Personal Development for Smart People^TM Forums

RagsToRiches · 11-19-2009, 01:53 PM

The website is about using practices such as meditation and affirmations to improve your life.

If you have 10 minutes to look my site over and give me your critisism (perhaps the 3 weak areas which catch your attention) and you are interested in this area then please PM me so I can send you the address.

The content thus far is incomplete, the design is in the works, and basically everything is open to change so I do not want it posting publically yet because it is still someway from being complete.

Cheers,
Rich

iDreamCatcher · 11-19-2009, 04:45 PM

I am good with SEO - feel free to send me link if you want me to give you hints.

Gleb

JustinPopovic · 11-19-2009, 08:01 PM

I think you should make your website public as soon as possible. Your site is going to be dynamic and changing as you change anyways. The sooner you put your work out for the world to see, the sooner you will attract an audience.

Do not wait for perfection, just get started. Showing vulnerability and willingness to change, adapt and take advice will only work in your favour. People will see you as a real person and if they vibe with your content, you can't go wrong.

If you post the link, I would gladly take a look and provide some feedback

Explinfin · 11-20-2009, 01:43 PM

Ill have a look.

Curtis2011 · 11-20-2009, 11:39 PM

Your website sucks!

...

Well, you asked for criticism.

RagsToRiches · 11-26-2009, 02:09 PM

Here's my website.

The Real Mind

Let me know the first three things you dislike about it.

iDreamCatcher · 11-26-2009, 02:13 PM

I've seen enough crappy websites - so yours stands out flawless to me!
Good luck with making it great portal.

Gleb

AGBourne · 11-26-2009, 02:20 PM

Good work.

Suggestion:

I would increase the font size of your main text to 1-2 points higher. White text on black tends to be harder to read.

findinginspiration · 11-26-2009, 04:15 PM

I like the site, but would agree that the small white text on the black background is kind of rough on my eyes. I like the site though!

RagsToRiches · 11-26-2009, 04:35 PM

That's that is good advice. I was actually thinking of completely inversing the colour of the article boundaries and the text as one solution to this.

Will also see what biggest text looks like.

Another solution would be to raise the tint of the article backdrop by a few points...

James81 · 11-26-2009, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RagsToRiches

Here's my website.

The Real Mind

Let me know the first three things you dislike about it.

I like the theme, but the black background with white text is hell on the eyes.

Other than that, I'm hard-pressed to find anything else I dislike about it.

brendannz · 11-28-2009, 12:29 PM

I really liked your website a lot, but I don't like the text you've used here;

"Using both ancient knowledge and modern technology, this website will show you how to master your mind and body. Here you will learn how to achieve your most extravagant dreams and deepest desires.

Through a combination of experimentation, understanding, tolerance, manipulation, technique, practice and device - The Real Mind is the verified imprint of my own experience and research into reality management; and ultimately life mastery."

maybe take away the bold and just leave it as italics, just a thought

I think some alex grey artwork could go well with your site; Alex Grey

But then it may cheapen it using works of a modern day artist.

OlderWiser · 11-28-2009, 02:53 PM

Okay, this is totally stream of consciousness. Take it for what it's worth to you. This is how I do a website critique (have been doing them for many years now in a personal and professional capacity, though I don't do the professional webdev thing any more).

The overall site is definitely solid, interesting, and fairly attractive (other than the fact that it's causing me eye strain; more below). There are some issues, though, to my eye, some of them extremely minor. A web designer friend of mine once told me that she liked it when the only things I could find to pick on were teeny and super nitpicky because it meant there was nothing bigger or more significant, and I laughed at that, because she's right. I just want to note that the site looks good in general, and is polished and easy to navigate. It gives a generally good impression.

That being said, let the nitpicking begin....

Background on the top (the muted rainbow thingy): I've seen it dozens of times, and have used a version of it in a them on my phone. It's pretty, but totally unmemorable at this point.

Don't care for the use of Vivaldi font for this site. It's a very fancy, scripty font, more suitable for something like a wedding invitation, and did you actually put an italic slant on it? It looks a bit oblique.

I like the glowing gold brain in the head logo thing. Attractive and memorable.

Oh, my, the thin spectrum line on the bottom is very 1995. Looks okay here, but, wow, brings back memories.

The white on grey is too low-contrast and strains my eyes. Seriously. I've got a pretty decent quality monitor and it's well-calibrated, but I don't think I'd be inclined to hang around and read much (which is a real shame, because what I did read of the content is very good!), because it's that hard to read.

I really like the diagram illustrations in the blog. They're really attractive!

This is picky, but if it were me, I'd put a little more padding between the body of the text and the edges of the container div (or td or whatever you're using to contain the text; I didn't look at the source

).

This is just a suggestion, but I think I'd consider making the blog, which is the part of the site that's going to draw the most interest and have the most frequent changes, be the main entry page, with the other information working as pages below/off that. The entry page is static, and reads like an "about" page, and feels like it's got a lot of filler. It's not horrible, but I can tell you the part of the site that I'd be bookmarking is the blog (or subscribing to the RSS), and I'd give that main page a miss entirely.

Oh, the use of the word "welcome" is probably one of the most uninspired things you can do on a website. I know I'm welcome on your site, or you wouldn't have made it public. Of course I'm welcome. Writing that on the page is meaningless. (Sorry, I know that's really weirdly picky, but it's one of my peeves. Disregard if you want.

)

Why is the favicon.ico a capital letter C? I can't see how that pertains to the site name or content.

"My Motivations For The Site" should correctly be "My Motivation for This Site" or "My Motivation for the Site". Don't put a cap on every word, it's incorrect style in any English dialect. Also, motivation is generally a singular. You have multiple motives, but you have singular motivation. It's not technically wrong, I don't think, but making it plural is a little clumsy.

I enjoyed the Who? page. Very interesting.

Contact "us"... who is us? The page about you indicates a single person running the site. Do you have a team, as well? Or a mouse in your pocket?

You could change that to just read "Contact" and leave it at that. Also "You can leave a message using the contact form below." Wow, REALLY? I can leave a message with a contact form? Amazing! I don't mean to be rude (no, honestly, I don't; I'm just a to-the-point critic and I have a weird sense of humour

), but perhaps a slightly more interesting way of phrasing that might be in order? It just seems like Captain Obvious wrote that copy.

Like I said, overall, it's solid, and I'm a picky critic, probably because I've been on the net for a really long time and I've seen about a bazillion web pages and created or edited at least half a bazillion, myself. My peeves may not have meaning to anyone but me, and you're free to think I'm a picky old woman and ignore me. I won't mind.

You've obviously put a lot of effort into the site, and it shows.

MayanJaguar · 11-28-2009, 05:58 PM

How do you plan to develop the site? Will you have pages/sections on different practices or will it be mostly focused on the blog?

newmark · 11-29-2009, 03:46 AM

I can't comment on the content, but the white text on black background was hard to read. So much so that I didn't want to spend much time reading it.

runningbird · 11-29-2009, 04:12 AM

I usually hate white text on black background but didn't find yours hard to read. Maybe my eyes are just good right now, but thought I'd throw that out.

ballhit2 · 11-29-2009, 05:16 AM

Ok, disclaimer, I enjoy nitpicking and being critical, well, at least at the time of this post.

As regards your "What?"

"master your mind and body"

This phrase needs more color. It's greyer than London in November.

"reality management"

Sounds corporate. Reminds me of work.

"At worst we are the masters of our destiny. At best we are the creators of our entire reality"

I think for many people, at worst, others are the masters of our destiny. That's my just opinion.

Miscellaneous:

I liked the color scheme, but only because it was making me hallucinate and I found that to be amusing. Black is good for the environment for electricity conservation (hello google) but you need to find a different font.

The diagrams remind me of powerpoint clip art

That's all, it's better than I would wanted to have done. Good job.

RagsToRiches · 11-30-2009, 01:52 PM

Thanks particularly to OlderWiser, I will be implementing several of your changes.

It seems like the major issue is the site colour scheme. That's a big shame because I like it, and it's going to be a pain to change. But given the number of people who have mentioned it it's something I will have to do. So that's priority 1 on the dev list.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ballhit2

I think for many people, at worst, others are the masters of our destiny.

Only because they let them.

Thanks

RagsToRiches · 11-30-2009, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MayanJaguar

How do you plan to develop the site? Will you have pages/sections on different practices or will it be mostly focused on the blog?

I'm not fully decided yet. (Ready, Fire, Aim)

We'll see how it grows. I would like to have "30 day trial" type things on there (experiments) as well as articles on things I already have a great deal of expertise on.

Johnny Skosnik · 11-30-2009, 06:45 PM

Not sure how important it is, but I was struck by the similar appearance between your website and this one.

RagsToRiches · 11-30-2009, 07:30 PM

I have changed the text to make it darker. If I have to change the background colour it means a lot more work, probably a good 3-4 hours to tweaking to sort out.

Let me know if anyone still has problems reading. Make sure to hit refresh because browsers like to store old CSS.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Skosnik

Not sure how important it is, but I was struck by the similar appearance between your website and this one.

Because we both based our site on the Colourise – Free WordPress Theme | Theme Lab

I am going to change the background graphic (design a new one myself), and over-time tweak a few other things. Within a month or so there will be almost no similarity.

DummyChef · 11-30-2009, 11:57 PM

You should make it public as soon as you can. Nothing has to be perfect at this moment. You can also find your target or potential users and ask them how it works for them. That's the key.

Justin Razmus · 12-05-2009, 06:45 AM

You have a great URL. Short and to the point, plus its easy to remember.

Conan Stevens · 12-05-2009, 12:38 PM

Get rid of the black background, it is difficult to read, people are used to reading black text on a white background (newspapers, magazine, etc)

The top graphic obscurs the text there and has nothing to do with the content, I'd make the graphic more relevant so it is more like a branding or logo that people might remember.

MORE CONTENT, much, much more content.

Here is a site I just launched today:
Video Recipes For Bodybuilders & Athletes - Cooking With Conan

Much more content, easier to read, yes the ads are in the way for a reason - people read them there, and a clearly defined purpose - video recipes for bodybuilders and athletes.

Try some of those ideas.

spirit4711 · 12-05-2009, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Conan Stevens

Get rid of the black background, it is difficult to read, people are used to reading black text on a white background (newspapers, magazine, etc)

Same here. I simply refuse to read white on black, and click away in 2 seconds max. Why make life difficult for your readers?

Desmond · 12-05-2009, 02:35 PM

Make the containers white, and make the text like #222 or something. (Dark grey, but not black.)

RagsToRiches · 12-05-2009, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Conan Stevens

Try some of those ideas.

Thanks for the input Conan your points are well put.

How successful do your websites tend to be?

Conan Stevens · 12-06-2009, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RagsToRiches

Thanks for the input Conan your points are well put.

How successful do your websites tend to be?

I live off the earnings, so pretty successful on that level and this post covers the main purpose of the site :-
Should An Actor Have His Own Website

I get work as an actor through the site, and I get auditions that I would never be noticed for so all-in-all my sites are very successful in that regard.

Though the new site is only 2 days old, and I have to promote it I am hoping for a large amount of traffic for it.

RagsToRiches · 12-13-2009, 01:31 PM

I've altered the colour scheme so that the text is now on a light background. The images are still a little rough around the edges, I'll sort that out a little later.

But as a basic outline, how do you guys find this now?

Criticism appreciated as always.

The Real Mind | Achieve your most extravagant dreams and deepest desires

OlderWiser · 12-13-2009, 02:47 PM

Colour scheme is easier to read now, for sure. I like the navy background, it's a nice contrast to the black and the white.

The pink Vivaldi text in the title looks kind of anti-aliased or something, quite choppy around the thinner parts (I still think that's not really an appropriate font for this site, particularly the way it displays now).

The spectrum thingy behind the title is an improvement over the other one in my opinion. This one I haven't seen a bazillion times all over the web (yet, anyway, hehehe

).

The edges around the multi-colour brain-in-head guy look really odd and soft. I'm guessing you were trying to take it from a dark background to alias with the white? That's probably not necessary. You could keep the dark background for it, slap a little border on it, and it'll sit there and blend in with the site nicely. Now, the edges look all soft and weird, and not in a good way.

But other than that the colour scheme change is a big improvement to my eyes.

11-19-2009, 01:53 PM	#1 (permalink)
RagsToRiches Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Spain Posts: 466	Setting up new website: would appreciate critisism. The website is about using practices such as meditation and affirmations to improve your life. If you have 10 minutes to look my site over and give me your critisism (perhaps the 3 weak areas which catch your attention) and you are interested in this area then please PM me so I can send you the address. The content thus far is incomplete, the design is in the works, and basically everything is open to change so I do not want it posting publically yet because it is still someway from being complete. Cheers, Rich

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11-19-2009, 04:45 PM	#2 (permalink)
iDreamCatcher Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 421	I am good with SEO - feel free to send me link if you want me to give you hints. Gleb

11-19-2009, 08:01 PM	#3 (permalink)
JustinPopovic Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Ontario Posts: 245	I think you should make your website public as soon as possible. Your site is going to be dynamic and changing as you change anyways. The sooner you put your work out for the world to see, the sooner you will attract an audience. Do not wait for perfection, just get started. Showing vulnerability and willingness to change, adapt and take advice will only work in your favour. People will see you as a real person and if they vibe with your content, you can't go wrong. If you post the link, I would gladly take a look and provide some feedback

11-20-2009, 01:43 PM	#4 (permalink)
Explinfin Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Canada Posts: 134	Ill have a look.

11-20-2009, 11:39 PM	#5 (permalink)
Curtis2011 Family Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 2,950	Your website sucks! ... Well, you asked for criticism.

11-26-2009, 02:09 PM	#6 (permalink)
RagsToRiches Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Spain Posts: 466	Here's my website. The Real Mind Let me know the first three things you dislike about it.

11-26-2009, 02:13 PM	#7 (permalink)
iDreamCatcher Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 421	I've seen enough crappy websites - so yours stands out flawless to me! Good luck with making it great portal. Gleb

11-26-2009, 02:20 PM	#8 (permalink)
AGBourne Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 101	Good work. Suggestion: I would increase the font size of your main text to 1-2 points higher. White text on black tends to be harder to read.

11-26-2009, 04:15 PM	#9 (permalink)
findinginspiration Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Dayton, OH Posts: 114	I like the site, but would agree that the small white text on the black background is kind of rough on my eyes. I like the site though!

11-26-2009, 04:35 PM	#10 (permalink)
RagsToRiches Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Spain Posts: 466	That's that is good advice. I was actually thinking of completely inversing the colour of the article boundaries and the text as one solution to this. Will also see what biggest text looks like. Another solution would be to raise the tint of the article backdrop by a few points...

11-28-2009, 12:29 PM	#12 (permalink)
brendannz Family Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 3,612	I really liked your website a lot, but I don't like the text you've used here; "Using both ancient knowledge and modern technology, this website will show you how to master your mind and body. Here you will learn how to achieve your most extravagant dreams and deepest desires. Through a combination of experimentation, understanding, tolerance, manipulation, technique, practice and device - The Real Mind is the verified imprint of my own experience and research into reality management; and ultimately life mastery." maybe take away the bold and just leave it as italics, just a thought I think some alex grey artwork could go well with your site; Alex Grey But then it may cheapen it using works of a modern day artist.

11-28-2009, 02:53 PM	#13 (permalink)
OlderWiser Retired Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 664	Okay, this is totally stream of consciousness. Take it for what it's worth to you. This is how I do a website critique (have been doing them for many years now in a personal and professional capacity, though I don't do the professional webdev thing any more). The overall site is definitely solid, interesting, and fairly attractive (other than the fact that it's causing me eye strain; more below). There are some issues, though, to my eye, some of them extremely minor. A web designer friend of mine once told me that she liked it when the only things I could find to pick on were teeny and super nitpicky because it meant there was nothing bigger or more significant, and I laughed at that, because she's right. I just want to note that the site looks good in general, and is polished and easy to navigate. It gives a generally good impression. That being said, let the nitpicking begin.... Background on the top (the muted rainbow thingy): I've seen it dozens of times, and have used a version of it in a them on my phone. It's pretty, but totally unmemorable at this point. Don't care for the use of Vivaldi font for this site. It's a very fancy, scripty font, more suitable for something like a wedding invitation, and did you actually put an italic slant on it? It looks a bit oblique. I like the glowing gold brain in the head logo thing. Attractive and memorable. Oh, my, the thin spectrum line on the bottom is very 1995. Looks okay here, but, wow, brings back memories. The white on grey is too low-contrast and strains my eyes. Seriously. I've got a pretty decent quality monitor and it's well-calibrated, but I don't think I'd be inclined to hang around and read much (which is a real shame, because what I did read of the content is very good!), because it's that hard to read. I really like the diagram illustrations in the blog. They're really attractive! This is picky, but if it were me, I'd put a little more padding between the body of the text and the edges of the container div (or td or whatever you're using to contain the text; I didn't look at the source ). This is just a suggestion, but I think I'd consider making the blog, which is the part of the site that's going to draw the most interest and have the most frequent changes, be the main entry page, with the other information working as pages below/off that. The entry page is static, and reads like an "about" page, and feels like it's got a lot of filler. It's not horrible, but I can tell you the part of the site that I'd be bookmarking is the blog (or subscribing to the RSS), and I'd give that main page a miss entirely. Oh, the use of the word "welcome" is probably one of the most uninspired things you can do on a website. I know I'm welcome on your site, or you wouldn't have made it public. Of course I'm welcome. Writing that on the page is meaningless. (Sorry, I know that's really weirdly picky, but it's one of my peeves. Disregard if you want. ) Why is the favicon.ico a capital letter C? I can't see how that pertains to the site name or content. "My Motivations For The Site" should correctly be "My Motivation for This Site" or "My Motivation for the Site". Don't put a cap on every word, it's incorrect style in any English dialect. Also, motivation is generally a singular. You have multiple motives, but you have singular motivation. It's not technically wrong, I don't think, but making it plural is a little clumsy. I enjoyed the Who? page. Very interesting. Contact "us"... who is us? The page about you indicates a single person running the site. Do you have a team, as well? Or a mouse in your pocket? You could change that to just read "Contact" and leave it at that. Also "You can leave a message using the contact form below." Wow, REALLY? I can leave a message with a contact form? Amazing! I don't mean to be rude (no, honestly, I don't; I'm just a to-the-point critic and I have a weird sense of humour ), but perhaps a slightly more interesting way of phrasing that might be in order? It just seems like Captain Obvious wrote that copy. Like I said, overall, it's solid, and I'm a picky critic, probably because I've been on the net for a really long time and I've seen about a bazillion web pages and created or edited at least half a bazillion, myself. My peeves may not have meaning to anyone but me, and you're free to think I'm a picky old woman and ignore me. I won't mind. You've obviously put a lot of effort into the site, and it shows.

11-28-2009, 05:58 PM	#14 (permalink)
MayanJaguar Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 107	How do you plan to develop the site? Will you have pages/sections on different practices or will it be mostly focused on the blog?

11-29-2009, 03:46 AM	#15 (permalink)
newmark Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Taiwan Posts: 683	I can't comment on the content, but the white text on black background was hard to read. So much so that I didn't want to spend much time reading it.

11-29-2009, 04:12 AM	#16 (permalink)
runningbird Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Cleveland, OH Posts: 614	I usually hate white text on black background but didn't find yours hard to read. Maybe my eyes are just good right now, but thought I'd throw that out.

11-29-2009, 05:16 AM	#17 (permalink)
ballhit2 Banned Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: USA Posts: 141	Ok, disclaimer, I enjoy nitpicking and being critical, well, at least at the time of this post. As regards your "What?" "master your mind and body" This phrase needs more color. It's greyer than London in November. "reality management" Sounds corporate. Reminds me of work. "At worst we are the masters of our destiny. At best we are the creators of our entire reality" I think for many people, at worst, others are the masters of our destiny. That's my just opinion. Miscellaneous: I liked the color scheme, but only because it was making me hallucinate and I found that to be amusing. Black is good for the environment for electricity conservation (hello google) but you need to find a different font. The diagrams remind me of powerpoint clip art That's all, it's better than I would wanted to have done. Good job.

11-30-2009, 06:45 PM	#20 (permalink)
Johnny Skosnik Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 300	Not sure how important it is, but I was struck by the similar appearance between your website and this one.

11-30-2009, 11:57 PM	#22 (permalink)
DummyChef Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 108	You should make it public as soon as you can. Nothing has to be perfect at this moment. You can also find your target or potential users and ask them how it works for them. That's the key.

12-05-2009, 06:45 AM	#23 (permalink)
Justin Razmus Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 42	You have a great URL. Short and to the point, plus its easy to remember.

12-05-2009, 12:38 PM	#24 (permalink)
Conan Stevens Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: I travel around the world - currently Thailand Posts: 180	Get rid of the black background, it is difficult to read, people are used to reading black text on a white background (newspapers, magazine, etc) The top graphic obscurs the text there and has nothing to do with the content, I'd make the graphic more relevant so it is more like a branding or logo that people might remember. MORE CONTENT, much, much more content. Here is a site I just launched today: Video Recipes For Bodybuilders & Athletes - Cooking With Conan Much more content, easier to read, yes the ads are in the way for a reason - people read them there, and a clearly defined purpose - video recipes for bodybuilders and athletes. Try some of those ideas.

12-05-2009, 02:35 PM	#26 (permalink)
Desmond Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 125	Make the containers white, and make the text like #222 or something. (Dark grey, but not black.)

Personal Development for Smart PeopleTM Forums

Personal Development for Smart People^TM Forums

12-13-2009, 01:31 PM	#29 (permalink)
RagsToRiches Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Spain Posts: 466	I've altered the colour scheme so that the text is now on a light background. The images are still a little rough around the edges, I'll sort that out a little later. But as a basic outline, how do you guys find this now? Criticism appreciated as always. The Real Mind \| Achieve your most extravagant dreams and deepest desires

12-13-2009, 02:47 PM	#30 (permalink)
OlderWiser Retired Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 664	Colour scheme is easier to read now, for sure. I like the navy background, it's a nice contrast to the black and the white. The pink Vivaldi text in the title looks kind of anti-aliased or something, quite choppy around the thinner parts (I still think that's not really an appropriate font for this site, particularly the way it displays now). The spectrum thingy behind the title is an improvement over the other one in my opinion. This one I haven't seen a bazillion times all over the web (yet, anyway, hehehe ). The edges around the multi-colour brain-in-head guy look really odd and soft. I'm guessing you were trying to take it from a dark background to alias with the white? That's probably not necessary. You could keep the dark background for it, slap a little border on it, and it'll sit there and blend in with the site nicely. Now, the edges look all soft and weird, and not in a good way. But other than that the colour scheme change is a big improvement to my eyes.