SITE REVIEW: Clan Site In The Making

Hi.

I'm in the process of making up the images I'm going to use for a gaming clan website I'm making.

This is what I have so far:

http://www.captainisakiller.co.uk/Layout_copy.jpg

Any advice/comments/criticism will be appriciated.

Thanks.

// EDIT: The site has since been updated to the new version, so if you visit the website before reading the full length of the thread, that's why it doesn't look like this. //

Hmm... I'm not so sure I really like the design and colour scheme. Is there a certain game the clan website is created for? There's not much to review on it yet. How about a website instead of a screenshot so I can review the User Friendliness, Layout, etc.

It's a Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory clan website.

There's nothing on it yet because I've only just started . I just saved what I had in PS as a JPEG.

I posted it on here because I was looking at it and I felt there was something missing, but could quite pick out what, so I wanted to see what other people thought, and try to improve it.

I'll post the site when I have it uploaded.

Hmm... yes I agree. There is something missing, but I can't pick it out either! . I'm not into the colour scheme though. Usually; the common clan website colour scheme is Black, Maroon, and anything else that can blend in with those two colours.

Yeah, I concidered making it black, but I've made so many black websites in the past just for something to do, I thought I'd make a white one . I'll try different things, see what it looks like.

I think the title image looks lost.

I've gone for a black look, and I do think it looks better. I've uploaded it aswell. Still very little on it though.

http://www.elc.captainisakiller.co.uk

It would be nice if it were a little bigger i think.

I think the design is rather interesting. I think its cool because it simple. I think it looks good and the only thing that is missing is content. Lay it on the site add a little bit of content and it sould be cool. Anothing thing that might make it seem more full is if you widen it a bit. I'ld also suggest placing the navigation bar on the left and in place of where it is now put some scrolling text like "Welcome to Clan Sith - JEDI MIND TRICKS - (Date and Time)." Something like that would make it better in my opinion. If you take me my advice PM so i can see how it turned out.

Yes. I like that black one. Looks real nice ! I also love that intro. Keep up the great work

Thanks Funny_Fuzz. Glad someone likes the intro, I've got very little knowledge of Flash, and that's probably the best looking flash thing I could make

I'm going to be updating it tonight, and uploading the changes.

I took Lord Kai's suggestion, and I've put the navigation down the side, and added a marquee. It means the site is wider aswell now.

Thanks for everyones input.

Right, I've uploaded the updated version. Still no contents, I'm leaving that until I've actually got the clan up and running.

I've only updated the News page, I'm going to leave the other pages until I start adding content. So you can see the updated version on the news page, but every other page is how it was before. Suppose you can use it for comparison.

http://www.elc.captainisakiller.co.uk

(I'm waiting to see if the clan is a sucess before getting a sepertate domain for it. I'm just using a sub-domain on my bands website until then).

The site is a little hard to review at this point. I'm not crazy about scrolling text especially when the font is small and with high contrast (white over black) it tends to be fuzzy and can give me a headache. You could try making the text bold and gray, or a redish color.

I'm curious if your using an html editor to generate the content?

Your use of CSS is minimal. I would probably use CSS rather than html tables for your design. When you zoom in your site breaks up into seperate block, rather than increasing fluidly.

However, the elements are visually soothing, maybe a little soft for a clan site, but still, nice looking!

I also think the site is a little small. (my res 1024 X 728)

Thanks for the input samohtwerdna.

I code the entire thing myself in Notepad. My CSS is minimal because my knowledge of it is minimal. If I knew how to use CSS for layout as apose to tables, then I would do so. I've just finnished school and have 7 weeks until I start college, so I intend to get learning it.

I designed it to fit 800x600 res. It still does fill the page when in 800x600, but I made an error when creating the images, which is why they aren't the right size, and whenever I make them larger, they lose quality. So I'm leaving it as it is. It's big enough to fit the contents on so I personally don't see is as a majour setback.

I'll take your advice about the scrolling text.

Thanks again.


//EDIT

You're right about the scrolling text, it does give you a headache looking at it. Suppose I didn't really look at it hard enough before, because I already knew what it said.

I guess the main question is, what res will your target audience most likely be using?

The size is not a huge issue - only something to consider.
W3schools has a pretty good intro to CSS if your looking for a place to get started. There is also a thousand other CSS sites that will blow your mind away - but for a quick example of the power of CSS I suggest going through the CSS Zen Garden.

Okay. Thanks a lot. That'll help me get started quiter.