FLASH: Re: Staten Island Macromedia User Group

[Gareth Bramley]

Johnathan wrote:

> Today is the first day for the Staten Island

> Macromedia User Group web site to be online

> (http://www.simmug.com) Please check out the web site

> and send me your comments.


Hi Johnathon,


Your design is clean and functionl. But it *is* a tad on the plain white toast

side. Considering the tools this site will be hyping, I might reconsider your

design direction if I were you. With that said, here's a quick crit:


Main Index:

- The logo is "okay". If you have your heart set on that collegiate typeface

(the one thing I don't like about it) then I'd alter the letter U. It has that

distracting blue rectangle of negative space in it. Either widen it and drop

the yellow outline down in there (my reccomendation) or squish it closed a bit

more. (Pardon the technical terminology for that technique.) ;-)

- Clean and fast loading. MouseOvers are nice, but are improperly cropped. The

lower row, when mouseOvered, has glow effects that reach over the center line. 

- Having *all* the body copy set in boldface strikes me as a bit much. It

makes the copy seem more than dense than it needs to.

- Credits and links off of your site (the shockwave button) would be better

placed at the bottom of the page, I think.

- That inverted pyramid of text you have at the bottom of the page needs some

work. Different weights, a rule or two, I dunno. It strikes me as odd.


Tips page:

- I like the layout. The subhead "TIPS & TRICKS" needs to stand out/apart a

bit more though.

- I'd put the mailto submission link in the white table. Also, you've changed

your text color here. The grey works better, especially since your link color

is a yellow.

- Page Title here is identical to the home page. Make it different. Remember,

when somebody bookmarks one of your pages the Title *is* the bookmark. Also

several search engine robots read page titles for keywords. A more descriptive

Title would definitely be a benefit.


Your other pages pretty much all fall into the same layout, so I'm going to

stop there. I like the first draft, but personally I'd work on that interface

some more. You might consider doing little Flash animations for each section

header, for example. A few more bells and whistles, tastefully implemented, 

would do this site a world of good.


Good luck with it. And don't sweat the little stuff. You're not the only one

here to learn stuff. :)


G

-- 

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