My Website Design - Any Good? [UPDATED DESIGN]

[Calum Veteran]

24/12/08 - I have updated the design yet again (still may not be good) after all of your helpful comments, but thought it would be best not to start a new thread. Please see this post further in the thread: Information on my updated design.

Original post (22/11/08):

I've only recently started learning the web design languages in my second year of university and have created a small website (as we have to create a whole forum from scratch by February :| lol).

Please let me know what you think of my whole design :) The colours, images, navigation, layout of content div, etc. Eventually I am thinking I would like to somehow add images to the border to make that a bit better, but other than that, I would really appreciate anybody's comments. Negative or positive... be as harsh as you like ;)

Link: http://homepages.shu.ac.uk/~cjricha2/contact.php

Edited December 24, 2008 by cJr.

[Calum Veteran]

I'll be honest, I hate black websites. Any website with a black background, unless very unique, can never pull itself off. I suggest moving towards a light background and rethinking you colour scheme. It's far to much in contrast with itself. Pick colours that have relation to each other and you will be far better off!

Thank you. That is why I got rid of the black design. Are you looking at the right page?

I have only updated it with this new, lighter, design yesterday, only on the 'about me' page here: http://homepages.shu.ac.uk/~cjricha2/aboutme.php :)

Please feedback on this page if you can :) If it is still too dark then I will consider what you said about colours which have relation to each other (I was going for orange and silver because I think they go nice together lol)

[APH-Alex]

Thank you. That is why I got rid of the black design. Are you looking at the right page?

I have only updated it with this new, lighter, design yesterday, only on the 'about me' page here: http://homepages.shu.ac.uk/~cjricha2/aboutme.php :)

Please feedback on this page if you can :) If it is still too dark then I will consider what you said about colours which have relation to each other (I was going for orange and silver because I think they go nice together lol)

I would make a distinctive border type line thing between each nav-bar item. Make it look more like a menu, or buttons, cuz when an item is highlighted it just kind of looks like it cuts off at the next item that isn't highlighted and it looks unprofessional. If you know what I mean. :p :) But it doesn't look half bad. Actually, if you wanna take a look at this little blog I was in the process of making a while ago you can see how the nav bar (and some other stuff) was implemented and take what you will from it. :)

EDIT: Upon reflection, what I just uploaded doesn't look too great, but might as well take what you can from it. (Note how it resizes and how it appears when images haven't loaded.

Blog.zip

[Sandor]

you'll find using bright or strong "electric" colours (for want of a better word) are good for borders or for like titles. in other words used sparingly.

understated or calmer colours do better for the site itself. thats why you'll find most websites will use white or very light grey, pale blues, greens and stuff like that.

personal preference for me but dark grey just doesnt work for me. its too dark and depressing :D

[karma]

Sometimes it is better to build the design around the content you will be featuring. As you have little content at the moment that will be quite difficult. I suggest using some Lorem Ipsum with a few paragraphs per page and building a design around that.

It may sound silly but sometimes a few paragraphs can change your whole perspective on how a site should be designed.

[primexx]

Sometimes it is better to build the design around the content you will be featuring.

granted, most of us are probably guilty of not doing it