half Flash / half XHTML site: advice on layout

[Kristopher]

Just some advice or pointers would be appreciated. I would prefer you guys to be knitpicky and hard actually. Look at it as if you were a lawyer working there and didn't know design.

A Note: The original draft is located here (www.krisgosser.com/gruber/site3 (http://www.krisgosser.com/gruber/site3)). They told me, "We want more color, like blues and reds. We also want some sort of snazzy header with rotating pictures. Also, more of a busy looking site would be nice."


So with all that in mind, here you gents and gals go:

www.krisgosser.com/gruber/site6 (http://www.krisgosser.com/gruber/site6)

edit: here's another version I worked on: www.krisgosser.com/gruber/site7 (http://www.krisgosser.com/gruber/site7) What do you guys like better?

[Kristopher]

Yeah, I forgot to mention the reason they didn't like the professional look of the first draft is because they wanted it to be more flambouant and eccentric to match the lawyers' personalities that work there. Yeah... you are probably thinking the same thing as me...

[leftside]

I dont agree with the drop sahdow, breaks all.
I found nice & gently the palette you choose. Ornaments are good to me too.

[DDD]

your flourishes are a bit blurry and dont standout enough. The header images are very distracting. I found myself staring at them to find out exactly what they were. I think you should use nice crisp versions instead of the filtered version. The drop shadow would not be so bad if not for the border (too close to the shadow color).

[prstudio]

looks nice -

the border might look better in a brown to not make that drop shadow look blurry -
i personally like the filter on the header images, but i would maybe tone the intensity of it down a bit -

i do like it tho. :)
gj as always Kris :)

[porpous2]

LOOOOOOOOOVVVVVEEEEEEE it. THE ONLY bad thing is the slide show fading out... mayyybe a better transition... but you have to get some better quality images for that too.

[Kristopher]

ok. I'm thinking of just getting rid of the dark blue border and just extending the light blue all the way to the edge/drop shadow. Secondly, I'll make the flourishes darker. Then, I have about 5 more pics I took of downtown Milwaukee (of the Gruber offices, etc) that I'm planning on putting in the header thing. Lastly, I have the original images of the original pics. They are good quality. I just applied filters to them because they wanted "pizzaz."

Check back tomorrow night and I'll have all the redoings finished. Thanks for the input as always guys!

[dreeft]

The page starts and ends too far down. Aka, too long.

The flash should fade from one image to the next, instead of back to the background colour, the images should all be the same size.

Solid concept though.

[apetrie]

There is too much wasted space at the top, the images should all be the same size as has already been mentioned, possibly the smaller size as its kind of a waste as well otherwise. I'm not sure I like the effects on the images, looks a bit too photoshop filter-y if that makes sense. Sounds critical but I actually really like it, these are just nitpicky things.

[simplistik]

Eh... the drop shadow is killin it.

The layout is standard, and the fade effect is pretty decent. I guess if I'm lookin at it from a flamboyant point of view... well... it's just not hittin the mark at all. It's tooo safe, too conventional. Colors aren't rich/bright enough it's too calm. Poor use of white space (red space in his case :P).

I don't think it's bad but I also think you've failed to capture the excitement that it seems they are lookin for. I think they will like it better than the first version... and they may settle for it... but I also think they will be expecting more, and won't want to wait again for something else. Just my opinion though.

[Kristopher]

Ok, site tweaked a little. What do you guys think now?

[apetrie]

I like it better, a few things though:

- You still have too much wasted space at the top imo

- The second or third picture that shows up in your animation has something weird happening in the transition

- You need to move the content up now that your pictures are all smaller. There is way too much wasted space between the bottom of the slide show and the menu, and then the content. Space is precious on a site, especially when so many users still use the default setting for their resolution, I see a ton of people using 800x600 and if they have to scroll to even see the menu, nevermind the top of the content its not good.

Otherwise I think it looks great, I personally love the way the dropshadow looks in this layout and I'm definately digging the colours. Good job =)

[simplistik]

What was changed?

[DDD]

looks alot better. Is the images continuously looping? Maybe you should have an off button for that if so.

[prstudio]

i like it - perhaps less space between the header image, then the navigation, then the body text - looks kind of spaced out there...

simp is right, it's not popping - but it's a good design - perhaps try to add some contrast or a little more flare...

but as you said go with what the client wants and what you think they should get for their buck.

i just noticed the downspout image...it's cool, but a lawyer's website probably doesnt want to have a gutterspout in their header graphic...hehe :P

[Kristopher]

Ok so here's an idea:

I'm going to take away the drop shadow, have a red-patterned background, and a light blue main background. then, it'll extend min-100%. the Flash header will generate just one picture randomly out of the ones I have on there already (minus the waterpipe one, pr :D). then, I'll have a random mouseover effect (where when you mouse over, the shape fades away).

I'll post back here when it's all finished.

[Kristopher]

Ok check out this version. I still need to incorporate a nav.

www.krisgosser.com/gruber/site7

[siliconbauhaus]

this one certainly loads faster mate. not convinced with the red pattern bg....makes me want to order a chinese.

maybe you could tighten up the header part and make the flash part a bit smaller ?

[simplistik]

this one certainly loads faster mate. not convinced with the red pattern bg....makes me want to order a chinese.

A chinese what? I'm chinese... you want to order me..? I am pretty darn sexy.

I think it's improved. I think that it would look better if the ornamentals were the top of the site instead of part of the site. Know what I mean... make it the borders instead having it rest inside it.

[ditt0]

I love the flourishes, the pattern..but it would look much better on an art/graphic site.You're making a site for business. So i'll start the comments.
Your html (cuz the way u coded it it's not xhtml) is screwed up in mozilla. Text align:center won't help ya the way you coded css.Try maybe on content

left: 50%;
margin-left: -375px;

Somewhere u missplaced a height?The content backg ends abruptly.
Now back to design, from the business point of view. You're designing for a company that wants to display mostly information about themselves, not big images and flash loading slowly.Try to think things from the customer's point of view and also from the visitors point of view . And in business sites, white space is not much appreciated, unless you're HPhttp://kirupaforum.com/forums/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Kristopher]

@dittobx: I did that at first: www.krisgosser.com/gruber/site4 (http://www.krisgosser.com/gruber/site4)

they didn't like it. it was "too professional" (exact words). instead, they wanted a site with more "flashy stuff" and "flambouant colors like red and blue" to match their personality.

I said ok.

edit as of 4:30pm tuesday: im having problems uploading site7... so if there are problems viewing it, its because o that.

[ditt0]

Give them colors! make the site exciting! Professional sites don't have to be mono or bi-chromatic. Play with the code.Add spicy elements to the site,like custom bullets, borders, hover effects etc.Most of all, work your code like ur having fun.Oh well..do i make any sense?:)

[simplistik]

Give them colors! make the site exciting! Professional sites don't have to be mono or bi-chromatic. Play with the code.Add spicy elements to the site,like custom bullets, borders, hover effects etc.Most of all, work your code like ur having fun.Oh well..do i make any sense?:)

That's what I said! but it was over looked i think. :beer:

[Kristopher]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOK. All fixed.

http://www.krisgosser.com/gruber/site7/

gogogo. I liked it at first, but looking over it... I dislike the colors, lol.

[siliconbauhaus]

chinese restaurants in england have a habit of using flocked red wallpaper...hence the comment.

[simplistik]

chinese restaurants in england have a habit of using flocked red wallpaper...hence the comment.

I know but you said "order a chinese" not order chinese.

[red_A]

It looks nice, i would make the loading text smaller and possibly somewhere on the side, aswell as double the speed, as it makes certain things such as blurry images, or fragments un-noticable and much more professional, also I think the font needs to be a little more clear, it looks kinda choppy right now. All in all, nice layout, love to see the final product.

Best of Luck :)

[sirtimbly]

Very Nice! I like the wallpaperish background, Your menu of course needs to be worked on a little bit, perhaps getting rid of the times, they are useless. Maybe the right column should have the menu aligned with the body text in the left column.

[bashirosman]

nice, if your gona have that shadow effect have the page in centered in the middle