New site nearly finished! (hopefully last time I do this for a while)

GilmoreVisuals

Active Member
So I have finally had a bit of a chance to get my site sorted and moving forward. A general critique would be appreciated.
It's still not live but is online for you to see it - when I think it's ready i'll create smartphone and tablet sizes too.
http://alexgilmore.businesscatalyst.com/index.html
Work page isn't finished but I don't really have that much good work (as I work for a company)
Thanks! :)
 
Very pleasing to look at, Alex. Brown is a brave choice but you've make it work I reckon.
 
Got to be honest, i'm not sure I like the exact brown you've picked, it seems a bit 'muddy' in it's colour.
Also does this brown work with the rest of your branding, I'm sure you were using a different colour on your business cards etc.
 
Nah the business cards are just black and white. It might be worth trying to change it to variations of black, although I haven't seen many sites using brown which is also why I chose it. It's also neutral which does make things stand out a bit more when they are in colour.
Let's say I keep the brown but change the variation to a slightly more vibrant version.. like the 3 colours on the left:
warm-web-palettes.png
 
Yes, what a brave choice of colours :D I really like how your logo sits on the page, nice one!
I think it may look a little better if you lighten up the page a bit even if it's just going with a lighter brown or pale cream colour for the background; I notice as well that every other page uses a different background colour than the home page. The text is very small, and I think overall the site typography, and navigation, is lacking interest, it's all very similar in size and colour; perhaps leading to a lack of diversity in information hierarchy.
The icons look a little confused to me, for example the pie chart type icon, some of it has sharp corners, some of it has rounded corners. The body of the pen is of one, looser style and then the pen nib is perfectly symmetrical with sharp corners again.
Might want to check out the responsiveness of your site though! All in all not a bad job, although knowing it's an Adobe Catalyst website I wonder how similar it is to other sites!
5E1Kd.png
 
Very nice and I like your timeline.
Agree about the brown that it's slightly the wrong shade but I think you should keep it if you can make it work.
 
Getting there, I still think the browns need a little more 'punch', especially the darker one. Can I suggest you try #452e22 for the dark one and see what you think, it will give you an idea of what I'm meaning :)
Also think you could maybe 'widen' the site a bit, on my screen (1080p) the main site is literally a third of my browser.
 
Ah I see! Yes, I like that 'punch' more for that darker colour on the home page (and footers) - thanks for the # code :)

Also, regarding the width (which is currently 960px) apparently it's about 10% of computers have a screen size width of 1024 or less, so I think I will leave it at 960. I know what you're saying though... my screen is 1920 x 1080 and yeah, it does only take up about 1/3. But I think it still works.
Anyway, hopefully tomorrow i'll upload it all and publish as alexgilmore.co.uk (ALL I WANT IS TO BE RANKED n1 ON GOOGLE WHEN SEARCHING 'ALEX GILMORE' a freaking other dude called Alex Gilmore is really annoying me and he has always had n1 :( )
 
Alex Gilmore said:
Also, regarding the width (which is currently 960px) apparently it's about 10% of computers have a screen size width of 1024 or less, so I think I will leave it at 960. I know what you're saying though... my screen is 1920 x 1080 and yeah, it does only take up about 1/3. But I think it still works.
Responsive layout (like this although it is broken as I've gone a different way now, it's still there so it's quick reference). Basically use percentages rather than absolute dimensions (you can still set a 'max width') and then when you shrink down the page the 'site shrinks' :)
And don't count on being number one, older sites can maintain no1 spot due to age etc, lack of responsive design may also impact this too.
edit: oh and you forgot to change your 'hover' colours to the new dark brown, like on your home page button :)
 
Oops I did forget that indeed! Updated now.
Thing is, i type in my name and the competition is linked in, youtube, facebook, twitter a goldsmith shop and some random instagram like page... surely with a url like www.alexgilmore.co.uk and every page with my name etc would help it get further up? Meh. I guess this is why people pay SEO companies :p
 
I kind of want that big brown box that's around Design to be a hover effect, so when you mouseover the other options, it does the same thing? Also, I think everything could do with a little bit more space. The columns underneath it look very strange being centrally aligned but with no real element of space around them.
To take that number one spot, I suggest getting yourself a blog on your site and writing lots of great content. Having a look at your meta titles and descriptions will help too. Feel free to nab me on Skype for a quick chat about your SEO.
 
It's looking good! I feel the line spacing could benefit from being increased and the font itself could be a little more better and dat.
Adding a little style to the contact forms wouldn't go a miss and also I don't think you need 'Name' and 'Enter Name' so you could clean it up a little by just removing the labels outside of the forms.
Also, I couldn't help clicking the 'report abuse' button, just to see what it did.
Anyway, good job.
 
wac said:
Also, I couldn't help clicking the 'report abuse' button, just to see what it did.
So what did it do... I was tempted but didn't click it :)
To be honest, I doubt you need this Alex lol
 
Yeah I clicked it too :p You should really build your own website! I guess something is better than nothing though, right?
 
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