Re: http://www.quantumwebdesigns.com/

Hehhe, I got that book for 10$, must say it was well worth that price...A
*really* good book is Looking Good In Print, 4th edition. Its for DTP, but
of course DTP style applies to the web as well.

R. Brisson
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Abramovich <mabram(at)balance.com.au>
To: Lynnsey Skliros <skliro_l(at)mtn.co.za>
Cc: quantumdesigns(at)uswest.net <quantumdesigns(at)uswest.net>;
hwg-critique(at)hwg.org <hwg-critique(at)hwg.org>
Date: Wednesday, August 26, 1998 5:16 PM
Subject: Re: http://www.quantumwebdesigns.com/


>The only thing I can add to what has been said below, is that it wouldn't
hurt
>to cast your eye over Creating Killer Web Sites by Mr Siegel -
>www.killersites.com - if you can't get a hold of the book and take in what
he
>says about 3rd generation web site design.
>
>- michael a
>
>Lynnsey Skliros wrote:
>
>> Hi Nick,
>>
>> >my site at: http://www.quantumwebdesigns.com/
>>
>> <disclaimer>I'm fairly critical and will dwell more on the bad points
than
>> the good.</disclaimer>
>>
>>         Home page
>>
>> Well, it loaded up reasonably quickly.
>>
>> (Oops, this was all written under the assumption that the banner
"Quantum"
>> + "web designs" + contact details was one image. I think most things
still
>> apply though.) The banner is nice, but an email address should always be
>> clickable, so if you're going to build it into the banner you need to
make
>> the whole thing clickable. You could just as well use plain text for
those
>> contact details though, since they're in an Arialish font. Also, the
>> banner is cool but would look better if the two different bits lined up
at
>> the bottom. And the way you've made the text 3D from two different angles
>> looks weird and verges on headache stuff.
>>
>> The black bg is a little overdone and the spiderweb theme too, but I like
>> the bg image anyway and I think you should keep it. It's pretty small
>> (file size) but you could probably make it smaller by reducing the number
>> of colours.
>>
>> The rainbow divider on the other hand is also very overdone, but doesn't
>> enhance the page at all.
>>
>> The links are the same colour as the vlinks - bad idea! This confuses
>> people who are trying to see where they've been already.
>>
>> The intro text doesn't benefit much from being done as a graphic - it
>> would look just as good as plain text, download faster and be easier to
>> change. Centred text is difficult to read - rather align it to the left.
>>
>> "This site best viewed at: 1024 X 768 pixels"? Get real! How many people
>> have that kind of screen res? I'm still designing for 640x480 - I know a
>> few people designing for 600x800, but they're in the minority. Anyway, I
>> looked at the whole site at 640x480 and it looked fine. Why restrict your
>> audience unnecessarily?
>>
>>         Services page
>>
>> The blue and white colouring of the headers makes them difficult to
read -
>> that font is not the most legible to begin with. Try changing either the
>> colouring (one colour) or the font face (futura, arial, something like
>> that). I would add a list of the different sections to the top of the
page
>> and create internal links to them.
>>
>>         Pricing
>>
>> See Services page. Also, I think it the red text would be emphasised
>> enough just by making it bold. Red, bold, all caps is probably a bit
much.
>> Red is not easy to read against black anyway, and *de*emphasises the text
>> as a result.  The points under "Example Plan #1" are difficult to read
>> because they're centred - rather left-align with a <UL> tag. Also, why
>> refer to #1 when you only have one?
>>
>>         Contact Us
>>
>> See Pricing page. Too many different fonts!
>>
>>         Portfolio
>>
>> See Pricing page. And in this case the red text is small, making it even
>> more difficult to read! And because you've used red for links *and*
>> ordinary text, it's very difficult to see where to click. Btw, I would
>> change "Each member of our staff has designed countless numbers of web
>> pages" to something else, given that your portfolio currently consists of
>> only one site... (my advice to another aspiring web design company was to
>> build some sites for charities or friends' businesses, to just to add
some
>> bulk to their portfolio).
>>
>>         About Us
>>
>> See Pricing page. You say that *everyone* has all those skills? Quite
>> impressive (unless there's only one of you ;-). It would be nice to get
an
>> idea of who "us" is - maybe some names, pics?
>>
>> In general, the site is fairly professional looking, but I think you've
>> fallen into the trap of using *all* the fonts and *all* the colours and
>> *all* the special effects. This unfortunately makes it look a little
>> too... enthusiastic? Inconsistent? Busy? Anyway, you get the idea... I
>> think you're on the right track, so just try to tone it down a bit and
>> it'll be great.
>>
>> Good luck,
>> Lynnsey
>>
>> Lynnsey Skliros
>> Mobile Telephone Networks
>>
>> The mind of the bigot is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you
>> pour upon it, the more it will contract. -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
>
>

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