jonbey Posted April 26, 2012 Report Share Posted April 26, 2012 Hi Been a long time since I was last here, so hi again. I run my own website. I built it all myself using Wordpress. I have slightly modified a free theme (just tweaking the CSS to get it to look the way I want). However, I feel it does not have a strong image, does not impact etc.. But, I cannot work out what (or how) to change to make it a lot better. It is a article based website, 2 columns. So my thinking is that all that is needed really to make it look lots better is a snazzy looking header area and sidebar. Maybe some tweaks to content layout, fonts, colours etc. too. I have been looking at many site for inspiration but always left confused! I am not a designer. I have thought about getting a professional design done do far not seen a company who specialises in Wordpress and will not make silly changes that will ruin my navigation and architecture - it is vital that this all remains untouched. This is my website. I have been looking at sites like these, hoping for inspiration, but still not sure the direction to take. These are all mostly news / magazine sites, some really basic looking actually: Celebrity Gossip, Fashion Trends, Hair & Beauty Tips (Glamour.com UK) Latest news, sport and comment from the Guardian | The Guardian ABC.net.au Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph - Telegraph See, I want simple, clean, with a little style. But my attempts to get there seem to be failing ... :mad: Many thanks, look forward to your opinions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrea Posted April 26, 2012 Report Share Posted April 26, 2012 I wouldn't worry about the looks - I clicked your link and now, well over a minute later, the site still isn't open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonbey Posted April 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2012 strange, it is not normally like that. Looking in to it now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonbey Posted April 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2012 I think the issue is resolved. Poor timing! Had a Pingdom alert so it was not just you either. But back up again now. Fingers crossed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonbey Posted April 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2012 and just had a mail from the webhost to say that they are looking at network issues. Those guys are sharp! Right, back to the design .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falkencreative Posted April 26, 2012 Report Share Posted April 26, 2012 A couple comments: -- The design might feel more modern with a sans-serif font like Arial rather than a serif like the site currently uses -- Perhaps headers should be in an alternate, bolder font? See fontsquirrel.com for some alternate ideas and the @font-face packages needed to use the fonts -- Please don't use underlines on things that aren't links. It's just confusing. -- Perhaps an additional accent color (something other than blue) would be helpful? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonbey Posted April 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2012 Thanks Ben, I recently added the orange around the subscription box after seeing organge/blue on another site, and quite like it, Maybe more orange? I see what you mean about underlines - all the headers are underlined, will look at changing to nicer fonts. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrea Posted April 26, 2012 Report Share Posted April 26, 2012 Yup, now it works. this isn't so much about the look - but I find there are way too many links on that page. It's downright overwhelming, and I'd have no idea where best to even start clicking. I think a cover page that kind of explains what this is all about with links to the main categories would be a better approach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonbey Posted April 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2012 Yeah, the home page is something else that I am looking at sorting out. Maybe get shot of the "latest" boxes down the bottom, that would cut out a lot of options. But, the reason why I linked up the news sites is because they manage to squeeze a lot of links in very well without it looking cluttered. I could probably get about 25% of my whole site in that Telegraph format! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonbey Posted April 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2012 Made some font changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richardvega Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 hmm, I'm not also a website designer but I think you need to make your site more organized. I don't know where to start but that's what I've noticed when I checked on your site. Otherwise, i think this really contains a bunch of useful information. The only thing is, this should be conveyed in a way that would be easy for people to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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