[lasvegascfp]

Hi,

I'm a novice designer - this is my business site www.redrockwealth.com. A while back someone had mentioned to me there were some errors in the coding or something - since I'm a novice I forgot what it was and didn't think much of it because the site seems to work just fine.

I'd appreciate greatly any comments or criticism you may offer on my site, and especially any information on the coding of my site if there are issues with it I should fix.

Thanks!

[turbonostics]

Hi there,

I've had a look at your design, personally I think it's very nice, I like the way that the background is a little darker so you can read the text. That is a good example of taking care with readablity.

Design wise you've done very well, with access options of back to top on certain pages. I am not a programmer more of a visual multimedia person. I am learning CSS at the minute, but I can tell you've used Dreamweaver for some of the code. Last week I've placed my site on here I was told to use CSS, and the best way to learn CSS is learning by hand code. It is the best way. On my degree I was taught more of the visual stuff and you've done well with the design element. As we are in the same boat I can say that CSS is easier.

What you can do to help you is use the W3C website to check any errors.

Good luck with the coding,

James,

[pgo]

What he said. Looks decent - nothing spectacular, but that's OK - maybe a bit dated (1990s style).

Coding isn't awful, but not that good. I think it's time to properly learn (X)HTML/CSS.

That menu needs some fixing. It falls apart on text resize...in fact, the whole site basically falls apart.

[cocknose]

the main body text needs a sense of hierachy and alignment....

and change the typeface on that "how do you picture retirement" quote... its making me cry!!

[cocknose]

bullet points should be out-dented!!! in the gutter, and the gutter should be increased!..

[pgo]

Originally Posted by cocknose

bullet points should be out-dented!!! in the gutter, and the gutter should be increased!..

Honestly, I know this is a "rule", but I much prefer them for readability when they're indented.

[cocknose]

to each is own....! just makes me feel all microsoft

out dents are cleaner and your eye tires less when it starts at the same place each time..

[torrentfields]

I think if you got rid of all those carelessly placed images, in the main content area, it would do wonders for the design.

[BrunoSerge]

One word: fonts. FONTS!

[lasvegascfp]

What do you mean by fonts? I'm using Verdana for the site text - is that not ok? What font should I use?

I can change the font in the header - no biggy there.

I'm lost with "carelessly placed images" The whole concept of the site is to have clients start to picture the retirement things they want to do in retirement - hence the slogan etc. Working with the company can help accomplish those things. That's more of a marketing concept.

As far as indent and outdent - I'm not sure on those. outdent would simply have it line up with the rest of the text right? That's not a bad idea - I'll see how it looks.

I do know that the nav bar get's all goofed up if someone uses a large font - but I can't say I know anyone who uses a super large font so I'm not certain that's a huge issue. It's more important to me to keep the text readable by the spiders. I'm not design expert - it's a hobby for me. I'm a planner. But I enjoy this stuff. There may be other ways to fix that but I'm not sure how.

Thanks so much for your comments and help! I greatly appreciate them!

[BrunoSerge]

Originally Posted by lasvegascfp

What do you mean by fonts? I'm using Verdana for the site text - is that not ok? What font should I use?

I can change the font in the header - no biggy there.

C'mon man. Huge size. Way too huge. Am I the only one who sees a problem there, when I look at it?

Design is all about proportions and balance of elements, and that font size (and style too) are not in proportion with the rest of the site.

[lasvegascfp]

Originally Posted by BrunoSerge

C'mon man. Huge size. Way too huge. Am I the only one who sees a problem there, when I look at it?

Design is all about proportions and balance of elements, and that font size (and style too) are not in proportion with the rest of the site.

WEIRD! The main text font looks normal size to me. I think it's 12 pt., maybe 11pt, can't remember. It's definitely not huge. What browser are you using? Maybe you found a problem with my site in a certain browser or something????? Also, are you talking about the main text or the header "How do you picture retirement?"

Thanks bud!

[BrunoSerge]

Exactly. Even 10 is way too big for that design style.

Don't think so? Ok cool. I'm just saying what I think. Now you can take your conclusions.

You said it yourself that you're a "novice designer", but if you wanna trust your sense of general aesthetics already, be my guest.

[.Ryan]

It is a bit big, I agree with Bruno, but with that background it could be a bit hard to read smaller, trial I guess.

[BrunoSerge]

Yes, well.. I defend accessible design, that's specially what interface/advertising/product design is all about. But design is supposed to reach MOST of the population, so if you sacrifice aesthetic accessibility (yes, it's very important) to get a little more accessibility for people with huge resolutions in small screens or people with not-so-good vision (that constitute a very small percentage of the audience), that's giving benefits to the small percentage instead of most of the audience, and that's always wrong.

In this case I would reduce the text size(s), and if it gets less readable, change the color scheme/text contrast to fix that.

[lasvegascfp]

Originally Posted by BrunoSerge

Yes, well.. I defend accessible design, that's specially what interface/advertising/product design is all about. But design is supposed to reach MOST of the population, so if you sacrifice aesthetic accessibility (yes, it's very important) to get a little more accessibility for people with huge resolutions in small screens or people with not-so-good vision (that constitute a very small percentage of the audience), that's giving benefits to the small percentage instead of most of the audience, and that's always wrong.

In this case I would reduce the text size(s), and if it gets less readable, change the color scheme/text contrast to fix that.

I gotcha now! The thing is my target audience is 55 and up - so many of them have a harder time reading the font than you or I would - hence why I made it slightly on the large side. You do have a good point though, I may shrink it down just a bit anyway.

Thanks for your input though - it may be second nature to you like finance is to me, so you probably don't realize how much I appreciate the commentary..THANKS!

[BrunoSerge]

Well cool then, most people at that age can't even tell what's good design or not.. LOL =D

[pgo]

God, I can feel the ego oozing through my cable modem.

Originally Posted by lasvegascfp

The thing is my target audience is 55 and up...

Leave the text size as is - you were right to make it larger in the first place. Possibly a new typeface - Verdana's not too readable at larger sizes (try something like Tahoma or Lucida Sans).

It's more important that your website work for your audience than for Bruno's very narrow idea of what constitutes "good design".

Another big concern is going to be resolution. If your audience is older, you can expect a large contingent of people at low resolutions. However, at 800x600, all your content is below the fold. Also, I think I mentioned this, you need to sort of the problems caused by resizing text.

Make it as readable as possible. Make your information easy to find, easy to navigate, and accessible to a wide range of users - especially those on outdated equipment.

[lasvegascfp]

Originally Posted by pgo

God, I can feel the ego oozing through my cable modem.

Leave the text size as is - you were right to make it larger in the first place. Possibly a new typeface - Verdana's not too readable at larger sizes (try something like Tahoma or Lucida Sans).

It's more important that your website work for your audience than for Bruno's very narrow idea of what constitutes "good design".

Another big concern is going to be resolution. If your audience is older, you can expect a large contingent of people at low resolutions. However, at 800x600, all your content is below the fold. Also, I think I mentioned this, you need to sort of the problems caused by resizing text.

Make it as readable as possible. Make your information easy to find, easy to navigate, and accessible to a wide range of users - especially those on outdated equipment.

No ego, well, kind of

LOL

Thanks for the tips!