web design. help.

[helstab]

ok. Tell me what you hate about my website. http://www.betrayalofautumn.com

the "splash" screen is empty as of now, and the photos/flyers section haven't been tuned yet.

this is my third completely new design in 2 days.

what do you think?

[bobbydj]

Yeah good. Kinda monochromatic, I guess.

Hey though - thank christ the band isn't really called Betrayal of Autumn!!

[Greenshoe]

I like the TV idea and how you embedded the frameset in there. The monochrome is good; easy on the eyes and done tastefully.

Any way to make the TV larger to fill up the space a bit more - crop and zoom maybe? It's too small relative to the size of the window, and there's no reason for it to be that way since there doesn't seem to be much else and the navigation of the website seems to be all on the TV. Also, the TV seems to be smooshed - should it be more rectangular?

Within the frame, I would suggest changing the font to a Verdana Arial or something like that, as the Times Roman clashes with the logo and overall 'tone' of the layout.

[wing]

i like the concept, a lot more interesting than your last site.. but i feel the text area is too small and caues the eyes to move and jump more than they should. can the tv be bigger, specifically wider?

anyway, good job, cripple.

[helstab]

thanks for the feedback. this was exactly what I was looking for.

The picture I used is bigger than the frame on the site.. the only way I can get the TV bigger without blurring the image to much would be to crop the original picture.. but I guess that's fine since all of the information is on the screen. I threw it together really quick, and I'm not crazy about the betrayalofautumn font.. anyone have a better idea? the only reason I used the drawing type font was because I didn't want the site to look to serious... Oh and my friend said the black behond the text was too black. what do you guys think?

I can't design shit.. so that's why I decided to try the TV idea.

[the velour fog]

can't stand pop-ups as much as you can't stand flash.

[Greenshoe]

thanks for the feedback. this was exactly what I was looking for.

The picture I used is bigger than the frame on the site.. the only way I can get the TV bigger without blurring the image to much would be to crop the original picture.. but I guess that's fine since all of the information is on the screen. I threw it together really quick, and I'm not crazy about the betrayalofautumn font.. anyone have a better idea? the only reason I used the drawing type font was because I didn't want the site to look to serious... Oh and my friend said the black behond the text was too black. what do you guys think?

I can't design shit.. so that's why I decided to try the TV idea.

For the Betrayal of Autumn logo, try to make it a part of the picture somehow - otherwise it's just floating there. If you're stuck or can't seem to incorporate the logo into the picture, then stick with a simple font and place the text in the corner.

The black background on the TV is too black because of the contrast with the white font - especially since the rest of the picture are different shades of grey. Either change the background to a very dark grey and keep the white font, OR keep the black background and change the font color to an off-white or light grey so that it's still easy to read. By doing that you are softening the contrast of colors between font and background so that it's easier on the eyes.

[helstab]

I don't really like pop ups either, BUT I like it better centering it and wasting space. I haven't been able to build a scroll style page that looks original. Thanks for your criticisim.

I just wish the standard would jump up to 1024x768. I'm running 1280x1024 and a lot sites just look retarded.

[helstab]

thanks for the feedback. this was exactly what I was looking for.

The picture I used is bigger than the frame on the site.. the only way I can get the TV bigger without blurring the image to much would be to crop the original picture.. but I guess that's fine since all of the information is on the screen. I threw it together really quick, and I'm not crazy about the betrayalofautumn font.. anyone have a better idea? the only reason I used the drawing type font was because I didn't want the site to look to serious... Oh and my friend said the black behond the text was too black. what do you guys think?

I can't design shit.. so that's why I decided to try the TV idea.

For the Betrayal of Autumn logo, try to make it a part of the picture somehow - otherwise it's just floating there. If you're stuck or can't seem to incorporate the logo into the picture, then stick with a simple font and place the text in the corner.

The black background on the TV is too black because of the contrast with the white font - especially since the rest of the picture are different shades of grey. Either change the background to a very dark grey and keep the white font, OR keep the black background and change the font color to an off-white or light grey so that it's still easy to read. By doing that you are softening the contrast of colors between font and background so that it's easier on the eyes.

done. I changed the text color from white to a dark grey. I see what you mean. I can't do anything with the betrayalofautumn text until I go home, but I still can't see what will work.

[andrew embassy]

Overall it's really good. I love iframes. I'll echo the 'make the tv' larger sentiment that most people had (and I think you could get away with making it half again as large without losing too much quality).

[Bear]

Yeah. T.V. larger, and it might look cool if you had the band name spray-painted on the wall above the t.v., rather than floating text. Other than that, I dig it. Simple, but effective.

[tenaciousjay]

I don't really like pop ups either, BUT I like it better centering it and wasting space. I haven't been able to build a scroll style page that looks original. Thanks for your criticisim.

That's all well and good but it won't pop on Mozilla or Safari for me with pop-up window blocking turned on. A pop up window that you request should open, though, so you may need to adjust your code. I have no time today but if you PM I could help with that tomorrow.

When I looked at it on IE 5.2.3 Mac OSX (my only Mac browser not blocking popups) the graphics are all screwed up (plenty of white space though!). On the PC it looks nice, I guess that's what you tested it on. Maybe Flash is the answer here - LOL. Actually this page would work well with flash; it's simple to have a scrolling box and the text would look nicer. I'd still get rid of the popup and just put your box inside a solid gray background or somthing.

I just wish the standard would jump up to 1024x768. I'm running 1280x1024 and a lot sites just look retarded.

Oh god no! I've got 2 big monitors but rarely open a window bigger than 800x600. Super wide text is as bad as popups to me. And many people with bad vision use 800x600 for readability; that's not going to change anytime soon. "Stretchy" sites are the answer, as long as you watch out for those super wide text columns.

[helstab]

yeah I haven't tested it on mozilla.. or with a popup blocker. I wonder why it doesn't work with mac. I don't doubt that my code could be a little messed up. I do work on a trial and error basis, and that tends to get a little sloppy.
I just got home from skating for 3 hours and dont feel like fucking with the site tonight. I will at least enlarge the picture and upload the graphics so I can change it at work tomorrw.

thanks for all the help.