[RaelRode]

I clicked the bottom thumbnail, its the same??

[glimmerman]

huh? its working fine on my computer. Unless youre saying the design looks exactly the same as before, which it doesnt in my opinion. Im confused now. They should be 2 different images

[cjgraphix]

I like the custom 'close' button on the lightbox, but the next/previous buttons don't fit and should be reworked.

I agree that the dropshadows are too big, and take away from the rest of the design. The text in the header is unreadable.

I don't mind the skinny so much as I am prone to making skinny sites myself. Made a site that was like 400px wide at one point.

And the roll-over for the navigation is a bit jumpy. I assume you either bolded, or increased the font size. Just the orange background would be enough for me, and try to center the navigation.

Also, maybe some kind of background pattern/image to give the people with huge screens something to look at besides white.

[glimmerman]

Yea I keep getting that complaint that the text is unreadable in the header. I didnt think that text was such a big deal, but yea. ur the first person to not hate the width of the site. But As I have said for the 3rd time, I made an alternate design that EVERYONE should look at in my attachments and compare the before and after and see which one works a little better. keep in mind the new one is still kinda an experiment so I can make more changes to that one.

<< new <<old

also, when you guys kept saying shadows, Im assuming you meant mostly from the layout out itself, or did you mean the logo as well? Cause I took them off in the new one, and reduced it greatly for the logo.

[joey]

My suggestions is don't use gradients or drop shadows, period. If you don't need them, don't use them. The orange is pretty bad, I think.

Layout wise, where is the structure? Read a couple books on grid based design.

[glimmerman]

I not to sure I agree on that aspect, Im not too into flat color designs. Dont get me wrong, I seen awesome stuff posted on here and and other forum sites doing what youre talking about. The orange, thats a really strong preference, so Im gonna need convincing that its just absolutely horrible. Cause Im using orange for more than just the site. but...if you were to choose a color, what would it be? Also Im not sure what is meant by the lack of structure...are you talking about both the new version and old. If the new, how so?

[cjgraphix]

I actually prefer the old to the new....
And the issue with the Orange is probably being brought up because that is the only use of color. It should be offset by another color.

The shadows are everywhere. The ones that are most distracting to me are in the square thumbnails... the orange border should be enough. Maybe make the border a different color, and then have the :hover state change it to orange, or the other way around. Orange to other color on :hover.

[papasuki]

I'm not feeling either design, new or old.

I don't like the logo treatment. You have a dropdhadow, as if the text is lying flat and you also have a reflection, as if the text is sitting up. You should do 1, not both. Or loose them both and go for something flat.

The text in the top right shape, looks weird and is very hard to read. Also has too many dropshadows. White on white text generally, is not a good idea.

Something about the nav just doesn't look right to me. I think it may be the dropshadows and glow. To be completely honest, I would say, scrap this whole idea and start from scratch.

[glimmerman]

hmm, thanks man, but I think its too late to go back to my old design, cause now Im starting to notice the flaws in it being so narrow. not many people like my old layout, not that Im designing strictly off their opinions. I still love skinny layouts though, and maybe I'll consider it when Im making html emails.

Now, the accent color is a really good idea...any suggestions? Im playing around with nice gray on the navigation bar (new version). Any other ways to incorporate accent colors on the page?

[glimmerman]

the white text isnt necessarily supposed to be completely readable. I kinda like the effect, but I guess I can change the color on it. I just dont have the time to go from scratch however

[glimmerman]

Okay, I changed the header and got rid of the white text and replaced it with a block instead.
<<< changed

<<< variation Im leaning towards this one more.

[joey]

One more thing you might want to do is utilize whitespace. Increase your padding in the top/bottom nav.

[glimmerman]

so, I think Im going to get rid of the drop down navigation, at least for the time being, I cant figure out for the life of me how to center those damn div boxes that contain the drop downs. Plus the seem out of place now that Im replacing text navigation with images

[Limbo]

I'd lose the drop shadows - or at least refine them from the default setting - they look a bit tacky.

[glimmerman]

Originally Posted by Limbo

I'd lose the drop shadows - or at least refine them from the default setting - they look a bit tacky.

I didnt just slap them on there, give me more credit than that at least. I do think out my design choices. If they were at the default setting they look the way they do now, I gave them a linear burn, changed the distance, the color, the spread, and the size. I dont really like how flat it looks without them, and im not sure Im seeing the tackiness of them beyond just personal preference. But I will go back and work with it some more.