[Cracking Media]

I agree that the banner advertising on the left are a distraction. I appreciate the need to have them but I think they are too densely packed. It could be worth switching the left and right columns to put the banners on the right. I think it might create more left to right balance to have the login on the left.

It could also be better to move your two calls to action for the resources sign-up and invite friends to the top of the right banner above the banner ads - which may not go down well with your advertisers. But it is just that you have calls to action all round, top, left, right and bottom with the main content trapped in the middle of it all.

On a higher resolution monitor the text is very tiny. I would be inclined to increase it to 9pt and to help with readability I would wind the line-height up to 140% or even 145%.

Going back to the navigation, I think that having the top menu bar trapped between your top banner and the Flash banner doesn't help. It sort of feels awkward traversing over the Flash banner to click on something. It maybe just me!

The other factor is that having what is two banners taking up 310 pixels height plus the menu bar, means you have lost a lot of 'above the fold' space before you get into the content which is what you really want people to see and read.

Sorry, it all sounds very critical on my part and makes it seem as if I think it is terrible. I don't, not at all, but I think a simpler layout with more space might make the home page more accessible.

Peter

[UKSMF]

Thank you for your valid comments you have raised some very good comments that I shall be forwarding on to my design department

Once again many thanks

Best Regards

Dave