Can too simple... be bad? Site critique

[bwanac]

I am a student working on redoing my schools asme website.

This is what it was before: http://www.me.rochester.edu/~asme/

Rendition 1:

Rendition 2:

i want it simple, but can that be too simple?
looking for first impressions, obviously no content to judge.
then once look and stuff is down, have to set-up system for news/calendar updates. yay... coldfusion!

 

[cjc343]

The first one gets f***ed by the ads, which distort everything.

The second one requires a username and password.

Other than that, I like simple. The Navigation menu, however, does not fit with the rest of the page. The blue background would draw my attention away from any content on the page.

 

[bwanac]

alright... i actually took a capture so it would be easier to do
and since i am just looking for visual feedback as other stuff is a snap.

 

[Moria]

I'm a big fan on 'clean' designs, but personally found that very boring.

 

[calebjohnston]

Definetely needs more on it. I personally would pay anything if someone made that for me or my organization.

 

[pashazade]

http://e30tech.t35.com/asme2.html (may not be working!)


hey, im wondering if it is too white!

i want it simple, but can that be too simple? looking for first impressions, obviously no content to judge. then once look and stuff is down, have to set-up system for news updates. yay... coldfusion!

pic below ...

I like it but the text in the top logo is too small .... and that ad!

 

[gekko513]

I like it. It's clean and simple. With content in the links, I think it'll be great, except for the layer ad. I assume calebjohnson mean that he "wouldn't" pay anything. I disagree. Less is more.

 

[Chaszmyr]

It doesn't look like that in Safari for me... The background is all white, none of the grey. All the same, it is too boring. You need it to be "clean" enough to not look cluttered, but if you don't have enough stuff it doesn't look.. serious enough.

 

[bwanac]

OK.. I am a student. I am doing this as a free site.

Let me show you the before: http://www.me.rochester.edu/~asme/

The reason the linked one is not like the one you see is because it before i played with backgrounds. They grey background is my first idea. And of course the Dwayne Wade filler pictures.

I will play with it more tonight... make my own background. also may add a little more to the page. Spruce up the header too. This was just a quick little job, it will get meticulously picked over before I host it live on the school servers without ads.

 

[Butters]

I like it. definitely better than the previous one

I agree it is slightly boring but not THAT bad ..maybe a more interesting header image would liven it up?

try and get rid of the ad too I don't appreciate a huge message covering the webpage I'm trying to view telling me my "PC" may have errors.

 

[Moria]

OK.. I am a student. I am doing this as a free site.

Let me show you the before: http://www.me.rochester.edu/~asme/

The reason the linked one is not like the one you see is because it before i played with backgrounds. They grey background is my first idea. And of course the Dwayne Wade filler pictures.

I will play with it more tonight... make my own background. also may add a little more to the page. Spruce up the header too. This was just a quick little job, it will get meticulously picked over before I host it live on the school servers without ads.

Woah, big site. I stopped it loading after it hit the 5mb mark. If you picture at the bottom right was in line with the header it would be quite good, apart from the size offcourse.

Edit - Or maybe it was something to do with my browser making it so big, it loaded up really quickly the second time. Either that it stored the images on my computer...

 

[MattyP]

I like the simple, true, it may be a bit boring for a personal site or a product site... But hello, it is a site for the University of Rochester. I think it is plenty exciting for that.The important thing is that people can find stuff easily and intuitively and that it doesn't take 15 years for a page to load.

 

[bwanac]

The ads are not mine. Its coming from the free hosting I am using. The little house in the bottom... that is not mine either. Its all crap they threw on the page.

Anyway, the goal of the site is to introduce incoming students to ASME (with intent to make them join), to keep current members up to date of our chapters happenings, and just be an online representation of the group. Very simple goals... so a very simple site.

I am going to whip out some photoshops of other possible designs.
I am also limiting my colors to school colors somewhat. I may change that in the other designs I come out with. Blue and yellow can only do so much.

 

[frankblundt]

I like it.
tho:
i) the title is lost - a little bigger and/or less crammed against the keyline, which could itself be lighter/thinner

ii) nav bar - maybe all the not-current section buttons could be the rollover colour, and the rollover and current section the dark blue. it would reduce the dominance of the page by the nav bar and highlight the current section for users.

iii) "copyright" is way too big

 

[bwanac]

Didnt change too much... but some layout things that made it easier to "scan". At least i think so. I need some fresh eyes to look at it.

Also... I need help with color scheme. Ive got the header in an orangish/red warm hue. Ive tried it with blue, it doesnt work well. This warm hue is better.

Now what colors should I use for the page title ("news and events") and for the navigation bar? Any good suggestions.

Thanks for the help.

http://e30tech.t35.com/asme2.html


EDIT: I also noticed a BIG problem from the prior edition, all imagery was on the right side. Way way unbalanced. Now the image in the header is to the left to balance things out. Much improvement with that.

 

[CanadaRAM]

I like it fine

Does what it sets out to do, it is not selling a hollywood movie -- it doesn't need excessive eye-candy

Good writing and relevant headlines and images, that's important.

 

[bwanac]

Good writing and relevant headlines and images, that's important.

But Dwayne Wade. He is so relevant to it all.

 

[jalagl]

Like it

I like simple designs done with taste. The content is what matters.

 

[sushi]

I am a student working on redoing my schools asme website.

i want it simple, but can that be too simple? looking for first impressions, obviously no content to judge. then once look and stuff is down, have to set-up system for news updates. yay... coldfusion!

I like simple clean designs.

Overall, I like it much better than the original. However, something seems not to flow correctly. Maybe the buttons on the left. Maybe the pics with articles. Not sure.

 

[crees!]

Clean and simple is a good thing but that depends on the information you're trying to present and the audience. I think you're on the right track. If you plan on using a tracker/counter use Mint

 

[angelneo]

Could I provide a few suggestions? Maybe you can remove the "box-up" masthead on the top, instead just a line separating them is enough. Also, you might want to try to bring more focus onto your society name at the top. Perhaps, play with the fonts, increase the font-size, nothing fancy, but you can really do a lot by selecting the right typography, good positioning, you don't always have to put them in a single row, or have them in the same typeface so on. I think some of the veterans in the graphic industry here can provide more insight.

 

[Yvan256]

Here's a few suggestions (based on the screenshot above):

- Have the same padding for the text and the image in the header (the text is currently too close to the edge, or the photo isn't close enough)
- your photos have a 1px border but the header has a 2px border. Maybe it would look better if the header also had a 1px border?
- the 1st news item is too close to the news header (have the same space between "news and events" and "news title 1" as between "news title 1" and "news title 2").

Other than that, it gets into the "add more stuff/modify stuff" area.

I hope this helps!

 

[thejadedmonkey]

i want it simple, but can that be too simple?

This guy doesn't think so!

 

[bwanac]

Here's a few suggestions (based on the screenshot above):

- Have the same padding for the text and the image in the header (the text is currently too close to the edge, or the photo isn't close enough)
- your photos have a 1px border but the header has a 2px border. Maybe it would look better if the header also had a 1px border?
- the 1st news item is too close to the news header (have the same space between "news and events" and "news title 1" as between "news title 1" and "news title 2").

Other than that, it gets into the "add more stuff/modify stuff" area.

I hope this helps!

Thanks. Ive actually fixed quite a bit of those things in my newest rendition.

However, I realized it falls apart in IE. So I need to go back through and fix that, since that is still the large sector of hits. Ill update with a new screen capture soon. And make them smaller for those on slow connections.

Also going to find a possibly better color scheme, as this is rather bland. But it works. Doesnt capture the engineer "feeling" though. Needs to be more industrial, clean cut cold. Not warm and natural.