>
> If you have a few spare moments, could you critique my site at
>
>   http://www.adarknight.com
>
> Please let me know about:
> 1. Load times

Alright, graphics a wee bit heavy.

> 2. Ease of navigation

Good, simple.

> 3. Look and feel of the site

A bit pedestrian for a webdesign and graphic design business. For a start, I
would set the main font to verdana, arial or helvetica - the default (a
serif font - times roman, probably on most browsers - correct me if I'm
wrong) is horribly amatuerish :)

I also feel you don't present you name right. The URL is adarknight, yet the
logo says ADN and A Dark Night (BTW: IMO a good name - fairly original) is
not mentioned anywhere on the first page. Also, the name says A Dark Night -
yet the design doesn't really reflect that.

The left menu on the first page is a little lame. The bullets are too big
and complex. Just a small 'ink splatter' would look much better. Even better
than that would be a single centered image map incorporating your logo and
the menu. Check out this site (also listed below): http://www.helios.co.nz.

If you are aiming at corporate customers, make your site corporate with a
little design flare. Visit a few of your competitors who aim this way (For
comparison and ideas, here are a few New Zealand ones whose sites I find
attractive: http://www.netlink.co.nz, http://www.dmd.co.nz and
http://www.web.co.nz).

If you want a funkier site than those, check out these:
http://www.sfx.co.nz, http://www.terabyte.co.nz and
http://www.netbyte.co.nz.

And simplicity can look very good if done well: http://www.dezignet.co.nz
and http://www.helios.co.nz

These are just a few of the best in New Zealand, there are BUCKET LOADS of
designers the world over. Check them out for ideas (don't copy though  :)

> 4. Anything that seems confusingly worded

Well worded, though it is better to let your work stand for you than preach
about your service. I didn't, however, find your site over pretentious or
preachy.

> 5. Any broken links (there shouldn't be any, but you never know...)

Everything worked.

> 6. What browser you are using, your screen res, color depth, connection,
etc.

MS IE4, 600x800 res, 16bit colour, 28.8 dialup.

> 7. Anything else you can think of

Although I realize you haven't finished several sections, the webdesign and
graphic design pages are too empty. Not that simplicity is bad, but don't
forget the user shouldn't have to drill down more than about 2-3 pages (the
3 click rule) to get the information they want. The different logos are
nice, however, I didn't like the web design logo with the slanted text -
looks better cascaded like the graphic design logo.

 It is good that you have resisted the temptation to clutter it with
microsoft, hwg, netscape logos, awards, etc (though I can't really speak :).

> The site isn't completely finished yet (I just added in the software
>design section tonight, so there is nothing there except for a title image;
>the web and graphic design main pages don't have anything on them except
>links to information about those services; the about page is going to be
>expanded as soon as I think of something else to say), but I would like to
>see some reactions to it before I finish it up.


All up a good start - the logos are, IMO, your strong point, the trick is to
bring the design of the whole page up to their standard.

Good luck, and I look forward to the 'revised' version.

Sebastian
_________________________________________
Sebastian de Raadt  sderaadt(at)clear.net.nz
http://www.rh.steiner.school.nz/sebastian
"If two things don't make a right, try
three"
_________________________________________

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