By CmsTT on

Hello everyone. The first Drupal site I ever did is now live! I am a sucker for clean, boring (lol) layouts, that focuses on the content. The site is not %100 completed (because my client needs to gather content and reorganize some stuff). I am some what new to web design, so I am petty anxious to hear what more experienced heads have to say about, my first attempt. Be Brutal, but also constructive. Tell me how I can improve it. The site is: http://www.jaott.org/

Thanks.

God bless.

⋅ Categories: Drupal 5.x

Comments

CmsTT’s picture

CmsTT commented

I still however, need to add some more stuff and add copyright info and all that.It's not completed, just wanted to hear comments thus far. The theme is Golden hour (modified) Not much is happening on the site (the client is not very helpful in saying what he wants as yet) Thanks.

themegarden.org’s picture

themegarden.org commented

Seems correct, but ...
Your drupal theme is somehow cold, you have lack of some stronger color (IMHO). Don't be afraid to play with color(s).
---
Drupal Themes Live Preview - themegarden.org

CmsTT’s picture

CmsTT commented

Thanks for the advice. I'll try playing around with colors.

matt_harrold’s picture

matt_harrold commented

Hi, being brutal ...

I like the green logo and menus, the photos on the header, and the fonts.

I don't like light grey text color, keep headings grey, make text black, I agree with other comments, it looks a little washed out or weak.

I don't like the grey empty footer, make it green like the top, and bring some continuity.

Try turning on "Clean URLs" if your host has mod_rewrite.

Why not use the Contact module for your contact page, then visitors can also send an email?

On the "About JA" page, there is a lot of text, seems like the content isn't evenly distributed.

Why not move the "Purpose" text into the Drupal mission statement on the front page?

Being honest ...

If this is your first Drupal site, then well done. Most people have a very "Garland" look to their first Drupal site.

You said you like clean layouts ... I think you're on the right track then.

cheers,

Matt

elv’s picture

elv commented

Ok, being brutal!
It looks like it's the beginning of the design phase in Photoshop :) All the necessary elements are here, the layout is ok, but you still need to dress it up. The overall feeling depends largely on your attention to small details.
Clean != boring.

A few ideas:
- style the search field, you may want to give it some color or a background image
- the footer is too blocky, you could use a lighter grey, make it thinner. I could also be a good place to add © info or a link to the contact page.
- some details could be discreet reminders of the geometric logo, perhaps by cutting the pictures diagonally in the banner instead of vertically.

So the bad news is it looks like unfinished work to me.
The good news is it can be easily completed.

As an exemple Teynier.fr is a "clean" website I've designed a few months ago. It's very basic, with the same structure as your site, but has a bit more color touches on selected menus items or links, a couple of tiny icons... It's still very simple and but the overall design seems to me a bit less "nude". Or is it not?

CmsTT’s picture

CmsTT commented

Thanks for replies. I know the content sucks. This is the fault of the people who I did the website for. They are slow on providing new content. I know it's incomplete. This is because I never had a meeting with the people I did it for, it was sort of a test, they liked. Also, to be honest, lol I am afraid of colors, lol so that's why it looks a bit drab! I'll spend some time on it today. Fix the footer etc etc etc. Spruce it up a bit.

THanks, please feel free to continue to be more Brutal.