6th iteration of IT web site: feedback requested

[KevinMU1]

My dear AT readers,

I've been hitting you all up for web site building advice for some time now, but I haven't been around the block in a while and thought I'd come around again.

I just finished a 6th layout of my IT web site (http://www.rantitraveit.com), and since a lot of the improvements over the weeks have come from all of you kind AT folks, I thought I'd give everyone another chance at evaluation.

Bring it on, no holds barred. I can take the truth.

Oh, one other thing: I already realize that rollovers on the main menu would be helpful/nice. I got that one already on the drawing board.

 

[MarkUsG3]

The Black/Orange doesn't do much for me. Also, IT is Information Technology as an industry/trade, not necessarily hardware/software reviews. Are you covering computer hardware, or IT?

Edit - at closer look, it seems you do know what IT is, my bad

 

[KevinMU1]

Tough crowd... first you hear that the layout is untraditional and confusing, then you make it traditional and becomes like any other web site... truly my job never ends.

There also seems to be a love/hate relationship with the yellow & black color scheme. We'll give that some thought and see if maybe we can come up with something more pleasing and less... like every other web site out there.

Anybody want to comment on the content?

Thanks again.

 

[gopunk]

i think you need headlines, so people don't have to scroll all the way down to find out what your rants are about

 

[yoda291]

ah...the attack of the killer bees.

I think it looks a bit like you took another IT site, and inverted all the colors. It's kinda irritatin to my sensitive eyes. and it's true, we'll never be happy with it. I say do what you like. If you have the need for a page of dancing hamsters and animated santas, you go for it.

 

[arigato]

Your site looks like it has some good information. My only recommendation would be to have a main/home page to give a visitor to your site some direction, a good outline of what the site offers so that they can get to where they want easily.

 

[perry]

I don't like how the links on the right are not underlined. The font is too plain, didn't know they were links until I moved my mouse over there to look. Maybe make them a list?

Move all the main content off the front page.. Include a little summary, and then link to the forum thread. Don't put the entire article on there. Then move that "Email us" blurb below all that.

The forums look kinda weird, with the links being the light purple color. Doesn't flow with the rest of the pages.

I would switch all the text over to a sans-serif font, it would look much cleaner.

I think the bar at the top should be bigger/taller, and have sort of horizontal line there to visually seperate things.. I don't like how it's just a sudden change.

 

[KevinMU1]

gopunk, the headlines are an excellent suggestion. Thanks.

arigato, we have toyed with a front info page in the past, but we tossed it. Perhaps we just needed a better one. We'll think about that again. Thanks.

perry, you outline quite a number of suggestions. The lack of underlines in a style choice, the underlines look busy to us. The purple color was a compromise, it's hard to find a non-black color that is readable and goes with yellow, perhaps another hint at the need for a new color scheme. Lastly, we'll take a look at the top part and those issues that you outline.

Thanks again everybody for your time and suggestions, they are greatly appreciated. Hopefully in the process you also got something to think about from our pages.

 

Lose the white background for the text. Dump the purple color in the headlines. And make or find some fonts.

 

[KevinMU1]

One little experiment before I head to bed, I changed the background color for the main pages, I think it makes it look a lot softer and pulls the colors more togethr, but maybe it's just this late hour (i'm on the east coast).

I'll see about fonts too, the idea was to keep it plain, but maybe we've gone overboard on plain.

Thanks again everybody. I'd also invite all of you to poke around the forums, see the discussions we have, and see if, honestly, there's anything unique, because if not then we've failed in our mission to create a site with unique content.

Good night, I'll tackle this again tomorrow.

 

[KevinMU1]

Well, after playing some with the colors and contrasts, and considering all the suggestions that I have received, I think that I have created a much more soothing, if you will, color scheme, that's a bit more traditional but not totally without any surprises. I also inverted the colors in the border to help highlight what is a link and what is not; the underlines seem too much of a clutter. The forum colors have been updated to reflect the colors on the main page to create a more unified appearance.

Next up will be a site overview page, that's probably the next thing that needs some serious attention.

Thanks again all.

 

[KevinMU1]

This is my last self-reply, I promise.

I've tweaked the page more, and have added a site guide page that should reduce general confusion. It appears under the main menu. The only thing I'm not sure about is how to otherwise make it noticable. Any suggestions?

Thanks again to everybody who has provided feedback, it has been most helpful!

 

[Ameesh]

<< I usually agree with John Dvorak--he and I think alike about a lot of things and he's always pushing the envelope. >>




I dont think I'll ever take you or your website seriously again.

 

[notfred]

Um, why do I care if you think 100gb is overkill? Why would I go look at that site again?

I'm not trying to be mean, but it's just not interesting.

 

[KevinMU1]

I know you're not trying to be mean, and I'm not trying to please everyone with the site.

It's mostly about theory, or about high-level practicality, not everyday computing issues like tweaking or that kind of thing. It won't be for everybody, and I understand that. It's for those interested in discussing issues surrounding the state of the IT world.

 

[Geekbabe]

Your color scheme doesn't do anything for me. The Rant/rave logo's aren't prominent enough in relation to "Main menu" and Quick links" Aside from that, it looks pretty good to me, clean,layout,easy to navigate.

 

[KevinMU1]

The color scheme has been tweaked, and a new frontpage has been added... with headlines! All of your suggestions have not gone unnoticed! I think that the new frontpage makes everything much clearer and is much less in your face. Those of you who suggested the headlines, is this what you had in mind? Does this work?

Thanks again to everyone for your suggestions! They have not gone unnoticed!