[Jaryl]

New here, so hi! I'm not much of a designer, but I would like to think I have an eye for design so I try to do what I can with what little skills I have.

Most pages are already up, but some are still 'coming soon'. Please critique, thank you.

singaporeunleashed.com

[atouck]

absolutely amazing. not much of a designer huh ? :P
the code validates and is very well structured and the layout is very catchy.
the only thing that is not ok is the color of the font (my opinion). it's to dark and the background is black. try white or something like that

[Jaryl]

Thank you atouck, I am aware of the darkness of the entire design. But if I used white, my gf complains that it is too high contrast and it hurts her eyes.

I've turned the brightness up a little though. And the code validates because I am mainly a programmer =)

[phreezerburn]

Amazing logo, waiting to see content to fill the empty space

[LukeV]

Very nice. I would change the rollover of the navigation to something a bit more noticeable though.

[bjzaba]

Lets see what the more eperienced guys have to say - but in my opinion it needs more contrast. Maybe having black text on a white background would be good for the main content would be agood idea.

I like those hexagons, by the way...

[Jaryl]

Thanks for the feedback guys, I'll first have to say that the Logo and hexagonal motifs were designed by the client!

LukeV: I'm out of ideas, a brighter color is all I can think of.

bjzaba: I've tried a lighter background panel thing, but alas, I find it quite unwieldy.

[chazthetic]

nice design, I like the layout.

the contrast for the typography needs some work, it's kinda hard to read to be honest.

the nav needs some more visual distinction, it's somewhat close to the top and doesn't jump out for my eye.

I love the placement of the featured part.

I would also work on a more interesting footer.

other than that, it's a great start!

[kudos]

Agree with most of the comments here, its a really great looking site, but you have to remember your users, and some may find it difficult to read.
Check this article out:
ilovetypography.com/2008/02/28/a-guide-to-web-typography/

Its also good practice to have a state change on links when you hover over them. You know that im sure, but it should be noticable from a usability perspective.

[jdickenson]

i like dark sites, this site. very slick.

[Soup Of The Day]

Too dark for me.

"home" link is nearly invisible.

Besides being dark, the colours -or lack of colours - are very boring.

On the plus; some nice CSS.

[Jaryl]

Originally Posted by Soup Of The Day

On the plus; some nice CSS.

With the CSS, I was going for the minimalist look =) Anyway, I used this hack to prevent the white text from appearing bigger in Safari:

text-shadow: 0 0 0 #000;

But it doesn't validate anymore, so annoying.

Regarding the contrast, I followed the whole article and it's very helpful and all. I converted the page to grayscale and while I still find it readable, I think more contrast would be great. So I upped it another notch.

singaporeunleashed.com/images/contrast.jpg

Originally Posted by kudos

Its also good practice to have a state change on links when you hover over them.

Maybe you're looking at the cached version of the CSS, but I added an underline to a:hover some time ago. Thanks for the heads up though =)

chazthetic: I don't know, how would I make the nav jump out? More contrast?

Also, I just completed the skin for the forums, you can check it out at:
forums.singaporeunleashed.com

[JapanAlex]

i think that the gradient under the text "third post" doesn't work

or at least not with brown text

also I think the logo needs some work - it looks a little cheap - maybe how the N goes off the page? not sure.. sorry! lol

[Jaryl]

JapanAlex: I did a quick fix for that, I changed it to white. Haha, what do you think? The client provided the logo, so I can't really change that.

[JapanAlex]

much better! tbh I don't think that all the headers need to be white - until you add anthing else then maybe one colour would be better

[Jaryl]

Hmm, yeah I'm still thinking of what better way to make some of the elements more prominent. Like how Soup Of The Day commented on the home button. I'm leaving things for now, been spending way too long on this =x

[Hunch]

Interesting one. The A in the logo is a lighter weight than the rest of the characters so the S sits roughly where it would normally be if the font was proportionally the same across the logo, but my eye keeps getting drawn to that gap.

[Jaryl]

Originally Posted by Hunch

Interesting one. The A in the logo is a lighter weight than the rest of the characters so the S sits roughly where it would normally be if the font was proportionally the same across the logo, but my eye keeps getting drawn to that gap.

Now that you mention it, it irks me too. Wonder if I should I bring it up to the client? I mean, I can't just change it without telling him...