Template hints...

[davidude]

I have a lot to learn about design so I was wondering if anyone would be willing to give me a couple pointers.
What is wrong with this template or could be done better... just looking for a few hints :)

http://davidbiederman.50megs.com/cgi-bin/I...0Gallery/BH.gif (http://davidbiederman.50megs.com/cgi-bin/I/Other%20Gallery/BH.gif)

Thanks...

[Palmer]

404 Error -- File Not Found :(

[davidude]

Hmm... Let's see if this works:

Template (http://davidbiederman.50megs.com/cgi-bin/I/Other%20Gallery/BH.gif)

[Mike]

http://davidbiederman.50megs.com/Other%20G...0Gallery/BH.gif (http://davidbiederman.50megs.com/Other%20Gallery/BH.gif) :)

[Palmer]

We the first thing I noticed is the colors are not the best choice. If you're going to go with red and blue go with the red and blue you see on the American, Australian flag. Your colors look kind of dull. They need to be more vibrant. The gray in the design should be lighter.

[Karst]

Make sure the logo stands out a little more. Your branding is important and needs to be a visual focus point. Maybe get rid of the white background, don't use too much drop shadow and maybe look for a more corporate font. It might be an idea to stick the logo in front of a more graphic background. Possibly consider a vector graphic to be part of it? Best of luck.


B)

[bvgroote]

The only thing I saw that looked wrong to me was the choice of fonts.

[customb]

I do have a problem with anti-alias used for regular content when someone makes a template. Will not look like you designed it after you will code it.

Also, I suggest to go and read about typography... is a very important side of the webdesign, and there are a lot to learn I think. my 2 cents. Good luck!

[Palmer]

If you have Window's font smoothing on, the regular text is anti-aliased but yes, most people do not see the text that way. I do though! :D

[designmarket]

That would be interesting Palmer, I have never heard of it!, could you please post us a screenshot of what you see, and why you like it better and demographics of users using this (HA, if you do know?)

[Palmer]

You can see a screen shot of my stats in this thread (http://www.designoutpost.com/forums/?showtopic=877). That exactly how it looks on my screen. I guess the exact name is ClearType.

Here is how to do it in XP...
http://www.windows-help.net/WindowsXP/tune-041.html

Here is how to do in Windows 95, 98, 2000, ME and NT...
http://cc.uoregon.edu/cnews/summer2002/fonts.html

[davidude]

I'm kind of lost (pardon my slowness)... Are you saying then that I shouldn't anti-alias the template at all?

Thanks for all the advice people :)

[Palmer]

Just that the text where it would be standard html text should not be anti-aliased since it normally wouldn't display that way.