My first effort...

singstothewind

Dear Everybody,I have uploaded a screenshot of my welcome page into my Picture Gallery for your consideration.This is my first effort, and I am not completely happy with it.  I want clean, uncluttered and contemporary-elegant, yet memorable.  That is the reason for the "Enter" button (the calla lily).  I know a lot of professional site designers frown on those; however, I don`t like the look of so much text on the home page of a site.  I want the site to be soothing, organized, and present a minimum of distractions.The page is not finished yet, but I have made an outline of  the site`s navigational structure and content.  I just want to see what you all think before I proceed...Thanks so much for helping me with this; I look forward to learning from all of you!!
singstothewind2007-7-14 22:46:37

singstothewind

singstothewind

Thank you so much, Cartess!  The validity of your explanation outweighs my concern about clutter. I will add content to my Welcome page ASAP!It is so easy to assume that others can read your mind, isn`t it?  As a fragrance designer, I assume that everyone knows what is meant by "Fine fragrances".  I know what happens when one "assumes"...I was basically running on 2 primary trains of thought (which I would very much like you to correct if they are erroneous).  The first one was that my site wouldn`t just be stumbled upon; whoever was there would be genuinely interested in fragrances, would be soothed and intrigued by the look of the site, and would naturally want to explore it.  The second train of thought was that the more elegant the look of my site, the more credibility would be lent to my products (as a fragrance designer, I am supposed to have good taste, right?).  If a website looks cheap to me, I am immediately suspicious of the products and/or services it sells (and sometimes of the validity of the business itself).Please believe me when I say this is not an argument; rather, it is an attempt to let you in on my thought process.  I really do not know anything at all about behavioral psychology as it applies to online shoppers (is there such a field??)!  I guess it shows, huh? Would you be willing to tune in for changes every now and then and let me know what you think as I go?  I`d really enjoy hearing from you again...

singstothewind

Dear Craig,When you said: "
You`re also, sort of, contradicting yourself. On the one hand, you want
a splash page. But on the other hand, you`re using the colored flowers
at the top as navigation tabs. Which will it be?

The navigation tabs override the need for an "Enter" option. That, or they`re redundant and confusing."you were spot on.  I knew I had a hitch in my giddyup there, but I couldn`t figure out what it was.  You defined it for me!I do work in PowerPoint; in fact, I have the basic page in a PPt file copied into multiple slides which contain their individual content outlines.  I agree with you (absolutely! heehee) that it is a great vehicle for fleshing out project of this type.The "elegance" thing is bugging me, too.   Elegance is a matter of perception, and perception is subjective.  There are several different "genres" of elegance, also, like art deco, Victorian, contemporary, etc.  I am trying a variety of these "genres" on for size, because I don`t find that my page exactly fits my idea of elegance yet, either--it`s about the alignment of visual elegance with the elegance of my fragrance products.   This is my main conceptual stumbling block...I`d like to extend the same invitation to you as I did to Cartess: Would you be willing to tune in for changes every now and then and let me know what you think as I go?  I value your opinion!