So, finally got there. What do you think?

[Apostropartheid]

I've been trying out template after template and I finally found one that I think works well. It's at http://www.cyan-light.co.uk/backend/...hp?contentid=1 -- criticism very welcome (just a dummy article, btw, nothing works =).)

[twodayslate]

way to simple for me.
nav needs to be spiced up.
calender hover makes text hard to read

[Apostropartheid]

I've tried everything for that hover, and when I did actually find a solution that Firefox applies, it blew up in IE.

That's luck for you.

I'm sorry if I sound rude, but why's simple a bad thing?

[trigger_tre]

As far as the hover.....its only hard to read because the background color change on hover is too similar to the text color so the text gets washed out.

try to use a pale blue color. It will achieve the same effect.

Change the on hover color #3399FF to something like #CCDDFF.


The only other recommendation is the slight difficulty distinguishing your content from what I like to call the "sideline" (the info on either side). I can tell which columns are which but as I started to read the article from left to right I found myself tempted to begin reading news lines starting in the left column instead of the middle content area.

Try to make a very faded single line that is barely noticeable but enough to separate the columns.

The only other was the right side navigation text. Your normal text and your link text colors are too similar. I have to hover over them just to be sure they were links.

-trigger

Other than that I like the simplicity. Keep it simple, just make sure its simple to read as well.

[vtjustinb]

I'm a minimalist myself, and I tend to gravitate towards clean designs over kitschy, but I think the problem with simplicity in this particular design is that your eye isn't really drawn around the page well.

You get hit with blue when you come there, and you can kind of find the main content from the lead image, but it's all kind of homogeneous.

A few picky criticisms:
- The line height is a little big for me--the vertical rhythm is too much for me. A good guideline is 1.5 times the font size as a line-height.
- The right column looks pretty bad because of that very large archive box. I think it'd be good to try to figure out a better way to present that so that you don't have all of that whitespace at the top of the right column
- I would bump down the font size of the sidebar ever so slightly to emphasize the main content column a little more

[twodayslate]

when you get into the middle of the page, everything is white. nothing stands out and is blah.

add a gradient or two.
also your line-height is too big

[Apostropartheid]

I have:

• Reduced line-height and font-size
• Reduced width of right column
• Make the box in nav have no border
• Added faint lines to seperate columns
• Changed the :hover colour of nav
• Changed text colour in nav
• Toned down sidebar colour

I might add a gradient or background colour to the code boxes once I get on a computer with decent software.

Any other suggestions or anything I've missed out?

[trigger_tre]

Originally Posted by CyanLight

I have:

• Reduced line-height and font-size
• Reduced width of right column
• Make the box in nav have no border
• Added faint lines to seperate columns
• Changed the :hover colour of nav
• Changed text colour in nav
• Toned down sidebar colour

I might add a gradient or background colour to the code boxes once I get on a computer with decent software.

Any other suggestions or anything I've missed out?

I am not seeing the changes you made. It looks the same to me. Perhaps you upload a different file or perhaps the page link is now different. But your page now is the same as its been.

-trigger

[Apostropartheid]

Originally Posted by trigger_tre

I am not seeing the changes you made. It looks the same to me. Perhaps you upload a different file or perhaps the page link is now different. But your page now is the same as its been.

-trigger

Perhaps the page or the stylesheet is cached on your computer? Have you tried clearing it?

It's at exactly the same URL, I just went and checked directly and via the link I posted

[trigger_tre]

Ok got it. LOL, I am confusing myself with the 15 different windows open.

Amazing what a difference that one little faded line does to create some boundaries on your page.

The only other recommendation would be the "Navigation". There seems to be little order to it.

There are two Blog words ones a link and one is not. Slightly different colors between the two but not enough to distinguish if ones a title or subtitle, because you already have your "Navigation" title.

Also for your archives I don't recommend using the entire name of the article in your navigation menu, shorten it or abbreviate when you can. It creates unbalance between the much shorter single word links. So instead of "Our Lovely Mary Poppins — Conditional Comments & Dynamic Expressions." in your navigation menu. Just use "Our Lovely Mary Poppins" or "Conditional Comments & Dynamic Expressions".

Possibly try to use some more of the faded lines to separate blocks of info. But don't use to much because with ever addition you will slowly move from simplistic template to complicated template.

-trigger

[Apostropartheid]

I wasn't intending to use such long titles for all entries--it's just that "post" ^.^

Good point about the blog thing *delete time*

<edit>Done--& I'll use PHP to shorten links in future</edit>

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys.

[Christech4000]

I love it. The content is very informative and the design is crisp and professional.Good going!!!