Re: FN-FORUM: New Freelancer - Help or adviced required

date posted 3rd October 2006 19:47

On 2 Oct 2006, at 5:39 pm, Mike Beecham wrote:

>
> Unless it's being offered FOC...no thanks! :o)
>
> I have designed my own website, and a friend is building it for me
> to get me
> started...
>
> http://www.mikebeecham.vispa.com/portfolio/template.jpg
>
> That is the link to one of the preview pages of the new site. It's
> fairly
> simple really (apparently)...so we'll see how it goes from here!
>

Hi Mike,

Some constructive thoughts on your preview of your site.

It is a nice bold theme. I always prefer simplicity and clarity and
this - overall - has both of those. I like the use of colour - there
are some unconventional colour combinations there and I think they work.

However...

1. The bottom and top left of the curved frame are slightly
disjointed where they meet the straight sections, out of parallel on
the curves and awkward where they converge together (they converge in
different places). For most sites this wouldn't be an issue but this
is a graphic design site - needs to be perfect.
2. Are the rollover icons going to be used for a disjoint rollover?
Dude, that's soooo last century :-) Seriously though, it is not a
good usability feature (have a look at Vince Flanders "suck" site for
what he calls "Mystery Meat Navigation").
3. I'm not clear what the woodentop is doing there. It doesn't
obviously add anything.
4. Does your template design have sufficient flexibility to work
across the whole site? The layout works on this page, but what about
different form factors (much more or very little content)?
5. Somethng I learned from a plain-speaking client. No-one cares
about you - the "about me" link can be interpreted by clients as a
cue that this is a lightweight vanity site, not a professional one.
6. Do you need to have the url on the page? By the time people see
this they are already on your site, so they don't need it. Unless of
course this is how your other materials (business cards and so on)
are going to look, in which case it makes perfect sense and I'll shut
up.

Hope this helps, and best of luck. I have been working for myself
fulltime for nearly two years and wouldn't willingly go back to wage-
slavery. Nurture your networks, keep your promises, don't be evil and
you will do fine!

Regards,


Ian.
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