10-15 year old have a look

[Boxhead]

I am creating a web page aimed at 10-15 year old, but my client is worried that the style doesnt meet the target audience. Could you have a look and see what you think so far :thumbsup:

Cheers

http://www.splash-wiltshire.org.uk/source/flash/splash_v5.html

[brothercake]

I am creating a web page aimed at 10-15 year old, but my client is worried that the style doesnt meet the target audience. Could you have a look and see what you think so far :thumbsup:

Cheers

http://www.splash-wiltshire.org.uk/source/flash/splash_v5.html
Looks god to me .. but I'm not the target audience. Have you tried asking them - maybe friends or family have kids the right age you could send a link to?

[ionsurge]

This is more towards a general web building question. Thread moved.

[STDestiny]

Umm, it's a little small don't you think? On 1024x768 it's about 2.5 inches by 4 inches (about 6cm by 10cm for the non americans). Isn't there some way to have the flash automatically resize to fit the page?

Even in 640x480 it still only takes up about half of the screen.

-Andrew

[Boxhead]

Umm, it's a little small don't you think? On 1024x768 it's about 2.5 inches by 4 inches (about 6cm by 10cm for the non americans). Isn't there some way to have the flash automatically resize to fit the page?

Even in 640x480 it still only takes up about half of the screen.

-Andrew

eh? it looks fine on my machine - it is set to fit to screen (100%)! Any one else get this? Any way what do you think of the design?

[liorean]

Same for me. It's a bit too small.

[Boxhead]

Same for me. It's a bit too small.

as small as brothercake is saying? - i dont get it! :eek:

[liorean]

You can see it for yourself, in the size I see it.

[DougBTX]

I don't have the size problem (Opera 7.23) though my guess would be that its 11-12 sort of age range.

Douglas

[plutoniumman]

Did you try veiwing it in IEx6 or netscape?

[missing-score]

i used mozilla, and it came up small.

Looking at it, it doesnt look like it fits the target audience (im 15), and it doesnt look like the sort of website I would associate with my age, looks more 8-10.

[Spookster]

It looks really good but I would have to agree that it seems more oriented for 8-10 year olds. Does your client realize that it will be very difficult to design for that particular age range? There is a drastic change in maturity levels and interests from 10-15. What interests a preteen will likely not interest an adolescent teen.

BTW I am using IE6 and it takes up the whole screen however in Netscape 7 it is very small.

[spl1nter]

Well, I'm 16 and I'm not sure it would appeal to the older members of your intended audience. The colours are too bright to really appeal to them.

[Nightfire]

Looks good in IE6, full page n all, but firefox it's the same size as everyone else mentions.

[DougBTX]

Well, I'm 16 and I'm not sure it would appeal to the older members of your intended audience. The colours are too bright to really appeal to them.

Perhaps it would help the guy if you listed some sites that you think fit that age range?

I'm probably too old, and too much the web designer :)

Douglas

[kSanders]

Whoa...I'm on 1280x1024... The page is super small. I guess it was intended for 640x480?

[missing-score]

im not sure, i dont think so... so few people still use that res anymore anyway, im assuming your using a decent browser (moz?), which is not expanding this like it does in IE.

[kSanders]

I am using Firefox 0.8 (Win32)

[missing-score]

yup, a decent browser :)

[rmedek]

Yes, on Moz for mac (1024x768) it's too small as to be unreadable. As far as design, something to remember is that ages 10-15 is the difference between middle and high school (for American kids, don't know about other countries or where your target audience is). And we all know that's a HUGE difference in tastes and appeal.

Just my $.02...

-Rich

[Boxhead]

All

Cheers for your comments - you have raised some interesting issues. Unfortunatly the site is aimed at secondary school kids (UK) which are 10-15. I have tried to go for a cartoonie style hoping it would appeal on a 'simpsons' level to the older kids - this obviously failed!! :(

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as designing for such a varied demographic (there is also the difference between boys and girls, aswell as the age to think off) is VERY difficult


On the size topic - any ideas why this is happening. I assumed (stupidly) that the flash settings were universal, but they obviously aren't.

PS if other browsers are so good, why doesnt stuff work on them without giving me extra work!! (i'm not bigging up IE ;) )

[missing-score]

well what you have to think is, is if it does the same thing on mozilla, netscape and opera... which is "wrong", IE or the other browsers which are also renowned for having the better support of CSS and other technologies ;)

[DougBTX]

well what you have to think is, is if it does the same thing on mozilla, netscape and opera... which is "wrong", IE or the other browsers which are also renowned for having the better support of CSS and other technologies ;)

No, it works in Opera. Only Gecko is getting it wrong.

Try adding this code to keep the overzealous Gecko engine happy:

html, body { height: 100%; }

Later,
Douglas

[missing-score]

oops.... i could have sworn someone said it worked in opera.. heh, guess its a mozilla thing in this case.

[stophon4]

Aright, I am ten. I could probably help. My opinion:
It is good, but anyone older than me would probably think it was babish SPECIALLy becasue people just a a year or two older than me like to think there REALLy mature. So that would probably do good for 6-12 year olds but I think that anyone from 13-15 would think of it as a babyish site. There is a BIG maturity diffrence two. I don't know if it is possible to please both completely. Probably the best compromise would to put some of each ages groups liking, 10-12, 13-15, so just put a little option maybe put a option that sais: pre-teen veiw or teen veiw, that might be the best way to get each age groupt to like it. The skateboarder could be improved though so it looked a little more teenish, right now I would say that it is a little too babyish for me, and I am the youngest in your age group. If you are trying to please that age group I also strongly suggest putting lots of games and activites. That is the only reason people my age use the net ;) And teens definetly use it for other reasons. You would probably want to get with a thirteen to fifteen year old for that. Oh well, I hope this helps :D

[bradyj]

Alright, my opinion:
I like the angled look, that has a nice wild structure. But the colors need to change; The grey is way too plain and bland -- how about some texture? Stripes? Pattern? don't use grey, boring. Use less pastels and more typical colors, with a pattern. If you going to use red, make it a strong red (not bright) and mix it with warm colors. Blue vice versa. I think the pink and light blue and canary yellow make it look very baby-ish.

I don't like the logo for 'Splash'. A distorted font doesn't appeal to the coolness that the skateboarder is trying to register. Pick something slick, clean and modern.

The shadows are too dark behind the text (and the angled layouts), it throws your eyes off when you read. The white outline is also troubling, should be removed. The colors should, again, be adjusted as a whole.

I like the skateboarding kid, but he looks boring just sitting there. The animation is cool when you change pages -- why not have him practice or something while he's hanging there? Make him trip and fall a few times, let him slide around, hang out on his cell phone, play air guitar, listen to his head phones and dance like an ipod commercial... etc.

Here's a list of some high ranked kids site:
http://www.coolhomepages.com/cool-pages/web-design-pages/Kids/1.html

I think you've done a good job, but you need to jazz it up is all. Put more elements, make more action -- adjust the logo, change ALL the colors -- if an American Adult has an online attention span of about 5 seconds, what are some of your viewers going to have if there's nothing moving along?

You should listen to stophon4, I think he has it down.

Stophon4, what sites do you know of that you like, aside from CodingForums :p

[missing-score]

hmm, im not so sure about choosing an age group... I mean, it would be useful, but it makes for more work, and aswell, very few preteens are going to want to think that they cant view the stuff that is intended for teenagers... by the time I was 11 I would usually visit sites intended for teens, becuase that was my maturity level at 11, and also I didnt want to think that I wasnt old enough to handle the teen version.

I think to really make it work you need a site that will be good for anyone between the age groups... I like it at the moment, but like bradyj said, the colours are too babyish, and while i didnt study the logo, having a better look I can see what bradyj means and probably best you alter that in some way (if possible)

[stophon4]

Stophon4, what sites do you know of that you like, aside from CodingForums :p

I mostly go to forums, I regret going to quite a few of them though...And of course I like my site :D ( www.smiley-city.tk )

[DragonTGK]

I'm 16 years old and this website, though very good (in the flash programming sense) would definatly not appeal to me :) It's defanatly more of a 10-12 year old look and maybe younger, but it looks great!

[Boxhead]

Thanks to you all!

I take on board what has been said about colour, I am now trying to 'cool' it up! :thumbsup:

Unfortunatly, as many of you know, the logo is not mine to change - even though they want to make the site more slick, whatever I try the logo stands out a mile! :mad:

Bradyj - the skater will be more active, at the mo i'm just getting the look.

I will post here again when I have made changes

cheers :thumbsup:

[braduzzz]

i think it will appeal more to 8 12 year olds

[l3vi]

lol... Im the target audience.. It is:
a. Too small
b: Honestly, it looks WAY too kiddiesh...
c: Its a great design, but... 2 kiddiesh...



i think it will appeal more to 8 12 year olds



I am between those age groups, and I honestly dont think I would really b that great for us either... lol probably more of 9 and down :D

[Boxhead]

Cheers for your comments.

Kids are so hard to please - if I put 'The Simpsons' at the top and changed nothing else they would love it! Maybe I should have a gateway page saying 'Adults Only', you'd love it then! ;) :rolleyes:

Never mind, back to the drawing board

cheers again

[ghell]

i agree with other comments, the colours do look like something a baby would be forced to wear, how about u just make the site apeal to 14-15 yr old and then but loads of games on for the 10 - 13yr olds i duno about the ks3 agerange (yr7-9 in secondary) but the BBC has a gcse revision site which i am sure you have heard of at http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/
if you can mix that with yours im sure it will appeal to them

[l3vi]

I kinda agree with Ghell, but If u just t appeal to 14-15 year olds, im sure other 10-13 yr olds would think it was good :D I would :D


Originally Posted By Boxhead

Kids are so hard to please



Why yes we are :p

[gpopguru]

I'm 16 (yet another one not in your "target" audience) and I also think it's just too kiddy. Change the color scheme a bit and it might appeal to older kids. A good site to check out would be www.neopets.com (http://www.neopets.com). That's a really kiddy site, but they somehow manage to attract members of all ages. :thumbsup:

[DougBTX]

I'm 16 (yet another one not in your "target" audience) and I also think it's just too kiddy. Change the color scheme a bit and it might appeal to older kids. A good site to check out would be www.neopets.com (http://www.neopets.com). That's a really kiddy site, but they somehow manage to attract members of all ages. :thumbsup:

Its the images - not the colour scheam - which is important.

Look down the left hand menu in neo, and compare that to the right hand menu on the original posting. voila.

Douglas

[gpopguru]

Its the images - not the colour scheam - which is important.

Look down the left hand menu in neo, and compare that to the right hand menu on the original posting. voila.

Douglas

I looked at it again, and then I compared it to neopets. I realized that the only reason your site looks "kiddy" is because there's no text yet. Neopets has a lot of text that contrasts the pictures and makes it somewhat more mature looking. I think once you get the text in there it should be fine. It's still a little small, though.

[redhead]

Maybe Comic Sans is just a little *too* young. I suggest using a font which isnt meant to be so kiddy. I'm 16 and I think that maybe if you treat them older than they are then they are more likely to like it. Far out opinion I know...

That's the thing with Coding Forums... no one cared that I'm only 16. I could answer the questions and help people out, they said thanks and learnt from a 16 year old (or maybe they were just in blissful ignorance of that fact...) and that's all that they wanted. (Sure, the questions are too hard now, but never mind... ;))

[stophon4]

No, I like the idea of putting a picture of the simpsons at the top, that would make me love it :D Yes, 'Adults Only' also might work, but that might make 10 -12 year olds like it more but that would definetly make 13-15 year olds think it was babyish and stupid :eek:

You are accpeting mission impossible :thumbsup:
I would LOVE the site if you had a matrix game :)

[MADUSA]

I like the concept. I have a problem though.

Its definetly going to target any child, just as long as you put "more stuff".

Looks good, but "where's the beef"? AKA...where's the games? I got bored without them.

[shlagish]

I see this:
http://www.angelfire.com/pro/shlagish/images/site.bmp

But from what I can see with the screenshot liorean took. Too young for me (I'm 15)

Colours are too bright, too much drawings that should be images.... (I don't know how to word this)

[stophon4]

I think the layout really won't matter as long as you have good games :thumbsup:

[gpopguru]

Ya you're probably right. Maybe that's why I'm so addicted to those darn neopets. :rolleyes:

[Boxhead]

---------------------- :D EVERYONE :D ----------------------------------

Right you lot, see what you think. Two options -

1, the same site with color and some graphical changes (very rough)
http://www.splash-wiltshire.org.uk/source/flash/splash_v5b.html

2, new design (very, very rough)
http://www.splash-wiltshire.org.uk/source/flash/splash_v12.html


Again, please tell me what you think for the age group (10-15), dont pick on things not working or not lined up properly!

Cheers :thumbsup:

monkey

[gsnedders]

---------------------- :D EVERYONE :D ----------------------------------

Right you lot, see what you think. Two options -

1, the same site with color and some graphical changes (very rough)
http://www.splash-wiltshire.org.uk/source/flash/splash_v5b.html

2, new design (very, very rough)
http://www.splash-wiltshire.org.uk/source/flash/splash_v12.html


Again, please tell me what you think for the age group (10-15), dont pick on things not working or not lined up properly!

Cheers :thumbsup:

monkey

OK, I'm 11 (12 in 2 weeks) and the first one, still very childish, I would no way go back to that unless it had some content which I could only find there, however the second one looks far better, except that it doesn't fill much space, however that is not a problem as above, it is obicely meant to be that way, so, go with the second one (http://www.splash-wiltshire.org.uk/source/flash/splash_v12.html).

Just my 2p

[stophon4]

I actually like the first on better. The second one is TOO boring. You should just give him a air guitar and make him do random tricks when you change pages. I also think if he wiped out a 1/4 of the time in diffrent wipeouts each time it would make the page MUCH more attractive. If you do it right it will make them laugh which will promote your page greatly. If you do it the wrong way it will make them think it is even more babish.

I hope this helps :thumbsup:

[redhead]

I'm a little outside your age range, but I personally prefer the second one... maybe if you could integrate the skater with that design? Methinks it would be best to see what other people think first though.

[l3vi]

lol, me is very stubborn :D

I like the second one, but I think you mite want to change the side menu slidey things to doing something other than sliding in... It gets a bit annoying to me :D SRY :D

DONT GO BACK TO THE STAR THINGS THO! It looks great how it is, but I personally dont like the slide in anim for the side menu, I also agree that you ought to give the skater dude dude more tricks to just randomly pull off at any time, and mayB have him say something when you first enter the page. Like a welcome thing, and use mayB Cookies or a log or sumthing so he kno9ws if they have been there already that day, and on the second time say something different then the first welcome, like a welcome back thing or sumthing :D

[gpopguru]

Hmmm... I definitely like the first one. Second one? TOO professional looking, not that you want to look like an amateur, it just looks too buisnesslike, ya know? I agree with what everyone said about the skater-dude. He needs to learn some tricks Lol.

You could also have a different animation on the menu when you select a link. For instance, you could have the text come into the foreground a little bit and shake or something.

Other than that... maybe try blue instead of green? or better yet, maybe a different shade of green. I don't know--try both see what you like :D

The login idea sounds great, but it just depends on what your site's gonna feature. Since it's gonna be focused around games (it is right?) you should have that feature, so that players can have a highscore table.

I really like how it's coming out, so be sure to tell me when it's finished so I can bookmark it Lol :thumbsup:

[thunderbox]

im the target are, it looks like its 4 8 year olds not teens!!

[vkidv]

Im 14 and i come from the UK. And that is some nice site. I love the way the skater rides arcross the page bringing away the pages

very nice.

Thats just mu opinion im not sure about other 10-15s.

Good Luck

[gpopguru]

I dont know. Jus like I said before, I'm 16 and I think it looks great. :thumbsup:

[bazz]

Well by comparison, I am a crumbly but I have just asked a 10year old for his view and he said it's more 5-9 yrs.

It works fine for me in IE6 at 800x600 and 1024x768.
hth

Bazz

[stophon4]

Well, if he learns tricks and wipes out it will change. BELEIVE ME!

[Niosis]

I am creating a web page aimed at 10-15 year old, but my client is worried that the style doesnt meet the target audience. Could you have a look and see what you think so far :thumbsup:

Cheers

http://www.splash-wiltshire.org.uk/source/flash/splash_v5.html

ok.... im almost in the middle of the audience you stated....

im new here, but this is an opinion question and i can handle that...

i think it is aimed mor toward the 10 yr olds.... if it looks cool and techy, it should be pretty good to cover all the audience....

i mean c'mon... people love cool techy layouts..... like this one

www.alteredconcept.com

it is on a TOTALLY different topic from the site you posted but it looks a bit more childish to me.... i think even 10 yr olds would like to see some techy stuff, but im not sure...


edit:: ooo i didnt see version 12 .... looks a LOT better to me.... mebbe just add a little bit more techish stuff :thumbsup:

[missing-score]

that site you posted doesnt work with mozilla very well... which is what im using. (and before you ask, im in the target audience)

[gsnedders]

Just to say what I said before was about what it looked like in Apple Safari, however in Firefox, the information link on the second one looks weird with a white background.


Now CF Addict

[wanderingminds]

I'm a 15 year old, and i think you have a good start. The colors are good, my siblings love it! I think you should stick with what you have on it! :thumbsup:
The 1st sight, has BRIGHT COLORS! LOVE IT. but the second one i don't like, cuz it doesn't really pop out at you. :cool:

[gpopguru]

thank you! It's good to see that someone finally agrees with me. ;)