I think this may be my first thread in the Showcase forum. Since I've seen people show off thier sites here before, I figured heck why not.

This is a site I am designing for a friend of my teacher. I've tried to make sites before but I've never been pleased with the results. This site I actually am enjoying alot. It was done in Fireworks for the images (the logo and the guy were scanned in from a paper) and the html was done in notepad and Dreamweaver.

The links all glow when you hover them and when you click a link that goes to an external site (like the map button at the top), it opens up in a framed window with a bar to return back to the site.

Tell me what you think and any suggestions you have.

Note: He hasn't seen it yet, cause I want to finish it all up before I show him.

It looks quite swish. Not bad at all, but it definately could be better. First of all, I think that red stripe on the left could do with some more detail. I think the black and white stripes from the top bar should be carried down there. This is really just a matter of visual appeal and aesthetics though, the actual design and practibility of the site layout is solid.

Something about the body text doesn't quite agree with me, though it's probably just me feeling tired or indigestion or something. :p Still, maybe a slightly different, but still common text. I think a couple more paragraph breaks would be good as well, just to make reading it less of a strain for people with bad eyes, bad monitors, or both.

Also, if you haven't already, I'd recommend running it through W3C validator. You want the code to be as universally clean as possible,

Thanks,

I've tried to put a white/black bar on the side and it looked a little funky, since the bar would be moving verticle and the text is horizontal. If you could think of something that involves that type of thing, but at the same time doesn't disrupt the eye, let me know.

I basically typed all the text right off the paper I got, but yeah, I still do need to go back and reparagraph it.

I'm already ahead with you on that one. I ran it through, got a few errors, corrected and now it's 100% validated.

I dunno man, the drop shadows are pretty tacky. Not to mention the font for the buttons on the side and the title at the top, and the grainy-looking photo. It looks decent, but not "reputable" enough to jive with the description provided by your client.

Too many (ugly) fonts!
The color scheme is icky!

[url]www.colourlovers.com[/url]

I think the colour scheme is appropriate for a martial arts site. But I agree with Daft, that the left bar seems to miss something. Maybe add a horizontal line above and below the links or something...

Yea... but it doesnt mean he has to stick with red white and black.

You can use shades of red and other colors and get a MUCH better colorscheme\

Like this:
http://www.colourlovers.com/index.cfm?section=palettes&view=display&palette=12331

Its reds and greys. Still the same colors, just a variation.

Probably without the forth colour, yes. This one looks not "tough" enough, if you ask me...

The colors match what he provided, so I'm not going to change them.

What do you suggest I use for fonts then for each area?

If you are going to suggest that I fix the fonts/colors, then you should tell me what I should fix them to, not just tell me that they need to be fixed and then give me a site to pick colors.

Well I figured id give you the option of... oh i dont know, looking for yourself?

Anyway, try the colors I showed you

For fonts:

http://www.ampsoft.net/webdesign-l/WindowsMacFonts.html

Try Trebuchet or Tahoma... Try the other ones too, but those are the ones I like to use.

How about this?

couple things

1) can we see an actual, live version of the site? The code is pretty important, not to mention use of styles and validation

2) This is besides the point, but the content is kind of an automatic turnoff

I'd definatly use a more readable font for at least the menu (if not the title too.). Navigation is important. You want people to be able to use it as easily as possible.

Stick to sans serif fonts. They're easier to read. So i'd change the bottom font.

Also, with chunks of text, less is more. People are more inclined to read a small amount of text than a lot of it. Also, get rid of the lines in caps. That also makes it harder to read instead, vary font sizes based on importance. (Even google looks for larger text and rates it as more important, well the <h*> tags anyway.) Larger font is better than the same sized font in caps.


This is purley an opinion but the new 'slices' in the menu actually detract from the text itself (because they stand out more than the menu text.)

Looking at the picture, what's going to happen to the guys feet when you have to scroll down? Are they gonna be there or are they just gonna be missing?

Try a serif font. The first sentence of the content is way too long. I got tired halfway through it.

What daft posted excites the site quite a bit, something like that on the sidebar would be great.

The color scheme MB posted was good, same colors but not as "extreme". Make a mockup with those colors he gave you, then one with the slightly less intense colors and see which your client prefers. Don't feel that you can't come up with your own tweak on what the client gave you just because he thinks he knows what he wants. You're the designer, after all. It's your job to
A) give him a design he's happy with
B) give him a design the user will be happy with
and not necessarily in that order It really shouldn't be that hard with this site though

Code is important too. I know I've used fireworks a bit and their image-rollover code is sloppy if that's what you're using. How's it render in IE/FireFox/Opera?

Other than that, and I know it may seem harsh, but it's good. A pretty standard layout, but still managed to hold my attention long enough for me to critique it (and I'm about as ADD a guy as you'll find)