[WFDBuff]

My website is WheelingFire.com. I just completed it, in terms of making all the pages work. I still have a ton of content to add in the way of more fire photos, videos (run clips) and of course news stories as they happen.

I designed this site using Dreamweaver 8 and did all the graphics in Photoshop CS2. I did the Flash stuff in SwishMax. My CSS code is really messy and random. I don't yet have the grasp of it the way that I would like to. I like my new layout, it is left centered on larger resolutions, but it fits fine on 800x600 resolutions (which is what I planned on). I'm going to have free live Wheeling FD dispatch on there through TeamSpeak very soon.

All the feedback that anyone can give me will help me.

Thanks!
AMC

[pioSko]

Theres two things that stood out as either uneccesary or distracting from the layout.

The intro... get rid of it. You don't need it. Intro's were popular 5 years ago and people quickly realised that they're not needed.

Second, on the main page, the header. It doesn't fit in with the rest of the page. By itself it's not bad, that's not what I'm saying. It just slightly ruins the rest of the page for me.

Suggestion.. put those two negatives together. Make an animated header using the same design and style of the rest of the page. That way you'll say what you are saying in the intro, but you don't have an intro.. and if you do it nicely, will fit in with the rest of the page.

Also, the yellow links... the mouseOver state is a little too hard to distinguish from the inactive state. The two yellows are alike and when you mouse over a link, it may be difficult for some to see.

Text formatting could do with a little .. formatting. Making the headings stand out more. Bigger margins from the left. etc etc.

Using the site's address in every "head" image is uneccesary. Maybe put the site name (not the address.. the name) in the above intro/header I mentioned above... but don't animate it. Have animation run underneath it.

Now the positive

Strong and HOT contrast.. love it.

Nice simple layout.. always good.

Menu highly visible and user friendly... two thumbs up.

Overall a nice site that with a few tweaks will become a "very good" site
Good work

[jkranig]

Check these out for flash help...

gotoAndLearn.com
Flash-Creations.com
WebWasp

Hope that helps!

[eLliDKraM]

This has got to be one of the first times I don't have anything to put out. I enjoy the header on each page. The contrast is well set up so it does not bother me. I guess I would suggest revising the statue of liberty header because it doesn't blend well with the other header. Intros, in my opinion, generally only work with video game based websites because otherwise, if there is one, I try to just skip it. All of the colors blend well enough together I have no negative thoughts when browsing. It is quick and clean to navigate. I am personally not a fan of black backgrounds because they seem too old school to me, but you've integrated some decent ideas with it. Overall it's a B-/B site design with plenty of room to expand.

[eLliDKraM]

jkranig, on 13 Feb, 2006 - 12:53 PM, said:

Check these out for flash help...

gotoAndLearn.com
Flash-Creations.com
WebWasp

Hope that helps!

This is a site check so if you are going to post tutorials and links to give assistance, you need to clarify what exactly is in need of a fix. If I post my site and someone gives me a link to graphic design or some website, I would not be feeling to satisfied.

[jkranig]

I meant to post this on a different forum for someone that actually had asked for Flash tutorials & help...! Something got funky with hitting the back button & my pages refreshing, but anyways it was a Honest mistake....delete it from the forum if its that big of a deal.

[eLliDKraM]

I'm just notifying you of the way to give good feedback to the site without being picky. I'm not saying it was not an honest mistake and your links could be used as reference; just explain why.

'nuff said

[skyhawk133]

I don't think she even realized she had replied to this thread

[eLliDKraM]

skyhawk133, on 13 Feb, 2006 - 04:40 PM, said:

I don't think she even realized she had replied to this thread

roger tahts why i said nuff said so nuff said

[WFDBuff]

pioSko, on 13 Feb, 2006 - 03:13 AM, said:

Theres two things that stood out as either uneccesary or distracting from the layout.

The intro... get rid of it. You don't need it. Intro's were popular 5 years ago and people quickly realised that they're not needed.

Second, on the main page, the header. It doesn't fit in with the rest of the page. By itself it's not bad, that's not what I'm saying. It just slightly ruins the rest of the page for me.

Suggestion.. put those two negatives together. Make an animated header using the same design and style of the rest of the page. That way you'll say what you are saying in the intro, but you don't have an intro.. and if you do it nicely, will fit in with the rest of the page.

Also, the yellow links... the mouseOver state is a little too hard to distinguish from the inactive state. The two yellows are alike and when you mouse over a link, it may be difficult for some to see.

Text formatting could do with a little .. formatting. Making the headings stand out more. Bigger margins from the left. etc etc.

Using the site's address in every "head" image is uneccesary. Maybe put the site name (not the address.. the name) in the above intro/header I mentioned above... but don't animate it. Have animation run underneath it.

Now the positive

Strong and HOT contrast.. love it.

Nice simple layout.. always good.

Menu highly visible and user friendly... two thumbs up.

Overall a nice site that with a few tweaks will become a "very good" site
Good work

Quote

The intro... get rid of it. You don't need it. Intro's were popular 5 years ago and people quickly realised that they're not needed.

I realize that intros are out of their era. The reason I chose to include the intro was because my target audience is paid and volunteer firefighters, ems people, rescue people and people who are firebuffs or huge fans of the fire department. Most of the people I have talked to who visit my site say they enjoy the audio/visual stuff like the intro. Is it bad taste to setup an online voting poll to see what the people would like to see (i.e. they either like or dislike the intro)?

Quote

Second, on the main page, the header. It doesn't fit in with the rest of the page. By itself it's not bad, that's not what I'm saying. It just slightly ruins the rest of the page for me.

I see what you mean because there is a contrast between the orange and black of the page and the US Flag colors. The fire engines in Wheeling are orange and I thought it always looked cool to see the engines flying down the street with a US Flag waving in the air.

I am going to work on consolidating the intro and the header graphic into something possibly with Flash that tries to convey the same message. Thanks for that tip, its something I never would have thought of!

[WFDBuff]

Sorry to the admin, I didn't properly quote the previous reply. I accidentally pasted the whole quoted email in. My mistake.

AMC

[eLliDKraM]

It's ok because PioSkio doesn't have feelings and we should change his name to PioSkio because that's what I see everytime I read it.

[pioSko]

pioSko... and I do have feelings

[eLliDKraM]

sorry pioskio... i just assumed hee hee