Workrant

**Workrant** · 03-13-2005, 07:05 PM

I have had the site up and running for about 5 months now, and am almost ready to start advertising it again to get some decent traffic going - but would very much appreciate any advice, reviews or opinions that you may have that could help me!

Thanks in advance.

www.workrant.com

**Workrant** · 03-15-2005, 08:21 PM

Hey - just bumping up my request, been waiting for 2 days for my thread to be accepted and then when it is I'm near the bottom of the list!

Please - any reviews are opinions are most appreciated!

**CasaPages** · 03-15-2005, 10:23 PM

Awsome concept, I like the idea and the site layout isnt to shabby, the nav bar is a nice touch. However im not to sure how I feel about the colors, something just doesnt feel right.

I think you need to rethink your graphics the site feels kind of plain and boring and the color scheme makes it all feel as if its a fancy 1990 something website.

Perhapes using some CSS on the links (since static links are the BAD) and a slight overhaul in the graphics/color department. Other than that the site is a great idea.

Good luck, hope this helps

**dojo** · 03-16-2005, 05:35 AM

You should make a layout

The colours are not quite OK, especially the blue, don;t use Times new roman, stick with a main font and size .. and again make an organized layout. Try a free template and modify it or just open an image editor and let your inspiration run free

**Workrant** · 03-16-2005, 07:03 AM

Thanks for the advice -

I'll try and soften the colours - maybe so the blue is a bit more similar to the blue / grey used on this forum.

Dojo, I've not used a free template before - where's the best place or package to find a good one?

Please keep the opinions coming by the way - invaluable!

**nitroy2k** · 03-16-2005, 10:23 AM

Onestly what you can do pay sombody for design..
go to templatemonster.com and buy some design for 50$ you make peopel turn off your page emidiatly

**dojo** · 03-16-2005, 10:24 AM

I've gathered a list of some good providers:
FREE template prodviders list. You can find there some articles and guidelines useful for a webmaster. You can also ask for a step-by-step review. Should you wish I could design the site for you, but not for free

I'm glad you didn't mind. I don't want to upset anyone nor to mock someone's efforts, but sometimes the truth cannot be softened to much. The project you started it quite interesting and it would be better to put it into a better "package". Although we may say we don't care about how the sites look, the truth is when we see a beutiful one we are just extatic. Why not give your visitors this feeling and to you an advantage over other similar projects

**Workrant** · 03-16-2005, 07:27 PM

I haven't seen any templates yet which would be suitable, although there is plenty more to look through - thanks for the pointers

I whole heartedly agree that my site needs to be as attractive and freindly as possible, so paying for a proffesional design will have to be a serious consideration - although perhaps a more long term one. I've had quotes between $600 - $1000 previously so I'd like it to be bringing a little bit of income in first before I shell out.

All help is appreciated, whether it's big advice like "make a layout" or small points like "maybe move this - here".

**King Justice** · 03-16-2005, 08:54 PM

In my HUMBLE opinion, I think that you should get a new design.

$20 would do in my book, for a simple design, with a simple logo.

Also change the font. Eww. I'd definately get some CSS coding in there along with a new design. Holler at me if you need a layout I might be able to hook you up.

Nice concept though..

**angele803** · 03-16-2005, 11:44 PM

I think the idea is great. I do agree about the layout though. Instead of paying a designer $600-$1000 that you have been quoted, have you thought about doing a contest in the graphics part of this site? If you offered $25-$50 for a layout design, I bet you would get alot of offers.

**Workrant** · 03-17-2005, 03:57 PM

angele803 thanks for the great tip - No I hadn't thought about it so I'll give it a try!

The general consensus seems to be with the layout - Thanks - I'll do something about it NOW before remarketing the site.

Any other ideas, anyone, about what I might want to include or remove?

**DevelopedWeb** · 03-17-2005, 04:07 PM

Big fonts! Try lowering the font size on everything by two points and see how that looks--it may be a better fit for your large amount of content.

I'd also customize the colors on the Google Ads to get rid of the green, just because there's no green anywhere else on your layout.

The scrolling status bar text flies by very quickly on my 733 MHZ computer I'm currently using. You might want to slow that down (or even get rid of it entirely if you're going for professionalism).

The cellpadding on the left sidebar is pretty massive. There doesn't need to be so much space between each of the ads you're displaying. It's better both aesthetically and financially (higher ads = higher click-through rates in most cases) to have the spacing between these ads decreased.

Other than that, nice site!

**aboyd** · 03-17-2005, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Workrant

I have had the site up and running for about 5 months now, and am almost ready to start advertising it again to get some decent traffic going - but would very much appreciate any advice, reviews or opinions that you may have that could help me!

Hey Workrant. Thanks for giving me some advice for my site. I'll return the favor.

So, advice not related to the font/layout/colors. Hmm. That's hard. Let's see.... It seems like breaks (BR tags) are coded right into the rants on the home page, so that on my screen, the rants look more like weird poems with a REALLY ragged right, lots of orphans (single word on a line). I suspect the page would be half as long if everything wrapped nicely. As it is, I get this:

Code:

The school is under resourced - no laminators, no OHP, 1
TV
and a poor selection of videos, no real internet access
and

And so on. I suspect you translate each newline into a BR tag. Instead, I might translate each newline-newline (2) into a P tag, and leave the single newlines unchanged.

What else? The navigation buttons at the top are not consistent, it's kinda bugging me. For example, the button to the "top 10 rants" is in the middle of the nav bar when I'm on the home page. But if I go to the "previous rants" page, then I first thought the button wasn't there anymore -- but quickly realized it had moved to the far right. I think it would be lots better if all the buttons were present on all the pages, and if they were always in the same place. In fact, the button for whatever page you are on could be present but grayed-out, and would serve as an additional way to figure out where you are on the site.

The rest of the gang here is right about the concept -- it's a good one.

Oh and one more thing -- the layout of the left sidebar is a little spacey for me. I think it could be tighter. I don't mean that you should cram everything together, but I do mean that instead of a full inch of space between each link and image, maybe cluster them together better, with ads stacked closely together, then a good space, then links stacked sorta-close together, then space, and so on.

Good luck with the site.