This is a screenshot of a new design for my hobby site. Which background do you like better and why? What would you change? Any other comments?

Existing site : http://www.guijaboard.com

Screenshot 1 :

Screenshot 2:


Thanks

1, no.2 looks like Granny's wallpaper. Not sure the sun and moon (?) do anything for me either, or is that a ouija/guija thing?

Oops! Double post somehow.

The wall paper was an attempt to make it look elegant/victorian. So far, everyone has had the same NO! opinion about the granny wallpaper. Someone told me "repeat backgrounds reminds me of mid 90's websites".

The sun and the moon were afterthoughts. They are in the corners of a ouija board. I decided to try making them and they came out pretty good and then i thought they looked good on each side of the logo. But then i thought they were distracting. Maybe i can use them somewhere else like the contact page or something.


Thanks for the help djy. This is the update.

[Link: guijaboard.com]

# 1 as well, I like the sun and moon

Thanks guys. I have one last question. My existing site has every page listed on the left. This will get tricky as i begin to add more and more pages. This is the main reason for the new design.

I have 2 examples of how i plan to handle navigating the pages. The first one will make each new download page an 'entry' on a single page much like a blog. My concern is that i will end up with the same problem i had with the navigation links but much bigger because the length of the page will be huge.

[Link: guijaboard.com]

The second is a traditional popup menu.

[Link: guijaboard.com]

So.. which do you prefer? Do you have any advice or other suggestions?

Im trying to make it as easy as possible to navigate the site and see everything there without overwhelming people and making it so complicated they miss half the site. But i also want it to look nice. I know the blog style makes it easy but i dont think people want a 30 second wait while 100 images load down a page and i dont want to archive things like a blog does.

Tell me what you think. Thanks for your help everyone.

I think navigation option #2 continues to have the same problem where your pop-up menu list is going to keep getting bigger and bigger.

Why not use normal links and then either have a sub-category page (where the size doesn't matter as much as a pop-up would), or store your entries in a single list but have paging so that single pages never get too big.

And yeah, textured backgrounds are very 90's. I had one on this site for a while. Now you're best to do either solid colors, or some big subtle graduation.

#2, the issue with one is that it works well if no one cares for the past (like a blog) or it is real small (two things like your example), but if there are many it can easily get tedious


two other options could be
a) changing lists that open/close
Home
GUI buttons
-- transport
-- water
GUI templates

easy to navigate

b) like #6 but with an index list at the top (i.e. the gui button page will have)

GUI buttons
----------------
transport - water - ....
----------------
transport

The popup menu growing to large never crossed my mind. It would have bought me some time but eventually i would end up with the same problem again.

I dont think i will ever get more than 2 pages deep. I think i like the idea of having the main nav buttons open a page that has normal text links on it for the sub pages.

This is what im thinking. [Link: guijaboard.com]

Any thoughts? Thanks again.

Looks good.

One thought that comes to mind is that the "j" in the guijaboard logo is kind of hard to make out that it's a "j" versus an "i", especially when small. Maybe if the tail curved upwards a bit more.

How does this one look?

[Link: guijaboard.com]

yes, the "j" looks like a "j" now

I think a tea stained pine color pallet might resemble a Ouija board more.

[Link: williamfuld.com]

[Link: williamfuld.com]

looks good

Yup, the "j' looks more like a j now. :-)

Strype, the original layout ( [Link: guijaboard.com] ) was color picked from a ouija board graphic i found online. I didnt spend much time tweaking the shades because i was just trying to get the site thrown together. I planned to make the whole site look like a ouija board at first.

You guys are going to laugh... blue entered the mix because of the bedding my g/f picked out. I really like how these colors go together. Its what prompted the wallpaper background also.

[Link: www1.macys.com]

I want the site to look fun but professional at the same time (so it matches my personality). I want people to notice the 'unique' play on words but i dont want them thinking "crazy ouija board satan guy". You might think thats funny but the first thing out of my sisters mouth was "thats evil, whats wrong with you".

I think i have the layout & navigation done. Im pretty happy with the logo and if i want to change it later its an easy fix. The only thing i have left to do is decide on the colors.