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Our goal was to offer a clean and classy layout that's easy to navigate, and one that puts the focus on the content rather than fancy graphics or whatev'. The blue and white was to offset all those other dark game sites that we always saw; everything is so dark nowadays, bright is cool too. We're still working out a few kinks - changing things around a bit to reflect the suggestions of our little forum community - but I think it shaped up nicely. What are your thoughts? Suggestions? Criticisms?
You sound serious about what you are working on - both on your own and as a team - and so I am going to be serious and thorough in my critique as well.
If I post something that isn't coming across clearly, please don't hesitate to ask me to elaborate or explain in a better/different way.
RE: Classy
I like classy. :)
Classy can be a tuxedo suit or it can be a black buttondown and black slacks combo or it can be a really awesome looking graphical t-shirt that fits well along with a pair of really nice jeans.
Basically, 'classy' can be a few different things and manifest itself in different ways.
A great way to 'class' up a website is to simply make sure that everything 'fits' together in terms of aesthetics and have a few choice bits and pieces stand out rather than having everything scattered everywhere.
For your website in particular, I really like how you're keeping the header space and layout simple and trying not to crowd things together. I think you're definitely headed in the right direction! :)
However, I also agree with what some other people are saying; perhaps things look a bit -too- simple.
You say the site is bit like a book (or maybe a nice magazine?), and as a book lover, I know better than to judge a book by its cover, but unfortunately... I know that other people WILL judge a book - in this case, the website - by its 'cover'. For this reason, I suggest considering adding just a touch extra to the aesthetics.
A way to add 'more' to the aesthetics without going overboard (we're still working with keeping things classy and simple and clean) might be to simply add some subtle texturing to the blue in the header and repeat this texturing to the same-color blue bars used elsewhere on the site. Or, give the blue bars a bit more graphical dressing up. The idea is to dress a few key items up and leave the rest plain and clean and accessible.
Another way to add a little 'more' might be to make the main navigation strip (Home, Articles, Community, etc) stand out more by blocking them out or something similar that would highlight them. As is, the main navigation and the logo are the same color and being so close together without any distinguishing factors makes them sort of blend in together which isn't good. You want the logo nice and prominent and you want the navigation to be nice and prominent also.
Another thing that could be done would be to touch up the site logo some more. I love the X, but it feels like the rest of the logo could use a little something extra given the plainness of everything else. Make it stand out more by making it a bit bigger and changing the font type used for the rest of the logo name/site name. The sans serif font type adds to the plain-ness as it simply blends in with the sans serif font type used in the rest of the site. A custom-made/designed font type would be an awesome way to add something unique to your site and would be a way to improve your site's branding. If you're serious about marketing your site, then you need to make sure your branding is rock solid.
An awesome looking logo would be easy to use in a banner used in banner/link exchanges and it would make you as a website easy to recognize in a list of other websites whose banners are being displayed.
In relation to that, the footer space can/should be dressed up as well. Be proud of your site and your awesome articles by making your footer something to look at. :)
Since the footer is at the end of the page/site, having it be like the logo in terms of uniqueness would not detract from the rest of the site and in fact would be a more appropriate 'closing' for the site. Think of a real book and its covers. There is an awesome front cover and an awesome back cover. It wouldn't do to have a great front cover and a completely lackluster back cover. The more awesome your header is, the more awesome the footer could/should be.
RE: Blue
I agree about the trend with darker layouts and I also agree that bright colors can still be used and I like the brightness of the blue.
However, being plain blue with a hint of gradience and no texturing combined with the layout style of the site combined with the stylization of the articles reminds me of the default WordPress Kubrick theme which is a similar blue and white.
That's not bad, but I'm not sure if you would want/be okay with that association. A way to set the site apart from the Kubrick theme would be to add some subtle texturization on the solid blues and perhaps change the shade of blue of the blue headers or change the shade of the grey background of the site. Another way, too, would be what I suggested earlier - making the blue header bars more graphical and less of a simple blue bar.
Uniformity is a GOOD thing, definitely, but sometimes -too- much uniformity can end up causing the online equivalent of highway hypnosis, which you do not want since your site is focused on grabbing a viewer's attention and keeping it.
Furthermore, does anyone have any suggestions on how to bring traffic to a site such as this? How do you handle marketing on your sites? We use Twitter religiously everytime an article is written, and the occasional use of Digg, N4G and Reddit. Content is of course going to be the main draw, but how do we make people aware of it?
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Link exchanges and banner exchanges with dependable, worthy sites (meaning, they aren't scam sites and they aren't sites that will die within a month or a few months) with good traffic can help draw good traffic as can advertising online in communities (make sure you follow rules!) where you might find like-minded potential readers.
Being that you sound very serious about seeing this website through to being as successful as it can be, I would suggest doing research on SEO - search engine optimization - and implementing good SEO practices.
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RE: Overall
I really appreciate the simple and clean direction the site is headed in and I completely agree with your sentiments regarding simple and clean and the choices made in keeping things simple, clean, and classy. I also think you are all doing a really good job in regards to achieving your goals.
In the pursuit of keeping things simple and clean, however, don't let a viewer become 'hypnotized' by flowing everything together. Those blue header bars and your logo? Use them to give your readers something interesting to look at to break potential 'highway hypnosis'. You don't want to completely derail their attention elsewhere, but a little speed bump won't hurt.
Just like a bit of a frill on elegant stationery letterheads don't detract from the stationery set's feel of elegance, a little extra 'frill' where it counts on a site will not detract from its 'classiness', either.
Say hello with an eye-grabbing header and say thanks for reading with another eye-grabber footer. The footer idea I mentioned earlier is a great way to say thank you to your readers by giving them something neat to look at after they're doing browsing your site. Dress up the 404 error page, too, for the same reason.
The big things - content, overall aesthetics - are of course important, but oftentimes, it's the small things that really make a truly site unique.
In that vein, the writing has a nice solid tone; don't let something like a mid-sentence 'Read More' or spacing discrepancies in the site/block/div layout disrupt it and don't be afraid to add some/change some CSS stylization to make the articles stand out more.
There are many graphics-heavy sites that promise much but deliver nothing. In my honest (and admittedly harsh) opinion, the completely lackluster and oftentimes even poorly written content within oftentimes don't deserve the graphical fanfare that they're given.
In your case, I think you have content and the chops... and they DO deserve some dressing up! :)
