Make A Pound website review
Posted by Lindsayanng on February 23rd, 2009
On my first impression, I noticed the black background. I typically do not like black backgrounds on websites in any way shape or form, but that is personal preference and does not reflect as a “bad design” I will just tell you why I personally do not like black backgrounds.
To me, a black background instantly makes a website look clutters. Much like if you were to paint your bedroom walls black, it makes it look dark and more cluttered, even if there is hardly anything there. You COULD have a black outter background, or a black background but put all of your content inside of grey or white boxes.
See these themes that are black or dark, but not cluttered looking:
darkblog
themebase blog
You can see that even creating a little bit of contrast can make a solid black blog look more organized. You can download free illustrator patters from deviantart.com that you can use as a tiled outer background, or you can use a solid color. I can see that you STARTED that way because you have some lines in the outer background, but maybe you can make them a little thicker, like in the other one. Then again, this is ALL just my personal preference. Also, having a black background makes those little social bookmarking chicklets look out of place, since they are made for white. Maybe you can put just those images inside of a table with a white background. Not entirely sure how that would look unless you added other white content or boxes, but it might make it look better.
I kind of like your gold on black look. Usually I would think it would look tacky, much like those giant Escalade Stretch Limo’s with gold spinners. But these colors match your theme, so I think that it works for you. But not for most 
Your sidebar is pretty nice, however I would like to see the subscribe button stand out more. If you make it have a dark grey background, you would notice it more and be more inclined to click it. It has been proven that the act of making a button more appealing and more obvious will increase clicks on that particular button by about 30%. Thats a bunch of clicks!!
I think you should go into your CSS and change the color of links. The blue doesn’t match your them. Maybe change your CSS to yellow, or a darker version of yellow. Do not make it bright yellow, it will clash with the dark background. Maybe more of a yellowish brown to match your coin
On your sidebar, you should move the CONTACT ME above the entre card graphic, this way you have two 125x125px graphics next to each other and it will look more “even” Also, its nice to offer your email to your visitors, but it is an open door to spammers. Have you been getting a lot of spam in your email?
You have a LOT LOT LOT of text in your sidebar, between the latest posts and links, that’s a LOT to read. If you must keep all of that, i would align it left so it looks like a more organized list.
I would see if you can cut the number of recent posts to maybe 10. Top ten most recent entries is more than enough.
You have no categories. You absolutely need to separate your posts into categories. When someone visits your site and lands on you home page, you want them to be able to get to the content that they want to see within a click or two. Without categories, they reader needs to go through all of your pages. For instance, if someone came to your blog and wanted to read about your thoughts on Current Events, but they have to wade through all of your technical stuff about online storage and such.
What I am saying is, when I visit your site, I can’t really tell what it is about. Giving categories gives people a quick synopsis of what types of blog posts that you wrote. Personally, I am still not entirely sure what your blog is about because your title makes me think its about making money, but your posts are more like a person journal.
Finally, your footer can use some work. If you create a nice big boxed foot. Kind of like you see here.. You can keep that big sqaure advertisement you have there, and you can move your archives down there, and some other things so that you can make some space on your sidebar for other things.
I hope this helps you.. and Like i said. It is my opinion.
Want to know who is offering this awesome content? Here it is! Someone who is relatively new to web design. I am new enough to still remember how absolutely frustrating it was to try and get anything done in this field, but have also been around long enough to be able to help those that are where I was a year ago.
Aside from web design, I run the office of my dad's engineering business, and do book keeping by trade.
I love my pets.. All 6 cats, 1 peg legged dogs, and 1 hedgehog. LOVE THEM!!
Oh yea, and my husband. He lets me chase my dreams and I let him do the same. We are happy people because of it. Read more from this author
