NotSonknown

**recedo** · 10:47 AM

Hi,

I am currently designing the layout for my new website, I quite like the design I have come up with but it seems very overcrowded. Here is a screenshot of the homepage, http://www.notsounknown.co.uk/images/screen.gif. The trouble is that most of the information on the page has to be there and it has to be kept to 780px wide, also the header has to stay pretty much the same.

Does anyone have any tips on how I could perhaps re-design the layout to keep the same content but make it look less crowded? I am not much of a designer but I cannot afford to get a web designer to do it for me. I don't know, perhaps I could re-design the left and right menus or something?

If you would like to see a live url please pm me as I don't want it to get indexed by google and the likes yet (I have accidently done this before!).

Any tips or examples of similar looking websites would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Simon

**William Martin** · 02-20-2005, 03:23 PM

That site looks great! I'm a web admin at a php-Nuke site, so maybe to my eyes it doesn't look over crowded.. The only thing that seems over crowded to me is it's width. Is there any reason why it would have to stay at a fixed width?

My only suggestion is to control the site more with tables, with percentage values instead of pixel values, to control width. That way, it'll take up the same portion of a user's screen no matter what resolution they are viewing. And for most users that'll be using around 1024x768, the website won't be cramped together on their screen, it'll be spread out, horiztonally.

**recedo** · 02-20-2005, 03:58 PM

Thanks,

I'll consider making it auto-stretch but my design brief was to keep it 780 wide. I am also experimenting with scrapping the right hand menu and making the left one a little bit wider so I can have category lists etc in two columns.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist though so if it's not perfect in my eyes I have to change it!

Simon

**ParasHaria** · 02-20-2005, 06:42 PM

Simon, i personally dont think that you site looks overcrowded - especially for the type of site - have a look at sites which follow a similar theme to your content.

one thing im not convinced by the the font of the top navigation - it may work it you perhaps increase the size of the buttons.

the green on the header, etc... looks good - what sort of background were u considering using?

i look forward to seeing the site in full working order! Good Luck

**William Martin** · 02-20-2005, 06:51 PM

Coming back to your site, I still don't think it's over crowded at all. But the first thing that hits me when I see it is all that wasted white space on the right. So yeah, autoresizing via tables would improve your website greatly with people using 1024x768 and up. I generally steer away from having a site that's fixed width, because then it's not flexible in different resolutions.

Also, that whole concept of having only one column is a very good idea, I didn't even think of that. But personally I like the feel a website has when there are boxes of content on both sides of the page with all the good stuff in the center, like you have it now.

**recedo** · 02-20-2005, 10:14 PM

Thanks for the comments, they are really appreciated.

I have spent most of the day thinking about what to do and have started to change it, heres what I have so far, http://www.notsounknown.co.uk/images/screen_2.gif. Obviously there is still a bit of work for me to do, but you can get the idea. I have got rid of the right hand column and made the left one a little wider so I can have the categories and so on displayed in two columns. I now need to make some changes to the layout of the main content as it looks a bit silly, but I'm getting there. What do you think looks better, the old one or the new one?

ParasHaria, when you say the font on the top nav, do you mean the tabs? If so I agree, I'll probably change it to something more plain and easier to read, I don't really want to make them any bigger though. Also, "what sort of background were u considering using?", what/where do you mean, the header is more than likely just going to stay like it is, or do you mean somewhere else?

As for changing the width, thats out of the question, it has to stay at 780px as thats what the boss wants! To be honest, I preffer working with fixed widths as you know that it'll look the same in all resolutions. I've ran into loads of problems before with autostretching, again with overcrowding, as I design with a high resolution I stuck loads of content on a site and when I tested it with a lower res it was packed and looked horrible.

Thanks for the comments, keep them coming. Also if you do want to see the actual url PM or email me, I just don't want it on google at the moment!

Simon