[WickedDemon]

Hey guys, I just finished making my own game site, and I'm not a profesional web developer or anything, just an average joe, so I wanted imput on how I can improve my site for the next layout.

Site is
http://www.boltgames.net

Suggestions are needed!

[SolarFlux]

I'm not a professional designer or anything, so you probably shouldn't listen to anything I say, but.....

the thing that really got my attention is the logo. on the splash/enter screen, the text is in about the same value range as the rest of the image. Generally in web design you want your words to pop out and contrast with what they are placed in front of. "bolt games" should be the main focal point of the image...your eye should be easily drawn to it. I suggest brightening the text up to almost pure yellow/white, and maybe darkening the area immediatley behind it. Or over-emphasizing the glow. maybe change the menus...its not a bad design aesthetic, but you do realize it is the same kind of presentation a million and one information oriented sites have right?

did you use some kind of web publishing software?

[WickedDemon]

Thanks for the tip SolarFlux. I will practice what you said once I can start on the second version of the layout. Some people say the colors on this one are bad, what do you think?

For your questions:

I coded all the html stuff by hand and for news I'm using a script called coranto (http://coranto.gweilo.org). It has been modified to work on mutiple levels, but very good script.

[bld]

The yellow is to intense of a contrast. THe layout seems fairly good, but its incredibly hard to focus on anything because the yellow is forcing my attention EVERYWHERE.

[elvis]

Hi,

The use of serif-type for headlines is a bad idea in my opinion. Serif fonts were designed so that the eye would easier identify each character in flowing text and at small sizes.
In other words, I think you should lose the Bookman or Times. Also, even though serif type was designed to read well in fine print, it is not true on the web as html text is not antialiased (even when it is it's not great).

I know some people might think it is boring to go with the sans-serif typefaces for websites, but in my opinion they just read better.

The Bolt Games logo... Hope you don't mind me saying it, but I think you should really sit down and do it over. Try to figure out what your organisation is about, and select a type that plays with that.
Then possibly work in a graphic symbol in the type, or a standalone graphic symbol that will make us remember your brand.
Then do your logo up so that it will look fantastic in black and white - it should have character even then.
If you then feel a need to add effects, go ahead!

On the main page after the splash you have two huge plates - top one is logo, and below almost an identical plate with very little information on - it is very confusing to me to have a bannerspace the same size as the top logo, and looking pretty much the same.

I also agree with previous posters that the color scheme is a bit aggressive, you need to decide if you want it to be - in that case maybe lose the navy blue, and go with a red or an orange with your killer yellow. If not, try and find two colors that reflect the mood you want.

Light high saturated colors on big plates get strenuous on the eye pretty quick though.

The news headlines should have more room in my opinion. The type is quite large, but has nearly no room at top and bottom - a couple of pixels extra space will make it much easier to read.

Oh, and the top left language selection. You'd want to make the options stand out more, so that it would be easy for a user to find it if he/she stumbles onto your page in the wrong language. Let the options take up more space, and the globe less....

Besides those points it seems like a good portal, and I bet it will look really good if you put a little more work in.

Good luck

e

[WickedDemon]

Thanks for the help guys, I think it's really important to know how I could improve each part of the layout to keep the site attractive to it's visitors. elvis, lots of information and tips, I appreciated it.