Personal Site, comments please.

[DarkMain]

Hey guys.

I have just finished re-designing my new site, and I’m quite happy with it. It’s just a personal site for my DJing and music production...

I’m running Mambo as the backend, makes updating the site a lot easer, and If I ever have gigs away ill still be able to update the site with out any problems.

I would quite like to hear what people have to say about the over all design, and look.
As I said, I’m quite happy with it, so I probably won’t change anything (Unless someone finds a major problem with it).

Here is the address: http://www.darkmain.com

[YvetteKuhns]

The web page contents are centered with blank space on both the left and the right side, even in 800x600 screen resolution. Enlarging the text would occupy more space and make text easier to read. The text color doesn't have enough contrast for my eyes to read comfortably. Dark text on a light background is easier to read. But the color scheme is different and the images stand out, making them more noticeable.

The Google ad links by category are barely noticeable. And people are not likely to click to view ads on another web page. Regular Google ads may work better. There is a banner ad at the bottom of the page which may not be seen. Try including it inside the graphics design that contains the page contents.

I like the Mambo jukebox, but perhaps the word Jukebox could be a clickable link. It opens in a new window using Javascript which means that many people may not be able to view it they use a popup blocker or disable Javascript. Hopefully, your target audience does neither, but you may want to mention this on your site. Add more songs.

A photo gallery would be nice. Pics of people dancing, partying, or just friends enjoying the music would be fun. Encourage people to send pics to you. Steve, is that you in the logo? I am guessing that it is. You look CUTE! ;) More pics, please! :)

This is a Mambo site, so you need to work within its limitations. But it still looks customized and unique and has unique contents. Too bad the URLs that are created are so messy. If you feel ambitious, try renaming the URLs to be more search engine friendly. This can be done using php or .htaccess files.

Looks nice. Try to get link exchanges with related sites to improve search engine ranking and web visibility.

[DarkMain]

Lol, yea that is me in the logo. (If your lucky, some more pics may pop up).

A photo gallery is in the works, it will probable be in a sub-domain though, because it might be a little difficult to fit into the current theme. (As well as may be some forums).

As for the space on the sides… My old design was full page width…, I don’t know why, I just personally feel this new tall thin design work a little better. But that’s just me.

The reason the jukebox is popup is, for me…., I would rather click the link and then be able to keep browsing the site with the music playing in the background, rather than be stuck on 1 page with the music playing. I guess I could always remove the mambo module and use a Winamp play list or something, but that would require a little more effort to update each time.

[Autoload]

I found a major problem. It's pretty much unreadable. That narrow layout (approx 468 px) is nearly impossible to read at 1280x1024. If you can't bump your resolution up that high, find a PC that can and look at your site. I have 20/20 vision and found your page width slightly ridiculous. I haven't seen anything slimmer than 770 in most cases and recommend you consider viewers with high resolutions. Here's a screen shot to get an idea of how it looks. http://img380.imageshack.us/img380/188/darkmain.jpg

Also, I'm in agreement with YvetteKuhns. There is not enought color contrast between the text and background. I turned down my resolution to 1024x768 to even read the text and when I did I was straining to keep focus because of the lack of color contrast and the small font. As a viewer, I could probably be okay with the font color if it was slightly larger. Perhaps 12 pt instead of 10.

Finally, I was never a big fan of 'right sided' navigation, but that's probably something you're dealing with as a result of this particular theme. Just a personal preference.

[YvetteKuhns]

Lol, yea that is me in the logo. (If your lucky, some more pics may pop up).

Yes, please! Make me lucky. I want more pics! :D

The reason the jukebox is popup is, for me…., I would rather click the link and then be able to keep browsing the site with the music playing in the background, rather than be stuck on 1 page with the music playing.

I personally liked it, but I suspect that some people may not be able to play it. An alternative play method could be offered for those people.

I was never a big fan of 'right sided' navigation

I feel the same. But maybe it is just that I am not used to it. We are used to reading from top left to right, then down and left to right. We expect to find the navigation at the top or on the left side. It didn't bother me enough to mention it or I thought it was just my own issue. ;)

[DarkMain]

Yes, please! Make me lucky. I want more pics! :D

Try "http://www.geocities.com/darkmain.geo/". That was my old Image dumping ground. Ill eventualy move it over to my powweb hosting.

[SrbShooter]

Try "http://www.geocities.com/darkmain.geo/". That was my old Image dumping ground. Ill eventualy move it over to my powweb hosting.

do you have some obsession with sticking your tounge out at the camera lol?

[DarkMain]

lol, not really. Just happens outta the hundreds (Yes, hundreds) of photos I had to choose from, I just happened to be sticking my tongue out in 3 of em. :P

[YvetteKuhns]

Thank you! You are SO CUTE! I like http://www.geocities.com/darkmain.geo/photos/darkmain07.jpg. The other guy is cute, too! ;)

I see you like to make faces for the camera like my sister does. My sister is my twin, but she is the one that makes faces like the famous tongue pics. :p

[dhom]

Also, you might want to take a look at GigCalendar for Joomla (http://gigcalendar.net/) if you haven't done so already.

[WF_Bronco]

Very nice I like it but a tad on the thin side make it at least 770 pix wide.

[DarkMain]

Also, you might want to take a look at GigCalendar for Joomla (http://gigcalendar.net/) if you haven't done so already.

hehe, Yea.
I have had my eye on that com for a while now.
Still waiting for a stable version though.
(Might haveto go through another design when it comes out)

[utopia]

My first impression is it's hard to read, the font is to small and the color doesn't contrast the background enough. I also think the border can be elongated. The design is crisp and clean. This is my first impression. I haven't read the other critiques, I wanted an unbiased opinion.

http://CardboardXchange.com