Would someone please critique my site & let me know what I should do?

[Anthony Cutchin]

Hi everyone, I am new to this and have not a clue about CSS codes or custom codes. Thankfully I have you guys where I can "copy and paste" to make it look a little better for my members. I just need someone to take a look at my site and let me know what I should do. I am at a stand still at this point. Thank you! www.ImUnashamed.com

[Nor Cal Social Media]

Hi Anthony,

You don't have to be a coding ninja to create a visually appealing Ning. In my opinion, it has more to do with having some design sense, making the right decisions to support whatever your concept is, and considering what visitors to your site will find appealing.

In your case, I would start by whiting everything out. That means going into your Appearance settings, and with the exception of text and links choosing the color white. The only thing in your header being that little silver and red logo.

Now once you have done this, your site will have the natural eloquent look and feel that Ning Creators has. From there, keep this design sense in mind as you play around with it to get something you like even better. The more you start to customize it with graphics and features, just make sure people will find it in good taste...as if you had hired someone professional to do this for you vs. cheesing it up by doing it yourself.

Best,

Anthony

[Anthony Cutchin]

Hey Anthony,

Thank you for your response. I went with your idea and whited everything out. I also made it 2 column so it does not look so crowded. I am still playing around with it. I was wondering how to get a slider for my home page. Any ideas?

[Nor Cal Social Media]

Good. Looks better already. There are many articles and some videos about sliders here on Creators. I think that will work for your design.

I think you should clean it up even more by removing the image in your header- not your logo- but whatever your design theme default image is...a chalkboard? Also the footer color and the module headers. I'm serious when I suggest you start with a clean slate - tabula rasa!

Next your layout- navigation module is weak and takes up valuable column space. The activity feed would be a better fit there because it is not designed to fill out a main column so well...a bit too much empty space. Forums and blogs modules on the other hand need a wider column.

If at all possible, I always recommend taking off the ads. They really cheapen up sites.

Best, Anthony

[pjcyto]

Anthony is right on with this. The number one thing that slows sites down is visual representation. That goes more for a social site like ours. 

Being on your site, I have no idea what I'm looking at. The average person looking at your site for the first time will only spend 30sec (if that) to find out what they are looking at. If they can't figure it out, or it frankly isn't something that captivates them, they leave.

Simplicity on the front door is key to stickiness. You always want 3 things to be there.

1. Simple yet elegant design, something that welcomes people in.
2. A theme that people can identify to your product. Visualization is 10 times faster than words in the human mind.
3. A solid identity of who you are and what you do. 

These things work well if you mean to label your site for a certain genre. 

A christian site like yours should really focus on the type of culture you are cultivating. Capture that with visualization. 

[La]

Hi Anthony, First let me start off by saying Praise God my brother. I run a similar site, but with a different vision. I actually took my site down for a while to revamp and recently went back at it. Unfortunately, that move cost me my member list, but I am trusting God because this is the vision He gave me and I want to be led by Him.

OK Now for my Critique,

Pros:

I really like the navigation and header background. I also like the clean look. Their are simple things you can do to customize your site. i.e. The Language Editor is your friend. Honestly, I think the best person to get tips from on this site is Jen. She is very knowledgeable and skilled at what she does. 

Cons:

This is only my personal opinion, but I think for a site like this it is better to have it as a public network or the forum part at least. I think that may increase membership on a site like this especially if it utilizes the forum feature heavily. Perfect example-I only joined creators because I wanted to get in on the discussions too. I think that giving people a chance to actually read the discussions may spark their interest to join your site.

Encouragement:

Praise God for people Going hard for the Kingdom of God. Don't stop. I pray that God blesses you in your endeavors and that your gifts will make room for you. I would share my website link, but the first and last time I did that on creators in a public discussion I encountered a ton of spammers on my network. Lets just say I have learned my lesson about that. Anyhow keep up the good work and Be Blessed!

[Anthony Cutchin]

Hi La,

Thank you for the encourgement! It's always nice to hear from a brother/sister in Christ. I was trying to figure out how exactly I can make my forum and blogs available for people to read. I was checking out the Language Editor as well but not really sure what I am suppsed to do when I am there haha. Also thank you for telling me about the spammers when putting your website out there. Never really thought of it that way, but I will be more careful about that. God Bless La!

[Pastor Donald C. Garner Jr.]

WOW! La & Anthony. I thought I might be the only Christian NC here for a while, I guess I was wrong. La, Praise Yahweh. I read your post, and felt the Power of The Holy Spirit Moving. I'm Pastor G. I needed to hear what you said this morning La, because I've been feeling a bit troubled with my own sites design. Coding is NOT my forte. Design is, but i can't get to two to got together, because I lack the Html/CSS experience. I know what I want! How it should look! Just falling short in implementation with content, and coding/design. HE gave the Vision, so HE will provide the Provision! Amen. Your post motivated me thin morning 10:27 Detroit, MI time...to get-up and finish what I started..and Continue to Grind Hard and P.U.S.H. (Pray Until something Happens) For The Kingdom!!! Blessings friends. Let's help each other. My Site is REALLY Under Construction!!! lol Adding new content, and a new design (Hiring a Coder/designer with a proven Portfolio) coming by June 15th. I need a High End design that's NOT too flashy, but clean, not cluttered (Menus), and Visually exciting. Something that makes people want to stay, and be apart of the community.

[Anthony Cutchin]

P.U.S.H   I like that Pastor Garner

 

[La]

Me 2 I think we need to start our own group here. I think it is beneficial, resourceful and simply uplifting to be with like minded people. P.U.S.H. I really like that too Pastor Garner

[Pastor Donald C. Garner Jr.]

I agree. Then let's do it. "Where two or three are gather together, IN MY NAME, there I AM in the midst." Create it, I'm there.

[Anthony Cutchin]

Wow Frank, I am impressed. Looks awesome man! I have a lot of work to do haha but I know The Lord will lead me in  the right direction. He already has but you letting me check out your site. Awesome job, keep up the good work! God Bless!

[Bobby Goldberg]

Suggestion... whatever site-wide look/feel changes you do, make sure it happens before members start putting custom touches to their pages. We have been stuck with ning design1.0 because any 2.0 design changes we do will toss out user custom tweaks on  their page. Touch a users page and they will eat your first born.