Old Site...New Ideas

[mattkelly]

Hi all. I figured I would run this by everyone. If you check out http://www.thekellycompound.com I'm trying to create some new interface ideas and update the graphics to this fun web site.

Keep in mind I didn't know anything about graphics when I created this site and only recently added the Flash content as a test.

I'm looking for ideas...basically tell me what you think an interesting idea for a design might be. It's tough to think of new stuff when you're only one person!!! Thanks!!!

PS - The sites I built have been mostly for friends and family. The graphics pretty much suck on them as well...they are all being updated as I type this.

[deker]

I would suggest that you don't make the user click on the "Click here" to pull out the navigation. Especially when it just says click here, with no description. A lot of people may think it's just an advertisement trying to trick them into clicking there, and never click it. Then they would have to scroll to the bottom of every page and use your 'backup' navigation.

As a general rule, black backgrounds don't work real well or look professional. And it sometimes make the words hard to read.

I would use a graphical navigation system at the top, as opposed to flash. If you had a complete flash site, that would be one thing, but requiring people to download a plugin just to be able to easily navigate your site can cause you to lose some viewers.

Don't center all of your text. Use center for headlines and other special purposes, like maybe a special quote in the body of text or something. But keep the majority of the text to the left. It makes it much easier to read and better looking.

I guess I'm kind of just critiqueing the you linked and not giving you very many ideas, but that's all I've seen from your work so I'm just adding some suggestions to make that one better.

Hope something I suggested helps you a little.

Derek