Open Designs Forum » Site Specific
The Quality of your designs.
(38 posts)-
I'm not a person who really uses free templates much, but the quality of the designs on this site are amazing and I always enjoy coming back and looking at them. However, recently the designs have been CRAP. The designs on the homepage right now are of the same quality OSWD was receiving when it first started.. Im not impressed.Posted 3 years ago #
-
Bait is delicious.Posted 3 years ago #
-
Posted By: disappointedI'm not a person who really uses free templates much, but the quality of the designs on this site are amazing and I always enjoy coming back and looking at them. However, recently the designs have been CRAP. The designs on the homepage right now are of the same quality OSWD was receiving when it first started.. Im not impressed.
hi disappointed, welcome to the community. while you may think the latest designs are 'CRAP' beauty is always in the eye of the beholder. not all sites and developers need a web 2.0 design or a photo gallery template so you may not like the latest submissions but they may be useful to others. also, you could always submit your own designs :)Posted 3 years ago # -
/preview/?template=879 This is the type of quality template I would expect of you. Excellent colours, styled elements, great accessible layout, typography, etc. /preview/?template=880 This design, has styled elements, good typography, though it is evident that it is nowhere near the quality as the first. /preview/?template=881 This template is NOT quality, (IMHO), atleast not OD quality. It's typography is not horrible, but its not good either. It has hardly any styled elements, it has a disgusting navbar with way overdone drop shadows that look horrible at the top, a low quality logo, a low quality header with a badly cutout render (lamp), horrible colours, and the headers on the sidebar aren't even the same orange colour as the navbar / main header's orange colour, along with a badly done gradient that makes it look worse than it actually does. /preview/?template=882 This template, makes me wonder why I bothered visiting this site (and hopefully I still will). It has no styled elements, bad colours, it's evident that NO effort was put into creating it. I'm not even gonna go on ranting about how bad it looks... /preview/?template=888 This template has typography a bit less quality then the template two above, it has horrible colours, some styled elements (barely) and once again, lack of effort or creativity is evident. /preview/?template=890 This template has bad colours, bad typography, bad accesability and is way to cluttered.Posted 3 years ago #
-
Also, yugnats, I can code in XHTML and CSS, and I can design templates in photoshop, but the transition from psd to html, images and CSS is the part where I'm having problems :)Posted 3 years ago #
-
Not to sound to ignorant here but when I search designs by "disappointed" there are 0 results! Your welcome to your opinion but unless you can prove you could submit a better design yourself then calling others work "CRAP" is not a good way to start off your time here on this site. Go ahead search for designs for gillweb and come back and say I have not submitted any either. BUT the difference here is I appreciate ALL the work that has gone into each template whether I feel it's a template i would use or not. IMO,of course. To ALL who have submitted designs, :bakie:Posted 3 years ago #
-
Hi Disappointed, Seems like you found some good templates on OD, so why are you bashing the others? Download what you like and ignore the ones you don't like. It's as easy as that. If you followed the forum in the past you would've noticed that designers - especially new designers - are open to suggestions, and the the community is eager to help out. "Constructive criticism" is the motto. Comments like "horrible colours", "badly done gradient" don't help the designers. If you don't like the colours, change them; if you think "it's evident that NO effort was put into creating it", you are welcome to contribute your own designs. BTW, I love the designs on the homepage.Posted 3 years ago #
-
disappointed, Before posting comment like this you should really take a look at what this community is all about. Of course we want to offer some of the best designs you can find (and we do just that), but if you really knew what we do here, it's not just fantastic designs. This is a community that is here to help each other. To teach and to learn. I guarantee you that effort was put into ALL designs on this site. Before you go around accusing designers of not making an effort, stick you foot in your mouth and learn about the community before bashing it's member's designs. BTW...no offense, but no one is trying to impress you. Also, if you take a look at the designs on the home page at OSWD or OWD you'll notice that those designs are no better or worse that the designs here. You'll also notice that OSWD is pretty much, well....dead.Posted 3 years ago #
-
I'm very offended by your comments disappointed (or dare I say I'm disappointed by them). Each of the designers here bring a unique talent, gift, or eye to their designs. I'm not a designer by any means of the word, I'm a coder in a language that will date me unnecessarily. As bakercad and the others have stated, constructive criticism is always welcome by designers. /preview/?template=890 is meant for adsense, not someones personal blog as is /preview/?template=888 I'd totally use /preview/?template=882 for a light blog about wishing I were home, back in my Army days. /preview/?template=881. There is nothing humble about your opinion on this one. I can totally see this being used by someone that wants to have fun with the color orange the way bakercad has at http://4inchorange.com/ Take as you see fit, but this is a community I'm always glad to participate in. Now if bakercad would just stop following me to the sNews forums all day long, things would be perfect :bigsmile: I swear we are both logged in to them at the same time.Posted 3 years ago #
-
Hi Disappointed, If you don't like a design, just don't download it. There are plenty of other templates here which you might like. But why call these designs CRAP ?
Posted By: disappointedI'm not a person who really uses free templates much, but the quality of the designs on this site are amazing and I always enjoy coming back and looking at them.
great! and have you ever passed a single complement to these designers in the forum before ? I guess not. I am too disappointed :cry:Posted 3 years ago # -
Rule #6. No member shall criticize the OD designs or otherwise without first posting a template themselves, and/or stacking on the praise to OD beforehand. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and in this case it was disappointed's eyes. No biggy... He's no more a person than any of us so why give his opinion so much weight. It's his right to say they're crap, as it is for others to gush over a design by saying "great looking template" and giving no explanation. I don't agree that they're crap but i see where he is coming from, that being, the designs aren't as good/nice as previous templates in general... In My Eyes. So I guess it's a relative thing, a subjective thing and a generalized thing. personal honesty and bluntness will always offend. So such a subjective thing wouldn't bother me in the slightest (unless I had self esteem issues). I'm gonna submit my first template one day and welcome the good, the bad and the insults. If lots of users said I have bad colour sense and that my design looked crap I'd want to know, It wouldn't upset me. I particularly liked ramblingsoul's reasoning... "If you don't like a design, just don't download it." Does that mean if we do like the template we have to download it?Posted 3 years ago #
-
"If you don't like a design, just don't download it." Does that mean if we do like the template we have to download it?
No! it doesn't :bigsmile: lol I always prefer to stay away from arguments. However i replied to this because it kind of brings disappointment to the designers. a lot of designers including myself are still learning.. so, it is not fair to call these designs crap. instead, try to give some constructive criticism. I know, it was harsh to say "if you don't like, don't download" but that was just my initial and spontaneous reaction. didn't mean any disrespect. :peace:Posted 3 years ago # -
(Bah, my painstakingly worded message just disappeared! Anyway, here goes again...) It's important not to forget what OD is all about. A forum where we -- irrespective of being beginners or relative experts in web design -- share and show off our work, get help when needed, and almost always learn. Many of us have come a long way since our "crappy" beginnings thanks to places like OD (and OWD, OSWD)! Second, "horrible" or "beautiful" are pretty subjective things. As Stan said way above, beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. One of my most popular designs happens to be a pretty ordinary effort done in my early days. Frankly, I don't see what's so great about it, but people download it, so it must be fulfilling their requirements! So we really can't judge what others may or may not like.Posted 3 years ago #
-
Dear Disappointed... Points to note: 1. The templates here are submitted here by a range of people - from leading designers and supergeeks, to fresh starters to design. In this respect, everyones is equal - if your site passes the quality guidelines then it will be included> I have had a couple turned down, with good explanations - I am a horrible designer... 2. We help anyone who asks. But we try and keep the level of discussion creative criticism, and often tell each other off if the tone in which posts are found offensive. Singularly picking templates and slamming them is not... well... nice. Work went into them, and whoever made them are proud of their work, and we are proud to have them here. 3.Be subjective and you colour the world in your own eyes. You may not like the templates, but someone somewhere does. Who has the right to judge the QUALITY in terms of beauty? I dont like a few templates here, and love some to bits. BUT I dont publically shame those who made the effort to submit the template if I dont like it. (ON THIS NOTE I WOULD SUGGEST TO MODS AND ADMIN TO KEEP THE COMMENTS DISAPPOINTED MADE BUT DELETE THE TEMPLATE IDS THE PERSON IS REFERRING TO. ITS NOT NICE TO LEAVE THEM ON) 4. Join in take part, discuss, comment, share, critique, but DONT insult. :devil:Posted 3 years ago #
-
*giggles and laughs* (no I am not laughing at you all. I am laughing at what was stirred up....) Oh goodness a way to start off reading the lovely forums. All I have to say is a few couple of comments. Which I am usually noted for. 1) Relax everyone... 2) Opinions are opinions. Take it or leave it. I say. I offer constructive criticism all the time (err when I have the moment too). I would hope that they are received in a good manner. But I was always taught from a long time professor and colleague of mine that designs are designs. Everyone will have an opinion on them. Don't take it personal. If you agree with them to some point, well then make it better. If you disagree then shrug it off and leave it as you like it. This is a learning place, a place for refinement, and a great source of information. You who all read this know this. So shrug your shoulders and let your chips on your shoulders fall down. 3) Did I mention for you all to relax. *grins* Have a bakie and just move on. Also, for everyone: Have a great and successful day today. I wish you all the best. Stay sane, design your best and smile. Another two cents of thoughts from me, Dreamckr. (yes I know I have yet to put something up.... *grins* but in my defense I do try to add constructive criticism. Have a good one!) :bakie: ps. Personally I would leave the targeted sites that were pointed out. Give more hits to those sites, and well we can all decide for ourselves.Posted 3 years ago #
-
Nicely said, Dreamckr. I'll relax, eat a cookie and spend my valuable time designing my first template - "disappointed" actually motivated me... Hopefully I will receive "constructive criticism"...Posted 3 years ago #
-
i think i might make a template that sucks on purpose to piss him off :/Posted 3 years ago #
-
Well, actually Disappointed just puts attention to the fact that quite a few, should we call them, less inspiring templates has been posted lately. It's very easy to say "go look elsewhere" or "where is your own fantastic templates" but why not take the criticism as it is and nothing more? I must admit that I have been looking at the front page telling myself somebody must have been joking. Likewise I have been impressed by some others, but if I compare to the ones that are put up as "review my newest design", most templates are of inferior quality. I don't know if it's because of the limitations in the OD specifications. Surely you can make a nice layout at less then 50kb, but I must admit that many of my designs are non-compliant because of this limitation. It also strikes me that it seems a lot of sites focus on how many templates they host. Please OD, please everyone else, can't we break this trend? It's quality. Quantity must be of secondary importance. If I, in my living, happens to create just one template I'm satisfied with, well then I'm a happy man.Posted 3 years ago #
-
Posted By: niemionI don't know if it's because of the limitations in the OD specifications. Surely you can make a nice layout at less then 50kb, but I must admit that many of my designs are non-compliant because of this limitation.
What limitation would that be? You do realise the total file size limit is 200kb, right? Maybe you should reread the site guidelines before making such comments.Posted By: niemionIt also strikes me that it seems a lot of sites focus on how many templates they host. Please OD, please everyone else, can't we break this trend? It's quality. Quantity must be of secondary importance.
Open Designs, quite obviously, does not control the quantity of templates submitted to the site. Even if we did, who would decide what templates are "good enough" to be approved? Put simply, I think this design is horrid (especially so, when compared to the template that it appears to be based on, TerraFirma) personally... but disappointed says it is a "quality template", contradicting opinions perhaps? Yes, so even if there were to be a quality restriction (which there won't be) you would still find something to complain about because your opinion, and mine, and others, are not the same. So who would decide which templates should be rejected based on the design? And would code quality come into this at all? Let's not even get started on that ;)Posted By: disappointed/preview/?template=879 This is the type of quality template I would expect of you. Excellent colours, styled elements, great accessible layout, typography, etc.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Disappointed, how long have you been around here. You are always going to be suspect when you join today and post such negativity. You would shut some people up here if you post some of your work for us to critique. Some of us may even like your work.
Your post is just looking for a fight! Round 1 to OD until you show your work.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Disappointed, how long have you been around here? You are always going to be suspect when you join today and post such negativity. You would shut some people up here if you post some of your work for us to critique.
Your post is just looking for a fight! Round 1 to OD until you show off your talents.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Bwah?? How do such misguided people find a page like this? disappointed, you really should go complain on a forum were people actually may listen to you, perhaps closemindedpeople.com? I'm sure you'll have a lot of company there.Posted 3 years ago #
-
Posted By: disappointedAlso, yugnats, I can code in XHTML and CSS, and I can design templates in photoshop, but the transition from psd to html, images and CSS is the part where I'm having problems :)
Nicky D please read the above post.... Edited by NickyD: You need to format your comments as html to use the blockquote function. I just fixed it for you.Posted 3 years ago # -
Posted By: ChristopherWhat limitation would that be?
I'm glad the file size is 200kb and not 50kb. I must have that from some other place, or has it changed? Limitations? Zero JS and zero Flash. I'm not talking about quality control, I'm talking about members being more set on delivering top-of-the-line every time they publish, not just publish something then get on to the next.Posted 3 years ago # -
Yes disappointed, I read your comments. Let us see a visual of your work so we know where you are coming from, not just your 'word' that you can do it. You can tell people here you are the CEO of IBM, but that does not mean anything until we see the proof. That is what I referring to. Until you do this, unfortunately, you have no credibility here.Posted 3 years ago #
-
Is there a ranking feature in the pipelines so we can see what the OD community think of each individual template?Posted 3 years ago #
-
has everyone said their piece now? there's really no need for this conversation to go any further.Posted 3 years ago #
-
Posted By: NickyDYes disappointed, I read your comments. Let us see a visual of your work so we know where you are coming from, not just your 'word' that you can do it. You can tell people here you are the CEO of IBM, but that does not mean anything until we see the proof. That is what I referring to. Until you do this, unfortunately, you have no credibility here.
But I am the CEO of IBM
Posted 3 years ago # -
perthmetro, I'm in for your idea. It makes one think an extra time before submitting. I would imagine it could encourage somebody to do some extra enchantments to get a higher score. Including myself.Posted 3 years ago #
-
Posted By: bakercadhas everyone said their piece now? there's really no need for this conversation to go any further.
DittoPosted 3 years ago #
Reply »
You must log in to post.