New Member, New Website

[keenp]

Hi.

I'm just finishing up on a website and I thought I might show it to somebody with an unbiased opinion before it goes live. Here's the URL:

http://students.uww.edu/keenpa19/isbm/

Please forgive the long URL. I'll change once the site goes up for real. And please forgive the flash intro, it was not my idea but was required by the client. I tried to make it as minimal as possible.

Any comments you have would be greatly appreciated, as this is my first real site.

Thanks in advance,
Peter

[splufdaddy]

Nice, clean looking site. The intro is quick and to the point, so it's ok for a splash page, if it's required . The only comment I have is that the text size seems a little larger than normal. This may be intentional, or just a good thing in general, but that was the first thing I noticed.

Nice site, welcome to the boards!

[screenweb]

Yeah, the design looks pretty good - cant really fault it. Maybe it is too basic, and could do with some more eye candy perhaps.

[keenp]

Thanks for the replys!

Splifdaddy: The text size was not a conscious decision, but just something that happened in the course of development. Do you think it would look better with a smaller text size?

screenweb: Basic was the theme I was going after because the client stipulated each page (including the splash) has to load in 20 seconds on a 28.8kbps modem. He lives in the stix with no access to broadband, so I see his point.

Any other comments? Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, as I have been going at this for several months with only the feedback of a real graphic designer ever few weeks to guide me.

By the way, if you want to see the site that I'm replacing, go to http://academics.uww.edu/sci-bus/.

Thanks again,
Peter

[smoseley]

Welcome to the forums. Nice site. The text size is fine. I'm assumind you're using the default size (approx 12pt.). Actually, most search engines prefer the larger size or em or % sizes because they are more legible and scale properly for ADA. However, 12pt. sans-serif fonts tend to look a little big and bubbly, which makes some sites look awkward. Spluf was probably alluding to that in his comment. I personally don't see an issue with the text in your site. I think it looks good.

In fact, the only addition I would make to your site would be a "trace route" at the top of each page, allowing visitors to backtrack their steps through the site.

Great work!

[smoseley]

Oh.... and I would get rid of the flash intro. It doesn't have any relevance to the site or its content,and isn't "meaty" enough to have its own page.

If you find that you absolutely MUST keep it, try to integrate it into the homepage, like I did here

[splufdaddy]

The text size doesn't look bad, it makes the site easier to read. It is larger than normal, but for the amount of content on each page, I think it's ok because there's not an endless amount of scrolling.

[tha_Gsheep]

Nope I think the site fulfills anything it sets out to do very well.
Well done and welcome to the boards!

[keenp]

Thanks for all the positive comments.

I don't know if anybody looked at the code, but the entire site is done with css. there is only one table, and that is used for the advisory board page. I got ideas from many places, but the main layout is a modified one from here: http://glish.com/css/. Feel free to borrow the code for the site if you think it's good, or just need an example of css.

Thanks again,
Peter

[tha_Gsheep]

Mighty nice of you I'd say old bean. well done