Changed It Once Again

think of it this way - we're all friends here ...
- and if your friends can't tell you.....

Originally posted by sir_ant


lol , ever been in the real world lately? ive done jobs for companies and ive gotten comments that hurt but you need to deal with it... just because you like the way it looks doesnt mean its perfect. also i later stated what i disliked though it was very brief it was what i didnt like. you say your a webmaster? well then you should understand what criticism is it has nothing to do with being afraid of posting, if you are afraid then that means you did something wrong and that your insecure wth your work, where will you get with that? so please watch what is said in the forums because i have been here long enough to understand how it works.

You've never met a bipolar man before, have you? Personally, I know it is a part of life, but the fact that people don't know better than to behave that immaturely is what gets me. My mother would smack my head sideways if she ever heard me talk to anyone else like that.

To me, it seems whoever bashes another's work who is insecure, not the person afraid to post it.


Christopher William Coddington (Xzandar / cwcandromeda),
CWCONLINE Administrator/Webmaster

this is getting a little out of hand here - no one needs to be afraid to post his/her work. And criticism, even if a bit rough sometimes, only serves to sharpen the skills. It's like two knives - friction will make them sharper...
I am sorry you are afraid that your mother would abuse you if you spoke your mind...it is a sad thing. You don't have to be afraid here - criticism will not hurt you if you don't let it - just take the good and disregard the bad...

What's a bipolar man by the way??

A bipolar man is someone who suffers permanent manic depression. I am bipolar.

I am sorry about that. I don't know much about that stuff and I cannot pretend to understand. If that is a condition that makes you more sensible to "rough criticism" well - I really don't know how to say this so that you will not take it the wrong way :
- there is always the chance that someone will be too hurried, too uncaring or simply will not be aware of that. There is always the chance that you will be hurt by something somebody says. On this forum people are not used to managing someone's feelings. Usually there's no need to. But wouldn't you be better off knowing the truth? I don't know - I'm asking.

While there's nothing terribly wrong with just saying "I don't like it," it's not quite as good as saying "I don't like it, for *whatever reasons*, and you can do *whatever* to make it better." Just the latter gives people more of a motivation to work on improving it rather than just sitting there thinking "I suck." I know, criticism is good, but hey, doesn't hurt to make it sound nice, even if you really do hate it:D .

To sketta lee: I think when they say it's too busy they just mean that there's too much stuff that serves no apparent functional/aesthetic purpose. But don't take all that too seriously. One of the most important things to keep in mind when you're designing a website to attract visitors is the likes and dislikes of your target visitor. If the people you're directing the site to like the blingage and stuff, keep it. A lot of the stuff you see other people post that gets good comments is usually pretty clean and neat and professional looking, but that's because usually it's something done for a client, or a specific target audience that is leaning more towards the business/career direction, and it's generally better in that case to have something mild, simple, and easy to look at. In that case you'd have to lean more in the direction of your target audience when you're designing. If you're just making a personal site, you should also find a balance between your likes and the likes of your TA (which can be hard). Anyway, the moral is, if your TA are people who like bling blingin' and trucks, then by all means keep it...if you're designing a website to advertise your service as a graphic/web designer...well, then would be a good time to change.

However, what you oughta do is try to make a somewhat neat and simple design, and see what your friends think of that. Who knows, they might like it more, but that's up to you to find out.

And if there is someone who says "It's awful and I hate it." Just ignore them. Unless it's ten different people, then maybe you accidentally linked to some bestiality site or something :eek: .

I think lifeonaplate is right, a person has every irhgt to just say "I don't like it" and drop it at that. I mean, what's the big deal? There might not be any desing flaws - the design just might not tickle the fancy of the viewer.

there are some things in life you just don't like, and sometimes you just can't explain why. It just doesnt strike a chord with you, or something.


As for critiques, as I've said before, making em as harsh and as blunt as possible is the best way to in fact force someone to learn.


One more thing, I agree 110% with spilt, when he commented on that quote that said "If only you realized how much time I put into this design..."

It doesn't matter how much time you put in. It matters what came out, what was produced in that period of time.

An interesting quote regarding design:
"When your design seems too simple for the amount of time you put into it, you know you're done."

It's true. It's true.

Lol.. alot of great arguments.. loved it all.. learning already.. that you guys are all dicks..


just kiddin.. lol thanx though...

Now, this is the first time I've setup a goal to make my site's more professional, even though I'm an amateur, but how do you know what appeals to your visitors? I mean, you don't know the minds of your typical visitor, so how do you find this information out?


Christopher William Coddington (Xzandar / cwcandromeda),
CWCONLINE Administrator/Webmaster

We usually try to discourage people from posting "I don't like it" or "It sucks" type posts, because that doesn't help anyone, and is just a waste of bandwidth and hard drive space. If 6,000+ members of the forum posted whether they liked or disliked a particular design, it would not help you improve at all. You'd just know what percentage of people liked it, and what percentage didn't. If all you can say about a design is whether you like it or don't like it, please don't post at all. If you want to critique a site, give examples of why you like it, or why you don't like it. If you don't like something, make a suggestion of how they can make it better. That's the only way people that post their work can learn and improve.

And if someone doesn't like your work, you aren't being picked on, so don't take it personally. It's pretty annoying when someone posts their work here, then bitches and whines about people being too harsh. If you can't take negative feedback, then you shouldn't post your work here. Expect some of the feedback to be negative. Even the very best designers here have negative comments made about their designs.

Lifeonaplate is very correct about designing for your target audience. Your prospective clients are not professional designers. If your clients like your site, then that is good and probably all you need to worry about.

However if you start trying to sell your services to businesses, you will really need to change a lot of things.

As for your particular design that you've posted...

Good things:
The layout itself is pretty simple and easy to navigate.
I like the use of icons for the download links, etc. It makes it easy to know where to click, and what will happen when you click there.

Bad things:
All caps is extremely unprofessional looking, no matter what your target audience is. It's a proven fact that all caps text is extremely difficult to read.
The transparent navigation buttons would be better if they were solid colored in my opinion. It's distracting to see the busy background behind them.

All of the pixel fonts on the site are blurry, which makes the whole site look pretty blurry. Turn off anti-aliasing when using pixel fonts, always.

The rest is pretty much just personal preference, so I won't comment anymore about it.