I've finally decided to have a website designed and here it is: http://www.tech-talk.net

There isn't much there yet and I really don't know what to add.

But anyways, do you have any suggestions/comments about the design or something else you think I should have added?

(The header will be finished soon)

First of all, I think you should make it less wide and make it taller. My res is 1280x1024 and the whole website is only about 2 and 1/2 inches tall.

Next, I think you should get rid of the text on the top of the header. It doesn't look good up there and there's no need for it.

Other than that, just start adding content!

Btw, the forum skin is sweet.

Good idea however if I do make it taller, it will also stretch the menu and the content area and since there is little of both... it would look a bit silly?

Add more content!

If a link is underlined, I expect to be able to use a shortcut to access it...other than that, I was amazed to actually agree with the width problem. I usually love wide news stuff, but it is a bit extreme. One way to possibly solve that issue would be to use some middle sized images/icons for specific news topics, ala slashdot (not that they were the first, mind you).

The top button, I don't think it's useful, but that's my only complaint.

nice forum skin. did you make it yourself?


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filipino community

Like what?

I don't really know what you mean by the shortcut part?
Yes I am going to try and do something with the width/height.

I think I may remove it yes, I'm only going to need it if I actually had a lot of content and a person needed to scroll. At the moment they don't have to.

No I did not.

copyright notice needs right padding

Nice to see your getting a site, I dont like places that just run a forum, to me they are cop-outs.

Looks good, its pretty basic yet the colors flow nicely.

The way the links on the top of the page are underlined (only one letter) gives the impression that you can access them by using access keys (pretty much like the menus in Windows or other applications). Either remove the underline effect or add "accesskey=?" to the anchor, "?" being the key (so, "accesskey='h'" for example).

I've seen a layout very similar to this recently, let me see if I can find it.

Yea, it reminded me a lot of Areonic. Can never remember it's spelt, so I can't get to their website but last time I visited their site it looked similar.

I like it though, good colours.

Edit: Found it in the source, looks like they designed it http://www.aeronic.net but they have removed their site.

I could have sworn I saw their copyright in the actual page yesterday, but now it says copyright tech-talk. If I'm not just hallucinating, you might want to put the copyright back, but add to it, stating that the content is copyright TT and design is copyright them...

As far as the comment that I made earilier, Sebastian is right. I couldn't think of the actual name for it (access keys) so I guess it's my fault for not being as specific. (Thanks Sebastian!)

Yeah, the source says this:

Yes Dan Cryer sold me the design since he no longer uses it . It was Aeronic's old design.

And I have removed the links in the bar above the header.

not a fan of it, im getting tired of seeing blue, be more creative and use more joyful colors.

Looks allright, but the headline (<h2>) is too plain and uninspired. I think it will depend very much on the header-image you add, if the design will look too plain or if it will be a decent professional website.

Nash12,
Any suggestion on what I could add to the h2?

Anyways, I've made a few improvements along with finishing the header so what do you think now?

Too soft, and the forum skin is not original to your board- I believe every site and forum should have it's own identity, especially in design.

I agree with you on the originality part but I am so beyond picky that it's hard to get anything custom done and if I just stick with premade stuff that catches my eye I'm fine.

Too soft, well I like it and I find that's all that really matters I couldn't get any other colors to go well together.

Thanks for the comment though

Yeah, it's Aeronic's old design, though there was actually a copyright thing in the footer when i sent it out, i didn't notice that had gone...

I can add it back if you like, wasn't sure if I was allowed to remove it or not? (nevermind, we'll discuss it on AIM )

In IE the header reloads when you mouseover it. Very annoying.

But overall I don't like it at all. I think its boring and just like a billion other sites. Try spicing it up with some brighter colors, anything.

If I ran across your site will looking for tech forums, I doubt that I would be re-visiting because I wouldn't remember your cool layout or anything.

Hm, I think it would help if you would get rid of the border (it creates a "blocky" look) and/or change the color; the headline of a site should stand out, but right now it disappears within the grey/white content. Perhaps you could use a different font for the headline, eg. a serif font? Just an idea, but I for myself like to play around a bit with different font families. Or how about a bullet at the beginning of the headline, or... I cant think of any more at the moment, but I hope I gave you some ideas.

And the current header contains a lot of wasted space. After the "talk" there is too much room filled with nothing but blue. Maybe some fade-out effect with scanlines could help? Or a photo (then you want to have a look at http://www.sxc.hu/ or http://www.morguefile.com/ for many, many great and free pics)? What I could also imagine: some future-style texture, or perhaps some underwater-scene like http://www.heathrowe.com/tuts/underwater.asp (just an idea).