Request for feedback

[ksmith]

Webmistress Ruta and I are looking for feedback on the new design for my website. Twigs or no twigs? Too dark or okay, how do the colors and texture look?

This one is plainer: http://www.kristine-smith.com/newsite/index-green2.htm

This one has twigs on the home page: http://www.kristine-smith.com/newsite/index-green-branches.htm

Both home pages link to a test page and the writer's corner page. But nothing links back to the home page with twigs, both inner pages link back to the plain home page.

None of the pages are complete, of course. We're testing colors and look. The site looks lighter on the Mac than in most Windows or Linux machines.

Thanks!

Comments

[janni.livejournal.com]

I prefer the cleanness of the no-twig version, though it is a near thing.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

The twigs may be relegated to the margins, for use as dividers and such.

[quietspaces.livejournal.com]

I also like the no-twigs version. Cleaner.

[arcaedia.livejournal.com]

I'm weighing in on the side of no twigs...

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Bucking the trend as usual *g*. I like the twigs.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

You rebel, you.

I will use the twigs somewhere, but maybe not on the homepage.

[torrilin.livejournal.com]

The twigs are pretty. The size of font you're using for "text" is not so pretty tho. It's unserifed and rather small, so it's hard for me to read. I do tend to have a lot more problems with sans serif fonts than the average person so take it with a grain of salt if need be. (Most of the irritation is due to lowercase i trying to melt into a lowercase L or capital I, and with various round letterforms all trying to look like an o. Quite a few sans serif fonts go for the bonus points of ol and lo looking dreadfully like d and b, which is bad kerning and makes me cranky.)

[kalligraphy.livejournal.com]

I will break with the majority and say that the twig version is visually more interesting. I will agree that the non-twig version is cleaner, I just seem to like something a bit more.

The picture of you in the writer's corner page is awesome! You are the teh hotness. :)

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I will break with the majority and say that the twig version is visually more interesting. I will agree that the non-twig version is cleaner, I just seem to like something a bit more.

Additional text and links may spruce things up a bit. I want to keep things like book covers and things--unless it's the latest cover or something really hot-off-the-press--off the front page.

The picture of you in the writer's corner page is awesome! You are the teh hotness. :)

Heh. Hair is shorter and Gothy dark brown now. I ma let it grow a little longer--I like Diane Keaton's hair in her skincare commercial--but I don't know about the color. I have a brunette soul.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I like the twig version because it breaks the bleakness and coldness (and I like cold and bleak, but not as the first reaction to a website). The twigs makes it look less cold and more complex, somehow; it invites me in more.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Hmm...

These greens are my favorite colors, and the moodiness draws me in. And I fell hard for the photo, which is like a visual representation of how I write.

Taste is a kicker.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's my version of Firefox, but I see mostly dark gray and other lighter shades of gray, bordered by a muted-gray green frame, and a box below that has a hint of green but is mostly gray.

Greens would make a tremendous difference--it's all that dark gray that is so bleak.

[merlinpole.livejournal.com]

They both mostly look like shades of gray to me and lacking in sufficient contrast to... the twigs break it up a bit and add texture that puts a bit of relief in the dreariness/dreary depressing murk.

I'm looking at them on a 12" laptop display with compact fluorescent background lighting using IE 6

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

That's what I see, too! Can it be the 12 in ch monitor, then? That's what I have, too.

[trolleypup.livejournal.com]

No twigs...they just look a little busy to me. The page feels cool[1]...which is fine for me (I live in SF, afterall). And, did you intend for the viewer to be on the outside of the electric fence?[2]

[1] Except for the writer's picture *fans self* (regardless of your hair).

[2] I'm not sure I'd pick an image of a thistle filled field for my homepage. Digs hole some deeper...maybe a more natural looking fence and vegetation that provides a smoother background for the text?

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

As I see it, the path along the fence is open.

The thing with the photo...when I start a story, the near details are very clear. The middle of the tale is a bit murky, and the end is just a few vague details in the distance.

My angsty, Peter Murphy-loving self is really showing here. If you've ever heard the song "Silent Hedges"...it's my fave Bauhaus song. Probably explains a lot.

*sigh* I love that photo...

[topayz4.livejournal.com]

The twigs are only on the top, right side, and about one inch towards the left from the right side on my computer at the bottom. Is this how they're supposed to be? I do like the them, but they don't look right like that. Its the bottom one inch worth that bothers me. If it wasn't there I'd really like the rest of it.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

They were supposed to curve along the bottom. I was aiming for a stylized tumbe, and missed, I guess.

[thecurlyboy.livejournal.com]

I like the concept of twigs ... but I don't like the implementation. I don't think the twigs work where you have them placed.

I read that you were thinking about using them as dividers ... have you tried shrinking the twigs down to a much smaller size and using it as a border around the entire outer, light-green edge? I tried the images at about 50% and it seemed to work decently well ...

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

That's a possibility. Or I may stick with the twigs as dividers. Stil a work-in-progress...

Just to be contrary

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

The no-twig version seemed to cut the picture off abruptly. Twigs appealed to me, for some reason. It looks like a poet's site.

In case you're curious, the site is shades of gray to people with the three most common forms of color deficient (color blind, but not really -- they see certain colors differently) in their vision.

http://www.vischeck.com/vischeck/vischeckURL.php

Perhaps twig only across the top and right side?

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I love the picture, too, but it does set a somber tone. Now -- sun-drenched fields, a row beckoning into trees, even cloud formations or sun pics would be welcoming.

Twigs make it less somber for me -- otherwise, you're a beat/goth poet!

Perhaps this picture for a sub-portal?

Re: Perhaps twig only across the top and right side?

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but sunny's not what I'm trying to convey.

Should I buy a black beret and start smoking clove ciggies?

Re: Perhaps twigs only across the top and right side?

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but sunny's not what I'm trying to convey.

Welcoming along with somber. Think gathering a still-larger audience.

Should I buy a black beret and start smoking clove ciggies?

No ciggies, but the beret...check Goodwill first; if it looks good, get a GOOD one. I have a wool one, I think in my cedar chest. Ungodly colors, but my parents wanted me to be seen through falling snow, so go figure.