Website design review

[icarus]

Quick question:

I've heard back from some people that they have trouble reading my website.

Do you?

If so -

1) is the print too small (11 pt in windows, 10 pt in navigation)?
2) is the blue and black theme too dark?
3) are there broken links?
4) do you want me to list fics by pairing?
5) ...other problems?

Thank you. The website's there for you, so however stylish it is -- if it's not readable, then I need to fix it.

ETA: So far it's pretty universal that -
a) the strikethrough needs to be removed
b) the links need to be a different, brighter colour
c) there needs to be a larger margin on the individual story pages
d) list fics by pairing instead of by rating
e) do not use heading < h 1 > style as it does not work in some browsers
f) bump point size up one notch (11 pt & 12 pt)
g) ... I'm not sure how to fix the navigation/pix overlap found in some browsers. Hmm.

ETA2: I've updated some of my pages with larger fonts, yellow instead of the cross-out mouse over, removed the < h 1 > tag in places. Haven't fixed the margin, and a new issue has arisen: some find the frame in the middle of the page difficult and too-small. Correcting that... would involve a none-too-pretty (in terms of the work involved) change to the picture framing it.

Please keep the critiques coming, again, this came from a few private, hand-over-the-mouth mumbles from friends.

Comments

[semielliptical]

Since you asked :-)

- The darker blue text on black is almost impossible for me to read. The lighter color on the mouseovers would help a bit, if the strikeout effect didn't add to the confusion.
- The fancy blue border around the middle part also obscures some of the menu text.
- The menu text is small - I don't generally mind adjusting that on the browser side - I had to zoom 150%. And the blue border still obscures some of the menu text.
- In the "By Pairing" and "By Type" lists, some text writes on top of other text near the top of that frame.
- The fics themselves are great, easy to read. Darker text on a light background is ideal (for me) for fic reading, and it's a good size. Though there is abolutely no margin - the text is crunched right up against the sides of the window, it's particularly bothersome to have no margin on the left side.

I'm viewing this with Windows, Mozilla, 1024x768. I have no idea if I'm an average reader - I would always rather use a plain, even dull, fic site, since I'm there to read. I know looks matter much more to some other people.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Sam did the design for me, and I gave her carte blanche, the only part I did was the very simple story layout. It's lovely but I have to admit, I struggle with the small print (er, 36 and near-sighted...) and the darker fonts.

Two people with Mozilla have mentioned the problem with the overlap. I think the < h 1 > heading tag just doesn't work right in Mozilla.

I really do have to put more of a margin into those fics.

Icarus