Website Template

[Ducati]

I created both of these templates. Which do you think is better and why? This is nothing more than a diary of the restoration of my car. I went for a simple look. C.C. is also wanted.


techfaith.com/BMW

both sites took about 5-10 mins to create.

edited

[hamann318is]

I like the second one more. However, maybe instead of using a fade on the buttons you could alternate colors. Light Blue and black perhaps?

[Ducati]

I'm trying to go for an all, white, black and grey look. Although I will give the light blue color a shot.

[Digitalwave]

Pretty fucking plain... not much to say.

[Nathan]

in webdesign, "plain" is good and called simple. The number one mistake of webdesigners is making a site to busy. I like the second much better than the first. But if you worked graphical buttons into the first one it would make it better.

[Digitalwave]

I know simple is good. I am a web designer too. But that is just overly boring and bland.

[Ducati]

I added a little spiff to it..

[nando]

it's not bad. I don't like the font though, and the vertical nav doesn't really do it for me.

[rahmin]

In my opinion, it's a good start ooNate. Everything looks plain and simple to people when you don't have content in the page. I am a graphic designer and I work for a very well-known design firm, so, what I say is not subjective.

I think that the major areas in which you can evolve this design are; hierarchy, color, and intention.

First, Hierarchy. You did the right thing by having the navigation and masthead on the top of the page so that your information can be paramount. Within this, I think that you may have some thing in an order that the western world reads and speaks. So, right now, you are saying, BMW 1987 325 Greg's E30. If you were speaking with someone, you would say, "Hi, I'm Greg, I drive an E30 BMW 325... Have a look (navigation). If you can think in these terms, it may help organize things into the proper hierarchy. In addition to this, I think that people may be struggling with the vertical navigation because of how close the readable information is to it. They may be trying to read it as part of the "story".

As for color, it may also help with hierarchy. Right now, everything is black and fighting for attention. Black is a great color to use, but, it has a lot of values that can help your design communicate. Again, just as we speak in order that people expect, we can do the same with color. Try taking the secondary and tertiary information to a value of gray. When values of black are used, the page could still look simple while feeling rich and also easy to read/follow.

The last piece, intention. You have the right idea with simplicity since the focus of the site is about your restoration. With this in mind, I think that your information space could be limiting. Try revising the design with your content in place (a page's worth) to see how it effects your design. I would assume that the large roundel on the right may lbe limiting in the end.

I hope this helps and I look forward to seeing the finished product. Best of luck.

[Ducati]

Took some of your advice, and I redid the design a little bit. Here's what I came up with.

http://www.techfaith.com/BMW/

[DarkWing6]

It looks good. My only complaint is the picture at the top. You have a lot of straight lines, then that picture is crooked. Also, the lettering on the 325 and Home get kinda mixed up. Other than that, lookin' good.

[mph]

I too, am a professional/freelance web developer.

As far as the design goes, it looks sufficient for what you have, but if you ever plan to add more, it's going to have to be reworked.

iframes are depreciated. You should really try to not use them. Also, if you would like to be really cool and ontop of the new technology, you would look into CSS and XHTML. You can do some very cool stuff with that combination.

Good luck and if you should need help, it looks like you would have plenty of luck getting it.

[BMW BMXER]

Ya I also do webdesign (a few of us eh?) looks alright, watch out for pop ups there getting squased these days.

CSS is good.

[DEV0 E30]

I myself dislike frames.

There is a huge movement (and has been since it started) of web standards. Basically it's using css to define content and apperance but keeps both seperate. Nowadays professional design firms are moving towards meeting those standards. Like CSS1/CSS2 and XHTML. This opens up ways of using content management systems to make updating content hella simple...

Of course I don't think you want to go through the headache of learning web standards for your own personal site. So I'd say think up what you like and use dreamweaver to help you deliver it in tables, or another html program. Think of what you want from your site, and remember to keep it simple but easy for anyone to navigate your site even if they have no idea about your product/purpose. Think the way of acessibility and you will easily be able to pull off what you want. One of the biggest things you've got to remember is to be creative and not style your site too much like one you are trying to catch the purpose of.

I'm ranting now, blah.

Try using more colors, an easier navigation and defined tables. Like set a 700px table to the left and put tables inside of it. That would be easy and you can style it later. Content makes or breaks a website aswell, add some more and it will help fill your content areas. :)

[Ducati]

Well, I redid the site and the design. Hopefully this is something more like able.

https://www.techfaith.com/euro

nothing is final on that page, but it's a start.