SITE REVIEW: expatsworld.sytes.net

http://expatsworld.sytes.net/

hey all come join this site and tell me how slow it loads thanks, or if there are errors, especially in IE

You really need to pick a color scheme (every color you can imagine is not a color scheme). You won't get a vary in depth review from me since I couldn't handle looking at the page for very long.

I would however, like to point out, that most community sites receive use because they are about a specific topic. I can't tell what your's is about so as a user I have no reason to take the time to join just so I can have another forum membership.

hey thanks, why did u say there is no color scheme ?? its green and black

and the middke section says expats

its green and black and slate blue and purple and red and pink and grey and light blue green and greenish yellow and...

I'm not talking about just the forum software your using its the page as a whole.

LOL the forum software allows me to quickly get content up and going quickly and still allow template editing

the scheme is green and black the colors are for items that should be highlighted like the menus

EDIT: and yeah i can understand why you say this coz your site is way to dark or my monitor needs to be replaced !!

I'm not expert but here it goes:

Logo - Dated, no one really uses animated rainbows anymore. The font is a little over the top. If possible a really good logo incorporates some of the subject into it.

Speaking of subject, I can't tell what the site is about. But I see something about employers and vacancies. And a bunch of pictures. That look like they are advertising tourism...

Color scheme - There's no logic it. You have a rainbow logo, on a dark blue bg, then purple nav on a gray bg, then pink, then another gray with gray and red text, then some sort of pattern with blue and green, then when you rollover what i believe are the "main" areas, you get a satin rose patterned bg. Then some black and a little more pink. Then more purple and blue text. I think I had a seizure half way down the page. Not sure, there was a small pool of drool on my arm, only logical explanation.

Typography - Too small, too many colors, too many fonts and nothing substantial tying the site and the text together.

Radio - ??? Not sure why you have a radio. If I could understand what the site is about, might make things more clear to me.

Then under the logo you have the name of the site again. Both take me back to the homepage, good idea to have that, but it's reduntant to have so close to each other. And for some reason in FF, when I hover over the bottom one the page shifts a little. Not sure if this was intentional.

All the rollovers - not sure why you have so many and why they show up as patterns. NOT Good.

I would suggest using a template of some sort and customizing it. Or not. But this is far from todays web standards. And maybe you are trying to make it very unique, but instead it's just confusing. I can't see why someone would want to come back. I didn't hit all the pages, only because everything is so hard on the ideas and the few I did hit, I couldn't figure out what was going on. I'd say a redo is in order. Sorry. But I hope this helps you if you are serious about web design. Can I make one more suggestion? Post your site here: http://www.kirupa.com and see what kind of response you get. Only reason I say that is I notice that a lot more highly skilled designers and developers will take the time to go thru it. This site is really nice, but I notice that more novice users respond with comments like "good design" and "looks great to me". And this won't help you in the long run. GOOD luck!

lol what do you have against colorization??

why not gave a radio?? huh??

what do you think rollovers are about?? maybe they signify clickable link areas?

its a fun page, its got colors, radio, multimedia

each section might even change skin colors LOL

WHAT ABOUT THE SPEED !!!

WE KNOW THE 2 OF YOU LIKE 2-COLOR PAGES BUT THE SPEED MIGHY MAKE ME CHANGE lol

KARUPA WONT LET ME POST

lol AND on the shoutbox the users CAN use any color text as you want !!

edit: i do have an annoucement post to tell what we are all about; its like the ABOUT US link LOL

do i need to describe on the front?

If I were mistaken I would think that you are on the defense. There is nothing wrong with colorization. That's not the problem. But you can't use ever color of the rainbow. It looks extremely unprofessional. Just like when you purchas a car. Typically it's one or two colors on the outside and the interior might contrast it.
Why not a radio? I have nothing against bells and whistles. But how is it relevant to the site? That's all I'm saying. And YES! YOU NEED TO TELL WHAT THE SITE IS ABOUT ON THE VERY FIRST PAGE!!! If not in words, visually! THAT IS LIKE LESSON #1 in web design. You have to make it obvious or people may think they are in the wrong place and never come back. Actually I don't see an "About Us" Link. Is this a joke? Am I being PUNKE'D? Where's Aston? Kirupa won't let you post? I wonder why. I think this a joke, where a guy puts together a site that he knows is bad, just to see how many reactions he can get. You got me! LOL. I was just about to address the rollover thing....Luckily I caught on before the carpal tunnel in my wrist starting acting up. Good show mate! Now we've all had a good laugh. On to more "real" reviews!

Thats funny. I decided to test Zaiah's theory about the reviews on kirupa and they let me post. In fact it seems like the 3 reviews rule makes it harder to post on this site than kirupa which has no such rule. Maybe your site exceeded the maximum number of allowed colors?

LOL i don't know i signed up ages ago and they closed their review forum so i don't know.

As for being defensive NONE at all; i am always receptive to constructive criticism, noticed my use of smilies

Are you really hired by an ad agency?

1. the rainbow color banner is irrelevant even if u think it was the middle ages symbolism; if you had said it was too large and slow loading i would have taken notice

2. Why not have a radio ?? what does that have to do with design ?? I don't know, many expats wanna send a cheerio and dedications to loved one at home

cheer up

that site can provide info at great rate then any you can make

btw Ozzu is colorful

see their menu on the right

each category has a color

Hey. I keep saying I'm not going to respond and here I am again...I just can't let this die. Okay. The review forum is still up. I only suggested it because there are some people on the site that will be brutally honest. I notice here that some of the gurus won't take a look or make a comment if your site is not up to a certain level. <HINT>
Not sure who the ad agency question was geared at...
I just said it looks dated. The site has some similar qualities to some of the sites I have seen on "Worst Sites of All Times", ie. the rainbow logo. <HINT> ANd why did you switch it on every page? Consistency is important in good web design. It doesn't have to be boring to be good <CLUE>
And I'm happy. It's sunny outside, the weather's nice, I'm getting paid today and I've taken my meds

Can you do this provide a list of your favorite sites and compare them to what you have created. Or even look in some of the galleries of the top rated sites, whether they are CSS or Flash and just really look at them and maybe you will see what we are talking about. Use some of them to inspire your work.

Still not sure exactly what the site is about. Is it about people that are removed from their countries or away from their homelands?

Why not a radio? Bandwidth issues. Music selection not everyone likes the same stuff. You'd be suprised how many sites I won't go back to because I hate the music (example http://tyrabanks.com/). If you want to keep people coming back you have to keep these things in mind. Just because you like something doesn't mean other people will and keep coming back. And that is the whole point of a website. TRAFFIC <CLUE>

That last comment about it provides info at a rate faster than any I could make...I think that really bugs me. Because for one, this is a template forum that you've butchered. Someone else's work. You didn't build this from scratch or hand code it. So how can you take credit for it? Secondly, if it looks bad and is hard to navigate and find what you want, no one will care how fast it loads. <CLUE> If I didn't know any better I would think you were trying to challenge me to a web design showdown! Again I'm far from an expert but I've built a few sites some with tables, some from scratch with all CSS and I'm working on a Flash site that I'm building from the ground up.

SIDENOTE - Your rollover on that top nav looks really weird. Like the background is off or something.

Good luck!

Looks like you are the one challenging, yes the menu is off a bit but can be changed (not quite) easily at the moment.

As they say "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"; Worst all times is a list for smartarses to !#$ to

AND speed is the ALL encompassing factor. And yeas we would like to see YOUR masterpieces LOL

AS a CMS we dont need to have AN ABOUT US page on the front

LOL, the moment you said radio; i knew you knew jack all

EDIT: of course i can take credit for it, its basis is like all forum designs but why is mine different

Not sure if we are having a communication problem because of language differences or what. Your English is not the greatest and it's hard to understand what you are saying. Like you are missing a word or two in your sentences. I understand the struggle, as English is not my first language either. But you are totally missing the points that either of has made. And again, it seems like you are in your feelings about the whole thing.

And I can't call this a masterpiece, but I think it is reflective of current web design trends: http://bodybalanceliving.com/

And again I would just say look at the sites that art "hot" and look at some of the free tutorials out here. Some are really useful.