Crituique My site!

[Sparky]

Hi there everyone. I could really use some crituique and feedback on a site I am working on - http://www.guildfordbasketball.com/unisport/

I have been working on this site for a few days - its not yet finished as you might be able to tell from news story contect or picture choices. I have got to a point of stagnation, uncertain of where to go and what to do next. Would a couple of alterations make a difference? Should I really look at some wholesale changes in layout?

Any feedback and suggestions, major or minor, would be greatly appreciated.

[ttttt]

The news page is quite hard to read and is jam packed, you could separate it into different pages.
OR
You could use RSS.:thumbsup:

[Tynan]

wow, that's a really wide page on my screen, the width of the text in the centre column makes it unattractive to read

I'd want that column made more easy to read

And too much too close together, wider margins all over the place and better diferentials between the seperate areas

the links on the left look very default indeed

too much info being flung at me at once is my overall impression

some sort of minimum width for the central column?

[ns1987]

You're abusing the div tag a bit, but that's not a big deal.

The content looks a bit crowded.

Also, the images at the top right - why are they there? You can't really make them out in a quick glimpse; maybe one larger one would be better?

Good otherwise.

[MCBR Corp]

Well, as a start... I looked at your site and saw a boring-looking site, like that news-like kind of sites, you know... For a sports site I think it should have a more sporty look, more coloured and full of life.
More sports symbols, like a ball or a stick to jump or something... Something more appealing, you see?

[Sparky]

Guys, thanks a lot for all the feedback - some very helpfull ideas and suggestions. I shall get going on a good rework of the site!

[blain]

A couple of things

1. You are coding in XHTML 1.0 Strict and then serving it as text/html, if you serve it as html then you should code in html.

2. Your CSS does not validate

3. Consider removing the jscript mouseovers on the menu and replace with css hover states.

[Sparky]

Yeah, I dont like the jscript mouseovers. I have had problems getting the menu to work with CSS hover states in IE6. Is this a recognised problem?

Ok, I have had a bit of a play, taking onboard the suggestions above. MKII of the site can be found here - http://www.guildfordbasketball.com/unisport/test2/

I still think its quite some way off. Is it much of an improvement? Anything else obviously wrong/out of place?

[blain]

You kind of went the wrong way with the XHTML / HTML thing, myself I would have changed to html rather than serving as xhtml.

[MCBR Corp]

Well, the update is very good! It looks better!

[Sparky]

I am pleased with how its progressing, and think it looks a lot better than previous incarnations - but still dont think its quite "there" yet. To me, it doesnt look or feel like a "professional" homepage yet....?

[Mike Darling]

pixellated pictures are not your friend. :)
Also I find it best to keep heads the size of a Canadian dime. (It is actually a rule of thumb for newspaper photography and design)
white text on light grey background is not good to my eyes
Maybe seperate that navigation into seperate sections :) (my idea)
If you know what a headline is and a lede, than perhaps use that instead of a large chunk of a story to introduce it.