Review: Blandless.com

[Skinny]

Hello there,

I'm looking for reviews on my web gallery: Blandless.com which is currently in unofficial 'beta' stage.

Blandless is a showcase of site's that aren't bland.

I would like the following to be reviewed:

1)Site design
2)Site functionality
3)Site features
4)Site bugs
5)Anything else you can suggest.

Please be honest. . . I really want to do whatever I can to improve my site.

I look forward to hearing comments.

Skinny

[Adam Za7]

The header is very clean, but unfortunately, seems a little bland to me. The logo is upbeat and so are the green navigation headers on the rights. The websites draw my attention, which is a nice touch. Looks simple and easy to navigate to me. Maybe a little more flair around your title would give the impression I think you are going for. Nice work though.

[Skinny]

Thank you Adam for your review.

I was hoping to get more reviews but not a lot of people have given feedback.

What do you suggest should be added to the header to make it less bland?

Skinny

[richrf]

Hi,

I am certainly no artist, but I think that the blue/black in the header is solid but dull. I think the header needs more texture and more life. Orange, for example, nowadays, is getting lots of play. If you look at the link in my signature, you'll find a header done in orange and green which everyone seems to like. The artist provides this as part of the free theme, which I publish in my footer. Maybe this can give you some ideas. Again, I am not an artist. :-)

Good luck!

Rich

[Stomple]

I like that your site is simple. It gets right to showing you the sites which is nice.

Everything seemed to work fine. I did not have any trouble.

I think your site is a little too bland. It really would not be a terrible design except that you're showcasing well-designed sites and well, it makes me look at yours and say, "Is this one nice?" Obviously, you can't go crazy like the sites you're showing, but it could be spruced up a bit.

I thought the categories could use a small description. I know they're pretty self-explanatory, but it seemed lacking.

I think your site needs something more. Just finding and showing off nice sites is okay, but for me, it would not be enough to make me come back. Add something of your own. Tips, tutorials, articles, commentary, that kind of thing. I would be interested in stories about the history of web design, and the future of it.

Maybe have a bad design category, too, because those are funny.

[Skinny]

Thanks for the input Stomble.

I have thought of creating some ugly website design . . .never know I might use that.

I will redesign the site based on the new color scheme.

I'm gonna upload a pic of the concept up here as soon as I can . . .it should be a lot less bland.

Skinny

[Skinny]

Okay so here is a screenshot of a concept of what I could redesign Blandless to be.

Major changes:

1) Menu and search combined at the top of header.
2) Header gradient lightened
3) Lighter and Brighter gradient for background and emerging white graphics of various intensities on sides.
4) Width of content reduced slightly cutting into old whitespace.

What do you guys think? Would this concept look better then what I have up now?



Skinny

[pss4u]

Skinny,

I would have to agree with some of the other comments. The concept is there. With your redesign it just seems as though you are still on with the header not being changed. I would imagine that you would want your header to be a little bit flashy. Only reason for this is because you are showcasing sites for other web designers and I would think that, although you are showing them designs from the web, i think that they would return more if you would spice up your page just a little bit.

I like the simplicity of the site overall. I do think that with your links from when someone clicks on say the skype link, instead of giving the skype link in the same frame of your page why not open it up in a new browser? Just a thought.

I hope this helps a little.

To your future success,

Jason Conway

[schueis]

I love the design, I see nothing wrong with the way the site is setup... Keep up the good work!

[Skinny]

I'm open to modifying the header but I'm not sure how and that's the main reason I've left it unchanged.

Can anyone point me to some nice examples? I don't want it to be a big image because I already have lots of images loading and it will slow the site down.

Skinny

[pss4u]

Originally Posted by schueis

I love the design, I see nothing wrong with the way the site is setup... Keep up the good work!

Schueis,

The thing is that the header is the FIRST thing which you would want people to see and honestly it is just a little bit dull. He is trying to promote to web designers which templates have been submitted to his site that are unique and fresh on the web. Yet the graphic header is just a solid bar across the top.

Now skinny do not get me wrong. I think you are heading in the correct direction, I am just commenting on Schueis comment.

[funnyman]

I agree with what everyone has been saying about the header. Also, you might want to have your links to external links point to a new window (that way people stay on yours site while viewing the content you point to). Also, I like the clean design but at first glance I wasn't sure what the site was about. I realize you have a site description on the right side but at first it didn't seem like thats where I should look to figure out what to do next.

[Kulprit]

I personally really like how the site is simple. often times I go to a site like this and they strive too hard to impress and thus the page is cumbersome etc.

Yours is straight forward and your product is right there.

It was hard to review the site itself as I found myself clicking on the different designs to check them out too, so mission accomplished.

One suggestion is I would flesh out a bit more exactly what your site is - initially I thought it was a Web Design Portfolio site - took me a few minutes to catch on.

[Skinny]

Great comments.

I will probably switch the about section to underneath the header front and centre.

I'm working on the header and hope to come up with something creative.

Thanks for all the useful tips! Keep them coming.

Skinny

[madcaptains]

I really like the design. great work

[Skinny]

I've updated the menu but I've decided to keep the header the same. . . made it a bit thinner though.

One question:If you use IE 5.5 or 6.0 could you tell me if the site or CSS menu look messed up.

I used browsers shots to check it and it appears normal under all other browsers except those two.

I'm wondering if I should be worried or how people still use those browsers?

Skinny

[Jee Designs]

I looked at your site..and what is really bothering me is not your header, but what you have on the sides. Your logo is bam! in your face with the bright colors and it shows that you mean business. Then when you go to what is on the sides, looks like it should be in my niece's room. Like I should be holding a daisy and skipping. The two are opposites and makes my eyebrows furrow. I would suggest using the same blue you have in your header and find a different way to make your website pop. You can't let the website that you are showing kick your own website in the butt.

[Skinny]

Interesting . . . point taken. Perhaps a new design on the side is in order.

Skinny