Re: please critique

by "Natalie Verge" <nsv(at)mb.sympatico.ca>

 Date:  Mon, 7 Jun 1999 19:55:15 -0500
 To:  "John Moore" <jmoore30(at)bellsouth.net>,
"Critique List" <hwg-critique(at)hwg.org>
  todo: View Thread, Original
Well, I liked the splash page (except for the thunderclap - unasked for
sound on a web page, especially when it's so loud, is not a good thing -
sometimes people are browsing when they shouldn't be; or are playing CDs
through their computers).

Then I went to the page for older browsers. I'm sorry, but what a
difference!
- That purple and green background has got to go - very hard on the eyes,
and blue links are almost illegible on it.
- You need to organize your content better. Forget the "all down the center"
look. Also try to describe your links so people know where they're going.
- Actually the first page doesn't really have any content - it just states
again what your navigation frame shows. Why not tell people about yourself
and your interests on the main page. You're into RPGs, so tell us how you
got into it, some memorable experiences, etc. Also include some other
information about yourself - as someone involved in SF fandom, and
peripherally, gaming, people think we're all geeks who live in basements. So
tell them about your other interests, charity work, whatever. (I mean this
in a good way - I can't begin to tell the number of times people have said
"Ohhhh...." to me and eyed me suspiciously when I have said that I have been
a Klingon / Starfleet officer on various occasions!)
- The background image in the nav frame is also very distracting, and makes
the text illegible.
- The other pages on this site are still sketchy, I see - need more content;
but the colour scheme is uniform from page to page, and suited to the whole
RPG thing and so forth.
- No nav links (or very few) on the right hand frame pages. If someone,
through a search engine, perhaps, finds one of your pages, they won't be
able to find the actual site without links to it. So let each page have
links to its "parent" and "siblings" at the bottom or top; simple text links
will suffice.

Then I went to the 4.0+ page.
- The dark red text is very difficult to read on the variegated background.
You need to make it have a bit more contrast.
- Otherwise, the same comments re content apply.
- I see you were designing for small screens; this is good, but even at 800
x 600, it has a very cramped feel. Maybe instead of fixed width columns in
your table, you could go for percentages which would then fill up the screen
at whatever resolution. You might have to rework some of your graphics so
they would repeat clearly.

Anyway, good start!
--
Natalie Verge
Talk to me: nsv(at)mb.sympatico.ca
Visit me: http://members.tripod.com/~nsv
For professional web design: http://www.mts.net/~nsv/essential

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