[theforum] Another (late) evolt.org design

[Adrian Simmons]

Tara Cleveland wrote:
> So, I've finally, mostly (I'll never be completely satisfied),  
> finished an evolt.org design.

I've also been remiss about commenting on this. Partly because I feel bad 
about making comments on other peoples designs without having done one 
myself, but since someone else has started I'll join in :)

Things I like about this design:
- The strong page/section colours
- The change in section naming to lists, browsers etc, I agree that makes 
more sense.
- The section tabs at upper right (the colours, the drop shadows, I love those)
- The general page typography, colour, rating stars etc
- The 'Block' styles in the right sidebar


Things I'd like to see improved:
- The search and login boxes get a little lost where they are at the moment, 
I'd like to see those moved up into the header, or some of the dark 
background colour used in the header used below the search/login bar to 
highlight it better.
- There is no real separation between the main page content and the right 
sidebar, I think that's a little confusing, I'd like to see better 
definition of the side bar, right now it almost looks like part of the main 
column content.


Things I don't like:
- The curved corner at upper left. For me that curve jars when put next to 
the evolt cubes. I'd rather see something that echoed the cubes, perhaps 
steps down, or using the cubes to knock out the corner of the box.
- The curved end of the section tabs. This just looks like it should be 
attached to the top of something but isn't. At the very least I think it 
should be inverted, so it curves up to the top of the header.
- the big quote marks graphic used for quotes


Things that we're doing anyway that perhaps should change:
- I think this has already been discussed in #evolt, but, I don't think it 
makes a lot of sense having the article author bio at the top of the article 
and a blurb about them at the end of the article. These ought to be merged 
(with the exception of the name and user picture, which I think are nice to 
have near the start of the article). And ought to be at the end of the 
article in a horizontal box - a reward for reading the full article if you like.


-- 
Adrian Simmons (aka adrinux) <http://adrinux.perlucida.com>
e-mail <mailto:adrinux at perlucida.com>