Detection Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 I am not advertising anything, I am new to making site, and just learning wordpress Could some web designers who have had success with sites take a look and advise me on what I could do to make it better. It is mainly tech news content hence the site name http://www.tech-info.org.uk/ If I am not allowed to post that link Mods please remove and accept apologies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 JoeyF Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 A few things I can think of right off the bat: 1) Your advertisements seem to be cut off horizontally. Not only is this going to reduce the number of clicks your ads gets, but your ad publisher probably would not be too happy about it either. 2) The images are way too big and distracting, just use a small thumbnail off to the side instead. Not too mention, are they your images, or are you taking images from a third party? That can be considered copyright infringement if you don't have explicit permission to use them on your site. 3) You need to have a section in your footer attributing trademarks to their respective owners. 4) Speaking of trademarks, the Windows logo in your header is against Microsoft's trademark policy. You should use your own logo instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Crucestech Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 I recommend using your own news and content. I was like cool another tech site but then remember seeing all your posts coming from www.engadget.com The website looks good kinda the same I seen over and over before with others. I know I'm harsh but better than to lie to you. Keep up the hard work. I'm sure next time I visit your website you changed it for the better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Detection Posted May 7, 2011 Author Share Posted May 7, 2011 Yea need to sort adverts, but they appear white if I put them anywhere else long enough to see them properly Images I like, catches people attention, if they see a big picture of an Android phone, and are interested in Android, it will stop them, and get them reading. each to their own. All images are linked directly back to the source I got them from, so in fact advertising their site for free "attributing trademarks to their respective owners" ? As in Google , MS, Sony, etc etc ? Like giving them credit for advertising their products ? Windows 8 logo at the top of my site is the same as the one from the top of this site, modded in CorelDraw X5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Singh400 Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 Original content is key. At the moment it's just copying and pasting from other sites.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 nub Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 The design is pretty boring. Bioran 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Wysiee Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 You need a lighter colour at the bottom of the gradient background, you can barely notice it. It also looks to clean on the main page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Cupcakes Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 An images content is what stops the person and makes them interested not an overly large size. They are just TOO BIG. There is really no rhyme or reason with the design. The monochromatic look is very bland and boring. Doesn't keep me interested for long at all. Content is key and I agree with what everyone else has said: Get your own content rather then regurgitating from elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 DrJohnSmitherson Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 Not a fan of the color scheme. It looks way too old. Get that hit counter off quick! :p (serious tho) Hovering over the nav bar text makes it way too hard to read EDIT: Displaying posts from somewhere else isn't a big deal too me. If you pull from MANY sources then you can be the one stop shop! EDIT2: The banner isn't standard enough. You have different fonts going on and the title of your website seems too plain. Then there's the Windows logo and a RSS icon seemingly randomly placed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Detection Posted May 7, 2011 Author Share Posted May 7, 2011 Where to get original content and have time to re-write enough articles a day to keep people interested. I am sole runner of the site Changed Header Hover text had not noticed it had gone dull Removed Hit counter What else ? Design wise, I have no clue, I picked a theme and modded it. I can't remember how to gradient the background either, so I just set it solid black Header fonts are different because I cant put my site name in wordpress without it overwriting my custom header words, and apparently its important for Google to find you having that stupid text there Matched colours similar to This site, so can't look old now (I hope) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 game_over Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 It's pretty dull on a whole.. i would certainly consider a different theme. You should also consider writing original content and if you can't then maybe look at doing something else? It's great that you want to run your own website but if the content is copied from elsewhere you effort wont be rewarding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 DrJohnSmitherson Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 Well making colors "match" isn't the goal. I'll post some links to galleries that I like to visit for inspiration. Not to be mean, but your theme overall isn't looking good imho. Contrast can and does look good! @ Your the name of your site. If you can edit the CSS of your header area, go to the spot where your website name is and add this to the css "display: none;" without quotes. This will hide it from people but Google should still pick it up since it still exists. (If someone can explain that better please do) Some of these are better than others but you never know what you might like http://www.css-design-yorkshire.com/index.html http://www.freecsstemplates.org/ http://www.templatemonster.com/website-templates.php http://browsershots.org/showcase http://www.cssburst.com/ http://demo.rockettheme.com/ http://www.freewebtemplates.com/templates/xhtml-css http://www.clantemplates.com/ http://www.4templates.com/ http://themeforest.net/category/site-templates http://www.designbombs.com/ EDIT: Here are all my bookmarks for web stuff. I hope you find some useful info http://thechillroom.com/files/help/webbookmarks.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Detection Posted May 7, 2011 Author Share Posted May 7, 2011 Ive run out of steam for tonight, Im making it looks worse each change, so gonna leave it for a fresh head tomorrow Will take a look at the links and try the suggestions, cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Paul Ferson Veteran Posted May 7, 2011 Veteran Share Posted May 7, 2011 The design does need to be a bit more modern in its overall feel for it to really improve. Is it just me, or is the Windows 8 logo on your site a little bit pixelated? It looks a little rough for some reason: perhaps it is JPEG compression? I didn't check the file type so I can't say that with absolute certainty, but there's something about it that doesn't seem quite right for some reason. The Windows 8 logo in the header looks a bit 'off', if that makes any sense. Look at the letters and compare them to the smoothness of the version on Neowin. It seems a little more smooth to me, for some reason. Also, the RSS icon doesn't really flow with the design. While I understand it does pertain to computing and technology it just doesn't fit with the Windows 8 logo. Use something more fitting with the overall concept of technology. If you could do something really, really unique then I think it would pay dividends for you. If you do want to include an RSS icon, then use one that isn't as common - just know that it might not be worth your while if you add an RSS feed to your site, as people could get confused between the two. Take something like this, and shrink it down if you want to make an RSS Feed icon, but the design in the header doesn't really feel related, to me at least. The fonts used for the header also could do with a bit more flair to them. As it is, they're using a basic formatting effect and nothing more. Your header needs to 'wow' visitors immediately to make them want to stay and continue browsing. Because I was interested in trying to do something graphical for some reason, I decided to throw together a quick mock-up header. You'll need to edit it a bit because my Photoshop 'skillz' leave a lot to be desired but I tried to replicate the fonts used using only my eyes and some guessing. It's a bigger file than I'm used to uploading but I suppose it's worth it if it helps you with your site. Do write your own content though - what's the point in visiting a mirror of Engadget? People are going to for Engadget rather than a site that is replicating its content, so make yourself stand out a little. If you can do something else with the design of the site then I highly recommend it. As it is it feels dated, and with Web 2.0 ventures appearing all the time you do not want to look dated before you've even established anything resembing a userbase. Note also that my attempt at creating something involved using Photoshop with a high zoom level so if the text along the top is off-center don't be surprised! :p http://i.imgur.com/K7w7f.png Did I mention there might be a bit of cropping to make that image fit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Detection Posted May 7, 2011 Author Share Posted May 7, 2011 The design does need to be a bit more modern in its overall feel for it to really improve. Is it just me, or is the Windows 8 logo on your site a little bit pixelated? It looks a little rough for some reason: perhaps it is JPEG compression? I didn't check the file type so I can't say that with absolute certainty, but there's something about it that doesn't seem quite right for some reason. The Windows 8 logo in the header looks a bit 'off', if that makes any sense. Look at the letters and compare them to the smoothness of the version on Neowin. It seems a little more smooth to me, for some reason. Also, the RSS icon doesn't really flow with the design. While I understand it does pertain to computing and technology it just doesn't fit with the Windows 8 logo. Use something more fitting with the overall concept of technology. If you could do something really, really unique then I think it would pay dividends for you. If you do want to include an RSS icon, then use one that isn't as common - just know that it might not be worth your while if you add an RSS feed to your site, as people could get confused between the two. Take something like this, and shrink it down if you want to make an RSS Feed icon, but the design in the header doesn't really feel related, to me at least. The fonts used for the header also could do with a bit more flair to them. As it is, they're using a basic formatting effect and nothing more. Your header needs to 'wow' visitors immediately to make them want to stay and continue browsing. Because I was interested in trying to do something graphical for some reason, I decided to throw together a quick mock-up header. You'll need to edit it a bit because my Photoshop 'skillz' leave a lot to be desired but I tried to replicate the fonts used using only my eyes and some guessing. It's a bigger file than I'm used to uploading but I suppose it's worth it if it helps you with your site. Do write your own content though - what's the point in visiting a mirror of Engadget? People are going to for Engadget rather than a site that is replicating its content, so make yourself stand out a little. If you can do something else with the design of the site then I highly recommend it. As it is it feels dated, and with Web 2.0 ventures appearing all the time you do not want to look dated before you've even established anything resembing a userbase. Note also that my attempt at creating something involved using Photoshop with a high zoom level so if the text along the top is off-center don't be surprised! :p http://i.imgur.com/K7w7f.png Did I mention there might be a bit of cropping to make that image fit? Thanks for that, I think the 8 Logo looks as it does due to AA in CorelDraw - without AA it makes the letters of everything all jagged, just like gaming - I`ll have another play with it tomorrow, btw - that link shows only Safari's URL bar and a white page lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Paul Ferson Veteran Posted May 7, 2011 Veteran Share Posted May 7, 2011 btw - that link shows only Safari's URL bar and a white page lol Because I fail with Photoshop, I didn't bother cropping it. All it was meant to show was the navigation bar of Safari, and then you could build your site to appear as if it is part of the interface. It'd be difficult but it would really make you stand out. It might be a lot of work though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Detection Posted May 7, 2011 Author Share Posted May 7, 2011 Because I fail with Photoshop, I didn't bother cropping it. All it was meant to show was the navigation bar of Safari, and then you could build your site to appear as if it is part of the interface. It'd be difficult but it would really make you stand out. It might be a lot of work though. lol, anyway, I only put this together today, and only learned how to use partially wordpress less than 2 weeks ago, so I say this is early stages, lets say Alpha stage lol I suck at PS too, I was taught how to use CorelDraw in a job I had, but still not to 100%, but much better than I know PS, I can just about use clone brush and content aware in PS lol This was my first attempt, but don't know how to add that Google thing to the header without it adding the text I haven't really even got a logo yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 DrJohnSmitherson Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 The rss image just feels like it's just slapped on. I think this looks a little better http://i.imgur.com/IVOUc.png Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Bengal34 Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 The rss image just feels like it's just slapped on. I think this looks a little better He also might want to make it shorter by making the font smaller. I've always personally felt that a short and wide banner at the top of sites always made the design a bit more crisp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 DrJohnSmitherson Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 He also might want to make it shorter by making the font smaller. I've always personally felt that a short and wide banner at the top of sites always made the design a bit more crisp. Possibly ----------- Also keep in mind that your site is more plain and flat(which isnt bad or wrong), so having flashy, 3d images on there doesn't quite fit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Fluxii Media Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 Hmm yeah the entire site just feels old. I dunno, maybe a new design would work best. Logo doesn't need to be that huge; just look at my tech news site that I kinda abandoned lol: http://tekknetik.com/ Very clean and keeps focus on what's important, the articles. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Detection Posted May 8, 2011 Author Share Posted May 8, 2011 Hmm yeah the entire site just feels old. I dunno, maybe a new design would work best. Logo doesn't need to be that huge; just look at my tech news site that I kinda abandoned lol: http://tekknetik.com/ Very clean and keeps focus on what's important, the articles. :) Do you get many hits ? See the thing is. I am trying to bring in some revenue from adsense, so need as many hits as poss, originally I was thinking of setting up a free dating site, once made, it could be left alone and updated now n then and hopefully get popular, this one needs updating every day, manually except for the RSS. Maybe I Will just make one big page of ads and RSS lol Will changing my theme lose any of my content / posts ? How about that theme (News) http://www.tech-info.org.uk/ Or can someone suggest a better one? All the decent ones cost Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Fluxii Media Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 Honestly i don't get many hits but that's because I don't advertise or promote the site right now. If i were to, i could make it hit quite a bit more. I was think of turning it into an rss feed site of neowin, engadget, etc so i can promote it as a one stop site for all news from across the web with the occasional original content. But that's just one idea. As for your site... Just try to keep it clean, modern, and stick to the focus... The news! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Detection Posted May 8, 2011 Author Share Posted May 8, 2011 If you take a look now, I think this theme is much better, I understand now (after some sleep) how the other one looked not so good Yea I`m gonna add more RSS from good sources too ;) Whats the best way to promote the site ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 zeta_immersion Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 Websense labeled the site in the first post as sex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Detection Posted May 8, 2011 Author Share Posted May 8, 2011 Websense labeled the site in the first post as sex ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Question
Detection
I am not advertising anything, I am new to making site, and just learning wordpress
Could some web designers who have had success with sites take a look and advise me on what I could do to make it better.
It is mainly tech news content hence the site name
http://www.tech-info.org.uk/
If I am not allowed to post that link Mods please remove and accept apologies
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