SITE REVIEW: CBStrauss Web Deign And Development

This is a work in progress I say about 85% done. Still got a few bugs like the xhtml 1.0 validation error is on the board to be fixed. I need to add some more images to the content to fill out the pages more. What I'm looking for is some feedback on the over all layout, some suggestions on what some good ideas to fill out the pages with images that seem plane.

I would only like honest responses please good or bad. http://cbstrauss.com

this is a very nice site if it was a order nary blog, but seen as this is a web design site i believe you should really try and make it a big more flashy if you are determined to use black as the background then try using flashy silver instead of red and maybe get some vista type graphics on there!

other wise it is nice!

Yeah, I agree needs a bit more to it, trying to come up with some creative graphics something different from the techy look 99% of web design sites use. I might add some flash animation into it.

Thanks for the review

I don't think you are going to like this, but you wanted honesty. Let me first say that I'm all for originality and being creative and being true to yourself as an artist. But IMO there is a difference between true art and what "clients" want.

color scheme - i would lighten it up. it's too dark for a commercial design site. unless of course you are only targeting a small customer base. example, i love Hip Hop music. the music, the art and fashion associated with it. but if i want to reach the most possible clients, i can't have those influences on my site. i could, but it might turn a 70 year old grandmother off, and she not use my service.
I look at your avatar (which is cool) and I look at your site, and I see a grunge theme kind of going on. That is the only way I can describe it, sorry. And they are fine, but it might deter certain clients. Just a thought. So that theme is kind of carried over in your colors, the brushes you used, the fonts for the name of your site/company, etc. And these aren't the latest design trends. Not to say you have to follow all of them. And have a site that looks like every Web 2.0 cliche, but some trends are trendy because they pull viewers/customers in and keep their attention. In other words, some things are used repeatedly because they actually work. So encompassing some of these in your site doesn't make you less of an artist. Unless you are doing this for the sole purpose of putting your art out there and you could care less about building a strong client base.

navigation - too simple. no rollover. text is too small. color too dark. black on red, not good. add something so the viewer knows whick page they are on.


Latest News - looks very plain. and the content is too close to the border.

headings - don't like the font choices. i think i would go with something simple, so that you don't have to use images

You don't need to say "here are samples..." . It already says "projects". And clicking on samples only takes you back to top of page. In regards to the samples and portfolio page. You don't have any samples of logos or flash or PHP. So I would get rid of all of those images. Maybe list those on a page that would kind of look like a resume. Or under skills. And I would remove the number of website samples you have. Not needed. The viewer won't care. And to be honest, brutally honest, I would not add those. Only because they aren't working sites you developed for clients. Maybe have them as images. That way the client can see the art, but doesn't really know that they aren't real. Just a thought. Also the samples are better than your actual site. And the text on the page is not centered. Nor the images. And the text could be a little bigger.

Services page - Some of the wording is redundant. It looks okay, I would just fix up the content.

Resume - Your resume look really impressive. And your experience is really broad and extensive. Which leads me to ask...why don't you have more, higher quality work to showcase? Damn I hat to sound like a jerk but, your site doesn't really represent your resume. Maybe you should have someone design the front end and you do all the back end stuff.

Contact - again text too small. i would add a form. also I would not use an MSN email. why not use one associated with your site?

Logo - develop a real logo that can be used. with a working link back to your homepage.

Favicon - might want to add one.

This got a lot longer than i wanted it to. Wasn't try to slam you. Good luck.

Thanks for the input, Like I stated the site is not really done, still got alot of stuff to add. So your advice I will take in consdieration.

As far as the purpose of the site not really so much to draw in business yet, more of just a portfolio there will be more content to each of those sections just taking time to get everything up.
But over all just mainly putting up everything I done, while in the process of looking for a job inside a company some where. Unfortunally where I live not alot of oppurtinties with big companies most are people working out their house. I done work for them but it was meh a whole other topic.

You where right on the nose sorta about the clients I plan to attract if I planned to make this into a business someday. I cant tell you which cause its my own secret market and there is a method to my madness and I dont have to explain

Any ways thanks for the input. The logo stays though its symbolic of immortality which to me what everyone wants their websites to be. For if your websites are not immortal on the web then they dont exist. lol.

Again thanks for your input

Are you planning on marketing vampires? Cause if you are, I have that market locked already. My company builds sites for like 80% of all vampires in the midwest. I'm starting another company that is going to corner the werewolf market as well.

Well if you are going to keep the logo like that, I would beef it up. Add more to the design of it and give it some depth. Actually the entire design could use some. And if this is more of a portfolio, add more work and make it obvious that it's a portfolio instead. It probably wouldn't hurt to have two sites, one portfolio and one for business. Just an idea. Keep at it.

LOL no vampires do not exist who ever told you that they are lies. Where do you live by the way I got some friends that want to come visit you. LOL just kidding.

Actually If I was going to start my own business, I think I would target local bands, which is big in this area, we have a lot of bands that play at local clubs and need a website. Photography sites is another market I would tap into. And one of the largest art communities on the web. Alot of their members have inquired to me about making them a website. So there is plenty of those to work with if I wanted to do my own business.

I do got some live working sites I will be adding, everything is added via a form and displayed out of database by when it was uploaded so I want those to appear on top so I'm for now uploading all the sample sites first so they are more towards the bottom but are atleast up there.

Right now I'm writing scripts to upload stuff to the other sections. (currently graphic stuff) Some things I made in photoshop. The logo I agree on giving it more depth just having touched on that yet, fix up maybe after other stuff done.

Im going to change something on the back ground I been playing with and someone suggested but changing the black to a silver or a lighter color it seems to brighten up the site a bit but not sure myself. Let me know if you like the silver color better.

zaiah already said a mouthful so there's not a whole lot more to add, but I will say that, overall, you should focus on readability. Not only in terms of reading the text, but also in just getting the overall message you're trying to get across.

That shade of red is really tough to work with because there's not enough contrast with either black or white text. I'd suggest either darkening it up a little and using light text or maybe trying a different color.

As far as the logo, I think that symbol is cool and your font is good too, so why not combine them into an actual logo?

It looks like you may have already made some of the changes suggested here so I'll try to cover some stuff that hasn't already been discussed. I agree with Ziah that you really need to add over states to your nav and the news section really needs some love. I think you should make it a different text color so it seems separate from the right side content.

Visually, you have a lot of wasted space with the "tree" image and your type mark. I think you could bring them together or at the very least make image a bit bigger. Also there are some strange color edges that break your background (I think they're coming from the navigation div). Finally your type really needs some kerning. There's no point in using a cool font if you don't go that extra step to make it look nice. I'll post an example of what I'm talking about a little later.

I like what you did. Looks a lot cleaner, but i may not appeal as much to the market you were targeting. But I knew that old one looked familar! http://www.freewebsitetemplates.com/preview/hairsalon/ lol. I do like what you did with the news area, nice upgrade. But I think a "grunge" look would have been perfect for your market. And I thought about something else. If you are going to target that market, you might not need to have all of your resume stuff so technical. But if you are keeping it broad, that format may be good to attract big business. Good luck again.


AND a form for your contact page.

I like the design, the navigation, the color scheme. The only thing I think that needs to be improved is the logo. It is too contrast from white to black. Why not do it with shades of gray instead.

Well, I believe you seem to be in the same boat as me, a nice site without initial appeal. You have nothing that centers my attention and the thumbnails need enhancing. I will forever remember the huge header though.

It took me some time to see what is this website all about.
I would suggest reading a book first. Is called "Don;t make me think" Steve Krug. After this bool you will see that you are missing a lot of things in your design.

Hi CStrauss, IE 6 review

http://ipinfo.info/netrenderer/index.php

Overall a nice site. Although I don't really like the idea of the header graphic. I looked over your portfolio, and it has some nice work in it, especially the headers. But it seems like you kind of skimped on your own mast image.

Nice integration of the RSS news. Very clean, and targeted keywording in the article link titles. Your source code is nice and clean. Very nice to see the use of the meta tags. So many people forget about that. BUT...I would replace the 'your keywords here' with actual page keywords lol.

Also, you have double copies in your header of your description, keywords and author meta tags.

Really nice clean site, I would however put as much love in your top mast image as you have in your portfolio pieces. And do a little more work on your logo.