Personal Website

[Tanianol]

Hello everyone,

Technically, this site is done, but I'm not really happy with it. I'm thinking of trashing it and starting something new. I really like simple, open websites, and I also like them to be accessible, to work in all browsers and sizes.

Well, here's my personal site so far:

Tania Rascia

Any ideas, critiques?

[Deathdart]

I like the simplicity of it but I do have a few suggestions for you:

• Instead of having a completely black header, why not have a texture on it like you have on the nav?
• You might want to rethink the mouse-overs on the navigation, as right now the white text on a yellow BG is not very readable.
• You may want to add a bit of padding to the right of your posts because right now it's touching the vertical divider that you've put between the posts and the right sidebar (at least on firefox this is how it looks).
• Try to avoid glows and drop shadows, unless they have some purpose. I'm talking about your logo on the header. It could look more professional without the additional effects. I can see that you've used it to separate the logo from the background, but in that case, why use a black logo on a black BG in the first place?
• Try hanging the graphic next to the post title i.e. put it to the left side, out of the post column. This way you can align the titles and content and have a more consistent flow for the reader to follow.

I hope some of these points are useful to you! All the best with the website.

[Tanianol]

Thank you for all the suggestions! I was really impressed by your portfolio.

That logo I made is pretty old, it definately needs updating - either that or it's not necessary at all. The whole layout's pretty old and I don't think it really conforms to the current style of more open sites. I make everyone on I.E., which is why things don't turn out exactly as I want them on Firefox...all things I have to consider.

[sunnych]

Thats kool

[tsmith]

I can offer some advice too:
-Make the page fixed width and centered so you don't have to deal with the blank space on the right of the header.
-Give the photos a small barely noticeable border
-Give the photo captions a unique style different than the normal body font.
-I'd like to see the Tania Rascia: Culinary Graffiti on the header instead of the side panel.
-The brief bio you have on the right should stand apart than the body text. I would make it a different font and a soft neutral color.

If you have any questions on how to modify the template I can most likely help you find a solution. Same with the styling. Feel free to holler for help.

I like your content btw, you have some very interesting articles.

[cmolina84]

There are awesome tutorials online that can help you create a simple website that looks completely professional and modern. Here is a good one Create a Clean and Colorful Web Layout in Photoshop | Tutorial9.

And also remember that simple doesn't always mean white or lacking color.

[Crimsonstar11]

I really like the simplicity of the website. The colors mix nicely together. However, there are a few improvements that I feel you could make. I think that you could come up with a better banner, instead of having a large logo in the middle of the page, try incorporating it with something more towards one of the sides. I feel there is too much going on, where there are things drawing your focus. The other thing that I would change would be to place the links that are just below the banner to either side of the page, perferrably the left side. It'll make navigating your website alot easier and look much more professional and clean. Overall though, I really like it and I think the pictures running down the right side of the website are a nice touch. Keep up the work!

[gdeetan]

1st thing i noticed in the site is the mismatch between the logo and the header background. something is off here, maybe its because the logo is a more of an illustration type of design and the background is some sort of an old map. There is also no separation between the logo and background hence you have to use an outer glow type effect to separate it, since the lines in your logo is also black.

You may also want to put the name of your site beside the logo, and align the logo to the left, again the header image on the right seems really off for the design of the logo, which for me should dictate the creative direction of the website.

You have to work on improving this part of the site. Also I noticed that this is a site about food, maybe you can use food as a central them in your header design and complement it with a map to represent travel... travel and food =)

Hope this helps

[perkinshb]

the site looks kind of templated...I would start from scratch...wix.com for examples