20 replies to this topic

[Baniboy]

Hi all, I just uploaded my new website. I'm using wordpress and a custom theme made by myself to keep things simple. Had some complications with database importing as it would show the wrong time(5th instead of 8th!). Anyway, it's up now and I have a few articles ready there. Layout is kept simple, but the logo still needs some things(like a new logo?!) . This was going to be released before X-mas but I had to go see my cousins in Sweden(mom made me )

I'm going to keep the site active and post 1-2 article(s) every week and maybe if I get enough visitors, I'll put up some (small) ads. But I don't need money so that's not much of a goal now.

I would like to know if site seems interesting to you, is there something I've done horribly wrong etc. I'm going to make fav icon and rss buttons but I've been busy lately and school started so... If you want to find a little more about the site, read the about page or the first article called "Welcome to *******!"(first one).

Anyway, because I haven't put SEO up yet I kindly ask that you don't mention the name of my site here as T17 has killer SEO which would then harm my site's SEO by flooding the search results. I know people won't google the site's name very often but if they do...

I know my site looks kind of dull since I haven't images, so I'm going to put images relating to the posts and stuff. This site isn't about pleasing your eyes anyway, so I'll again keep it simple.

I would also like to hear some advice about writing? Am I using too much quotes or "()" in my posts? Is it bizarre, annoying? Should I use more complex sentence structure or something?

Mention anything else you want to comment about, too. As well as suggestions on what the hell I should do with the Logo. Kindly also report all the bugs you have found on my site.

Thanks for everyone who helped me design the template, you were very helpful. Unfortunately I didn't have time to add into the design the things mentioned in the last post by inverse bloom in the template thread, I'm sorry. I'll try that later as soon as I get a graphics tutorial done.

Oops! Almost forgot the link!
Visit My Website

[truefusion]

Maybe it's me, but is your website supposed to have a design to it? You talk about a template and a logo, but i see none. It looks like styling has been "turned off."

Here's what i see:

[Baniboy]

truefusion, on Jan 8 2010, 08:05 PM, said:

Maybe it's me, but is your website supposed to have a design to it? You talk about a template and a logo, but i see none. It looks like styling has been "turned off."

Here's what i see:

Or is this what you meant by keeping it simple?

*fixed. Lol it seems it was trying to get the stylesheet from my localhost And don't start with the sarcasm, that hurts but I guess that IS simple

Edited by Baniboy, 08 January 2010 - 06:25 PM.

[truefusion]

Better. The theme reminds me of the GTK theme clearlooks. You mention whether or not a better logo should be considered. For now i'd just make the current one less blurry, and maybe center it. For the content, i'd place "Filed under" and the tags below the post. It feels a bit weird reading the topic title and reading further down only to come across those two things before the content that i would be interested in. Perhaps go with a fluid design? The content seems a bit crunched up in the middle there, even if they are spoilers. The arrows in the navigation makes me feel like there is a sub-menu waiting to pop out upon hover (only from experience), though i do realize the default interpretation of those arrows is to give the impression of following the link. Maybe, also, have the links in the content have a different color than the current grey. It doesn't seem like there is enough contrast between the content and the links.

[Baniboy]

That is fluid with fixed side columns. It's 80% of the page. I didn't exactly get what you mean by crunched? is it looking funny in your browser? I fixed the positioning of the tags&category. It's now at the bottom of the post. It was there because I used the classic theme to grab the php functions to my theme, and it had remained that way. I removed the arrows, no ideas of what to put there instead. Any ideas? Centered and sharpened the logo like you suggested. I made the links in the content area blue. The story titles still remain grey because they look too ugly in blue. Any improvement or did it just go downhill?

Any comments about the content as well?

Thanks for helping

Edited by Baniboy, 08 January 2010 - 07:08 PM.

[webishqiptar]

In my opinion posts in the main page should be shortened to contain little info, because they're confusing when you get in first. maybe a couple of lines would be fine, and you could also arrange to show 1 or 2 posts for each category. in the main page. AI also don't like the design, it's not about it being simple, but it is too simple, too old and I also don't like the colors. You know you could do something more modernistic. Well I like your way of writing, it sounds fluent and natural, it's good.

[Baniboy]

I shortened the introductions to only 2 sentences or so. There is only 1 post per category on the main page right now, so I'm not sure if you're commenting the current state of the site or the future one when I get down and dirty with writing?

Many teaching sites(excluding graphics teaching sites) are very simple when it comes to design. All I did was use images instead of plain css. It is very simple, and it might not be very pleasant to some visitors like you, but the content is more important here. I'll try to make a more exciting template soon after I get started. The current template was described as okay in another thread tho, but I can't wait to get my hands on messing around with a new one.

I also changed the layout to be 960 pixels wide now and changed the font size to 13 px.
Thanks for replying

Edited by Baniboy, 08 January 2010 - 09:15 PM.

[truefusion]

Baniboy, on Jan 8 2010, 02:07 PM, said:

That is fluid with fixed side columns. It's 80% of the page. I didn't exactly get what you mean by crunched?

Oh, i should have mentioned that i was viewing your site on a 13" monitor, which only allows a maximum resolution of 1024x768. The 80% width you had made the content seem a bit tight. But now you have increased it from 80%, and it is looking better.

Baniboy, on Jan 8 2010, 02:07 PM, said:

I removed the arrows, no ideas of what to put there instead. Any ideas?

Hmm, i didn't realize the root items in the navigation could be clicked on, had i not hovered over them. Here's what i would suggest (which will require some extra time to implement): The navigation at the top seems lonely. You should add the navigation at the left to the top and keep the tree-like structure but with drop-down menus. This may or may not help emphasize the fact that the root items in the navigation can be clicked on, but it will allow more room (for the left column) for other ideas. The search feature you can probably move to the right of the header area, which is the area to the right of the top navigation. The archives will do fine on the right side. As for the what-would-now-be an empty left column, you can place a login form there, with a register link at the bottom of the form, rather than having them as a link on the right side. Of course, when logged in, i'm not really sure what can be placed there (whether or not WordPress provides some kind of control panel for logged in users), but you could just remove the entire left column, i guess.

An idea to help emphasize the fact that the root items can be clicked on is to have an arrow on the side of those with children. The arrow will be used to show the children and not the parent item, therefore creating some kind of separation.

Baniboy, on Jan 8 2010, 02:07 PM, said:

Centered and sharpened the logo like you suggested. I made the links in the content area blue. The story titles still remain grey because they look too ugly in blue. Any improvement or did it just go downhill?

From what i am currently seeing, the colors look fine to me.

Baniboy, on Jan 8 2010, 02:07 PM, said:

Any comments about the content as well?

The introductory statements for each post actually make me want to read more, so the content is quite well.

[anwiii]

you're wrong, bani. it wont hurt your seo. it can only improve it. no matter what your site looks like now. one thing google takes in to consideration for the value of the site is how long it has been indexed. it's a little secret tip i share with you. that's why it better to buy an old domain that gets no traffic than a new one that gets no traffic.

also, google likes to see changes to a website....so the more changes google sees, the better off it will be for seo purposes. the only legitimate reason to hold back from the s.e.r.p's(search engine result pages) is if you have an unfinished site and don't want any visitors to it yet.

let me clue in in on something else. whether you want google to find you right now is irrelevant. because now that you are posting links to your site, google WILL find you....so you might as well include your title rather than "visit my website".

i took a quick peek at your blog. software, physics and website development have nothing to do with eachother. it would be better to create a seperate blog for each one. the more general your blog is, the harder it will be to gain relevancy in any one area which means your keywords are going to have less worth to you.

i didn't read your content. you write pretty good content so i don't think that is going to be a problem as long as you keep in mind that creating catagories are important, the title is very important, and inserting your keywords and title within the content of the post is VERY important.

i would highly suggest you concentrate on one area for now. create a seperate subdomain for each area, and create a main page website for your top level domain and an entry pont for your blogs. if you go this route, make sure your main kjeyword is in your subdomain name.

anyway, congrats bani....whatever route you choose, stick with it. i am sure it will be a success.

[inverse_bloom]

Mmm... unfortunately i cant give too many comments for the next week till i finish up getting my site working with drupal. Though id like to direct your attention to the the blue banner region and compare it with the title area on the sidebars.

The gradient on the main banner contrasts more strongly with the white negative space, more so than the other blue shapes do. I'd suggest "changing" the blue to those areas so they appear similar to the top banner. Also i was wondering what the effect would be to add an extra px to the border width?

I mention that because i've been using drupal and its default themes have many strong similarities with your own (especially at 1024X768). So it would helpful to differentiate yourself a little more. I think it would also help to modify the buttons a little, like a 1px outline (choose what ever color you think appropriate i.e. dark blue, mid, light or white). It will provide more definition around those elements and bring more strength to your design.

It should look more like a design, than an art/design hybrid!

Edited by inverse_bloom, 09 January 2010 - 08:20 AM.