Please Rate my Steam-Art site

28 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
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Hey guys, I created a Steampunk style website for my dad because he's an artist who deals with a wide range of metalic art. He's worn a bowler hat and handlebar mustache for the last 30 years and he named me (Garratt) after the worlds biggest steam train some 35 years ago...

Just wanted some thoughts on it, how good/bad design do you think it is?

Home - Tony Campton's Steampunk Submarine Australia

He's also got an aquaponics setup right next to his shed so that's in there too. It's more of a 20,000 leagues under the sea theme than COGS, although I'm sure I'll stick some cogs on it and call it steampunk later (pun intended)
#rate #site #steamart
  • Profile picture of the author gcampton
    bump, anyone please?
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  • Profile picture of the author momtraders
    The text is too hard to read... Having to hit the continue reading button is a bummer. Clicking on lins all lead me to the same posting.
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    • Profile picture of the author gcampton
      Originally Posted by momtraders View Post

      The text is too hard to read... Having to hit the continue reading button is a bummer. Clicking on lins all lead me to the same posting.
      Thanks for the reply mom,

      Which text is too hard to read, the brown or the grey on black?

      Why is having to hit continue reading a bummer? It's a blog, if we have the full posts in there then you'd have to scroll for miles to see the post you want to read. Snippets are better. You can also hit the title of the post if you don't like "Continue Reading".

      "Clicking on lins all lead me to the same posting." Not sure what you mean there.
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  • Profile picture of the author ronc0011
    I think you could use more of the steam centric graphics. What you have now is basically colored divs I know artwork is time consuming to develop. You might do some research on the whole steam idea you might check out the movie "Steamboy" also you might do a Youtube search on steam engines or steam powered boats some pretty cool stuff. Really i think you could really develop some way cool graphics with a little time and effort OK maybe a lot of time and effort.
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    • Profile picture of the author gcampton
      Originally Posted by ronc0011 View Post

      I think you could use more of the steam centric graphics. What you have now is basically colored divs I know artwork is time consuming to develop. You might do some research on the whole steam idea you might check out the movie "Steamboy" also you might do a Youtube search on steam engines or steam powered boats some pretty cool stuff. Really i think you could really develop some way cool graphics with a little time and effort OK maybe a lot of time and effort.
      Thanks ron, I agree it does need more pics in there, perhaps between the menu and content?
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  • Profile picture of the author HimanshuS
    One more addition from my side - I would love to have a lighter tone of the bg graphics. That's going to help all other part to stand out.
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  • Profile picture of the author OmiTaylor
    I love steampunk.

    I think the logo is too blurry. Too many fonts going on.Not enough content IMO. Looks a bit confusing to get around. Just some thoughts.
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  • Profile picture of the author mairsh
    Text is too hard to read... Color combination made my head spin why don't you install any free word press theme?
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  • Profile picture of the author henryc04
    The text at the center are too gothic and the color is far from the website theme. But overall nice work!
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  • Profile picture of the author metalsguru
    The design seem to be so simple..like a blogspot. So, you should use more color to make your site more impressive with reader. by the way, the main text is not really easy to read.
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  • Profile picture of the author muddywaters
    The logo is blurry you might want to vector it in photoshop. I would also suggest that you change the font in your homepage "Steampunk collection, Jewellery... etc", It looks like its something for Halloween (not trying to offend ya in any way though, it's just what I perceived when reading it). It's also a little hard to read.

    But if you wish to really use the font... you might want to git rid of the stroke. I also see a white line to the right of your header. Hope this helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author kazim
    I don't like your domain name. You use very beautiful color in your site. If you change the font style it will look more beautiful.
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    • Profile picture of the author webati
      This is not according that what Google recommends for quality websites. Not user readability nor have any attractiveness.Please redesign and make it according What Google Quality guild lines says.
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      • Profile picture of the author gcampton
        Originally Posted by webati View Post

        This is not according that what Google recommends for quality websites. Not user readability nor have any attractiveness.Please redesign and make it according What Google Quality guild lines says.
        Who cares what Google thinks?

        Thanks everyone, I'll take your advice under consideration.
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  • It's pretty basic I would adjust the top navigation, header, footer. Make sure your actually
    revealing your art on the first page using a professional image or stock photo.

    cheers!,
    WILL
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  • Profile picture of the author gcampton
    What would be a good font to use? via Google Webfonts or DaFont, something free ?
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    • Profile picture of the author gcampton
      Originally Posted by gcampton View Post

      What would be a good font to use? via Google Webfonts or DaFont, something free ?
      Seriously? Twitter.... He's an Artist in his 60's, why would he need to be on twitter?
      He doesn't need SEO, all traffic is generated via forums and people he knows, he doesn't need to appease Google, he doesn't need social tools of any kind as he's not really active on any social platforms.

      Look some suggestions are really welcome, like fonts/colors etc... some are just getting on the realms of stupidity.. no offense.

      I will look at adding a Pinterest button for images, but I would have to dirty it up to make it fit the site theme.
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      • Profile picture of the author connorbringas
        Agree with prior posters-content is kind of nauseating honestly-and really big. No real explanation of what the website is about. Need more content.
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  • Profile picture of the author weboasis
    I think that it is a very amateur website. You have a lot of work to improve it.

    And I have difficulty in reading the menu words...
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  • Profile picture of the author bhmseoservices
    The site is cool but boring.
    Look into social networking, get your twitter feeds on your website - connect your facebook.
    Try to put more graphics on the webstie, maybe an interactive slider.
    Also look at the typography - it needs to have more flare to it.
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  • Profile picture of the author betsyanne
    Hi - I just went to your site to check it out. It's really unique. I do like the logo, and it might not be the kind you can sharpen up, but I like the colors and design.

    To make your site "stickier" and have people stay there longer, try adding some site pages, making the articles longer before clicking to continue (maybe having fewer per page) and putting in your own words the reasons you love the Steampunk movement. Can you get people excited about it?

    Maybe a Steampunk Discussion Board will be next. Good luck! And thanks for sharing your site with us.
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    • Profile picture of the author gcampton
      Originally Posted by betsyanne View Post

      Hi - I just went to your site to check it out. It's really unique. I do like the logo, and it might not be the kind you can sharpen up, but I like the colors and design.

      To make your site "stickier" and have people stay there longer, try adding some site pages, making the articles longer before clicking to continue (maybe having fewer per page) and putting in your own words the reasons you love the Steampunk movement. Can you get people excited about it?

      Maybe a Steampunk Discussion Board will be next. Good luck! And thanks for sharing your site with us.
      I missed reading that earlier, thanks betsyanne. I'll try doing some SEO posts for him. I'm not sure there's much point though. He gets a fair few visitors but those visits are usually direct social traffic to a particular post.

      I'm reserved on the header too, it took me 4 days to do that in Photoshop using only the paintbrush and smudge tool. So yeah, its staying, glad someone appreciates it.


      Someone also mentioned a slider, I think it's a good idea too. But I'm limited in the crappy photographs he sends me, his camera isn't all that great.
      I don't particularly want to use iStock crap just to make it look prettier. Defeats the purpose. The whole idea of the theme was to make it look like the inside of Capt.Nemo's ship. It's supposed to be dirty, it's supposed to look old. It's supposed to look like....(1850's for those that don't know think Sherlock Holmes, see below image)

      I did notice my monitor colors might be off because looking at the site on my girlfriends computer the pinky-brown font color looks a lot more brown on my PC than hers. But everything else is OK.

      And considering it was my first attempt at website design, I"m not unhappy with it.


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  • Profile picture of the author soniamit
    your background images is dull.... You must use bright color background images / color.

    this image i am taking about

    http://steampunk-tjc-australia.com.a...om_texture.jpg
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    • Profile picture of the author gcampton
      Originally Posted by soniamit View Post

      your background images is dull.... You must use bright color background images / color.

      this image i am taking about

      http://steampunk-tjc-australia.com.a...om_texture.jpg
      Yep no worries, I'll make it Bright LIME GREEN. makes sense.
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  • Profile picture of the author Husacul
    I think that there are a lot of things that can be improved - you should try to make the website more user friendly.
    - the background is a bit distracting
    - the footer background seams to be from another website
    - you need to add some more info's of what the website is about

    Good luck with the work on the site
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    • Profile picture of the author gcampton
      Originally Posted by MammothPixel View Post

      I think that there are a lot of things that can be improved - you should try to make the website more user friendly.
      What kind of user are we talking about here? retards that don't know what a blog is?

      Pretty sure anyone who knows what a blog is knows to browse via hitting the big bloody button that says "BLOG" or by browsing categories/tags.

      I agree with you on the footer, it's the right era but looks weird.

      PS the site is about::: - it's about whatever the artist feels like doing that day.
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