lecturers say more white spaces? as for pics, ok maybe i shouldn't add too many pics, but should i spice up the navigation, content with some colors?

i seem to like the sites in:

Template Monster

Templates Box

And in my category, i think industrial

Template Monster - Industrial

Templates Box - Industrial

But the navigation in those templates are "Big" Navigation, unlike what u said? and fixed centered tables i feel are better? easier. Of course, i will not be buying, i need to do my own, school project, but was thinking of getting some inspirations & ideas

[phkninja]

When i said reduce the navigation bar, i meant the size of the pictures etc. If you loook at those templates the navigation only takes up about 1/8 of the page size, the original site you are redesigning has a navigation bar about 1/3 of the page.

Change the colours a bit, the coklours there are what i would refer to as "safe". They are colours that alot of sites use because they always go together, but if you take the idea's for the industrial templates then you could have a grey background etc.

The bests designs are simple but also catch your attention. You achieve this by having a nice colur scheme and a few pictures (as stated before too many pics take you eyes away from the text). You also dont want too much information in one solid block. break the info ito smaller blocks so its easier to read (dont make the info like a novel, make it like a flyer)

[iceangel89]

Mmm... what u mean... a bit blur sorry. You mean the "Start" page? where the content is little so navigation takes up a big space.. or the normal pages where there is like a banner to me above the nav. isn't that ok? no offense meant. but i will just try to do a layout and post here if possible... for reviews. busy though, with other projects & exams

[phkninja]

i mean, when navigating the site the bar at the top takes up alot of space. So maybe make it smaller (like the templates)

[iceangel89]

Mmm ... ok ... still abit blur, but i will follow the looks of the templates.

[iceangel89]

Hi, this are 2 drafts of my site. any comments? good or bad.

[phkninja]

Both of those are looking good.

The layout is simple yet also pleasing to the eye. The only other suggestion I could give to you is, on the second image you have the text in the page, take the text and make it into smaller paragraphs of about 5 or 6 lines. If there is too much text in a paragraph it can cause problems with readig/straining eyes as it makes it more difficult to follow.

[iceangel89]

ok will look into that. then post my progress

[iceangel89]

hi ow i have another design... comments please & which is better...

[ripken204]

wow i really like your new design! great job!

i really need to get going on design for my website...

[iceangel89]

a classmate gave me some edited designs... which is better? i don't mind if mine is lousier... it will be worse if i don't make the correct choice and present the site to the class!

[ripken204]

what exactly is the point of teh 2nd pic? what would look nice is if you have the 2nd pic set as the index.html and clicking home links to the 1st pic.