any opinions on site redesign

[Russlock]

Just done a re-design of a friends site which is at their original address

wirral chocolate fountains

she wanted it to look more like her flyer and also in the sameish colour scheme.

flyer

the old site was all in table, so i've done this in pure css, but i'm a bit concerned about the size of the header logo in kbits.

the site can be viewed here.

new site

let me know what you think please

cheers

Russ

[tommylogic]

Looking MUCH better Russ... is this a freebie (it might change my mind on critique comments if it is. Meanwhile I'll refrain)

[Russlock]

it is a freebie, but on condition a donation of a bottle of Jack Daniels comes my way the next time we meet, but I would prefer the harshest critique comments, otherwise we will all never better ourselves.

whatever the comments, thanks in advance.

cheers

[b3rg]

Its very straight to the point i suppose.
A bit amateur looking, I probably shouldn't say amateur looking. It's just very basic.

Also i dont really see any point of the css and xhtml validation at the bottom left being there. Id just get rid of that.

[Russlock]

Originally Posted by b3rg

Its very straight to the point i suppose.
A bit amateur looking, I probably shouldn't say amateur looking. It's just very basic.

Also i dont really see any point of the css and xhtml validation at the bottom left being there. Id just get rid of that.

It's as the person requested. To get as close as possible to the flyer they have been distributing, but in keeping with the header logo on the old site and the new flyer.

the validation was to fill the bottom left a little so the columns looked a bit even.

To say this is a bit amateur looking may be going a bit far as it does embrace css across the whole site instead of tables, and has been constructed to validate in both css and xhtml, so if an amateur is taking as much care, then i need to up my game a bit.

not having a go at all as everyone is entitled to their opinion and i respect that and as i said earlier, all comments enable us to better ourselves.

[tommylogic]

well.. I'm not a fan of the pill buttons on the right. I'm not sure that all the scripted text is going to work. It's a little hard on the eyes.
I think you'll need to soften the transition between the content and the header. I'd also incorporate the transition from the purple on the left, the main content, and the purple in the navigation to the right.
I think it all needs to flow together a little softer.

[crazyleaf]

It's looking better than the original.

[LaurenMarie]

Hi Russ, I agree that the script font is too difficult to read. If she really likes it, at least change the body copy and explain to her that if people have a hard time reading it, they are less likely to explore what her company has to offer and eventually rent a fountain from her. I've attached a JPG of some suggestions. I'm viewing this in IE6 (horrible, I know, but many of your clients may be as well!)

Also, no moving images. They are very distracting and for the ones shown, there is no reason to have them so big. Try a vignetted strip of them along the side instead. If you do this, you may be able add more photos and also eliminate the badges.

I would also caution against fluid designs, especially as widescreen monitors continue to become more popular.

[LeadMagnet]

Originally Posted by Russlock

To say this is a bit amateur looking may be going a bit far as it does embrace css across the whole site instead of tables, and has been constructed to validate in both css and xhtml, so if an amateur is taking as much care, then i need to up my game a bit.

I think he was referring to actual design of the site rather than the coding. Since you had pretty much no input on the design, it's not really your fault.

[Russlock]

Originally Posted by LaurenMarie

Hi Russ, I agree that the script font is too difficult to read. If she really likes it, at least change the body copy and explain to her that if people have a hard time reading it, they are less likely to explore what her company has to offer and eventually rent a fountain from her. I've attached a JPG of some suggestions. I'm viewing this in IE6 (horrible, I know, but many of your clients may be as well!)

Also, no moving images. They are very distracting and for the ones shown, there is no reason to have them so big. Try a vignetted strip of them along the side instead. If you do this, you may be able add more photos and also eliminate the badges.

I would also caution against fluid designs, especially as widescreen monitors continue to become more popular.

I appreciate all the comments and help, as anyone who knows me knows i am just no good at graphic design, so i will have to play around with the header logo a bit more.

consider the css logos gone.

the flash images on the left she wants to keep, but it will be a lot smoother on the gallery page which as an example can be seen here.

gallery

i will change the text in the main body as she will go with me on that.

again, thanks all and any more comments welcome.