"Wayne J. Cosshall" wrote in message
...
ray wrote:
Two prime tenets of web site design:

1) make the links look like links
2) put the material of primary interest 'above the fold'.

Ok, Ray, I am trying all links with underlines. Personally I find it
makes things more cluttered but I am willing to give it a try. I am
happy for meaningful feedback, such as yours was.

I've also changed the main page for Mark's column.

I'm gonna weigh in here - I had a brief look at Wayne's site, and I can
appreciate why people might perceive it as "cluttered", but it has nothing
to do with whether links are underlined or not, rather it's to do with the
basics of page layout and typography. What is clear is that while Wayne
might be a good photographer, he's not a graphic/web designer.

Fundamentally, what the site layout lacks is the correct amount "air" around
text, and poor site layout that lacks the structural signals that users
expect to see. That said, while I use the term "poor" in referring to some
aspects, it's not to say his isn't a good site - it has a great deal of
valuable content.

A full analysis would take up way too much space, but broadly, the left and
right columns are an un-structured parade of links - there's just too much
to take in. The left is the worst - it needs to be broken down into a couple
of easily understandable sub-groups. Good hierarchical structure draws
people in deeper, whereas the "flat" structure presented is overwhelming.

Also, it strikes me that the site needs more of a real magazine structure as
opposed to a literal collection of articles sorted by category - ie. you can
have that, but presenting the content with the headline "Articles in the
category Audio" makes it seem like you're doing a series of database
searches, which you are, but it can be presented in a less literal manner.
Just changing the headline to "Audio Articles" and losing the "Articles reco
rds 1-20 of 28" from the top (it could go at the bottom next to the result
navigation) would be a good start.

The centre column is also a bit of a mess. Any photographic site, which is
fundamentally all about *pictures*, that starts with a paragraph crushed up
the top that delves immediately into how to make the site more "usable" is
an immediate admission that the site might be a bit tough to use.

It should start with a killer pic sitting clear and clean - the IR one at
the moment is fine, but surrounded by a mix of text sizes and weights
detracts from its impact.

My suggestion would be to sit down with a good web designer with a proven
track record in this kind of site and CMS software, and re-work the
templates to reflect solid page layout principles, and let them take a fresh
look at the structure and see if it can't be re-organised in a simpler, more
accessible style.

As I said, lots of great content, but the manner in which it's presented
makes the sheer mass of information seem overwhelming.