simcom — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 19:05:37 +0000

Thanks for your reply. I didn't want to use a photograph because I couldn't think of any particular photo that would both look great and relate to a web design web site.

As for the logo, I specially designed it with the wave effect - it would have looked much too bland with just plain or gradient colour. The fonts are also meant to be easy to read, simple and clean.

The change to CSS is definitely something I was thinking about, and I will gradually implement that into my sites.

I just updated HostHere with a new colour scheme. Please let me know what you think of it (if you can remember the old one!)

Megan — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 14:34:29 +0000

It's more in terms of aesthetics. The graphics are just not up to par, at all. What is that swirly thing in the background??? It just looks like you didn't know what you were doing and scribbled around with an airbrush. The fonts are also a giveaway. Logos should be done in a somewhat unique font and/or with some sort of interesting treatment.

One simple technique for a header design is to get a good photo. I did this with my site and it was really easy to create something that looks good. You should also look into standards-based design with xhtml and CSS, no tables for layout. This could instantly give your site a modern look and feel, rather than the outdated tabled design you have here.

The colour scheme on the designer web site might be okay if applied correctly, but the hosting site just looks like you couldn't think of a good colour scheme and just did whatever.

simcom — Wed, 09 Mar 2005 22:20:36 +0000

Thanks for all of your replies. Thanks for pointing out the validation Fluffi - I will take a look at that pretty soon. Megan, when you said you found a lot wrong with my sites, did you mean technically or artistically (design wise)?

Your suggestion for templates is not really what I had in mind, as I want to keep a unique and fresh image - something not commonly found on a lot of websites.

My site is really aimed at small local businesses, and I have been doing a lot of local promotion. For this reason, a technically-perfect site is not a necessity - it is more important to keep the site simple, user-friendly and most of all, non-corporate.

Please let me know what you think.

ZachH — Wed, 09 Mar 2005 21:53:12 +0000

I have to agree with the previous posters, but if you insist that you will do your own design you have work a little bit on it.

Get a book with tips or take a course. You can probably learn it lots of other people have.

Good luck with it.

Fluffi — Tue, 08 Mar 2005 11:13:08 +0000

I have to agree with Megan here......

A probmen for you, as a company, is obtaining trust from potential customer, when your own frontpage does not validate, in fact your doctype is for xhtml 1.0 Trans, why not take it up to xhtml 1.1, I see no reason why you couldn't, and it might make the £115 you are charging for a single page, seem just like that little bit more realistic.

Have you marketed properly?

Megan — Sun, 06 Mar 2005 15:36:29 +0000

Simcom,

I think you ought to look for some tempaltes to use on your sites rather than trying to design them youself. You could get a much better looking site with a minimal amount of work. Most designers (your potential site hosting clients) will be able to identify a template though, especially if you don't customize it perfectly. So your other option is to try to hire someone to do it for you, or trade services.

I also think that you should read some of the posts in the "Christy Rush.co.uk" thread and ask yourself whether you are prepared to be offering web design for sale.

Sorry to be blunt but there are so many things wrong with these sites that I can't even begin to critique it properly - and my guess is that this is why you haven't gotten many critiques here. Take a good hard look at what your competition is doing. Both of these industries are highly, highly competitive and having a less than gorgeous looking site could seriously hurt your business.

simcom — Sun, 06 Mar 2005 10:29:12 +0000

Thanks - the 1px line around the table sounds like a good idea and I will certainly give it a try. The problem with the orange is I can't really change it, that's our 'corporate image'!

Cheers

carlw — Sat, 05 Mar 2005 14:03:21 +0000

Not bad, i think both pages could use a 1px black stroke around the main tables...and u might wanna just play with the colours on the designer web one...the bright orange is a little distracting...but otherwise they're both quite good.