Critique on my clunky website?

[dashinvaine]

I don't know if this is the right place to ask, but I would very much appreciate some evaluation of my at present rather basic website http://www.dashinvaine.co.uk .

:nohope: I know it needs updating and revamping, and welcome all suggestions that might make it slightly more presentable. At present it covers both my artwork and my historical writing as well as a few other things, so perhaps you could concentrate on the art side, which somehow needs to be made more professional looking. I think the site's whole look needs work.

It is done in Dreamweaver 4, and it is my first attempt at making a website. I know absolutely nothing about programming, and have only groped my way around that programme. I don't know if there is a way of adding more interesting features and things that move, or of making buttons without the chore of inserting overlap images (mostly negatives of the visible button images in this case). I'd also appreciate comment on how easy the site is to navigate. Any other tips gratefully received. Is there a way of changing the background colour, for example?

[Juhani Jokinen]

I think what you need to do first is to get rid of the navigation buttons you use now. I see the style you are going for but the buttons are hard to read for the first time visitor. The whole layout is a bit all over the place too. I would suggest making a layout for each page in photoshop and then slicing them to be ready for dreamweaver. That way you can easily design and code a simple website which looks more professional. Just keep in mind that it has to be really simple to navigate and easy on the eyes.

Your art is nice btw!

-Juhani

[Chermilla]

Hi there,

It's pretty easy to navigate, but you can tell that the text icons are very low res so they look 'blocky'. I would suggest changing those to higher res versions, and perhaps have them so that they don't sit upon the harsh white backdrop and look like a sore thumb...maybe change the BG colour so match that biege type colour the text is sitting on so it looks more suited?

Also it would be great to have some kind of central image shown before you enter the site, rather than have the two smaller ones either side of the enter text.

One last thing, when you highlight an option, the black coloured block that appears doesn't look very nice, so maybe alter that too...perhaps it's because it's againts the white that it seems so out of place? Too much of a contrast I guess.

Your art is nice, you have a nice traditional style going on. :)

Hope that helps,

Cx

[ivow]

Your design is way too clunky, and its a result of using dreamweaver. I would advise that you make high res background images and buttons, write the final content, then ask someone who knows CSS and HTML to put together the site.

It would not take long at all, and they would probably do it as a favour, or for a tiny amount of money.

I would offer to help you, but i tend to use things like PHP includes because im lazy. You could probably find someone whos not as lazy as me, and then you would have a future proof site.

Hope this helps.

[Flake]

1- Lose the splash screen "Enter Here" thing, if I didn't want to enter I wouldn't be there.
2- White background must go.
3- Way too many art categories, merge a few of them.
4- I'd be inclined to move the heraldry, writing etc to a separate site, or at least a corner of this site. Right now, they're displayed with the same prominence as the artwork.
I don't know if there is a way of adding more interesting features and things that move
Please don't learn how to do this. One mans "interesting feature" is another mans annoying pointless gimmick. If it is an art site you really just want it as simple as possible- Art, short bio (optional), prices, contact info.

/2p worth

[dashinvaine]

I've redesigned the splash screen. I take the point that there is no need for one at the moment. It will serve a necessary function, however, when I get around to seperating the historical and artistic stuff into two effectively seperate sites. It will have an enter button for each. By the way the original gothic wording was created by cutting and pasting individual letters from an actual medieval manuscript (or a photo thereof). It seemed like a good idea at the time, but looks a bit naff in hindsight. Here is the design for the new splash screen which may set the tone for the redesigned site. Biting criticism welcome as ever...

[kingshaj]

Maybe this will inspire>>>>> http://www.shinybinary.com
Clearly this site has a very different look and feel than you are going for...

but look at how its layed out.
the art is on one scrollable page, info and news are cleanly arranged....one cant get lost on this site, nor can you really miss any images

make it tooo simple.


Here’s mine even simpler still!

http://www.domelabs.com/josh.htm

[dkounios]

everything has been said! you know what to do now ;)
Ever since I got my first website way back when, I've constantly changed it. I remember the first few I made. horrible.

Trick is, keep it simple. the easier, the better.
you got some kick ass work too!
good luck!

[dashinvaine]

Indeed, it's improved a lot even since I first made it. It was a right hodge-podge. By the way, is there a way of changing the background colour in dreamweaver, anyone know?

[kingshaj]

Indeed, it's improved a lot even since I first made it. It was a right hodge-podge. By the way, is there a way of changing the background colour in dreamweaver, anyone know?

sure

this is dreamwever 8 but i think its the same in this regard

[dashinvaine]

Many thanks. I have to decide whether to go with black pages now... having just jumped the gun and made buttons etc against white... What to do? I think I will have the art side in black and the history in white. It will help emphasize the partition.

[tomwaits4noman]

you could just use coppermine... ok its the very lazy option.


but for me it works I spent many a frustrating hour trying to design websites to show my art... the main thing for me any way is to show off my art not my web design skills.

Coppermine easy to upload images create albums no css or coding needed
though you have the option, I am sure you can design a template too for the site, its easy to change the look without having to redesign or reformat stuff.

[Zirngibism]

A couple suggestions: Under the "history" section, instead of having a button that says "link", just make the image a link.

Instead of making images invert when you hover over them, make them get dimmer, or less/more contrasted, or lighter or something. There's something awkward about the inverted things.

Perhaps a cream/grey background instead of white.

Nice stuff there by the way.

[dashinvaine]

http://www.dashinvaine.co.uk

Well, I've been busy and have vamped it up quite a bit (literally, the art side has a much more gothic style now). I agree about the awkwardness of the inversion roll-overs, but it can't really be helped without a lot of work redoing the entire thing. If I was starting from scratch I would do as you suggested, in fact even before I read your suggestion I had done the new links on the front page and the menu pages like that, as well as the image links in the new photography section. That said I quite like the way some of the paintings look in negative, so that was another reason to leave the galleries with the link buttons rolling over to inverted images.

I've actually added a couple of new gallery sections, and greatly expanded the galleries that were there already. The history side still needs a lot of tinkering, (I will eventually make the images into link buttons in the essays section, and I mean to put a lot more substance there too). I think the art side is developing ok, though. Would be grateful for any more feedback on the way the site looks now, and comments/critiques/suggestions for improvement.

[Slash]

Just a little not entirely off topic side question. What happened to the portfolio review thread?

[Flake]

Much better, far easier on the eyes.

[Justin.]

question; what is this site FOR? What job are you trying to get? Fine art, concept art?

[Seer]

I think you should organise your elements into groups. Right now you've got a pretty chaotic layout. I'm not a huge fan of the picture letters in your name but I guess you want them there. :)

Just a quick idea:

[dashinvaine]

question; what is this site FOR? What job are you trying to get? Fine art, concept art?
Good question... A bit of both? Illustration... Seer, thanks for the thoughts about a reshuffle.

[Big-Dave]

Firstly I'd try to have some sort of coherent navigation system on the pages. The small "back" button at the top really isn't all that obvious, and it would be irritating if you couldn't navigate to where you wanted to go without having to go via any previous pages you'd browsed.

Also, on the splash page, make sure the helmets above the page links are included in the link. Right now it looks like they constitute most of the link, but if you click on them nothing happens, making it seem like the site is broken.

If you want to do a solidly built site, it would probably be worth your while looking into CSS. That way you can build a site which loads quick and has a solid layout.

Oh, and get rid of the invisible text. It doesn't help you on google searches really, and if google notices they'll probably blacklist your site. If you really want to have keywords, put them in meta tags inside the header, and limit them to at most 10, then try to put together actual paragraphs using the words which you can include into your page.

[dashinvaine]

I can't believe the navigation thing is that troublesome, as no page is more than two steps back away from the menu pages. I've sorted out the splash page though. As for the hidden keywords, there's nothing there irrelevant to the site and I don't see what the problem is.