Critique Needed

[Kaizien]

Well design wise, I wanted some critiqueing on my web site's design. Should I stick witht he two column style or move to a "three column style"?

I also am interested in help designing a mosiac of images correlating to the newest (or top) 3-5 news articles which would be placed above (before) the content of the page... Or to do the pretty normal thing and put a slider bar at the top with the top 3-5 newest articles.

Also, should I used squarespace + photoshop/illustrator and css/html editing to develope my page. its easy for the writers on my site to post articles and edit. Should I stick with a squarespace or wordpress developed theme for a news site? that way articles would jump to the next page after each page's limit is met, etc. I have experience coding, but never with something like that.

Anyway... what do you guys think? any suggestions, no matter how critical or small. I am just interested in making the website more user friendly and provide an good experience while using the site.

Thanks in advance!
-G.

EDIT: A better way to phase the third paragraph of my post would be:

Should I develop my own wordpress theme or squarespace theme for my site. I know they are two good systems to use to develop a dynamic website like a news site? any other suggestions?

 

[Baez]

Post a link here to your site and I'll take a look .

 

[Kaizien]

here it is beaz: TheVividLight

 

[Baez]

I would start by changing the header/logo. It doesn't suit something like a tech site.

Second, make the contrast between the background and window less. It looks fine on smaller resolutions, but with many larger resolutions it's too much.

It's definitely a great starter site, but if you want a steady increase of visitors, you need to add much more.

 

[Kaizien]

Thanks Beaz!

Officially today we have four writers who are in our stable, and in addition to me and another friend (who have been supplying the site with all of its articles over the past few weeks). Other than an increase in articles, what types of things do you think we should add in order to increase visitors?

Of course, social integration is important, and we'll be continuing our focus on that. I'll work on our banner and continue to work on the suggestions you have already made. Much appreciated!

 

[T_Yamamoto]

To be honest, I dont like that banner, it seems really cheesy to me. Go with something more tech-like in a way. Also, advertise on your site so you can use that money to advertise using google adsense.

 

[Baez]

Thanks Beaz!

Officially today we have four writers who are in our stable, and in addition to me and another friend (who have been supplying the site with all of its articles over the past few weeks). Other than an increase in articles, what types of things do you think we should add in order to increase visitors?

Of course, social integration is important, and we'll be continuing our focus on that. I'll work on our banner and continue to work on the suggestions you have already made. Much appreciated!

Not a problem. Post again when you've made some changes and I'll review it again.

 

[Kaizien]

Alright, a lot of coloring, formatting, and other changes have been made. all of the writers for the site have already commented that they think we should keep moving in this direction (as far as design changes go).

Of course, everything isnt 100% finished, but check it out and let me know what you think!

TheVividLight.com - News - News