Better Than Crabs

As some of you may remember I stated my thoughts on the new web site for the Steelback Centre (Aug 29th) and in a later post I stated I would nitpick my own sites (Sept 4) seeing as I “attacked” that one.

My actual words were:

I�m also going to nitpick some of my own sites considering I nitpicked the new Steelback Centre site and I think it�s only fair.

I’ve been busier than planned and didn’t get to my nitpicking even though I wanted to. Today somebody anonymously posted a comment on my post about the Steelback Centre site basically saying I had no right in judging the site because my work itself sucks. I also think most my work sucks as well but that is besides the point. If I didn’t have a web site company would I not be allowed to state my thoughts on the site? That’s close to saying I’m not a politician so I can’t comment on government affairs (yes it’s a stretch but still just a comparison).

Onto my own site bashing in chronological order of their release (in a release I remember anyway).

Chris Belsito - site launched summer of ‘03
Chris has played with the colours a bit on the site which has made the images seem a bit off but the brown was getting old and sad (it was to match the Turbulence CD) and he swapped it for the blue-green that it presently is — now looking kind of sad. My biggest design mistake here was the splash screen. Bad choice, poor design move, not needed at all and causes more user action just to get to the content which should be their main focus when they arrive to the site. I know better now. The site is also coded using tables — before I knew better once again, everything now being designed is CSS I promise.

AUSU - site launched end of summer ‘05
The design was outdated before the site went live but the delays put on the project by the previous council caused this. The new council didn’t mind the layout and kept it to keep project costs low. The site was actually designed late ‘04. The design was simple but lacked that wow factor that it needed. The logo repeating in the background looks horrible on larger resolution monitors but the client viewed it on a low resolution and it looked like it outlined the site. This site was my first CSS based site as well as using a custom CMS I built — it leaves a lot to be desired.

Sault Orleans - launced Sept ‘05
I actually still like the general appeal of this site, it’s simple and gets the point out. I designed then received content afterwards what ended up affecting parts of the site but not too much to kill the look I was aiming for. The ads at the bottom need a lot of work but they were coming in at about 5 per day leading up to the event so we just wanted something posted letting people know who was helping out.

Murderfly Multimedia - launched Sept ‘05 (this version of the site)
And my business site. It was functional for what I needed it to do at the time but now it is outdated. My work isn’t displayed properly enough and the details that a user or potential client would need aren’t prominent enough. It’s almost there but needs an overhauling (coming within the next couple of weeks).

James Case - launched end of Dec ‘05
This site took on many different forms as we went along, what you see is the final one. The navigation is Flash but also defaults to an image map incase you do not have flash installed — this way the navigation is still usable — if you have images turned off as well then I’m sorry. The design was my favourite for awhile until I grew as a designer again, I’m in the understanding that if you think that your previous work is your best you won’t strive for better, I’m continually striving. The site gets sort of disorganized with a mixture of text and pictures but I wasn’t able to tell this until put to actual use by a real person (it’s also a CMS site). The upcoming dates part at the end looked good when dates were filled in, now that Jay is on hiatus not so much so.

Blogelation - launched summer ‘06
This site captures my new style I think and executes it fairly well. There’s a good mix of colours and elements while still keeping the site simple. However the site is too long and causes to much reading. Also little updatable information is displayed on the main page for the site which doesn’t quite help the end user — this is also why the site is in redevelopment. Everything however stays in a nice order and looking at Sault Orleans and this site together they sort of mimic each other, something I didn’t realize until now.

Mystery Site - due within days
It’s more of a niche site with a niche audience. The layout and fonts on it will render different depending on the browser/OS you are using but still look good enough in both. I can’t really get into too much detail about it considering it’s not launched yet. It’ll be up soon then you can critique it for me.

When designing I aim for simplicity and I think that’s visible throughout. If a user doesn’t know what is going on in your site or how to navigate it through it you might as well not consider them as even being at your site.

The commentor which spurred me into actual action to get this post out and running said I shouldn’t “bash” other sites. I wasn’t “bashing” but critiquing on what I thought went wrong with the site and there were clear mistakes throughout. He compared my older sites to it — which is fair considering my business site doesn’t have anything else listed in the portfolio but I also think they are on separate levels as well but that’s a different discussion in and of itself.

To the commentor on the Steelback post, if you do come back and would like to offer advice or at least let me know who you are feel free to respond using the contact me form. This way nobody else will have to know who you are if you do not want them to.

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• A New Goal
• So Far, Not So Good
• Google Ads: Adsense Blindness and Courtesy Clicks

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