bleutuna.com: thirteen

[bleutuna]

I'm looking for feedback on what may eventually become the thirteenth design for bleutuna.com.

One of the things I've noticed, is that if my design is too complicated to update, I just don't do it, or I put it off - leading to a huge backload of work, and then it never gets done. Since it's a personal site, that's just the way it happens.

So, what I wanted to do was something that would be very simple to update, was unbelievably useable, and elegant in it's simplicity. Purposefully simple.

Does the design below do this, or is it just simply "simple"? I want to imply that I have a sense of design, that I know what I'm doing. Essentially - I want it to still be badass, even if it is deceptively understated.

Know that the design would be done in flash, so the animation would be smooth and slick.

Feedback, sil vous plait :)

http://www.bleutuna.com/thirteen/btc_thirteen_1.jpg

http://www.bleutuna.com/thirteen/btc_thirteen_2.jpg

http://www.bleutuna.com/thirteen/btc_thirteen_3.jpg

http://www.bleutuna.com/thirteen/btc_thirteen_4.jpg

http://www.bleutuna.com/thirteen/btc_thirteen_5.jpg

:pope:

[nobody]

I think its really nice lookin and a great idea..
but it just needs some tiny peice of kick or something in there.
It just seems like its missing something tiny.. dont know how to explain it
love the idea however

[eyeinfinitude]

I think it's simple which is good, but don't you think it's a bit too dark?

[liam]

i think its great - but i'm not too sure about the arrows around the selected links. it seems to almost overdo your simple approach.

consider maybe simply using a subtle color change to display which buttons are active.

JMO

[mdipi]

yeah the arrows may be a bit much, yet it is still just so good. :A+:

[nobody]

I like the arrows :\

[mdipi]

acctually, now that i look at it mroe, it helps, i like htem too

[asphaltcowboy]

hehe, more sexeh stuff from cordon bleu ;)

[bleutuna]

(-:

The suggestions seem to be opposed to each other!

Anyone have any specific ideas as to what could improve the design? A different arrow? Different colors? some sort of background instead of just plain dark blue?

:pope:

[asphaltcowboy]

no! keep the dark blue! keep it! :D

personally, I'm not fussed about the arrow either way, text colour would be just as effective :)

[mdipi]

it almost seems a bit to cluttered to have a bar on the top and bottom of the picture. I think you should just have it all in one bar and put the zoom up there next to minimiz or whatever.

i got a question too. in the last screenshot you have the little squares next to the address (in the addressbar), how did you get it there?

[asphaltcowboy]

do a search for 'favicon' :)

[mdipi]

thats all it is? hmm i always thought more, but i wouldnt know because mine never worked...

[morse]

better hope your clients have big monitors

[bleutuna]

?:|

Huh

[morse]

to view the entire site w/o scroll bars would require 1200x1024 or whatever monitor

[asphaltcowboy]

Originally posted by morse
better hope your clients have big monitors you'd better not be talking about the d*mn font size again! ;) you gonna be embedding it any time soon bleu? it would really help imo :)

[asphaltcowboy]

oh, I see what you mean now morse ;)
hmm who knows... bleu? :beam:

[bleutuna]

Dude, the image above is 1022x766. It's built for 1024x768 resolution monitors.

I don't see how someone's going to need a larger monitor :p

[asphaltcowboy]

yes, but 1024x786 is the entire monitor.. have you forgotten about the brower? and windows task bar? and the vertical scrollbars? that all adds up. I've got at least 75px of IE taskbar at the top, 30px of taskbar and status bar at the bottom and around 5 px of scrollbar on the left... methinks you've made it too big :P

either way, can we please see it embedded in html? PLEASE!

[asphaltcowboy]

EDIT: if I press F11 and go full screen at 1024x786, I can read it fine. but I don't browse in fullscreen. it's too big for 1024x768 man. you need to consider how many things people can turn on in their versions of IE - not to mention all the addon toolbars that people get (e.g. Google) and work with that figure instead.

[bleutuna]

I don't want to get into the logistics of it all, but the user is going to have the option to launch the site in what they want.

800x600
1024x768
1152x864
1280x1024
Current Window
Fullscreen

The site will pop-up into a window that size - without any extraneous bars - just a window. If you have have an 800x600 monitor, and choose 1024, well, you're a silly pants. As a designer, you have to settle on a set of dimensions, and then go with them. Users can have infinite numbers of bars and task bars, which you can't account for. Saying it would be maddening is an understatement.

If you're a person that has their bottom task bar double up, your browse has 4 levels, and you have an extra quick-launch at the top, and you're running 1024, you're used to seeing content be cut-off.

In the end, the final design will be contained within an extra border that will have a height that's less than the dimension of 1024x768. Most likely, around 1024x650.

I've been doing this 7 years now, so don't worry ;)

:pope:

[DDD]

i think they were just talking for testing and giving opinions....hahahaha....silly pants.....hahahahah........I think we all know that you know you will have the dimensions right come run time

[mdipi]

yeah it'll work out right.

[asphaltcowboy]

Originally posted by bleutuna
In the end, the final design will be contained within an extra border that will have a height that's less than the dimension of 1024x768. Most likely, around 1024x650.see.. now that's more sensible.. but it's not what you said/displayed before :P

I'm still waiting to see what it looks like embedded in html :P!

;)

[mdipi]

dont forget to embed the fonts~

[liam]

yeah and ash, you can get rid of the scrollbars by putting scroll="no" in the body tag of your document. this gives a bit more space for the layout :)

[asphaltcowboy]

asp :P

and .. yes, but since he hasn't embedded it yet it's impossible to give a fair opinion, cos we have no idea how it'll be when it's done. we have to work with what we're given ;)

[mdipi]

boy i have forgot about a lot of the basic HTML! kinda weird, havent had to use is in a while.

[sonnyz]

nice, the arrow should stay