old and new msnemo.com

[docock]

Okay, I've changed the layout of my 'messenger resource' site msnemo.
Please tell me which you prefer, the old layout or the new layout.
Comments are welcome as well

http://www.msnemo.com/index.html (old layout)

http://www.msnemo.com/msnemo/msnemo.html (new layout)

[Millenia]

The old one.
It has much more order to it. Everything is in it's place. It's not a great design but it is simple and easy to use.

With the new one, it looks like you have just slapped a load of images together. The background image does not stick to the edges, and therefore a huge white border is around the page. The text is un-styled and the images on the menu and background are very un-professional.

That's my opinion.

[docock]

thanks for your review
I've noticed that the new layout has some issues with firefox and opera :S
What kind of browser did you use millenia? thanks again

[Millenia]

Originally Posted by docock

thanks for your review
I've noticed that the new layout has some issues with firefox and opera :S
What kind of browser did you use millenia? thanks again

I use Firefox 3. Here's a tip, make your site in Firefox, and tweak it to work in IE. It's usually easier.

Good luck

[woop]

I agree with Millenia. The old site looks a little bit like a parked website, however it doesn't look broken like the new site does. I like that the site is more graphical, but in comparison it looks like it was made in Word.

[Rowsdower!]

I viewed them both in IE7 so I am assuming everything was presented according to plan.

As they are, I'm liking the old one more. If you were to slide the more graphical appearance of the new page (flash, etc.) into the existing page while keeping your "menu" section in the upper left you might find it to be a nice compromise (that background in the new page is just too much to handle ) - plus I like the "floor-to-ceiling" layout better than the "postage stamp in the middle of the page" appearance. These are technical terms, feel free to use them...

One big suggestion, no matter which way you go, would be to make the images clickable links to the different sections. It's not too hard to mouse over to the text, but in these modern times why bother? I think by now a lot of us are trained to click on pictures rather than text so the page feels incomplete even though it isn't.

Also - everybody hates horizontal scrolling, yes, but don't be afraid of vertical scrolling. It looks like you are trying to force everything onto a single screen's-height of space and the result is a little cluttered.

One last thing - my (rather fast) connection here took a looooooong time to load the new page the first time around. The content was up, but there was still something (I believe it was your google ad syndication) being loaded long afterward. Once I let this entiity finish loading up for good the page refresh and regular navigation was as you'd expect. Watching the status bar drag along the first time around was a bit much, though. I don't know if this can be fixed, but it's an issue nonetheless.