Not so sure about the ship…when I look at it, I am reminded of a pirate ship which may or may not have good connotations assocatied with it. It depends on who you are marketing to. As a fellow web designer, I don’t think much of it. My first thought was oh sweet he supports The Pirate Bay and went to click on it and realized it was just an illustration. Older people, may just think Nautica.
I like the typeface on the header areas, looks very clean. May look better with the lines under instead of over the title. That is just convention - its great to be unique - but the ultimate goal is that the user not have to think. ( Or so says Steve Krug. ) Also, under Latest News, the font is the same as the “header” or title above it. It may help to make the link the same font as the paragraph under it. Even if it is bigger and a different color, using the same typeface will help users understand that those two items are associated with each other.
Also in the Sponsors section above ( and congrats on having one ) you might want to put either a stylized image bullet before each link that has a unique image. This will slightly draw attention to the links and make it clear where one stops and one ends.
Lastly, on the comment links, I would split it up into two links…one for the number and one for the image. That would get rid of the line between the two.
Thanks for asking for feedback. I know I always appreciate it. And props to your web site. I read it everyday - you are doing an awesome job. The content is priceless and entertaining. 9rules said so.
Gary: Great feedback there. On the pirate ship, I heart it. I hope that people won’t associate it to much with piracy or overpriced upscale clothing, but we’ll see. I took your advice on making the sub-headers Verdana, it does look a lot better that way. The sponsor links can’t be changed at all since they are generated by a script. The comment links can’t be split into two links since that would create duplicate links on the page, which is bad for usability. I’m open to other ways to improve those links.
I’m almost certain it’s version 3. Did I forget a version? There was quite possibly a version before what I consider version 1, but it was more of a progression into version 1… and it was always ugly. Then version 2 was the dark one that was bearable to view.
And I do want to brand the current version as being associated with pirates and general rebelliousness. I can’t help it if PirateBay, “Blue Peter,” “Pirates of the Carribean,” “Peter Pan,” and Long John Silver’s already did the pirate thing. It’s just a popular theme.
I didn’t say the Pirate theme was bad. I actually like it. I was just thinking of the general public. You could get fancy and add random “pirate” graphics around the site. ( i.e. compass, flags, maps, eye patches, more boats, nautical related items, etc…)
And don’t worry about versions, on my site PixelBuddy, I have skipped versions, did half a point versions, or just tweaked a current version and kept the same number. Remember, its your system, so if its version 4 then so be it.
On the comments, maybe you could do a text-decoration: none; in the CSS and that would eliminate the underline yet keep it as one link. Bolding the comment count and/or making it bigger by a point or two would make it more seemingly clickable.
Actually…it was the first thing I noticed and it made me smile. I increased and decreased the font size quite a bit and you have done a good job with making sure the elements scale properly ( even the images behind the navigation. ) I use Safari as my browser and saw no bugs on this OS.
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8 Comments
Responses to my articleNot so sure about the ship…when I look at it, I am reminded of a pirate ship which may or may not have good connotations assocatied with it. It depends on who you are marketing to. As a fellow web designer, I don’t think much of it. My first thought was oh sweet he supports The Pirate Bay and went to click on it and realized it was just an illustration. Older people, may just think Nautica.
I like the typeface on the header areas, looks very clean. May look better with the lines under instead of over the title. That is just convention - its great to be unique - but the ultimate goal is that the user not have to think. ( Or so says Steve Krug. ) Also, under Latest News, the font is the same as the “header” or title above it. It may help to make the link the same font as the paragraph under it. Even if it is bigger and a different color, using the same typeface will help users understand that those two items are associated with each other.
Also in the Sponsors section above ( and congrats on having one ) you might want to put either a stylized image bullet before each link that has a unique image. This will slightly draw attention to the links and make it clear where one stops and one ends.
Lastly, on the comment links, I would split it up into two links…one for the number and one for the image. That would get rid of the line between the two.
Thanks for asking for feedback. I know I always appreciate it. And props to your web site. I read it everyday - you are doing an awesome job. The content is priceless and entertaining. 9rules said so.
Gary: Great feedback there. On the pirate ship, I heart it. I hope that people won’t associate it to much with piracy or overpriced upscale clothing, but we’ll see. I took your advice on making the sub-headers Verdana, it does look a lot better that way. The sponsor links can’t be changed at all since they are generated by a script. The comment links can’t be split into two links since that would create duplicate links on the page, which is bad for usability. I’m open to other ways to improve those links.
And thanks very much for the compliment!
(v3, or version 4?)
I too thought of PirateBay when I saw the logo, but also the UK TV phenonemon that is “Blue Peter”… But I’m liking it generally..
I’m almost certain it’s version 3. Did I forget a version? There was quite possibly a version before what I consider version 1, but it was more of a progression into version 1… and it was always ugly. Then version 2 was the dark one that was bearable to view.
And I do want to brand the current version as being associated with pirates and general rebelliousness. I can’t help it if PirateBay, “Blue Peter,” “Pirates of the Carribean,” “Peter Pan,” and Long John Silver’s already did the pirate thing. It’s just a popular theme.
Oh wow, I’m dumb.
I didn’t say the Pirate theme was bad. I actually like it. I was just thinking of the general public. You could get fancy and add random “pirate” graphics around the site. ( i.e. compass, flags, maps, eye patches, more boats, nautical related items, etc…)
And don’t worry about versions, on my site PixelBuddy, I have skipped versions, did half a point versions, or just tweaked a current version and kept the same number. Remember, its your system, so if its version 4 then so be it.
On the comments, maybe you could do a text-decoration: none; in the CSS and that would eliminate the underline yet keep it as one link. Bolding the comment count and/or making it bigger by a point or two would make it more seemingly clickable.
Hope that helps.
Points taken. Don’t forget to test the fluidity and elasticity of the site guys… I’m beginning to think no one has noticed.
Actually…it was the first thing I noticed and it made me smile. I increased and decreased the font size quite a bit and you have done a good job with making sure the elements scale properly ( even the images behind the navigation. ) I use Safari as my browser and saw no bugs on this OS.
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<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>Please keep comments respectful and on topic.
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