Website Critique

Bendystraws

Hello All -

I have developed a website for a physics major. It is titled "Dusty Plasma Experiment" and it has to do with plasma physics. They are applying for a grant from NASA for their experiment. I have developed a simple website for them, (no content yet).

Problem is, I'm not the best designer and I'm wondering if I could get some advice. Does it look good? How are the colors? Also a quick php question, The flash movie restarts every time you click a new link to a page, how do I fix it?

Here is the link:

http://www.tcnj.edu/~hvasta3/

Lewisham

1. Ditch the flash thing: it isn't helpful. Just have the logo there all the time, and use the pictures in the site itself.
2. Use a white background, that way your logos will sit in the page properly.
3. Is it just you editing this? If there were multiple people, I would seriously consider a wiki. I've been pushing for academics to use wikis very hard in my department, and they have universally appreciated them.

contagious_d

I like it. Nice, clean and simple, which is probably good for an academic site. I agree with what Lewisham said about the flash. As far as the logos go, maybe they could sit in some sort of box with a white background? They would also look a lot better if you resized them in photoshop or something like paint.net if you don't have the $$ for photoshop (I only have it at work.. its on my wish list).

Jinnigan

Get rid of giant flash header. replace with non-flash logo. Make sure it fades into the background nicely (sup transparencies)

if you're going to insist on images fading into each other, make it so that the images just fade into each other, instead of into white and then into the next image

for your right-hand (logo) column, resize all of them so that they are similarly sized and aren't so jagged

DrFrylock

The simple is good, especially for a project site for an academic project. Make sure it's easy to add content.

The news hole (the part of the page for content) is awfully small compared to the useless header content and project logos on the side (although having a limited width increases readability).

Get rid of the flash thing.

The color scheme is OK but is it selected for any particular reason? This page is a godsend for color idiots like myself - you pick a base color and a type of color scheme and it will give you natural contrasting colors. For example, if I put in the turquoise you use for the gradient, it tells me that a nice contrast is #AC6F37, which is a neutral brown. These colors do look quite nice together, in fact. Your crimson has a tetradic complement with a turquoise like the one you picked, so it's not too far off, but also has a contrast with a green color. Play around and see what you like.

Bendystraws

Thanks for the tips guys. I will definitely ditch the flash thing. The color scheme generator is a good idea too.
Perhaps I can remake the logos in .png form so they look transparent on the background.

Once I get some content the site will look much better. Perhaps I can also add rounded corners and a drop shadow on the content area.

also, what do you mean by:

"Get rid of giant flash header. replace with non-flash logo. Make sure it fades into the background nicely (sup transparencies)"

And how would I go about that?