Agoraphobic & homebound resource site

[zoe_says]

http://www.humanbloom.com

This site is to provide information, resources and a community for people living with agoraphobia or living homebound.

I am new to flash & PS ,and have been working on this site for a few months in my spare time. ( As some may know since I came/come here for help.LOL) But I would like to get some thoughts on what I have done so far. I am working on a way to have the links come in after the pages load on the links page, so keep that in mind please. I came up with that link idea when trying to figure out how to fit a ton of links on one page because I always hated sifting through page after page of links.

Ooops rambling. Any opinions & critics appreciated.

Zoe :)

[billystar]

i think the resource is a good idea. agoraphobia is a debilitating but can be overcome with help such as this.

now for the critique.

the music. i found it to be unsettling. i assume it was meant to be relaxing but doesnt achieve it. defintitely change it. think 'cafe del mar' or something similar.

the site doesnt work in firefox browser. someone will be able to provide you with a link to sort that out. seeing as more and more people use firefox it is important.

the picture of a flower is a nice idea. but the overall colourscheme is very heavy and dark, which isnt right to me. Why not use light shades of blue? white, light greys to lift the page and lift the people viewing it?

the font is quite 'teccy' and not to my taste. try something like 'helvetica' or a serif font that is smoother and less angular. generally it is a good idea to use a sans-serif font for any hearders and a serif font for body text.

google 'serif' and 'sans-serif' if you are unsure of the difference. it is basically a way of classifying fonts.

the background blue clashes with the main page. there is a very good site of a member here which will help you with your general colour selection. www.colourlovers.com (http://www.colourlovers.com) there a re palettes of complimentary colours which you can use if you are unsure about your current selection :P

the 'links' page is good. smooth animation and its very user friendly. i think if you sort out the colours and font then that page is a good un. other than that there is no 'back ' button.

i see that the 'projects' page is not of the same alyout and colour scheme as the main page. it is much lighter and the picture of the sky is good. this page has a much better feel to it.

now i know ive said a lot but the site isnt bad at all. its good considering you are learning and it is better than my first ever site!

if you need any help please pm me as i would be happy to help with such a good cause.

Billy :P

[zoe_says]

Thank you so much, I will def. consider alot of your ideas.

The "project" page is a yahoo fill in template, I just put that there until I get to making that page.

The main page I was trying for same colors but different shades of it throughout. Maybe its too much? :look:

Oh and thanks so much for your offer to help. Thats very sweet.

[zoe_says]

btw I absolutely adored your homepage. You're def. talented.

[zoe_says]

Any other critiques are welcome :)

[billystar]

this is more the feel i would expect from such a site.

i see what you mean about different shades of the same colour but, they dont appear to be the same shade. i think the cross hatching makes it seem heavier. the font definitely does too

[billystar]

i want to show you the difference between your layout and a professional one. like any piece of graphic design, there has to be a concise structure to a page before you begin thinking about the design.

im gonna use this site as an example...

http://www.musiciansunion.org.uk

if you look at the attached image, you can see how the page is divided into precise content areas.

A = Title
B = Menu
C = Content Title
D = Content
E = 'negative space' i.e. allows the page to breathe
F = minor Content.

now if you switch between the pages the role of each section can change, but the sections never flow into eachother! this kind of consistency is what you should aim for with your site.

Start by printing an outline or 'envelope' of the space your site will take and use a ruler to divide up the space as you wish! then you are able to decide where content is best situated.

Now very few rules are 100% but i think this will be a good thing for you to do. then you can choose your colour pallette. and say 2 fonts, maybe 3. one for the headers, one for the content. if you get these things right, you are never going to be far off a nice site.

[billystar]

this is the alignment on what you have at the minute. consistency in a layout is crucial to communicating! :P

i hope im not coming across as patronising, I am just trying to provde you with some basic info to complement what you have learnt about photoshop!

[billystar]

there is a book you can buy on amazon.com called

'The Fundamentals of Creative Design'

by Gavin Ambrose.

I have never trained in graphics or web design but a friend bought it for me recently and i wish i had had it at your stage!

:P

[zoe_says]

Yea, right now I am working on "flash for dummies" LOL
That was a very desciptive and helpful post ..thank you , you're a sweetie pie. I will def. look into that book. I dont have many webpages ( 3 actually lol) so when I finish the 3rd one, I will go back and redo the 1st one. Practice makes perfect right?

No one else posted. Is that a bad sign? hehe

[billystar]

you are welcome

the no posting just means i got it covered ;)

[Stratification]

you are welcome

the no posting just means i got it covered ;)

Yup, that about sums it up :D

[zoe_says]

billy,

I did want to ask, the faded gray around the lines on your first example of what you thought something like my site would look like...how did you get it to look like that..the gray fade that is.

I have seen it on several sites and was curious.