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

date posted 3rd October 2006 21:05

I once lived with someone who was colourblind, I didn't find out until he
decided to do some wiring in the living room. Deuteranopia is a type of
colourblindness that can't distinguish between red and green, though shades
are still recognised. It effects as much as 7 percent of the male population
(it is more common in males by far).


>From: Alex Libby [EMAIL REMOVED]
>Reply-To: [EMAIL REMOVED]
>To: "FN-FORUM / [EMAIL REMOVED] [EMAIL REMOVED]
>Subject: RE: FN-FORUM: New Freelancer - Help or adviced required
>Date: 3 Oct 2006 20:01:38 -0000
>
>
>Hi Mike,
>
>Having read some of the comments offered by Ian, I wanted to add some of my
>own:
>
>I like the site - the colours used are bold and give the site what I would
>call a "clean" style - it is not confused.
>
>However...
>
>1. I agree about the use of the URL in the design - it is not necessary and
>does not add anything. The URL in the browser address bar shows that you
>are
>on the site. As it stands, it is harder to read, as you have put it in a
>colour of similar contrast (I feel) to the green band used.
>
>As a half-way point, you might want to consider perhaps using part of the
>URL in the title on the page - I am thinking along the lines of "Mike
>Beecham.co.uk" if you like, with a definite difference in font sizes used,
>so that you get the impact required. As an alternative, you might want to
>consider putting it in small text at the bottom of the image - along the
>same lines of the copyright texts I sometimes see. Here you could put
>something such as "(c) mikebeecham.co.uk 2006" - how does this sound?
>
>2. I think that the whole "image" needs enlarging by about 25%, with a
>reduction in size of about 15-25% for the wooden man - if I am to be
>brutally honest, I would feel that the site is cramped, and not as easy to
>view as it could be. It feels like there is too much green "screen estate"
>which is not being used - I am not suggesting a large increase in size, but
>still feel that something is needed to make better use of the screen.
>
>3. I am not so convinced about the removal of the "about me" comment from
>Ian (sorry Ian) - I still feel that people need to know who you are, or
>perhaps that there is a live person behind the site and that it is not a
>faceless entity out there on the web. As a compromise, perhaps moving it
>out
>of the menu system and down to the bottom of the screen might be better -
>at
>least people can find out who you are, if albeit not immediately.
>
>
>There is one point which I feel needs to be made though - it is in relation
>to Ian's comment about usability. Have you decided on what your "corporate"
>colour scheme would be? The only reason I ask is that, in keeping with the
>usability theme suggested by Ian, anyone who was colour blind may well find
>your site hard to use, as it uses a lot of red and green - the condition is
>called "deuteranopia", I believe.
>
>Now - before I get shot down in flames, I am fully aware that colour blind
>people may be a minority, they may or may not be in the business of
>designing sites, need a site designed, or the services of a graphic
>designer, and that justifying changes of this nature might be too much.
>However, your site does use a high proportion of red and green as a colour
>-
>had it been a smaller proportion, this may well have not been a problem.
>
>You might ask - what is the likelihood of a colour-blind individual using
>your site? The answer is - you don't know. I have always been a keen fan of
>usability, and keeping any sites I have designed open to use by as many
>people as possible. You might think that it is not necessary to change your
>colour scheme - this is entirely up to you. Please though - I am not doing
>this to scare you; I just wanted to make you aware of this "point", and let
>you decide what you want to do. It has to be your decision - I cannot
>control what you do, nor want to be seen to be doing so. You must decide if
>you think it warrants a change, or if you are too far down the route of
>setting up colour schemes to change, or even that you are not too bothered.
>This is up to you to decide...
>
>Hope this helps - please forgive the length of this posting. I hope I have
>not put too much of a spanner in the works - I will not feel offended if
>you
>want to ignore my last comments about colour!
>
>Alex Libby.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: [EMAIL REMOVED] [EMAIL REMOVED] On Behalf Of Ian Piper
>Sent: 03 October 2006 20:10
>To: FN-FORUM / [EMAIL REMOVED]
>Subject: Re: FN-FORUM: New Freelancer - Help or adviced required
>
>
>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.
>--
>Ian Piper
>Tellura Information Services - the web, document and information people
>http://www.tellura.co.uk/
>01926 811574 | 07973 156616
>skype: ianmpiper
>Key Minder : easy to use, inexpensive, industrial strength password
>protection : http://www.tellura.co.uk/keyminder/
>--
>
>
>
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