Website Revamp

[The Little Guy]

Hi, I am revamping my web site, and I would like some feedback of what you guys think:

The newer look: http://beta.phpsnips.com/

The current look: http://phpsnips.com/

Please be aware that if you want access to the codes the "New Design" won't do that at the moment. To access the codes you will need to use the "Old Design".

[Kimchee]

revamped looked better, but I found it harder to navigate. Interesting. I bookmarked your page though because I am learning PHP and found it quite useful. :)

[The Little Guy]

revamped looked better, but I found it harder to navigate. Interesting. I bookmarked your page though because I am learning PHP and found it quite useful. :)

Thanks for the book mark!

Anyway, I guess I should have mentioned that the revamped version doesn't work, only the top navigation links, I just did the layout to see if anyone liked it and see if I should keep going with it.

[cjx3711]

Well, I sorta liked both. The old one provided more information but was quite confusing. The other one has a very simple to understand interface but I can't seem to find a lot of the information that used to be on the old site.

[kkbbcute]

If you ask me, the design still is very boring. You sure do need a lot more practice when it comes to design, so far all 4 of your sites have no marked improvement over one another, simply because the designs all seem so passe.

You need GRAPHICS, PICTURES, and COLORS that add vibrancy to your site, swapping elements around and replacing them for a cooler looking banner does not help define a site. It will improve an already good site, but for a site that has many fundamental design flaws, you need to seriously look at your site and think about what is wrong. I can gather 4 things.

1) The whole site just looks so empty, there is a blank space down from your site banner on the right.

2) Too much text, it just looks like a blogger's site in which the blogger just spams text down, frankly no one will listen. (Which was the problem with ALL your sites)

3) Little pictures and graphics; there is a stark difference between a styled minimalist look and an bald look, your looks bald as it doesn't feel styled. Which brings me to my next point:

4) Not well thought out. How can you compromise the information you hive for a better design. For example AS.org doesn't have spectacular design, but it's nice because everything is so accessible.

Come on, I know you can do better...:)

[The Little Guy]

1) This part is a work in progress, it will have many of the things that the original site has on the right hand side.

2) Could you point me in a direction of how I can downsize the amount of text?

Thanks for the reply!

I should mention that I am not much of a designer, I more of a programmer.

[kkbbcute]

2) Could you point me in a direction of how I can downsize the amount of text?


You have to identify what is necessary and what isn't. Put old posts in an archive for people to look at instead of having a long and drab home page. Use font types and colors to distinguish between what's important and what isn't.

Finally,
I should mention that I am not much of a designer, I more of a programmer
Is not an excuse, seriously, it's like going to a job interview and telling the interviewer, "Hey, I'm not much of guy who can work". :p

[The Little Guy]

it's like going to a job interview and telling the interviewer, "Hey, I'm not much of guy who can work". :p

yeah but, I don't apply for graphic designers jobs because I know I am not a graphics designer.

You have to identify what is necessary and what isn't. Put old posts in an archive for people to look at instead of having a long and drab home page. Use font types and colors to distinguish between what's important and what isn't.

There is only 10 posts out of 70 on the homepage how are they old?

[kkbbcute]

As I said before, it all boils down to the design of your site, look at webdesignerwall.com for example, if you want to see how you can be informative yet have nice deisgn at the same time.

[The Little Guy]

Personally I think that site is WAY too busy.

[kkbbcute]

Personally I think that site is WAY too busy.

Busy? How?

[The Little Guy]

IDK, It just is, and isn't my type of style.

Anyways, I have added on, what do you think now?

[RelaxGuy]

I think the new site theme looks good. The style of it is nice, but when I look at the content I think "its just a styled list of text". I know the site is made to present php scripts but it needs something to liven up the posts. After reading the 3rd or 4th script I didn't continue to read, because I didn't see anything I was particularly interested in, and at that point would probably google search instead. In your original site I feel like you can see *much* more at a glance. Maybe include a few lines of the script using color coded text, maybe some sort of icon representing a category of the snippet, or a thumbnail of who submitted it, or something. ALOT of space is used without giving the user very much information, and that is really the only thing that turned me off from the site.

The right side of the page does need some more content to fill up all the blank space. Maybe bring back the snippets on watch, link RSS feeds, or fill it out with most recent user comments/snippets added/Best Ever type information.

I did a google search for "php scripts" and looked at some sites that are in the same category as yours. Don't be afraid to look at other designs, get some ideas, and use them in your own design, if you do get stuck. I'm sure you've done this before, but study the competition and try to improve on what they have done, and in a way use their own designs against them.

[kkbbcute]

I agree with relaxguy on his first few sentences. That is the main problem with your site is that it has little to offer to the user visually other than a bunch of text. And no matter how styled it is, its still just a bunch of text, and you have to realize that. Sure you may not be much of a designer, but its always good to learn, isn't it? Better late than never. ;)