Living Green - Web Design Competition

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While I usually think green colour schemes look awful, you've managed to get everything to fit together quite well and it looks ok!

I can't find much to complain about here, the header image dosen't quite line up with the content underneath the navigation bar (just a few pixels off).

Also, when you visit a page with an image such as the 'quick facts' page the full size image is loaded and resized by the browser. I suggest resizing the picture yourself to the size you want to display it at, which would increase the loading speed and reduce bandwidth use.

Overall, very good job!

It's not bad at all but I beg to differ a bit on the colour-scheme. Not that green is ugly at all but your site lacks colour I think personally. It looks rather dull and the banner ain't all that attractive with just varying shades of green.

Another note: On my screen 1280x1024 with Opera 9.26 your navigation bar's last link "About Us"'s "Us" overlaps on your content below.

What I do like: Fonts are easily readable for the most part (except the "Creative Commons" text at the very bottom and that's always a plus since many of your visitors are likely to be from the elder crowd (I believe).

I would visit your site regularly (in fact more if it was a blog with regular updates) if I was american, but I'm not and there's not much I can do to help the lakes out there. The reason I say I would though is because I tend to write similar things about my own country..

Keep it up

I agree that you could use some more contrast in the header. Try making that a colour photo and then pulling the colours for the rest of the site directly from the photo. That's what I did on my blog design. The text in the header could also be unified somehow - it's kind of all over the place.

I like the way the yellow bar goes all the way across - it's a very striking effect.

The text on pages is a bit big and I'm thinking it's probably compensating for a lack of content. I'm not sure what the rules are for this content but if it's just about the design then you could pull content from wikipedia or any other cc lisenced site.

Good job overall though The design is really cohesive and intersting without being cluttered.

I also like your green palette, also surprisingly, as there are several shades which i would have never thought to combine. The muted yellow ties them together nicely.

The graphical headers on each page look great, and command my attention, forcing my eyes across the entire page, left to right, which lets me scan the top content. My eyes automatically pause on the "side notes and news" box, which ties the page elements together.

I find the design elements simple, and clean.

Some thoughts:

As your page headers are graphics, DO ADD alt text in your image tags, to make it possible for search engines to read them. I'm not sure if the "living green" text across the top banner is meant to be a logo, but, if not, you may want to consider creating one, to make it easier for visitors to remember the name of your website.

The only element which bothers me is the choice of font colour. The black contrast, to me, takes away from the colour balance you create in the rest of the website. Have you tried it as dark grey, or dark olive font colour? I feel the same about the photo border colours. I would thicken them by a pixel or two, and mute the colour to something that matches your colour scheme.

Overall, I really like it. Great job!

Hi

I really like the green color because it says environment and living green.
The colours that were used compliment each other.

In terms of navigation it was easy to move from page to page.
I was able to find what I was looking for within one or two clicks.
Using curved lines makes the site look clean.

The size of the font is appropriate especially for those people who have trouble reading small font.

Some of the images look a bit pixelated.

Overall, this website is well done.

Love the color scheme, and layout. Could use a better header though, something more unique.

The use of the colour green for your website goes very well with the subject at hand. On your facts.html page I would say that you should probably think about adding maybe some pictures on the right hand side because the text does not fill out the page going from left to right. Good Job and great cause.

It looks like you have received several comments on the layout and design and I agree with most - that the green is great and it certainly gets your point across and leaves no room for guessing what the site is about. I would also agree with the posts that commented on contrasting colors, I think you could add something in maybe the second line, a black outline perhaps to pull it out a little. Otherwise, I really liked the color groups, the layout and the use of various fonts in your content.

If the competition includes a review of the content I did have a couple of suggestions. I would like to see more information regarding the sources of your facts and data. You quote several specifics but don't say who discovered these things, which could help to convince us to believe them. On you "Quick Facts" page, under the Simple Things to Do, I thought maybe you could explain why these things are important to do, again it may assist in getting your point across and gaining support for your cause. Lastly, it may be useful to include some links in you facts to the actual studies that developed the statistics so that readers could view the full details and make their own conclusions regarding the validity of the data. I think it also adds credibility to your page so that people know that a study was actually completed.

Overall, I thought it was well put together with a sound structure. The green really jumps out at you when you first open the site - nice job!

Hi there,

Your design is very nice. Here are my suggetion that might help:

1)In addition to the color green, could you add some other color.
2)Could you narrow the header part a little and make the body part bigger?

ysz

Hi,
Good work .But in header,it is not looking good.Do some changes in header portion.
Thanks
shally

hey.

The first impression I got when viewing your site was a good one. There is not too much content, the layout is nice and the shades of green mesh nicely. I was not overwhelmed with too much information which made me read more and navigate your site. The images are clean, and not too busy, which I like. I like the use of lightbox javascript in the gallery.

Functionality - all links work, images load quickly
Informational - lots of information offered. some pages perhaps too much
Ease of use - navigation is easy, intuitive,
Simple graphics - graphics work, fit nicely, appropriate for content
Legible text - excellent size for font, good contrast, could perhaps use some more contrast in header section

Things perhaps to improve on...
Although I do like your banner, it could perhaps use some more contrast to have things 'pop' out more.
Also, I realize that the 'take a stand' page is a list of 100 things you can do at home to help save the planet, but to be honest, I did not read it because it was too long...perhaps highlight a few key points that you wish to get across. Just a suggestion...that way, lazy readers such as myself will grasp at least some points.

Also, could just be my eyes/me being picky but the header does not quite seem to align vertically with the content. off by a few pixels but not necessarily noticeable.

All in all, good work. I really like it.

G

Other than a few alignment changes, I think the site is to the point. It's easy to navigate and hits home with environmental concerns, reminding us of what we need to do to help preserve it for the future.

I think the green looks lovley and fresh, and my only problem with the site is the clunky way it seems to load all the images. Perhaps a preload routine would be good.