New Business Site

http://www.SleekImagination.com/SleekImagination/

OK Guys, I am working on a new site, and it is still under construction.  For example right now, I am trying to get a JS FishEye Menu working.  I am also trying to work out some kinks (see my post on the JavaScript Board).  It's not actually live just yet, it's hidden in the Folder, linked above....

But the main design elements are there. 

I would love so feed back from the visual aspects.  I like the Black/White/Grey Color Palette, I think it matches "Sleek".  There is something about the content block & the menu block that I am just not really happy with, I am not sure why, or what to do about it. 

The look I am going for is Sleek (obviously), clean, 2.0, classy, professional, I guess you get the idea.  Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

I would also like some recommendations about the best way to feature my portfolio....

The images come up in with lytebox currently, which I like.  What I need is ideas on how to get potential clients to click to actually see the portfolio.

I also plan on getting cleaner images for my portfolio, I just haven't gotten to that step yet....

is this a website?

it is pretty nicely done :)

however i don't like the part at beginning where you have to click to enter twice, thats kind of annoying.. great job so far though you are coming right along with it!

Thanks method, that keeps me outside the the website.

@PHPNewbie-KY,

you should start with modifying free CSS templates from oswd.org, I'm sure the result would be much better.

It is not that bad, I mean the idea is nice but it needs more work.

I am still working on the enter thing, eventually it will do that automatically, I just haven't gotten it working correctly yet.  It's JavaScript Scriptaculous, and I can't get the queue to work properly, so I have it click through until I can get it working....

I don't really like the idea of using someone else's CSS and modifying it, I enjoy watching it come together from scratch, and like I said before, this is still a work in process & it not truly live yet.

Do you have any suggestions to make it better?  Ideas to improve aspect of the look or the function would be appreciated!

if you don't like to learn form CSS example sites, how do you learn to create professional websites?

I started here a few years ago:
http://css.maxdesign.com.au/index.htm
and stopped creating strange html websites

this template is is still the basic for most of my websites:
http://css.maxdesign.com.au/floatutorial/tutorial0816.htm

I did learn that way in the beginning, now I try to start from scratch & work my way up.  I had reached all I could do by using other peoples templates.  Seeing that this website is for my design work, I don't think it would be fair or honest to use someone else's template, it would give a false impression.

Hi PHPNewbie-KY ,
Im new in the Web world and at moment making my own web as well. The more i hate then i ask my friends about my work and
feedback is like: "wow, cool mate, thats wonderful" - its not helpful, innit?

Hope you will understand my english and ill try to say what i like or not, ok? :)
I dont like to click somewhere to get in. really dont like. And if i want to go back im getting again on start page and
have to click again. not nice. Why so complicated?

Do you like this anying tittle from pictures which comming out on IE? I mean, when you put mouse on picture
there pop up title... If not, then use alt and title like here:
<img src="pic.jpg" alt="this is in case if picture dont comming or for ppl who have trouble with eye" title="leave this empty and IE dont show anything!!!" />



im watching your site from my work pc and this is old s**t so monitor is old crap and your colors becomes a bit borring, really. mm, white letters and
light blue background making hard to read them and Also letters are very fancy and this arent helping to read them.
(My monitor is really bad, but keep in mind what your customers also can have old monitors where colors isnt bright)

About css. Seems you going same way like I did. First I learn some css. Then I use ready made templates. Then i tryed
do everything by myself. Finally i can build from scratch but at the end all my "own" pages is very same like those from
templates. hmm, up to you of course, but i suggest to write into google "css holy gray" or "css templates" and there is planty
ideas and you can take and make your absolutly own design.

well, this is what i see and feel from start. Anyway, you just starting and i feel this will be interesting work at the end.
I hope you wont be angry becouse of saying what i see, this is only
my opinion and besides im not professional, im newbie ;)

ps
in few days i will put my site as well, then i hope will get same agressive feedback!

Hi droom,

This is what I say, create your own site from existing (advanced) CSS templates is a hard job. You're ready to create your own if you became handsome with this.
Designing a website is first create a template in Photoshop and than convert this template into html/css. Using a free CSS template does not mean that I use the prev. design. I think PHPNewbie-KY has to learn a lot, she is trying to do anything. In my case I know that I'm not designer, will say I take the photoshop part from someone else and code/program my site or application

I do have a lot to learn!  That is what I like about design & coding, is that I get to learn alot.  I am originally a designer, so I like to design my site in photoshop & move it into CSS/HTML. 

The opening is still really messed up, I plan on that being automated in the end.  I have also planned on fixing the fact that if you do go off the page you have to start back at the beginning.  There is still ALOT of scripting & design work to be done. 

I have been working on the site (from concept to where it is now) for over two weeks.  I decided the reason I couldn't get it the way it would make me happy, is my work was getting stale.  So I have taken a little break, and don't plan on actually doing anything else to it until next week.  Then maybe I will have lots of feedback from you nice people & I can get it perfect.

Thanks everyone!

Hi Olaf,
Yap, you absolutly right. Unfortunatly all knowlidge comming by hard work and practice.
Im not very good with photoshop, but I do first ideas on paper with pen. And yea, after
making simply css/html with more important blocks of page, then playing with background,
text etc etc.. and only after this first page looks good I fill up web site with all
pages wich is based on this first one, at the end javascript etc.
And if im lucky then all this crap looks good in all browsers.
well, i never had this luck however... guess which browsers are the most popular for web developers :D

hi PHPNewbie-KY,
I check your site at home on my linux with BIG monitor ;) well much better. Did you notice how looks your site
on IE6? Check it out and you will be surprised. By the way i like the works into porfolio! Really nice!
I wish what i know how to use photoshop and more understand about colors, images, design..


ps
going to put for review my first job...

Yeah I know it looks funny in IE6 & lower.  I have a separate CSS file for IE6 & below with gif images instead of PNG.  The PNG's just look so much cleaner....

I love png but there is trouble with this stupid IE. You see, first of all you have to put tricky js for transparency. (i found by google "pngfix.js")
Sometimes this making trouble with some other script. For example, im playing with mirror efect and then
these two scripts not working togehter and sometimes I have to change half of page to getting them work.
There are some strange stuff with position:absolute or relative.. so, have to be carefull

and just in this week i did a lot of testings with png, jpg and gif in different browsers.
Found out one more problem. If you have background with css, and you want to put
some picture on top of this background in same color, then png looks strange on IE. even in same color there
is diference between background by css and picture, however if you change to jpg, then perfect result.

so, I decide to use png only if i need transparency and there is know other solutions. All other situations
jpg and if just simple colors then gif.

Idea with different css for each browser is good, but as much as possible im trying to keep things simply.
Probably im wrong, but this is by my own small experience.

and .. yea, png is much better for web, but unfortunetly so many ppl using IE..

First off, let me mention that I am on dial up and using FireFox.

The first thing that loaded was your gradient (it took a long time to show up) and then the W3C graphic and finally a minute after I arrived at your site your text finally showed up. Not a good start. 2 screens to get to the 'homepage' - powerful to some extent, but mostly a turn off. I didn't get enough to make it worth the wait.

Is the cursive font the same on the left side as for the menus? It's much harder to read. Image menus only are going to make your SEO twice as hard.

The way you have some words capitalized and bold-faced on what is essentially your home page is sort of distracting.

The only color on the page is the W3C logo - distracts from your content - draws the eye way too much.

Store = CafePress = bad idea. Are you providing a professional service or T-shirts? Funny, I just finished posting an article on putting too many things on the same website on my blog before I checked this forum - if you want, give it a once-over -- http://www.blogaboutcrafts.com/index.php?/archives/68-Too-Much-Information.html

Your pages are a bit inconsistent...services is a list, portfolio is a list of links that seems to be cut off at the bottom, and about is paragraphs.

Overall I like the design and concept - but perhaps the layout is putting too much limitations on your pages. I am generally attracted to these 1 page designs until I think about how to put my content in them. I like the color scheme and with a bright and bold accent color or two it would really snap.

Oh, not liking the going back to the splash pages after looking at something in your portfolio. I would also figure out with the portfolio how to embed the picture of the site within a page that is clearly part of your site. Please ignore if this is simply part of what you are working on.

Hope that helps some.

BTW, where are you in KY?

Sorry I did not have time to read all the comments (maybe people already mentioned this)

Some suggestions

1. display a hand on the "click here to enter" - give the image an id (id="enter") and use this css rule #enter{cursor:pointer;}

2. I would center horizontally the whole site (it would look bad in wide screen monitors)

3. I would suggest that you don't overuse javascript ... create the site to be nice without javascript and then see if you can apply some unobtrusive javascript tricks ... a lot of people still have their javascripts blocked ...

4. don't use javascript for the links ... unless you don't want google to crawl your site ... use unobtrusive script to replace the actual href link "action" with an "onclick" action ...

Unobtrusive if you don't already know is the way to go with javascript ... you can't see it anywhere in the html but it loads as a script and it finds the elements that you want it to be listening to ... search for "unobtrusive scriptaculous", there must be a tutorial on it ...

About png's and IE6 look at this http://geoland.org/2007/03/transparent-pngs-in-ie-without-javascript/

Saddly what you did not write this not few weeks ago.. :) but thank you for sharing this info. I look many ways, but didnt saw so easy one!