Re-design Critique

Hi Timmo,

I prefer the redesign it is harder hitting than the original. The first confuses my attention a bit mostly due to the weird sidebar bit on the left I think...

On the redesign...

The top half of the page looks nice, I like the large flash image and the large 1984 - .... at the left side.

I really don't like the "sidebar bit" with the three blocks and black bg making the main content narrower and the header / footer jolt out - or is that just on the home page?

The buyers agent in the header looks a little large to me....

Personally I would consider using js rather than flash for the slideshow, you can get the same effect and (right or wrong) I tend to avoid use of flash if theres a way around it so it still works for all those corporates that don't have it installed...

Really not a fan of the footer with those crazy links....

Thats my thoughts at a glance

Hope that helps
 
I feel the same about the sidebar, but he's insisting that he want's it there. As well as the links at the bottom.
 
The sidebar is really bad - making it white (perhaps with a thick border-left on the blue background colour) might make it less jarring.

Change the default blue link colour too - it looks unfinished. And the footer link-spam is awful and messy.

The blue-on-black background colours don't mesh well - make the entire background colour that blue, or change the black to something more complimentary.

Generally, I can't say I'm a big fan ... it does look rather rushed, in my opinion.

Sorry if this comes across as a bit harsh/blunt... but it'd be pointless if I said that I liked it...
 
I wouldn't mind the sidebar as much if it had some images to accompany the words...spice it up a bit. You know, just basic images to represent what it is...contact could be a computer icon or a notepad or something, the Q/A could be a fancy question mark, the viewing county could be a globe or something i'm not sure but just something extra...and get rid of those blue borders :)

Also I think you should reset the top margin of the body so you can eliminate the space between that animal (owl or something?) and push it to the top of the browser window, I don't like that blue gap showing the animals head cutoff.

Otherwise I think it works, definitely improvement over the other one.
 
Ok, i'm redesigning the site: Stacks Property Search & Acquisition agents London & UK - Homepage and he had a designer come up with a design
2mhsyfd.png
and I made the site so it looked like that and the client asked me to change this and that and we ended up with Stacks Property Search and Acquisition | Buying Agents Since 1984 | Homepage. Now he's saying that he prefers the original design he got a different designer to draw up. What do you think?
 
I prefer the image you posted compared to the link above, which one is yours? The URL or the Image?

The image is much better than the url in my opinion, sorry!
 
I unfortunately agree about the image too...I like it better because those blocks on the right on the link bother me...otherwise it isn't much different but the blocks look a lot better and more fitting on the image.

I do think your header is a lot better than the old one...the way they put those 2 logos, dea and arp look really bad...yours is much more appropriate.
 
Hay buddy that is some mental linkage going on one that page, I would look at reducing them TBH, the one's at the bottom especially.

But create a plain file and call it .htaccess in their place this code and upload it to your root directory.
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^foddesign\.net23\.net [nc]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://foddesign.net23.net/$1 [R=301,L]

As you currently have 2 versions of your site, 1 under www. and the other under the non www. version these will get you penalized in the search engines unless you redirect them, that code will do that.

Change this line on your home page ~
<p><img src="http://www.designforums.co.uk/images/header.jpg" alt="Header" width="920" height="150" /></p>

To ~
<h1>
<img src="http://www.designforums.co.uk/images/header.jpg" alt="Stacks Property Search and Acquisition" /></h1>


Then in your css for your home page write
h1{width:920px;height:150px}

As that does 2 things, firstly you reduce your bloat, secondly you actually use the tag how it should be used which will help ppl with disabilities and the search engines rank the page better.

This whole section here ~
<p><span class="style5">1984 - 2009.</span> <span class="style6">The</span></p>
<p><span class="style6">most experienced</span></p>
<p><span class="style6">property </span><span class="style6">search</span></p>
<p><span class="style6">agent in the UK</span></p>
<p><span class="style6">is celebrating its</span></p>
<p><span class="style5">25th</span><span class="style6"> anniversary. </span></p>


Can be reduced to ~
<p id="large"><span class="style5">1984 - 2009.</span>The most experienced property search agent in the UK is celebrating its <span class="style5">25th</span> anniversary.</p>

then in your css write ~
#large{font-size:2em;line-height:1.4em}

As that would give you the same effect but will reduce you bloat a lot.
Again these can be removed ~
<p class="style4"> </p>

Instead reference the element above it and apply margin, or padding to the bottom of it, and wella same effect, that will reduce a large section of your code TBH.

This section here ~
<p align="center" class="style10">Tel: +44 (0)1594 842880 Email: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" class="nav">[email protected]</a></p>

Should be in an address tag as it is contact info and you can remove the align attribute that is no longer valid and apply the same effect via CSS ~
<address class="style10">Tel: +44 (0)1594 842880 Email: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" class="nav">[email protected]</a></address>

address{text-align:center}

Hope it helps.
Jaz

Key:
Red ~ Mod_Rewrite
Green ~ CSS
Purple ~ XHTML
 
The nav bar is much improved for me.

I like it, it does the job. I think there are areas that could be improved and may touch on that tomorrow (today).
 
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