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Hey all,
This site is this week's Site of the Week to review. Please give the owner your constructive comments.
I have one more site slated for next week and then the schedule's wide open. Contact me by PM if you want your site added.
http://www.outboy.com/home/
Cheers
dzinerbear
Okay I am really having a blonde moment, what site are we reviewing? The link goes to a page that lists three sites.. first one requires a login, second one isn't the name outboys and third one goes to a page saying no site here...
Uh.. help?
Ian
Sorry, I fixed the link.
Okay it was the personals site..
Well, I don't wanna be a wet blanket but to be honest it left me rather cold. The colour scheme could work but not with all that text spread out so wide on the screen.. its not really a good idea to push text full width.. the eye loses focus and it should be kept to under 450 pixel width.. better to go with columns than spreading it out, imho.
The Navigation is too awkward for me. I use text myself but all those lines of links at the top are just way too jumbled in my view.
The Tour page is way too long and nothing but text again. From the sample pics you have showing, I'd try to use those in several screens rather than just one long page of yellow text on black.. I'd also suggest using a shorter way of getting your sites goals across.
I am assuming you are making money by the advertising, and yet the ads even seem out of place or just, well.. not fitting to the context of the site. At a guess I'd also say there isn't any SEO on the pages but I didn't check the source so won't say yay or nay on that.
The links page is also way too long. Most savvy webmasters would pass on that and to be honest wasn't even sure I saw a way for webmasters to link to you for SE benefits. Again the long wide text tends to make one skip over what is written, so if you want the words to have any advertising effect I'd say you need to shorten it and make it more snappy too. Use of good H1 tags and H2 tags can help both the flow and the SEO portion of your design.
I'd seriously use columns and add more pics in a more planned layout than just a page with a border.
Also I'd really reconsider the use of black for a personals site, too dark in my view for the purpose. Also yellow text bold is a bit off I think.
Now as to some fixes.. I'd certainly redesign the navigation as its way too much.. either go with a column down one side or cut it so on top you only have one line of links... you can use different links to diffferent parts of the site on various 'directory type' pages if needed but i'd really think about cutting down the number a whole bunch.
I'd use more of a 'newspaper' type layout for my main page than anything but again, keep your text to a shorter width. There is nothing wrong with a site with lots of text, it is just how you present it that does matter. If you like, try a black border with a two or three columns within the black border but lighten up those inside columns..
What I think is a good example is Dzinbear's Universal Bear Site that uses a darkish colour but sets the text into columns. It simply flows better and allows the surfer to want to read the various text... so you might want to take that into account.
Another point is that you have advertising for other sites before you even tell the surfer what your site is.. I know it is the sponsors you want to push, but the surfer needs to be led to them.. and the only way to lead them is to get them past your first page.. so i'd really consider doing some internal advertising, and perhaps even take another look at DZinbear's page.. notice how the sponsors are off to the side a few screens down? and at the bottom? That is leaving the prime real estate to promotion of his site first.. as it should be on yours.. but if you look at yours, there is an ad for badpuppy then some bookmark site before anything really of yours.. your navigation also gets lost in those ads.. almost as if they are part of the ads.. which isn't great.. in my view.
Anyhow... that's a short one for you, sorry I couldn't be more positive. Also please, this is just my opinion and feel free to ignore it or disagree with it, as it is just an opinion only.
Good luck too.
Ian
Mind you, I'm a Geezer ..
but I had trouble reading the white on black text. :eek:
And I was wondering ..
I didn't see an Adult Content Warning Page.
That's a powerful lot of hard throbbing ManMeat in the banners, that aren't behind some kind of verification page.
I enjoyed the navigation and think the layout was tidy, but do agree there could be some adjustments on color. Design isn't my forte, but I do know what makes for pleasent and easy reading from a more mature customer.
The easier it is to read the text, the more likely I'm gona hang around and dig.
The link to the HIV+ positive community is an excellent addition to any adult site. Well done.
I noticed you have bearbackjack's banner. Has he told you about the resource site he has just built? Soon as I'm caught up, I'll be adding it to all my adult gay sites.
Afterall, its the least we can do, to keep our member base educated, healthy and safe.