Not professional looking :(

[kreut]

Hello,

I've begun beta testing my first website and have gotten good reviews from my friends for ease of use. However, several people have said that it doesn't look "professional". And, well, I have to agree with them! However, as a non-web designed who just designed his site, I'm not sure where to go from here. Would a better color/background scheme help, perhaps?

Any and all thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks so much,

Eric

[Ganners]

I'd say it doesn't look 'current', as it doesn't really follow some modern design trends. Okay so I'll note a few points:

• Not really digging the textured background, noise in background is popular but yours looks more like blue concrete.
• I like the header and a few of the other fonts in your container, those two fonts work alright. Then in your side bar the Fontdiner Swanky and Indie Flower are too much. I'd keep with just two fonts for the most part.
• So generally you don't need a right sidebar, so I'd just get rid of it, move it to the left or something like that maybe, or make a horizontal bar out of it.
• I'd take away the arrow in the left sidebar
• Your footer doesn't match the rest of the site with it's background colour.
• There should be some changes in the width of the left sidebar I think, the space could be divided up better.

It's a tricky one really, your site could be very greatly improved with the right redesign. There's a lot of potential here though, and the site serves a good purpose.

[kreut]

Thank you for taking the time to check out my site. And, to offer advice in a super professional manner! If I'm not particularly visually talented, might it be wise of me to hire someone to rework the homepage (the rest of the site has pretty much the same structure)?

If so, any thoughts of what this might cost?
If not, any online sites that might help me to figure out what looks good in a more "modern context"?

Thanks again for your input,

Eric

[Ganners]

There are plenty of things which can help. So I'll throw some links down that have helped me:

http://www.webdesignshock.com/design-trends-for-2011/ really awesome detailed list of current trends in the web

http://inspiredology.com/
http://bestwebgallery.com/

So what really helps me is looking at other sites, rather than just at these sorts of things. I try to find similar sites, and so if you're looking for a maths site, I'd think about what can make the design fun?

So I'd look at child's websites, teaching websites, websites with illustrations, maybe if there is a similar website for teaching algebra, a website for teaching other maths.

So what I might look at is stuff like:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/ I know this is BBC again, but you could use something like that right sidebar for your links?
http://svn2ftp.com/Could think about having illustrations like this to make your site a bit more fun
http://www.digitaltutors.com/training/3ds_max-tutorials Here's a digital learning resource, it's a bit different but they break up content well, and have a nice design. Their logo also has an illustration so it's a bit more fun and recognisable. I think something like that could help you a lot.

There is so much stuff out there, sometimes I'll visit a site, look at something and think "wow, I could use that!" and just screenshot it.

[Webzarus]

Your first comment on the site says it all, about everything:

[COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 0)]Learn by Doing! [/COLOR]

[kreut]

Ganners: You rock! Thanks for all of the links and additional suggestions. You've given me some hope.
Webzarus: As succint as your comment was, I think that you're right on target as well!

Cheers to both of you,

-Eric