Links, and stuff are not up yet, and still has dummy text, but I was wondering what people thought of the site. Purely CSS and HTML. I will add some flash content later to make it a bit more interactive etc. All critique is greatly appreciated. Site is at http://www.therootdesign.co.uk Hosting is thanks to kingabs from these forums at www.maniahost.net, and I would highly advise going with him.
Looking nice... What about putting the main links that are now on the bottom at the top section before the banner and above news...?
The links on the bottom should be grey as standard and turn to colour when you roll over them i think. Makes it look like its activating rather then turning off. Also the orange theme seems to stay at the top third, seems to be grey everywhere else.
i disagree doug, the colour is needed otherwise it is an overall too grey design.. However, I do agree that it looks like they are being deactivated. I would suggest either dulling them, or as a prefered method, having the shine on rollover. Also, i would link up the navigation colours to the colours of the sections. People like being able to tell where they are using colour coding. I know that i do.
Thanks alot, know what you mean about the dectivation, so i just changed it now. The reason I didnt put the big links at the top, is because i wanted a sort of rigid boxy look, and they sort of ruin it.
Now the bottom half of the site is a colourless sea of grey... I really would put some colour hints in there. Even if its only some links or a footer bar of solid orange (or swirly orange) or red.
I find that with the RHS body text, a small dark-grey font on a medium-grey background, and not easy to read on a 17" monitor. OTOH the "Read more" and "More Info" font size would be better smaller than the body text, and the bottom link headings size (Company, Contact, etc) looks out of proportion to the rest of the page. Nice subtle design, but have a look on a small screen.
Slightly bigger font size by default, and maybe a size changing stylesheet script. I know, design vs. usability, but when targeting clients, usability (Sp?) needs to win out. Also, like others have said, more color on the bottom half. I would go with some kind of tinting of those boxes with the color they will be when they rollover, or colored titles of paragraphs in the white box.
Looks really good, maybe make the bottom bar with copyright and stuff orange to break the grey-ness? also I think you should get rid of/decrease the white space at the very top, just to help get more of the page on one screen for people with less than 1280 x 1024 res. (clear majority(sp) of users are on 1024 x 768) Overall it looks very neat and professionaly, good work. Matt
Very smart. Get rid of the word 'menu' - it's obviously a menu. I'd prefer the words to highlight as well on rollover. (or change the bg colour on that line) The red and (especially) green on the top-right graphic look out of place. The gradient fills on the lower boxes also look a little odd since none of the rest of the site has them, same comment for the outlines. The colours on hover don't match the overall theme. I recommend you decide on a more limited palette, I like the greys and orange, then add two accent colours, and try not to need them. Any temporary content, such as in a portfolio, will then stick out more. Check the site with no CSS - argh! images gone, no alt tags on the images that are there. Consider using actual text (styled with CSS) instead.
You really do need to make those bottom links more colourfull. Not default grey and colour on hover. I would suggest a dull colour and then on hover the full colour, Or a flat colour and on hover all the glass effects.
