www.wysiwygwebbuilder.com

Hey guys,

Good afternoon to everyone here. I hope you're all well. I'd like an opinion on a website I did recently using WWB12. It's one of my own: http://www.thelucidcritique.com I know I may not be as good as some of you guys here but I feel I am improving but always open to suggestions and feedback from the experts here.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to look at it. I appreciate it.

Not a bad site at all. Just a couple of comments from an initial impression:

1. Do you have a friendlier personal picture? That one sure is stern, and I'd almost be afraid to send in my manuscript, for fear of an angry lecture would be coming in return. Critique is a very personal thing, with lots of emotion on the line. I know, since I've written a novel, and swallowed very hard, the first time someone read it. A smiling, welcoming face would do wonders here.

2. I notice in the two smaller breakpoints, that the header is the same width as the remainder of the pages. However, in the full-sized default, it's narrower. It struck me that there should be more consistency there.

3. In the smallest breakpoint, the header, the cup and note pad are not distorted. However, in the other two breakpoints, they are stretched and look a bit unnatural. That could use some refinement.


Other than that, all looks well, to my rather quick view. Congratulations. I hope it does well for you!

Hi Arkyboy,

Good afternoon and thanks so much for getting back to me. I appreciate your feedback. I have made changes to the banner on top and I hope that it's better now.

As for the stern profile picture, I have a very rare genetic disorder called Moebius Syndrome, which doesn't allow me to smile due to facial paralysis. However, I did change it to what I feel is a more friendlier picture.

If you could maybe take another look at the site and changes I made, it would be very much appreciated. My apologies for not getting back to you sooner.

Thanks again

WB10user.

@WB10user

I'm sure sorry to hear of the facial paralysis. That is a better picuture, IMO. Yes, keep that one. Or, even a different photo, of you sitting at a desk, reading a manuscript, perhaps a bit of a profile, even, so that you are seen "at work". There are a couple of ways to approach this. Even an over-the-shoulder picture, of you at your keyboard, again, at work. That might even be a better image, showing you "busy", doing your thing, when the site visitor gets to your ABOUT page.

As for the header, another thought would be to bring the other page content into a narrower center area, to better match the header. However, the bigger issue....again, just my opinion....is the distortion in the cup and the memo pad. That gets in my eye faster than the disparity in width.

Have you considered a solid, edge to edge layer behind the header image? That would allow you to bring down the contrast between the header and the white background, possibly allowing you to narrow the width of the image, and thus reduce the distortion level. Or, if you cup and notebad exist as separate .png images, go back and reformat that header. A little stretched distortion in the background (brown wood) effect might be less noticeable than the stretching in the cup and memo pad.

Keep at it. You're certainly on the right track.

Hi Aidan,

I'm new to WWB but have run my own web design business for over 10 years now. I'm also a graphic designer so thought I would give you a critique from that perspective, as visual appeal has been proven in many web studies to very much affect the viewers initial response to a site.

The 'halo effect' as it's called shows first impressions colour peoples view of in this case your website & therefore your business. If it's a positive first impression they will forgive other issues they may encounter more readily than if they have a negative first impression.

My first response to your site was that the header image on my wide screen as mentioned is stretched & also grainy & doesn't match the width or your black nav strip, this is visually jarring. To rectify this I would make your nav strip, background & footer strip tile horizontally to fit any screen size for a more contemporary look. That way your header image will not look oddly sized.

You may find some of these similar photos from the free for commercial use photo site Pixabay a better choice.
https://pixabay.com/en/coffee-pen-noteb ... k-2306471/
https://pixabay.com/en/cup-of-coffee-la ... k-1280537/
https://pixabay.com/en/background-black ... s-2847957/

The home page text layout is also a bit odd, keep all the text left aligned for a tidier look & leave some space around the image, it doesn't need to be jammed up hard on the right side of the page. You could then also move the Twitter feed so the whole group of text, image & Twitter fit into a imaginary visual rectangle, not have bits of content seemingly adrift from each other. The other breakpoints could be tidied up in the same way as required.

The different colours you have used don't all match that well sorry, this to my eye is very unappealing. You have a limey green in the header text, then a pinky colour for your title text that are not in the same tone. The page background I assume is meant to simulate parchment in colour? But I think a white background would look fresher & more professional as that creamy background colour is a bit dated. The white would also contrast nicely with your black nav strip & dark red footer. If you made those changes then a fresher coloured header image would work very nicely. On the colour theme, the email icon - purple isn't he best match, keep it subtle - grey is a nice neutral that ties in with most colours. A grey would also work well for your text headers. Also for body text having a darkest grey instead of full black has a nice subtle & professional effect.

On the about page the blue link to your other site at the bottom of the text content draws my eye immediately away from the rest of the text & is confusing because it is unrelated to the site subject matter I am on. I would separate out that sentence form the rest & change the link colour to a more subtle tone, not underlined. Also change the link to open in a new window - don't take the reader off your site.

Your image is a bit blurry, so maybe down the track get a better one taken. I would also use a cover shot here of your novel that you mention. Lastly on that page - it is written in the third person point of view whereas elsewhere you write in the first person - I would change that page to keep it all the same - it will feel more genuine & be more consistent.

Consistency in design throughout a website gives the viewer a better visual experience, so I would suggest not to have a different colour for every contact form on each page, the one on the contact page has the best colours - I would duplicate that in the others. Also keep all your text sizes the same, don't make text larger to fill a space, instead use an image. Inconsistency in web design looks less professional, it also sends a message to the reader of disorganisation.

The testimonials page has a large gap at the bottom, maybe tighten that space up a little. Also, if you change the text colour every second testimonial to a dark grey it will make it easier for readers to differentiate them from each other.

I hope this has been helpful to you. You have made a good start, it's just the little things now that need some tweaking to lift your site appeal.

Hi,

site is good, However, I notice that your website design and layout has a lot of blank space on pages, I think from a personal view this would need sorting. Plus, try to keep all your text in line with each other on your pages ie: left and right. Some text is right up against the page border and some text not.

Regards

Thanks, guys, for all the feedback on the website. I will try and implement all that you have said. Very much appreciated.

WB10User

Hmm the 90's called and they want their website back.

This site looks very outdated, this is exactly how sites back in the day looked like, color clashes.

The twitter icon is overlapping the mail icon and manuscript is written with one U.

SEO wise your page scores bad because google don't like lap of texts this way. It needs shorter sentences and more paragraphs.

Hi Rebel Studio,

Thanks for your feedback/comments. I have dealt with some of them below.

Hmm the 90's called and they want their website back.

Well, who doesn't love a bit of 90s nostalgia? Some of Will Smith's best songs came from that period. Oh, and who didn't love Power Rangers as a kid either? I loved them big time! . But all jokes aside, thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it. Although I have seen some other critiquing sites similar to this. But again, thanks for the feedback. I'll take it on board.

SEO wise your page scores bad because google don't like lap of texts this way.

Oh, okay. I Googled The Lucid Critique there and it was the first thing that came up on the first page so I'm confused how it ranks bad in the SEO.

manuscript is written with one U.

Thanks for highlighting that typo. I'll fix that.

The twitter icon is overlapping the mail icon

Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I will rectify that too.

Thanks again for the feedback. Much appreciated.

Well, I f***ing loved the 90's as I grew up as a teen and I'm Gen X but besides that, believe me, it will deter people more than attract. This time and age it's about looks And functionality. Everything else is modern and sleek as also working up to today standards and so should yours.

I think you misunderstood SEO.

The reason you rank on top for that longtail KW "the lucid critique"could be 2 reasons. 1 you found a golden nugget 2 No one or barely anyone is searching for that longtail and I'm pretty sure it's the second one.

To get organic traffic you use KW's or longtail KW's that people actually type in the search bar. As many KW's are already ranked it's important your site is up to google's standards to rank as best as possible.

That means you need a good silo construction so an evened do and no-follow links, internal and external links, good text format, quality backlinks, a sitemap among a couple other things.

breakup the paragraphs. This is what is taught for "SEO copywriting". After 2-3 sentences, start a new paragraph. And stay away from 'serif' fonts (fonts with those little decorations hanging off the edges, like Times New Roman). Try larger fonts and modern fonts, too. For example:

https://webflow.com/blog/19-web-design-trends-for-2018
The text on this site, the font style, looks much easier on the eyes. It's BIGGER and plain/simple....no serifs.

erif' fonts (fonts with those little decorations hanging off the edges, like Times New Roman)

Thanks for the advice. I will definitely break up the paragraphs. However, as for the fonts, I used what is advised i.e. the websafe fonts. Are some of these, such as Courier etc. no longer advisable to use?

Thanks again for the feedback.