[andycogbill]

Hey all; I'm redesigning my big site (not my portfolio site) to update the look and browser compatability. This site has a lot of content and so will need lots of room for words and pictures. So, with that in mind, I would like you to critique it on the following grounds:

Color scheme: I was going for a nice, progressive and contrasting set to catch a person's eye, obviously to invite them to stay at the site and read what I and my site's members have to say.

Layout: Do you think I should widen / narrow it? Is the overall idea good and well-executed?

Compatability: What does it look like to you (esp. Mac users) in IE, Safari, Mozilla, etc.? Are there any weirdnesses?

Logo: Is it a good logo? Is there too much / too little anti-aliasing? What could make it better?

Etc. If you have any other points that you'd like to critique, go right ahead. I'm quite open to ideas and perfectly willing to go back to ground zero. I love designing, why wouldn't I love redesigning??

Here is the link: http://community.middlebury.edu/~acogbill/feb/

Cheers!

[Scott]

hmm, I like it,

Not so sure on the dark bluey fadey lines on either side of the main area. But everything else looks quite good I like the logo etc. etc.

Works fine for me here,

PC - IE 6 - 1024 x 768

However I did check it in 800 x 600 in IE and it misses the bottom off. The white text box area is fine but the background gets sort of cut off half way down, anyways part from that nice one

[thomaz]

IMHO (as always ) ...

I don't like the purple. Especially not the shading :/
The width feels OK.
The logo is nice, no need to do anything with the anti-aliasing...

[flatcat]

I really don't like that purple....I think that green would go a lot better on a black or dark grey background... the green will do what you're looking for, but the purple makes it look tacky.

The layout is fairly good... nav looks good, I think you could re-organize the links a bit though so that they all are left-aligned and don't create problems running too close to each other (it looks unbalanced in the bad way, no alignment).

It works fine on my browser (Firefox 0.8, WIN)

Is the logo the little circle-with-perspective'd-rectangles?

I think it's a solid start, needs some good tweaks though. Definitely need to change that purple though.

[andycogbill]

So which purple are y'all talking about here? The background color or the gradient light-to-dark?

Suggestions for alternatives? What kind of green could I use here? Other colors?

As far as the whole gradient idea goes: some of you don't like it. I tend to like the sort of "depth" it gives the content, kind of like it's embedded in the page. What do you think as far as the colors go that could give it that look?

Cheers anyway for all your help. I'm still learning.....

[Scott]

I'm talking about the gradient light to dark, fair enough it makes the main part stand out but if you look at www.newplasticarts.co.uk this does the same thing and the gradient is not 'in your face' bold and bright, maybe if you tone it down a little it might look better.

The bright strong greens usually catch peoples attention but if you are wanting them to look at it for some time, then a less intense green could be used, try them out and see what you think..

[flatcat]

you need to change the purple in the background, and the gradients should change accordingly...the gradients are a good idea, they make the content area pop a little bit, which is good, it's just that that purple is horrid :x

I think the green is fine, esp because all your content boxes and stuff are going to be white, so it shouldn't be a problem for causing users to leave or whatever, however that purple will