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

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

 Date:  Wed, 26 Aug 1998 16:18:19 +0200
 To:  quantumdesigns(at)uswest.net,
hwg-critique(at)hwg.org
 References:  uswest
  todo: View Thread, Original
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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