Thread: Just semi-redesigned website - thoughts? :)

We were lucky enough to get a load of professional quality photos taken at our last hafla by a lovely bellydancing photographer, so I have been completely redoing all the graphic design elements of the OMEDS website using the new photos. Yay!

I suspect the site could still get a lot better, and I'm in a web-building mood at the moment, so thought I'd ask bhuzzers for a bit of constructive criticism. Any thoughts on how I could improve general design or content much appreciated - the site is in my signature.

Rachael

PS, I know that the navigation menu is not right in Internet Explorer 7, I'm working on that

I'm absolutely loving the design. It feels very welcoming and warm with the pink and purple. Also the background picture with the dancers and paisley pattern... it just feels colourful, just the impression you'd want for a bellydance school!
It's also very easy to use and navigate. I'm using Google Chrome, which is still an often overlooked browser, but your site works just fine with it.

The only small thing I didn't like is the top where it says "Oxford Middle Eastern Dance Society" in white text. The font is beautiful, but a bit too detailed/curly/decorative to be read easily in such a long name. It kind of blends in with the background because it's "too" decorative. It would be easier on the eyes to have a more simple font, or keep the decorative font for the first letters only.

Hope I'm making sense
Again, love the overall design!

Your website looks awesome on my giant Mac screen! Fabulous colours, beautiful photo montage. I'm wondering if it might be too overwhelmingly busy on a smaller screen? I do like that you've kept the text portions very clear and neat. Overall it looks fantastic.

I have a pet peeve about moving menus - when I hover over 'Students' for eg, a menu of other options drops down. I have problems scrolling over these sorts of menus - if I scroll straight down over the menu bar to get to workshops, for eg, the student menu drops down and then moves it. I can end up clicking on something else by accident. I think I'd prefer just to have your sub-menus pop up at the top (as they do), but in a more obvious design.

Thanks for the feedback, it's really helpful to get an objective opinion on the site as I think I stop seeing it properly after hours of fiddling with the images! reblossom, I see what you mean about the title font, it was a bit over the top. I've tried a less twiddly one now, which is easier to read but still a little decorative.

I also agree about the navigation menu, the moving around has been annoying me slightly for a while so I'm trying to think of a better way to organise it. I'm thinking maybe two rows of tabs at the top, with a row of 'section' tabs, and then a row of page tabs below them which are different depending on the section. This would also free up more space for content.

I'm glad you like the overall 'look' though :) - I was aiming for warm and welcoming yet vibrant, and it seems to have worked. Yay!

Originally Posted by jewelbellydance

I have a pet peeve about moving menus - when I hover over 'Students' for eg, a menu of other options drops down. I have problems scrolling over these sorts of menus - if I scroll straight down over the menu bar to get to workshops, for eg, the student menu drops down and then moves it. I can end up clicking on something else by accident. I think I'd prefer just to have your sub-menus pop up at the top (as they do), but in a more obvious design.

Woo, sorted it! I now have a nice two-tier navigation bar at the top which is a bit easier to use, I think.

There's a lot that I like about the front page but the relatively obscure title/name is not one of them. EVERYTHING on the home page gets more attention than your name.

Originally Posted by maurazebra

There's a lot that I like about the front page but the relatively obscure title/name is not one of them. EVERYTHING on the home page gets more attention than your name.

Hmm. I've jigged things around a bit to have a more prominent mention of our name - do you think this is an improvement?

Originally Posted by Serpentina

Hmm. I've jigged things around a bit to have a more prominent mention of our name - do you think this is an improvement?

Yes. The fancy title on top scans as decoration, not information. The new title inside the content pane helps a lot.