Overall, I think that it is a very clean looking website, and a very good modeling of the Apple website look. In fact, that is my only real problem with it; that it might look too Apple-esque, and not have a feel of its own. I know that good designers borrow, and great ones steal, but I think that basing it so heavily on such a recognizable site be working against it. Maybe making a few tweaks to it might help give it its own identity. Sadly, I am having trouble coming up with any specific things to do to it right now. Let me stew on it a bit, and I'll try to come up with some suggestions. However, this is just my opinion on it. Does anyone else agree? Or disagree for some reason?
As for the actual layout, it looks very nice. It's quite functional, and everything seems to be placed logically. I like the arrangement, and could navigate the site easily. The only thing I had a question about was the "Recent Posts" block. When I hover over the top, I get a four directional arrow and it lets me drag it around, but releasing it makes it just snap back to where it was. It was the only thing on the page that I found that did it, and so I wondered what it was for? It was a touch confusing for me.
Oh, and the actual content was pretty cool too. Is this going to be regularly updated with content like this? If so, I may just have to bookmark it!
Thanks for the feedback! The Recent Posts widget is getting ready for a custom poll widget and other widgets, allowing you to customise their whereabouts, from being able to move them around.
And yes, i'm not a mac user yet, it's cming in a couple of days xD
The content will definitely be updated regularly, after my exams are finished :|
To be honest, it looks like a bad copy of apple's site to me, I can see using some elements from the apple site, for example the header. You used everything though, but it just doesn't look as good, I think you should add some elements of your own and add a splash of colour. The reason the apple site works so well is while simple colour wise, it's very media rich with plenty of images, and video which makes it look really good.
Your site feels kinda boring especially because it feels half finished, the footer is 2/3 empty and it's odd. Theres a strange bar above the sidebar showing up, see attached image. Also the search isn't lining up in FF 3.6 on Mac. If you really do want to replicate the apple design, theres a lot more you need to do, while the apple design looks simple it has a lot of subtle things that really make it look good.
The design has a good amount of padding and is overall spaced out well with a good grid structure but it needs work to be a great design.
I just read this article (60 Apple Inspired Websites) and I think that it might be of use to you. It goes into some of the details of what makes the Apple site work so well, and gives examples of websites that emulate it. Both the discussion and the examples might prove helpful in figuring out how to tweak your design to make it more distinct, while keeping the Apple-esque qualities you like.
http://www.avn8.com
Overall, I think that it is a very clean looking website, and a very good modeling of the Apple website look. In fact, that is my only real problem with it; that it might look too Apple-esque, and not have a feel of its own. I know that good designers borrow, and great ones steal, but I think that basing it so heavily on such a recognizable site be working against it. Maybe making a few tweaks to it might help give it its own identity. Sadly, I am having trouble coming up with any specific things to do to it right now. Let me stew on it a bit, and I'll try to come up with some suggestions. However, this is just my opinion on it. Does anyone else agree? Or disagree for some reason?
As for the actual layout, it looks very nice. It's quite functional, and everything seems to be placed logically. I like the arrangement, and could navigate the site easily. The only thing I had a question about was the "Recent Posts" block. When I hover over the top, I get a four directional arrow and it lets me drag it around, but releasing it makes it just snap back to where it was. It was the only thing on the page that I found that did it, and so I wondered what it was for? It was a touch confusing for me.
Oh, and the actual content was pretty cool too. Is this going to be regularly updated with content like this? If so, I may just have to bookmark it!
Thanks for the feedback! The Recent Posts widget is getting ready for a custom poll widget and other widgets, allowing you to customise their whereabouts, from being able to move them around.
And yes, i'm not a mac user yet, it's cming in a couple of days xD
The content will definitely be updated regularly, after my exams are finished :|
Thanks a lot,
Arjun
Your site feels kinda boring especially because it feels half finished, the footer is 2/3 empty and it's odd. Theres a strange bar above the sidebar showing up, see attached image. Also the search isn't lining up in FF 3.6 on Mac. If you really do want to replicate the apple design, theres a lot more you need to do, while the apple design looks simple it has a lot of subtle things that really make it look good.
The design has a good amount of padding and is overall spaced out well with a good grid structure but it needs work to be a great design.
I just read this article (60 Apple Inspired Websites) and I think that it might be of use to you. It goes into some of the details of what makes the Apple site work so well, and gives examples of websites that emulate it. Both the discussion and the examples might prove helpful in figuring out how to tweak your design to make it more distinct, while keeping the Apple-esque qualities you like.
Hope it helps!