Re: my turn - critique request

by "Lynnsey Skliros" <skliro_l(at)mtn.co.za>

 Date:  Mon, 20 Jul 1998 08:45:45 +0200
 To:  chipw(at)isaac.net,
hwg-critique(at)mail.hwg.org
 References:  rainmakertech
  todo: View Thread, Original
Hi Chip,

>Please be gentile (well .... if possible)

Gentile? Yes, I qualify :)

Well, on to the site review:

First thing I noticed it that the home page doesn't fit onto a 640x480
screen. Having to scroll sideways is annoying. Perhaps you should bring
the blue bar on the rhs into the middle text column?

I'm not sure how you constructed the banner (header.jpg), but it looks
pixelly (look at the "s"), as though it hasn't been anti-aliased. Any good
graphics package should have an anti-aliasing option.

I don't really like the red-and-yellow "new" button, but that's because I
disapprove of superfluous animation. It's far less offensive than some
I've seen, probably because it moves slowly enough, not to cause
migraines.

The links down the lhs are nice and you have about the right number - it
looks fairly easy to find what you're looking for (from my non-fan
perspective anyway). I have some suggestions to improve on the way they
look though:
	- First of all, they also look as though they have not been anti-aliased.
	- When you mousover the images, the text moves perceptibly to the left on
some of them. You need to make sure that the text on each button starts
exactly the same distance from the left edge of the image (in number of
pixels).
	- I would also reverse the over and off images. Your default (off) images
are very colourful, and your over images are plain black. The link being
moused over doesn't stand out at all from the others. Think how much more
effective it would be if all the links were black and the moused over
image stood out in a brighter colour. One more thing about the colours:
the top links are in bright colours and the bottom links are in earthier
tones. I wouldn't mix the two; rather go for the brighter primary colours
because that's what the rest of the site seems to favour. If you switch
the over and off images, it won't be immediately obvious that you're
reusing colours.

I didn't get any further than the home page, but I hope this helps (and
isn't too unkind!)


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

HTML: hwg-critique mailing list archives, maintained by Webmaster @ IWA

This page is part of a preserved archive of archives.hwg.org. The site is no longer active and its content is not maintained. For enquiries about this archive, write to archive(at)iwanet.org.