Website Review and Suggestions

**Mark Henderson** · 11-09-2008, 07:36 PM

I have just finished making my online portfolio, can you please take a look and tell me what you think?

Im not really good at content writing, so if you notice anything that needs changing in that area, please let me know

Mark Henderson Designs

**GamingFreak** · 11-12-2008, 09:47 PM

You have a very nice portfolio going there. Interesting theme going. Looks nice. Maybe have some more content on the main page.

**hartofalyon** · 12:09 AM

i'm going to list out my thoughts:

you may not agree, however, i feel you can develop the site for the 1024 crowd. i would make it wider.

the font is very small and difficult to read. in addition, it contrasts too much with the background making it even more difficult to read. the font color of your links within your content is too dark compared to your normal font color, resulting in your links looking "blacked-out."

i would re-work some of the graphical elements of your site. it doesn't look very professional. for example, the header - it's just a red banner w/o anything interesting. your section headers and links are very typical "bubbles" and to be honest, i've only seen new web designers use them. it only makes your look like a beginner and not a well-seasoned designer which is the image you want to portray.

i'm not sure why you opted for a wordpress portfolio theme for your portfolio. not only that, but you left the credit for the wordpress theme at the bottom. i feel as a web designer, you can certainly design your own portfolio and not use a pre-made theme. if it's the comments functionality you're after, i would scratch the comments entirely. why would you want to have your portfolio, the most important page of your website, be open for user generated content, resulting in spam or negative comments. you'll have to constantly monitor your comments and make sure everything on there is good. also, you need to fix the header of your portfolio section so it matches with the other pages. i'm assuming it's that way currently because of the wordpress theme.

the most recent entry of your portfolio - don't admit the project was for a friend. this makes you look even more like a beginner. i understand we all have to start from somewhere and designing for friends/family is perfectly fine; however, don't say they're your friends/family. instead, play-up the project and say that it was for a company who's looking to develop a new social website, etc. your potential clients want to see that you've gone through the entire process of getting a client and working with them until project completion. when they see that, they'll see you're at least familiar with what you're doing and they can also assume that you have a certain work ethic and sense of responsibility to get the job done - which you have shown by displaying completed work in your portfolio for "real" clients.

in your about page, potential clients aren't interested in how you got into web design. sure we all have passions and interests, however, this page can be utilized much better in describing your talents in greater details and your expertise and knowledge, not just photoshop/xhtml/css. what about your sense of design? what about layouts that sell? what about great usability and site structure know-how? also for the rest of your content in other pages, you should re-read and check the grammar.

in your contact page, why do you have a wysiwyg as the main input field? it's not necessary and does not complement the overall look of your site very well. a simple input text field works fine.

**johnlloyd** · 11-13-2008, 06:55 AM

I think that your portfolio would become more appealing if you make it a little bit wider and adding more content on it! but I think that you choose a right color scheme on that!

**babrees** · 11-13-2008, 09:17 AM

I'm afraid that I agree with everything hartofalyon has said above. I struggled to read the small white text on the black background and barely saw the dark grey links.

But I would add that you imply validated code, but your site has errors and is not validated. Also, on your portfolio you have not capitalised I a couple of times. This may be a small point to some, but I feel that good grammer etc is important when you are a web designer.

**eautocad** · 11-13-2008, 05:13 PM

nice site, and very straight forward. The readers dont have to hunt for your message, which will increase your conversions. Statistically speaking, your site isn't getting much traffic but that can be changed with some directed marketing to your targeted audience.

**YODspica** · 11-13-2008, 05:43 PM

too much black in my opinion.

**The-Pixel** · 11-13-2008, 07:36 PM

Hello,

I think your off to a really good start. You are using your own creative mind and using that to effectively making nice custom web designs. However, I feel this design is not as professional as it could be. Most companies stear away from the color 'black' because of its negative feeling it gives people. We associated black with death and death is forever. I think if you focused on a more positive color background such as 'white' you will noticed how clean and professional your design can be. I hope I was helpful - you are off to a solid start.

**HerbalHeight** · 11-15-2008, 04:29 PM

Its alright.

Things I noticed at a glance; the text is REALLY small what size is that? Ima guess size 6 or 7? I dont think anyone should go below size 8 personally. Of course people can always adjust their browsers default font size, sometimes this will mess up a websites layout though.

Im not a huge fan of the layout for the website, I dont like when content only streams down one side of the page and the otherside is a gigantic void, id rather see content less long, and instead laid out side by side. Thats personal preference I suppose though.

I like the colors but I think the red/orangish color should be used somewhere in the text of the page as well, such as the Request a Quote links should be that color instead of the dark gray.

**davemies** · 11-16-2008, 01:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by babrees

I'm afraid that I agree with everything hartofalyon has said above...
but I feel that good grammer etc is important when you are a web designer.

do you mean "i feel that good grammar etc. is important when you are a web designer." ?

**ricke46** · 11-16-2008, 02:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The-Pixel

Hello,

I think your off to a really good start. You are using your own creative mind and using that to effectively making nice custom web designs. However, I feel this design is not as professional as it could be. Most companies stear away from the color 'black' because of its negative feeling it gives people. We associated black with death and death is forever. I think if you focused on a more positive color background such as 'white' you will noticed how clean and professional your design can be. I hope I was helpful - you are off to a solid start.

I believe you can use black as a background color, especially to showcase your work, but it must be executed properly. Personally, I would lose the diagonal lines; It's a bit played. I agree with The-Pixel in that the site could be more professional. Maybe by working on the header and creating a logo/mark for yourself. It has too much of an amateur feel right now. Keep revising, you're off to a good start.

**email16** · 11-16-2008, 02:58 AM

Not impressive at all considering your a designer
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**babrees** · 11-16-2008, 03:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davemies

do you mean "i feel that good grammar etc. is important when you are a web designer." ?

ROFL! You caught me - but it's not on a website

**Mark Henderson** · 11-16-2008, 02:21 PM

Ok, i would like to thank you all for your comments. I have put them all together and basically decided on a complete redesign.

Please take a look at my site now and tell me if you like the new one better

Thank you so much

**ricke46** · 11-16-2008, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Henderson

Ok, i would like to thank you all for your comments. I have put them all together and basically decided on a complete redesign.

Please take a look at my site now and tell me if you like the new one better

Thank you so much

Mark, please don't take this the wrong way, I'm not trying to be rude but have you used or studied grids before? It just seems a bit chaotic with everything being everywhere.

**Mark Henderson** · 11-16-2008, 04:44 PM

The way i have it, i think, is right for what i am trying to do. I dont have tons of information i want to display, which is why i have gone with this layout rather than a grid based layout.

Those to me are way too busy for what i am doing. I dont want to confuse my visitors with a ton of different sections.

Actually think about what i am trying to do before you shove your links at me suggesting i know nothing of one of the most common trends of late, im a designer, not a cave man.

Thank you and good day.

**hartofalyon** · 11-16-2008, 09:39 PM

^ i agree, grids are not necessary for this site. i also don't see how the revised site is chaotic at all.

mark, great improvement. i would re-read your content to make sure the grammar is correct. i've noticed you've used "i" a lot rather than "I" in sentences. i would also take out the "...without making you feel stupid" part in your home page and replace it with "...without making you feel intimidated" or something of that nature.

i like the navigation much better. straightforward and clean.

in your about page (sorry, nagging about content), i'm not sure what 8 years experience on the web means. just surfing the web? looking at different web pages? it doesn't sound like a concrete "skill" or "experience" to be including on your website because we all browse the internet. now, 5 years in web design, that sounds impressive. i would also write out CTR and ROI as some individuals will have no idea what those terms are.

in your portfolio, i would somehow make a more clear distinction between each entry, maybe with a hr or something.

in your services page, i would make it more clear what table-less means. it has become such a common saying to want a table-less website among business owners and individuals who have heard the term and demand this from designers. however, they should understand the difference between table-less html and table-less layout. they're two very different things. tables are still needed for tabular data and should you use tables in the future for tabular data because it's semantic and makes sense to do so, your clients might get back at you and demand you remove the table because they don't understand the difference.

last bit in the contact page, the input fields aren't aligned/same size.

if you don't mind me asking, why a wood background? it doesn't really match any of the other graphical elements on your site.

**full house** · 11-16-2008, 10:23 PM

yah its not impressive! I think you can do better than that! It only shows that you are new on this.

**ricke46** · 11-16-2008, 11:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Henderson

The way i have it, i think, is right for what i am trying to do. I dont have tons of information i want to display, which is why i have gone with this layout rather than a grid based layout.

Those to me are way too busy for what i am doing. I dont want to confuse my visitors with a ton of different sections.

Actually think about what i am trying to do before you shove your links at me suggesting i know nothing of one of the most common trends of late, im a designer, not a cave man.

Thank you and good day.

Again, I wasn't trying to be rude, nor shove links at you. It was just a suggestion, but If your site works for you then that's all that's important.

**Mark Henderson** · 11-17-2008, 02:23 AM

Thanks. All of these are things I will be taking into consideration and changing. I really am going to have to get back into reading and get my grammar back up to stratch.

But is a mistake as small as i or I that noticable or are you purposely looking out for them?

I will give the div's the portfolio entries are on a different color, maybe only slightle different.

I used the wood background because it looked clean and slick. Can you recomend anything else i might use?

Quote:

Originally Posted by hartofalyon

^ i agree, grids are not necessary for this site. i also don't see how the revised site is chaotic at all.

mark, great improvement. i would re-read your content to make sure the grammar is correct. i've noticed you've used "i" a lot rather than "I" in sentences. i would also take out the "...without making you feel stupid" part in your home page and replace it with "...without making you feel intimidated" or something of that nature.

i like the navigation much better. straightforward and clean.

in your about page (sorry, nagging about content), i'm not sure what 8 years experience on the web means. just surfing the web? looking at different web pages? it doesn't sound like a concrete "skill" or "experience" to be including on your website because we all browse the internet. now, 5 years in web design, that sounds impressive. i would also write out CTR and ROI as some individuals will have no idea what those terms are.

in your portfolio, i would somehow make a more clear distinction between each entry, maybe with a hr or something.

in your services page, i would make it more clear what table-less means. it has become such a common saying to want a table-less website among business owners and individuals who have heard the term and demand this from designers. however, they should understand the difference between table-less html and table-less layout. they're two very different things. tables are still needed for tabular data and should you use tables in the future for tabular data because it's semantic and makes sense to do so, your clients might get back at you and demand you remove the table because they don't understand the difference.

last bit in the contact page, the input fields aren't aligned/same size.

if you don't mind me asking, why a wood background? it doesn't really match any of the other graphical elements on your site.