Roo — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 07:50:30 +0000

Very nice!

The logo...would be really great without the circle..(some sort of medal?) The circle just doesn't flow.

The main site links on the left need to be stronger...they are very hard to see, and don't stand out enough.

Your code does not validate. You should fix that..

Cool blog

onebillionviews — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 10:19:45 +0000

G'Day mate

Looked at your blog...

Seems neat in a religiousy kind of way... although I'd work on the graphics a bit. Good choice of font style and size

Cheers mate
That Aussie Bloke

JeevesBond — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 02:48:15 +0000

Oh, I like your logo! Have always been a fan of the wicked worn look, have you read Cameron Molls article on it?

I have an issue with the side menu on the left, it's just too hard to read dark text Vs. a dark background.

Next I think the menu and "pugalists" section could move down below the logo, that would give the logo more presence. Probably inline with where the main text starts would be best.

The edges of that menu picture are quite, rough, uneven and blurry. It's also just not a good background for a menu! Now those vertical lines that appear when mouse over-ing a menu item, just believe these should line-up (although that probably means putting them on the right, or re-aligning the menu).

So, re-think the menu perhaps, and a little layout work, otherwise it's really good! I'm particularly liking the little "Inspiration" area, always enjoy little insights like these that just writing doesn't quite cover.

uglued — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 02:07:31 +0000

hi IanD ,

i like the simple layout of the blog , but there seems to be too much of white color ... the links on the right have a mouse over effect but they dont give the impression of link as such ... may be u can add a little color to it , and a very light background overall might be good as well..

also you can insert the url in the following link and check ur meta tags

hope that it was helpful..

thanks.

mikehannon — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 19:12:36 +0000

I think your site is good overall. i like the design, except that i am not given an impression of what your site is about when i enter. Maybe adding a descriptive intro would be a good idea or simply moving your "fighting" page to the top of your homepage.

Also in your "title" tag and meta descriptions you are not very descriptive. I advise updating them as they are very important to some search engines.

i like the left side nav... but to increase visibility you could simply increase the text size, you have plenty of space to do this... and perhaps a lighter color, even white...

IanD — Mon, 24 Oct 2005 22:02:03 +0000

hmm, the left nav. is actually my favorite part of it. I know it draws your eye a little too far left and isn't symetrical (color wise), but I tried using a red background on the right nav and couldn't get it to look anywhere near as good as it does white. i played around a bit w/ the left nav link colors, but black worked the best. it may just be that I still have decent eyesight and am looking at it on an LCD, but it is pretty readable to me.

my last blog design (like so many) was very boxy and traditional, so I wanted something that broke out of that and I'm really happy with how this turned out. i'm definitely not going for sleek/professional.

michaelbenson — Mon, 24 Oct 2005 17:28:19 +0000

I agree with others that the left hand navigation menu appears a little too unorthodox for me, the navigation rollover style and the background table image both dont match the rest of the site. Perhaps removing the image with just a plain image background and keeping the current mouse-over effect would help produce a much more professional and sleek image. The content although is certainly a good read and nice to see that your keeping your blog updated and dedicated, as you see too many now who make probally one update a week and expect unlimited traffic during that time.

Britton — Sun, 23 Oct 2005 17:32:32 +0000

Simple and very organized look.

I agree and disagree with them on the navigation. I think it looks very appropriate for a blog. You might want to make the text links more noticable, however. Maybe bold or bold and white?

I'd also add the Mindy Smith CD down there with Norah Jones. Go listen to her songs.

One Moment More, Come To Jesus, and Jolene are exceptional.

http://www.mvsite.com/c-3903-mindy-smith.php

Enjoy

andyy15 — Sun, 23 Oct 2005 11:37:46 +0000

I agree with Megan, simple layout but the navigation area does not fit the site. If you do choose to keep the background picture over the navigation, change the color of the text from black to something that is easier to read. Other then that I would move the search box further up on the right because most viewers look for the search box first.

Megan — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 23:17:44 +0000

Looks good overall. The layout is nice and simple, the logo is good and sets a nice tone for the site.

The main problem I have is with the left navigation area. It seems to conflict with the rest of the design on a few levels. As a navigation menu I think this would be better done horiztonally or as part of the right side navigation. The picture is a little too fuzzy and hard to make out what it's supposed to be, and the navigation items are hard to read against the dark background.

I think that sidebar would be better if it extended all the way down the screen and all the way to the left edge. That would bring a lot of impact to the site, especially if it was a lot wider or narrower than the right sidebar.

I'm a little bit unsure about the use of a serif font for the body and a sans for the navigation. It's ain interesting contrast, for sure, but I'm not sure if it's working or not.

Overall it looks good, I like it