website critique please.

Soldato
Joined
15 Jul 2008
Posts
3,636
Location
Glasgow
Hi all,

Im after some constructive criticism on my portfolio site from any web designers/developers. Im looking to get some freelance work in the near future and hopefully to get into this line of work once ive built more experience.

To further this goal ive been building this site, currently it dosent have much content (ive not built many sites so far) and is still fairly rough round the edges.

So here is the LINK

Please keep it constructive.... and not too harsh :p
 
I like it. It's a bit different but suits the purpose/profession.

I don't like that the contact area isn't at the top of the page due to the page height. This is going to be a problem on larger resolutions anyway, but I'm only on 1440x900 so I'd expect that to reach the top. I also don't like the nav rollover effect. And a small point, the comma on Hello is too far away, I thought it was a massive quote mark on the next line down :p.

Nice work!
 
That is pretty damn strong. Really damn strong. Like... really, really strong. Standard layout these days, if I must critique anything, but really nicely done.
 
Its fantastic imo, top job and makes you stand out.

sometimes i think im decent at design work but then people like you just put me in my place :D
 
I agree with Tetsujin, that it is a fairly common design/layout but beyond that, it's pretty damn good.

Some ideas I would consider...

- I think the triangle divides are a little too harsh looking.
- I would maybe try having each section a different color, but still in a nice palette.
 
I like the design and the overall feel about the website, its suits the purpose like somebody else mentioned above... great work.
 
First off, thanks everyone for the kind words.

I don't like that the contact area isn't at the top of the page due to the page height.

This is a very good point, and one ive been thinking on since you pointed it out. Im thinking either making changes to the overall grid (make it wider) and moving it further up the page. Or making a sliding panel or modal window with contact section.

Not sure yet however. Also the nav hover might get changed, wasnt 100% on it either.

Standard layout these days, if I must critique anything, but really nicely done.

True, but I do like single page layouts with all the information close together.

I will be building a few "concept sites" and examples for my portfolio so I may use something different soon, but im going to stick with this for now.

- I think the triangle divides are a little too harsh looking.
- I would maybe try having each section a different color, but still in a nice palette.

Good call, it is quite a bold contrast which is what I was trying to achive but ill mess around with the colour/composition maybe add some subtle gradients to ease the edges of the divides.

Its good to know im on the right track, so thanks for the pointers guys :)
 
Good call, it is quite a bold contrast which is what I was trying to achive but ill mess around with the colour/composition maybe add some subtle gradients to ease the edges of the divides.

I'm not saying you need completely different colors or even less bold colors, just different shades for each content area to help it stand out from the other content areas. As it is, it just looks like stripes to me.
 
Really nice design matey, only thing im not so keen on is the blurb "Hi, my name is .... and i"

Its been a bit done to death in freelance sites.
 
I turn a design into functioning standards compliant websites using valid XHTML + CSS, adding extra functionality with the wonderful jQuery library.

Your site fails validation :p.

Apart from that, it looks nice :).
 
Layout wise, it's pretty standard and is a commonly used one these days by quite a lot of people.

Type wise, there's some bits that are niggling away at me, but I might be a bit too picky..

You've quite a mix of typefaces on there in the banner at various sizes, which is a general nono from me anyway, but a few more specific bits;

1. The pt size on 'MY NAME IS' and 'I DESIGN BEAUTIFUL' are a pretty big difference, which looks a bit sloppy to me and like you've tried to cram it into a certain size.

2. The distance between 'HELLO' and 'MY NAME IS' is a few pixels more than between 'MY NAME IS' and 'I DESIGN BEAUTIFUL', something which niggles me again as I can see it naturally.

3.
The kerning on 'FOR HIRE' is what is niggling the most though as it's too tight. With a Sans Serif typeface, especially in capitals, it's pretty vital to get it right and at that weight it looks odd.

The I and H are nearly touching, and the I and R are then a different gap apart, and in general it's a bit out.

The text below starting with 'From a redesign to a whole' is also really close to the bottom of the available for hire bit, if you drop that down it'd look more clean, as it's almost touching at the mo.

There's also things like on the 'ABOUT ME' part;

I'd drop Skillset down so the top of the S is in line with the black line on the right.

This would also I think solve the next part -

Skillset and the list are on finishing a 'line' above the services and info on the right.
If you drop the Skillset down, it should then all be in line and look much tidier.
The skillset also looks too tight to the information above it so dropping it down would solve that too.

These are pretty picky things, but it just looks a bit untidy in places, and when I've worked doing bits for web from the seniors I was with I'd always be picked up on little bits like this, and when you see the before and after it really does make a difference.

Of course, this is all by eye so I might be slightly out with a few bits, but have a fiddle!

On the navigation - I really like that. I was wanting to build a portfolio site with the same sort of navigation a while back, but i'm terrible with code so just didn't get to it.
Like it a lot though.

A slight concern I had with it when I was thinking is when the 'Portfolio' section becomes quite full.

I think when I was doing it about 6 'blocks' as such was the max where it looked good, I think 9 was too much when I was doing it.

That's just a concern as and when you come to it though, I'd imagine.

Strong choice of colours and I quite like your Logo thing, like the roughness of it.

Overall it's pretty good, just the niggles and then it'd be sorted I reckon!

Sorry if it's a bit too picky, I do like it though! I've attempted to put bits in bold that are important to break it up!
 
Hi Bucket,

Thanks for that, really useful feedback. I'm currently working on some tweaks to the layout so I will definitely try the tweaks you have suggested. Thanks!
 
not sure if it's been said but if you click your nav links too quickly they don't work. they only work once the switch has been made which is no good as i click them way before that happens, and because it's changed colour i'm left thining it's been clicked but nothing is happening
 
Not bad, here is some quick criticism - take it or leave it :)

Code:
Responsibilities section in portfolio should be a list.

'Ps', 'Ai', 'Dw' (in the map image) are not recognisable by your customer base.
Dreamweaver is not a skill, regardless - builders don't sell themselves by saying: Saw, Drill, etc.

Contact form submit button doesn't look like a button - it's styled like a heading - bad HCI.

Not enough whitespace, everything is too condensed and overwhelming at first.

Navigation is underwhelmed by the 'HELLO', which serves no purpose, kind of like 'welcome' messages (eww).

The repeated logo in the navigation section serves no purpose and adds to the clutter.
 
It's very grey and then suddenly you get some circles of colour which looks a bit weird to the eye, I would use the blue and orange a little bit more just to make the site pop a little bit.

You also need to work on your type, the welcome message is played but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing, having said that you are drawing attention to HELLO + MATT SKELTON + & which I don't get, I would highlight "beautiful" and make a feature point of that, also, the fact that you are using 3 completely different type faces bugs me, I would pick 2 and use different weights to give it some consistency.

As a whole I like it, I have big love for the one page portfolio but you aren't doing anything different.
 
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