Anyone's got some time to drop in some comments (constructive criticism; no personal attacks please!) about the website uklinuxvs.xtremebytes.com? It is a beta version. Navigation has not been set up yet. I am just looking forward to comments on the overall look of the website as well as those about compatibility, usability, etc.

By the way, if possible, please review www.aaas.org too.

Thanks

Hello xtremebytes webmaster,
The first thing that glares out as a problem in my mind is the lack of balance between the sides of the site. My screen is currently in a res of 1024 x 768 and a quarter of the screen to the right is just blank and gives me some sort of uneasiness. Having equal white space on the right and left would mean that the information isn't completely crammed up to the left side (think about all those people with incorrectly set monitors cutting bits off), which may improve navigation. I've checked it in Mozilla Firebird and it looks absolutely fine. I personally don't like the dirty yellow you've chosen for the navigation lins although green and yellow do go together really well, but that is just my opinion. I realise you have the "home" link to get back to the main page, but one thing I really like is to have a clickable gif image like the gene sys one, to quickly zip back to the beginning and start over again. Another thing I like is that you've placed a javascript to load the menu first, which is a very clever thing for the dialuppers.

As for the aaas site, that just oozes smoothness although you've fallen into the coolness trap (so have I) of using grey. Whether it is the brightness of my monitor or something else, I have to squint to read the navigational links and that is not a pleasure. Again, I like the use of the white space it makes everything else comfortable to read, but the issue of balance rises again. There is tons and tons of space to the right, it just seems a shame to neglect it on the higher resolutions. Another thing is that there is an opportinity to place the links at the very top in the bit below the search box. This way you give your users the choice to navigate from the top or the side and you will be surprised how individual habits will keep to the same style with every site they use. I myself look for the site links assuming they will be the ones in a cluster on the right or the left of the screen. If I don't find them, then I check the top etc etc.

I hope this has been helpful

Rob

Thanks very much for your elaborate comments. I am going to resolve the problems you have pointed out in a new template of GeNeSys. I will upload it soon.

Just one thing to add to that would be,(the first one) you have used different fonts on it, theres a whole mix! But i do like the graphic a lot! and the title looks nice!