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I’ve already told you some of this, but to make it official…
The design is sweet. Lovely. Wonderful. I really like it. The layout is clean, precise, and yet, not at all boring. It is professional and yet, friendly. As always, way to rock.
So with that, I have three suggestions (and these are obviously only suggestions)...
1) Use a sans-serif font on the body text! Serif is just not readable on the screen. Save it for print. =)
2) Add a little line-spacing in that body text. For a highly-readable treatment of text IMHO, check out the content on Jogin.com.
3) Change the background color on the dropdown menus from black to another dark, non-black color (a dark gray, dark blue, or something similar). This is, after all, a church site. ;)
Again, it’s rockin’. I love it.
You’ve got the gift, my friend.
We’ll give your suggestions a go around.
cody
IMHO typeface is adequate (Georgia is ideal for this kind of websites), but the line-height should be at least 1.4em. On the side note, I’m not sure why letters appear so bumpy on this screenshot, but i suggest you check your screen font smoothing method and switch it to ‘Clear Type’ (in WinXP that’s under Display Properties -> Appearance -> Effects).
Also, you may try with a bit smaller ‘read more’ links. General informations at the very top (yellow area) would be much more easy to remember if information itself (phone number, url etc.) would be bold, and its’ description (Contact, Website etc.) of normal font-weight.
I also agree with Nate about drop-downs—it should be lighter, not so dark.
But, despite this few details, i liked it at the first sight : ).
Great, thanks for taking the time to provide feedback. Its very helpful!
I will give the design another round of changes with your recommendations in mind.
thanks again
cody
The design to the left is actually just an example of the menu system as well as how the header might change for pages past the homepage.
So I am glad you like them both. I can appreciate you comment about the corporate/tech look. Our church wanted to express a certain amount of professionalism as well as warm and inviting. Think I accomplished that?
I do see a blend between professional and inviting. The typography and use of the decorative symbols on the headers pulls off an inviting feeling. It might look even better if you tried something like Georgia for the header titles and maybe Verdana for the body.
I think altering some of the cool greys and blues may make it more warm and inviting.
I would like to see it a bit slimmer if it is a fixed width (perhaps to 700px). That way we could see more of the cool background at a resolution of 800×600px.
All in all… it’s a great looking site. Period.
Thanks, I really appreciate your insight and time.
I will give what you said some thought and implementation.
cody