SITE REVIEW: OhDesignX

righteous_trespasser
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Posts: 6228
Loc: South-Africa
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November 15th, 2007, 12:57 pm

http://www.ohdesignx.com ...

Let's leave all our *plum* where it is and go live in the jungle ...

Anonymous
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- www.ozzu.com
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November 15th, 2007, 12:57 pm

RedBMedia
Proficient
Joined: May 01, 2007
Posts: 315
Status: Offline

November 15th, 2007, 1:14 pm

I hate it!.....LOL.....no seriously, i like it....i like the simplicity of it. However, i don't think white text on gray isn't very appealing to the eye, and its lack of color tends to be boring....i would like to see more color and maybe a textured background...I like the layout and the simple structure.

Joe Hall

digitalMedia
a.k.a. dM
Joined: Dec 29, 2003
Posts: 5169
Loc: SC-USA
Status: Offline

November 15th, 2007, 1:39 pm

I like your color combinations and general content organization.

On the critical side, I am very uncomfortable with the paragraphs being centered, especially when they're stretched out so far. It takes more effort to read when your eye has to search for the beginning of the next line.

Under the hood, you might consider using a UL for your menu. That's generally considered better for accessibility. I'm not crazy about your use of non-breaking spaces. Also, for good form, you might consider using multiple P tags, instead of using two BRs.

I'd like to see you move more content to the front page, as well. I think that would add more interest to your front page and give the user the feeling that there is more to explore. Perhaps you could randomly place one of your portfolio sites and a brief blurb about the client's needs and the solution you provided for them. Maybe you could add a special pricing offer.

I hope that didn't sound too critical. Overall, great job!

- dM

celandine
Mastermind
Joined: Oct 30, 2007
Posts: 2008
Loc: Belgrade, Serbia
Status: Offline

November 15th, 2007, 2:20 pm

it looks lovely, clean and simple. I would justify the text. the front page needs to be longer - I'd like to see it at least the length of the portfolio page.... I like the color scheme, both the gray/white and the blue/green logo that gives some color focus. Though I might try to give the logo some more definition/ contrast/ saturation. it might be just the monitor I'm currently on but it looks a tiny bit washed out..............

otherwise I love it

Eagles may soar in the sky but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

celandine designblog

jameson5555
Bronze Robot
Joined: Oct 02, 2007
Posts: 575
Loc: Phoenix, AZ
Status: Offline

November 15th, 2007, 3:39 pm

Lookin' good! All the comments so far are right on. I agree that centered paragraphs generally aren't good.

Also, on the front page, it seems like that first paragraph should be broken up. Maybe even into some fancy custom bullet points or something...

Another thing I noticed is that on the pricing page, the first package includes 5 business cards? That seems kinda strange to me.. does that mean 5 business card designs or 5 actual cards?

phoenix web design

righteous_trespasser
Scuffle
Joined: Mar 12, 2007
Posts: 6228
Loc: South-Africa
Status: Offline

November 15th, 2007, 9:39 pm

digitalMedia wrote:

Under the hood, you might consider using a UL for your menu. That's generally considered better for accessibility. I'm not crazy about your use of non-breaking spaces. Also, for good form, you might consider using multiple P tags, instead of using two BRs.

Okay, I can do that, no problem ... Can you tell me what the reason for that is? it seems irrelevant to me ...

digitalMedia wrote:

I'd like to see you move more content to the front page, as well. I think that would add more interest to your front page and give the user the feeling that there is more to explore. Perhaps you could randomly place one of your portfolio sites and a brief blurb about the client's needs and the solution you provided for them. Maybe you could add a special pricing offer.

That's brilliant, I never thought about that ...Why, I wouldn't know ...

digitalMedia wrote:

I hope that didn't sound too critical. Overall, great job!

One can never be too critical ... And thanks!

celandine wrote:

Though I might try to give the logo some more definition/ contrast/ saturation. it might be just the monitor I'm currently on but it looks a tiny bit washed out

Yeah, it does a bit ... will only be able to fix that when I'm at home tonight ... (Only 6:30AM now)

jameson5555 wrote:

Another thing I noticed is that on the pricing page, the first package includes 5 business cards? That seems kinda strange to me.. does that mean 5 business card designs or 5 actual cards?

It's 5 business card designs ... I'll try and make it clearer ...

Then ... If you all were wondering why I added nothing but a link to my first post, it was just to get "untampered opinions" if you know what I mean ...

Let's leave all our *plum* where it is and go live in the jungle ...

JasonStanley
Graduate
Joined: Nov 15, 2007
Posts: 124
Loc: London, England
Status: Offline

November 16th, 2007, 12:23 am

I think there is a distinct lack of color in the design. The problem I see is the background gray is too light to use white text with it. Thus the text is slightly difficult to read. It would be interesting to hear how someone with a minor visual impairment gets along with the site.

The quality of the header could be improved. Perhaps a logo could be added. The navigation could be spruced up and the whole site could become a little a less gray.

As far as SEO goes you could definitely improve your page titles. Meta tags wouldn't go amiss either.

My main issue is that you have called yourself ohdesign... wheres the 'oh' in the design? I can see that you were going through simplicity in design however I think this site is far too close to bland.

righteous_trespasser
Scuffle
Joined: Mar 12, 2007
Posts: 6228
Loc: South-Africa
Status: Offline

November 16th, 2007, 12:35 am

JasonStanley wrote:

Okay so this seems to be an issue, I'll fix this to make tha background darker, but that would probably only happen over the weekend.

JasonStanley wrote:

The quality of the header could be improved.

I have noted that and will address it aswell with the page colour

JasonStanley wrote:

As far as SEO goes you could definitely improve your page titles. Meta tags wouldn't go amiss either.

Thanks for that, it's something I tend to miss frequently ...

Let's leave all our *plum* where it is and go live in the jungle ...

digitalMedia
a.k.a. dM
Joined: Dec 29, 2003
Posts: 5169
Loc: SC-USA
Status: Offline

November 16th, 2007, 5:28 am

Quote:

Okay, I can do that, no problem ... Can you tell me what the reason for that is? it seems irrelevant to me ...

For accesability, it has to do with how non-visual browsers read a page. Plus, the idea of XHTML is that it is essentially XML and therefore very portable to a great number of applications, not just web pages. Putting a menu in a UL separates a menu from textual content, logically..

Adding non-breaking spaces is a matter of formatting. We use CSS to seperate content and form...that's the theory anyway. The same applies to creating multiple paragraphs in one P tag. As XML sees it, you've only got one paragraph.

IMO, the best practice is to view the markup of any page without any styles. Does it make sense? HTML was originally intended to reproduce a printed document as hyper text. Everything we've done to HTML since IE3/NS3 is a sort of bastardization of that idea. Still, we can develop documents correctly and provide styling for them in a seperate layer(CSS) for web presentation.

I hope all that made sense. It's early morning where I am, I'm only on my second cup of coffee and I'm hurrying so I can take the kids to school.

- dM

righteous_trespasser
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Joined: Mar 12, 2007
Posts: 6228
Loc: South-Africa
Status: Offline

November 16th, 2007, 5:32 am

cool, it does make sense ... I'll do all this some time this weekend ... thanks for the explanation ...

Let's leave all our *plum* where it is and go live in the jungle ...

zhaira
Graduate
Joined: Aug 23, 2007
Posts: 223
Status: Offline

November 16th, 2007, 8:35 am

I like your site but you need some improvements on the header , logo and navigation menus. Functionality and usability of the site is important for the site. Content is another factor on which the users usually read the site.

free logo design

Bogey
Bogey
Joined: Jul 14, 2005
Posts: 8212
Loc: USA
Status: Offline

November 16th, 2007, 5:41 pm

The page is valid, although I didn't expect anything less than that assuming that you coded the site :lol:

I hate those stuff you do on contact... just giving the email with a mailto:... I prefer on-line forms more simply because those mailto:'s don't work for my... how come? Everytime I send something like that I receive the messages I send in the Outlook... so everytime I end up either copying/pasting the email address to my email and sending through that way, copying/pasting the email address from the source or not being able to contact at all... just my personal opinion...

Otherwise, nice layout, good color scheme, awesome links...

"Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:" Matthew 3:8

righteous_trespasser
Scuffle
Joined: Mar 12, 2007
Posts: 6228
Loc: South-Africa
Status: Offline

November 18th, 2007, 5:00 am

Okay cool, I'll try and teach myself how to write a mailer script (PHP) or I'll try and find one somewhere ...

And yes, @zhaira ... I know the header needs work, I just put it together in paint quickly because it was in two loose pieces, and then paint didn't save high enough quality ...

zhaira wrote:

Functionality and usability of the site is important for the site.

So what does this mean exactly, do you find something "not useable/functional" enough ... please explain ...

zhaira wrote:

Content is another factor on which the users usually read the site.

I would hope so ... Are you saying that my content isn't good enough, or is this just some random sentence ...

Let's leave all our *plum* where it is and go live in the jungle ...

spork
Brewmaster
Joined: Sep 22, 2003
Posts: 6134
Loc: Seattle, WA
Status: Offline

November 19th, 2007, 11:39 am

Ahh R_T sorry man, haven't been in this forum for a while and didn't even see your thread, otherwise my review would have been here much sooner.

Overall, a very good first impression when I opened the site initially. I'm not so sure I'm crazy about each page title being CAPITALIZED. Can't put my finger on it; it just seems... odd.

I agree with the whole nbsp/<ul>/<br> comments above. Don't really have much to add in that respect.

The color scheme works well, is pleasing to the eye (or at least to my eyes), and the text is readable.

One little gripe -- when I am browsing a site, I tend to expect the main top logo to act as a hyperlink to the homepage. Yours does not. I cried a little. Not a big deal though, just figured it would be something to consider.

Nice job.

The Beer Monocle. Classy.

Bogey
Bogey
Joined: Jul 14, 2005
Posts: 8212
Loc: USA
Status: Offline

November 19th, 2007, 5:48 pm

righteous_trespasser wrote:

Okay cool, I'll try and teach myself how to write a mailer script (PHP) or I'll try and find one somewhere ...

Here's one I created some time ago

(Needs SMTP)

Code: [ Select ]

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
<head>
<title>Form Test</title>
<style type="text/css">
body {
background-color: #CECECE;
}
fieldset#form {
background-color: #999999;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<?php
//form validation
//setting the values
$name = $_POST['name'];
$email = $_POST['email'];
$who = $_POST['who'];
$subject = $_POST['subject'];
$message = $_POST['message'];
//subject validation
$show_form = true;
if(!empty($_POST['submit']))
{
  if(empty($name)) {
  $error = "<li>You need a name</li>";
  $s = false;
  $n = false;
  } else {
  $success = "<b>Name:</b> <u>$name</u><br />";
  $s = true;
  }
  if (empty($email)) {
  $error .= "<li>You need an email</li>";
  $s = false;
  $e = false;
  } elseif (!preg_match("/^[A-Z0-9._%-]+@[A-Z0-9][A-Z0-9.-]{0,61}[A-Z0-9]\.[A-Z]{2,6}$/i", $email)) {
  $error .= "<li>You need a valid E-Mail</li>";
  $s = false;
  $e = false;
  } else {
  $success .= "<b>E-mail:</b> <u>$email</u><br />";
  $s = true;
  }
//email validation
//subject validation
  if (empty($subject)) {
  $error .= "<li>You need a subject</li>";
  $s = false;
  $su = false;
  } else {
  $success .= "<b>Subject:</b> <u>$subject</u><br />";
  $s = true;
  }
//who validation
  $to = $who;
//message validation
  if (empty($message)) {
  $error .= "<li>You need a message</li>";
  $s = false;
  $m = false;
  } else {
  $success .= "<b>Message:</b> <u>$message</u><br />";
  $s = true;
  }
}
?>
<?php
if($show_form === true) {
?>
<p>Please fill in the form below...</p>
<form action="testingform.php" method="post">
<fieldset id="form">
<?php if($n === false) { echo '*'; } ?>Name:<br />
<input type="text" name="name" /><br />
<?php if($e === false) { echo '*'; } ?>E-mail:<br />
<input type="text" name="email" /><br />
To whom are you sending this e-mail to?<br />
<select name="who">

<option value="email1@domain.com">Option 1</option>
<option value="email2@domain.com">Option 2</option>
</select><br />
<?php if($su === false) { echo '*'; } ?>Subject:<br />
<input type="text" name="subject" /><br />
<?php if($m === false) { echo '*'; } ?>Message:<br />
<textarea name="message" rows="10" cols="25"></textarea><br />
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="submit" /> <input type="reset" value="reset" />
</fieldset>
</form>
<p><small>All of them are required</small></p>
<?php
} else {
echo 'Thanks for your post '. $name;
echo $success;
}

//Success or error output
if(!empty($_POST['submit']))
{
  if($s === false) {
  echo '<ul>'. $error .'</ul>';
  echo '<p><a href="testingform.php">Redo</a></p>';
  $show_form = false;
  } elseif($s === true) {
  mail($to, $subject, $message, "From: '. $email .'\r\n");
  $show_form = false;
  } else {
  echo 'There was an unknown error in the mailing system.';
  $show_form = false;
  }
}
?>
</body>
</html>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
<head>
<title>Form Test</title>
<style type="text/css">
body {
background-color: #CECECE;
}
fieldset#form {
background-color: #999999;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<?php
//form validation
//setting the values
$name = $_POST['name'];
$email = $_POST['email'];
$who = $_POST['who'];
$subject = $_POST['subject'];
$message = $_POST['message'];
//subject validation
$show_form = true;
if(!empty($_POST['submit']))
{
if(empty($name)) {
$error = "<li>You need a name</li>";
$s = false;
$n = false;
} else {
$success = "<b>Name:</b> <u>$name</u><br />";
$s = true;
}
if (empty($email)) {
$error .= "<li>You need an email</li>";
$s = false;
$e = false;
} elseif (!preg_match("/^[A-Z0-9._%-]+@[A-Z0-9][A-Z0-9.-]{0,61}[A-Z0-9]\.[A-Z]{2,6}$/i", $email)) {
$error .= "<li>You need a valid E-Mail</li>";
$s = false;
$e = false;
} else {
$success .= "<b>E-mail:</b> <u>$email</u><br />";
$s = true;
}
//email validation
//subject validation
if (empty($subject)) {
$error .= "<li>You need a subject</li>";
$s = false;
$su = false;
} else {
$success .= "<b>Subject:</b> <u>$subject</u><br />";
$s = true;
}
//who validation
$to = $who;
//message validation
if (empty($message)) {
$error .= "<li>You need a message</li>";
$s = false;
$m = false;
} else {
$success .= "<b>Message:</b> <u>$message</u><br />";
$s = true;
}
}
?>
<?php
if($show_form === true) {
?>
<p>Please fill in the form below...</p>
<form action="testingform.php" method="post">
<fieldset id="form">
<?php if($n === false) { echo '*'; } ?>Name:<br />
<input type="text" name="name" /><br />
<?php if($e === false) { echo '*'; } ?>E-mail:<br />
<input type="text" name="email" /><br />
To whom are you sending this e-mail to?<br />
<select name="who">
<option value="email1@domain.com">Option 1</option>
<option value="email2@domain.com">Option 2</option>
</select><br />
<?php if($su === false) { echo '*'; } ?>Subject:<br />
<input type="text" name="subject" /><br />
<?php if($m === false) { echo '*'; } ?>Message:<br />
<textarea name="message" rows="10" cols="25"></textarea><br />
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="submit" /> <input type="reset" value="reset" />
</fieldset>
</form>
<p><small>All of them are required</small></p>
<?php
} else {
echo 'Thanks for your post '. $name;
echo $success;
}
//Success or error output
if(!empty($_POST['submit']))
{
if($s === false) {
echo '<ul>'. $error .'</ul>';
echo '<p><a href="testingform.php">Redo</a></p>';
$show_form = false;
} elseif($s === true) {
mail($to, $subject, $message, "From: '. $email .'\r\n");
$show_form = false;
} else {
echo 'There was an unknown error in the mailing system.';
$show_form = false;
}
}
?>
</body>
</html>

CATCH: You'll need to test it out if it actually sends messages... I couldn't test it out since I don't have an SMTP server...

"Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:" Matthew 3:8

Anonymous
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Joined: 25 Feb 2008
Posts: ?
Loc: Ozzuland
Status: Online

November 19th, 2007, 5:48 pm

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SITE REVIEW: OhDesignX

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