Web Hosting Talk : Advertising Forums : Community Reviews : Web Site Reviews : www.InsideHoops.com

Hi. Check out http://www.InsideHoops.com
It's a very simple design. Let me know if it's workable or if I should have it completely redesigned. Thanks.

[BC]

Howdy,

Hmmmmm.... It's reasonably workable. However, a number of factors conspire to make this rather unpleasant on the eye :

1. The red on black links. With sunshine pouring on to my monitor, I can barely see them properly. They're probably a bit too darkly 'tinted' - I suggest you lighten up the color a bit. However, I'm just not sure the red on black works well.

2. The crowded 3 column format. As an NBA fan I appreciate all the info, but the site feels like it's trying to overwhelm me with information. Add to that the big black 'space' down the middle of the middle of the column and it feels very disjointed. You probably need to balance up the headlines so that an equal number appear in each column and spread out the info and all the polls as well.

3. Get rid of that darn pop-up when you load a site!

Apart from that, it's quite workable....

[etLux]

You might also reduce the font sizes a bit, generally. Even on 1024, this is really shouting at me.

Ok, for starters I made the middle column white, so there's no more blank black area down the middle.

Should I change the linksbar (on the left) to a white background, with a border around it? Would that be better than the current setup?

Thanks.

ok, now the linksbar (for the main page, at least) is white, with a border. Check it again. All suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

[etLux]

Just took a look at this, with the left column to white, funkthis -- a definite improvement in readability.

I have to go with Chicken, above, though on the red links on black on the top... just for the heck of it, why don't you try saving a second copy of the page, and changing that background to white... or some other color.

Sometimes these high-contrast tricks seem like a good idea; but then you put 'em on the page and they refuse to gel.

Another factor is that various monitors behave a bit differently (laptops especially); so what's looking good to you on your monitor, may not be looking so great on others.

In practice, I generally check a final design on several machines with different monitors, including a couple of laptops.

ok, made a fairly major change on the http://www.insidehoops.com index. now it's all white, as you suggested (and I agree it's definitely nicer on the eyes).

check it.

my only thought now is that perhaps the links should be maroon, like the maroon in the logo, instead of being bright red like they are now.

any further suggestions are appreciated, thanks

[etLux]

Funkthis, I think that Verdana font is giving the page as a whole a scattered look. I'd suggest face="Arial,Helvetica".

The white is a definite improvement!