Saturday, March 22, 2008

Update on Updates

The front page and overall layout was changed again today. This is much more what I had in mind for the vision/look/approach for my website, http://www.livefunky.com/

What are your thoughts on the design... yes please or no thank you? If you notice a whoopsie moment anywhere, don't hesitate to bring it to my attention. Thanks!

7 comments:

Garett said...

I like this front page a lot more than the other one Jessica. It's very clean, yet (as one would expect) funky. A keeper! :-)

Martha Marshall said...

I'm smiling too myself because I loved the first one and yet this one is so . . . yeah, clean and really fresh looking! It's so you!!! Love it.

jafabrit said...

I love the visuals, really cool.

Anonymous said...

Hiya. It's always tricky redesigning your web site isn't it? So many choices :)

Personally I liked having some of your art work on the front page - maybe even like your Etsy feed here on your blog. I might not venture further if I stumled on the site not knowing your art style and thinking the graphics here represent the art you produce. If you know what I mean.

Also I have to scroll up and down to get the text links onto the screen. Having such a succint front page you should really try to get it to fit on without scrolling so I don't think I'm missing something. It just kind of suggests a sort of - ummm - amateur feel. I reckon we're talking losing 20 or 30 picels off the overall height of your graphics.

There's also a weird empty white space at the bottom. Looking at the source code there's a lump of commented code which says it should be removed - maybe if you remove that it will get rid of the white space. Everything after the "/html" tage (but leaving that tag in place).

Personally I also hate hate hate frames like you've used on your art page. I expect it's that way because you're grabbing content from elswhere but there has to be a better way. But it's just my opinion. What does look a bit sucky is that your content doesn't even fill that frame - I've got a big whitespace down the side. I know it's easy to be critical - sorry!

On the art page I'd like to know a little more to encourage me to click - like an idea of mediums you use. Maybe you could feature a painting (even a sold one so you can update less often) so I can see something not squashed into a square thumbnail. Some of your work loses a lot in being shown just as a thumnail here and may not encourage a passing browser to connect and investigate further.

Umm - finally I use web mail so I hate it when I get a "contact" link which fires up my email - I just want your actual email address in text (linked to). Or to go to a page that tells me this info.

I don't know how easy any of this is if you're using a site builder!! And I hope this isn't too much. Dong your web site it's very difficult to get the right balance and someone is ALWAYS going to think you should do it different. In the end it's totally up to you.

I love your art - it's sensual and colourful and a feast for my eyes. I want to get the same "ooooh" from your web site. or at least have your web site act as a carrier for that rather than pushing it's own identity. But again it's down to you and what purpose the site is there to serve.

Well you asked for input so ... hope this is ok. You cannever tell when people ask for feedback and just want a high five or when they want your deepest thinking on something ... [retreats behind sofa]

Unknown said...

Thanks to all who commented!

Rachel, I really appreciate your honest critique of my site. It IS a challenge (especially for a trained painter, not a web designer!). I agree with all of your suggestions, especially that the first impression is not of my main artwork (abstract paintings) but of my illustrator designs. I have something in mind about how to make it all work together, but when I get into actually bringing that into being, I get overwhelmed so easily!

I think I need to take a break from it and really study everything you said and think of a new presentation. I need it to be simple and clean looking, but not so simple that it's boring or looks amateurish.

Thanks for taking the time to really help with each point. This is why I asked - I get plenty of high fives from my husband who thinks anything I do looks cool! (Bless his heart). So come out from behind that sofa and give me a hug! :)

Anonymous said...

Phew! I was kind of worried after I hit submit. LOL!

Do remember I only focused on the things that creaked a little, rather than the good things. Bad Rachel!

It is hard work designing and building your web site. Much harder when it's your own as well. Mine web site (rather than blog) is pretty dreadful!

Sometimes it helps to plan it all out of paper before you hit the computer.

Well - whichever way you with it you're building on a good foundation :)

Thanks for your comment on my blog too :)

The Oblong Loop said...

I just stumbled onto your site and I'm really liking it! I'll be back for sure.

Mechelle