Design Review: NTugo.com
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This week’s design review will be a little different. NTugo isn’t just a blog, it’s a blog aggregator, showing posts from all the sites in the network. Matt, the owner, has allowed me to write a review, so here goes!
What Has Been Done Well?
- Color. Matt has managed to find a shade or two of green that is light enough to look good on the button background, but dark enough to be legible in the main text. The green is the most memorable aspect of this design.
- Ajax categories. Ajax has been used well in the “Recent Posts,” section. Switching from “All,” to a particular category is a smooth, fast process, and the tabbed interface clearly indicates that the buttons will act on the content below, making it a perfect way of offering the choice.
- Drop-down menus. Some of the main navigation buttons at the top of the page contain drop-down menus. Many sites go over the top with flashy effects, animations and such. NTugo’s drop-downs are a simple, functional affair. Exactly what a user would want from them.
- Contrast. Alone, the combination of green and white may have led to a rather bland appearance. Matt has combated this through the use of a heavily contrasting black color for the sidebar backgrounds. It isn’t overbearing, and with the heavy white font, it remains easily readable.
- The buttons. There is a set of buttons underneath the main navigation, and although they only appear on the main page, they look great! The simple gradient background, lovely icons, and clear font make for a very usable and modern combination.
What Could Be Changed?
- Add a slogan. Upon loading the site, you would think it is just another blog. The only indicator that this is something more than a blog is the “My NTugo” button, so the use of a slogan to clarify the site’s purpose would be well advised.
- Define a font. The comments and sidebar all have a sans-serif font specified. However, the main text has no font, so it shows up in the browser default. The vast majority of people are seeing Times New Roman, which is just too ’90s for the rest of this design!
- Blend the top Google advert. Unless you have found that blending the advert makes it perform worse, I would recommend matching with the rest of the sidebar, especially now that Adsense offers rounded corners. The current lack of a black background is very striking, and feels almost as if there is a hole in the sidebar.
All in all, NTugo has a solid, functional design. With just a few little touch-ups, Matt could turn a very usable design, into a very attractive one as well.
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Thanks for the review! It was great.
I’ll look into the font, ad, and slogan soon. I’ve been trying to think-up a slogan for months, with little success. I keep coming back to “Innovation on the web,” and I don’t know if that’s a great slogan…
I’m glad you noticed that NTugo is sort of a blog aggregator, though I hope to go beyond that in the future, and provide useful services for general online usage. My NTugo is the start of that, being a somewhat different RSS reader.
[Shameless plug: If anyone’s interested in blogging for NTugo (or joining the NTugo Blog Network), forms are available on the website.] :D
No problem. Let me know if you do many any of the changes! :)
Slogans are always hard to do, but don’t worry about selling your site with it. All you want to do is sum up your site (Which may be a little hard in your case, but I’m sure you’ll think of something!)
It sounds like you have quite a future planned for NTugo. Best of luck! :D
Yeah, I do have a bit of future planned for NTugo. I spent weeks trying to find a good 5-letter domain too. There’s quite a story behind it too (it’s on Webmaster-Source somewhere in a post about domain names…)
I’ve updated the font, and I’ve fixed the ad. I haven’t done anything about the slogan either. I need to a) come up with a good one and b) find a place to put it.
The font has made a big difference I think, and I much prefer the ad now! Wish I could help ya with the slogan, but it’s just not my thing. xD
One last thing, could you leave a little space between the grey line of the ajax tabs, and the first headline? (Just a line). It looks a little packed at the minute. :)
And I’ll have to go find that article! :D
There. I added a little space between the headline and the tabs. Ah, here’s the article. Took me a little while to find it:
http://www.webmaster-source.com/2007/07/28/naming-your-site-no-bob-isnt-a-good-name/
Lookin’ good! And thanks, I’ll have a read of that now. :)
Nice review, Michael.
One thing I’d add is about the logo. I think Matt could improve on it, and also add some consistency between the logo and the favicon (it’s little details that can make all difference).
Well spotted David. I hadn’t even thought of the favicon to be honest!
I like my logo. It looks really good when it’s printed on business cards and t-shirts. What do you think needs improving?
As for the favicon, the logo isn’t well suited for favicon-ization, but the element used in the favicon is seen in other parts of the website.
Sorry Matt, I should’ve offered something constructive in my comment.
If you remove the type outlines, gradudation and outer glow, the printed effect will be much cleaner. I also think it’d look more professional.
The Ntugo Network logo is quite different from the main site logo, and the My Ntugo logo (with feed icon bands) is different again. You change the size of the ‘arrow’ for the forum logo, adding futher inconsistency.
I guess what I’m getting at is, keeping some form of consistency throughout all your site elements will really help tie things together.
Plus, the less effects used in a logo, the more professional the outcome. When you try incorporating effects into print, you’re up against some tough competition. Think of the best effects you see. They’re in movies, because of motion. Print is static, and can never compete. So an idea is what’s needed to set print work apart.
What’s the idea behind your logo? What do you want it to say about you and your company?
I’m not long up, so I hope I’ve not gone off on a tangent, and that I’m making some sense.
– The printed effect is fine (even better than the GIF compressed version). Yeah, I’m doing the Web 2.0 look sort of, but not intentionally. I think the stroke and gradient adds to the logo a bit, and that it wouldn’t look as good without them.
– Yes, I know the MyNT logo looks different. I probably need to figure out a way to fix that sometime. I’ve never been entirely happy with the look of it, but I need something other than an <h1>, and something that doesn’t look exactly like the NTugo logo. As for the forum, I’ve been thinking about getting rid of it completely. The forum arena is crowded enough, and I’ve never had much success in them (I don’t know why I even put one in in the first place).
– The logo says “NTugo”. It suggests movement, dynamicism, “Web 2.0” sort of.
– You’re making sense. I just disagree with a lot of your points.
I agree that you have said that it have a good comment form because I like its comment form like how
I think the stroke and gradient adds to the logo a bit, and that it wouldn’t look as good without them.
I im a member of Ntugo blog my blog name is Nem Alma; a informative blog about humid and i like their network structure. I think it is very useful than blogger or blogspot