fifeclub — Fri, 10 Jan 2003 21:37:32 +0000

As a fellow not-really-a-webmaster I empathize with the time and effort it takes to build your first site. Six years after my first site (and still never took a class) I'm just now finding out easy, basic things that would have made my life easier a long time ago

1) I agree with everything Rebies said.

2) I also agree with findng inspiration from other sites. Whether it's layout, color scheme, graphics, whatever. Don't copy, but if you like somebody's "look" than try to give your site a similar "look". (the ultimate goal is "branding")

3) Everybody's been talking about the header graphic so I'll try to make this part brief. I suggest not using an animated gif. For one it takes more time to load. Second, the blur makes me dizzy (just my viewpoint). If you like the green/yellow theme and gray font that's fine, but I do suggest adding a border to pop it out more and make it easier to read.

Good luck. Keep it up. A website is never 100% done

pfeiffdog — Fri, 10 Jan 2003 20:22:30 +0000

You have a nice starting point. Just build on what you have already. I think the layout is fine.

TuUzis4u — Tue, 07 Jan 2003 01:34:41 +0000

I have since updated Coder Playground, with forums, new banner and other things. Please tell me how I'm doing, and what I can do better. I know the color scheme is a little funky, but I kinda like it.

Coder Playground

Rebies — Mon, 16 Dec 2002 07:36:53 +0000

Heh, looks a lot like the second site I built. Can I ask if you got the design / idea from some other site or if you made it up off the top of your head?

But I really am a huge fan of the left hand navigation menu the way you have it.

My suggestions..

There should not be a break between the "News" link and the rest of that section's links.

There should be a lot less white space between the end of links on the left and the next section. A way to do this is to use CSS for your paragraph or br tags. Or you can img src="" height="10" width="1" then br right after it to fully customize white space like this.

The main section should not align right up to the divider. I would suggest using table cellpadding="15" and then put the main content inside that table.

And finally, there should be way more on the main panel. Images, background color and so on. Otherwise its too white / bland.

Good work so far though!

JohnScott777 — Mon, 16 Dec 2002 06:23:30 +0000

Hey,
Nice colors, uncluttered. Only issue I have might be with the font of the nav buttons. Kinda hard to read. Other than that, looking good!

TuUzis4u — Sun, 15 Dec 2002 17:55:55 +0000

ugh, I know I know. I only used it to have something there. I NEVER made a banner b4, so cut me a little slack puuulease .

Mark Hensler — Sun, 15 Dec 2002 07:25:02 +0000

I haven't read the thread. I just wanted to make an observation....

Programmers have little contact with circuit boards (in the logo).

TuUzis4u — Sun, 15 Dec 2002 04:18:08 +0000

Well, I'm extremely flattered by the comments and grateful for suggestions. Thank my friend for referring me here, very helpful. I will take all into consideration. I promise the new logo will be cool

bigwads — Sun, 15 Dec 2002 01:15:16 +0000

looks ok to me, top banner/image not look good, maybe colours could be improved, otherwise i feel that this is a good site

nuk3 — Fri, 13 Dec 2002 06:49:56 +0000

I dont fancy the green you have used on your links, menu heading and on your logo. I think you should try a few other shades of green and see how they look. Other than that you are off to a great start.