Need help and advise on my website

[breed]

I have messed around with my web presence for a few years, changing themes, front-end, back-end, idea, concept and all of the above.

Here is what I am currently doing. Right now it is more or less turning into a blog where I put up an article as a note to myself or some topic I might find interesting.

If you had a web site like this, what kind of content would you like, do you like the layout, more/less ads, what sites would you like to see linked?

Thanks in advance,

[the_architect]

Just my opinion.. I don't think on the right hand side you need the two banners right above/under each other. I think one would be fine. The Share/Save buttons are huge they should be a size or two down. The background picture is nice. The recent posts looks out of place down the bottom there, maybe move it to the black right hand side column, or if not at least above the ads.

It looks like you have a nice thing going there :)

[MikeChipshop Member]

Looks good although the adverts are plain ugly but i understand this isn't always avoidable.

[Berserk87]

dont like how the ads are placed.

[breed]

Thanks so much for the feedback. Really good to get some validation on the site. I would like to do more with it, just not sure what exactly.

I changed the size of the share/save button, and also moved the Recent Posts section.

I have been playing with 2 columns on the right versus one, and I think I am going to cut down on the # of ads, currently have 4, I think I might go down to just one, and then also run an affiliate ad for Newegg or something else, as opposed to the random ads from adbrite.

I am also not in love with the background, I might do something more custom in Photoshop.

[the_architect]

Thanks so much for the feedback. Really good to get some validation on the site. I would like to do more with it, just not sure what exactly.

I changed the size of the share/save button, and also moved the Recent Posts section.

I have been playing with 2 columns on the right versus one, and I think I am going to cut down on the # of ads, currently have 4, I think I might go down to just one, and then also run an affiliate ad for Newegg or something else, as opposed to the random ads from adbrite.

I am also not in love with the background, I might do something more custom in Photoshop.

That sounds good, if the white advert bar wasn't there on the right that would improve the look also imo.

[Dance.]

The ads are very very disrupting to the flow of the page. Try text ads at the bottom of the page instead.

[Tanoru]

I like the design, the adverts do it no favours htough I'd remove those and add something else, perhaps a Twitter api?

As for content make it your own, fill it with the things you like.

[Chasethebase Veteran]

Yeah, looks real nice. I notice the bottom left corner of the header isn't rounded. Is this intentional? It doesn't fit if one side is completely rounded and the other isn't.

The Ads are kind of in the middle and obtrusive. If you swap their placement with the sidebar and reduce the overall size of them you'll probably get better results. Otherwise it's really nice, I just hate those ads!

[brilliant naoki]

Some random opinions:

1. Don't really like the background. A little too distracting (the orange seems a little distasteful to me, although I have no objections of the overall picture), but more importantly, has glaring JPG artifacts, and looks like it might be a little stretched out.
   
2. The semi-transparent HUD window looks like an ad to me. This is probably because you have an ad in your header, which is placed in a similar window. This tells me that anything that looks like what I've first seen (the header with the ad in it) is also an ad. You should make a clear distinction between your content and your ads, and not make them look similar.
   
3. Likewise, the ad beside the HUD window has rounded corners, like the rest of your content, and looks strikingly similar to your blog content, only narrower. Separate this distinction.
   
4. Not sure if I'm a fan of the date tag sticking out of each blog post being transparent. I do like the idea of it though.
   
5. The blog content looks a little plain. Maybe a different font, a different-colored background, or a different alignment scheme? I could live with it, but it could be more appealing I think.
   
6. When I first saw the giant 0 below the date tag, I had no idea what it was, and why it was so transparent. I had to hover over it to find out what it was. Would be nice if there was a better visual cue to give me some more information here, maybe a small icon or glyph of some sort resembling a comment? Cool idea though.
   
7. The "older posts" button at the bottom doesn't look like a very fun button. It's a white box. Rounding the corners, making it shiny, or something like that would certainly make it more appealing.
   
8. If you're forced to have an ad in your site's header, it shouldn't overshadow the contents of it. Consider making your "breednet" title flashier somehow, i.e. include some kind of "breednet" logo. Same goes for your tabs. While there is something to be said for minimalism, you can't have ads attracting more attention than your content. Otherwise it makes it look like an ads site.
   
9. I love the search widget. The design is simple and clean.
   

Otherwise it's a pretty nice-looking site. I'm learning some web development right now, and I'd be pretty content with myself to get where you are now :)

[PT 13]

Original theme(s) : http://thebuckmaker.com/ (just for comparison...)

. In my opinion, your wallpaper is too distractive and "heavy" on the eyes. A background like the original theme(s) (blurred photo) would be less "heavy" and therefore, make you text easier to read.

. The header is too "black" & "plain" :\ (I would rather see the header a bit transparent, and the rest not so transparent)

. I don't really like the layout of the whole them

Other than that it's fine :)

But that's just my opinion...