What do you prefer?

##Sorry, I've posted this in the wrong section, could a mod please move it to "Website Critiques", thanks.

Hey,
I need your opinions, which of these do you prefer?
This is the current design of my site http://www.freevectors.net

It works but it doesn't have all the features I'd like.

This is the current look of the redesign I'm working on

What do you think of it? What would you change?

Would you keep the current look and try to add the missing features or would you redesign the whole site to implement them?

Thanks
James Bench

(Sorry about the slow images but I can't seem to upload to imageshack)

IMO, the current template is good.. maybe just add some sidebar.. for you to be able to put your categories there for those images..

Thanks ghing, I think I'll stick to the current design, redo some of the back and add the category's' somewhere.

I would keep the header image and blue background from the original design.

I would keep the idea of the "menu bar" from the new design and just put it place of the existing menu bar.

I think I like the border on the images in the new design but I would have to see them with the blue background to know for sure. It could be too much orange. In which case I'd look into a different color / thinner border (perhaps 1 px thinner)

I like the fact that the details and download links have text associated with them now. I would recommend that you reduce the font a little bit on that text and position them towards the bottom of the container div.

I think it is a very simple layout, which works well. I like the existing colour scheme.

It is hard to comment on what works better when you do not mention any of the missing features.

If you where to describe some of them then we could suggest how they might look good in relation to your site.

The image for the details (magnifying glass I think) is not the most appropriate and not clear that it contains more information about the graphic.

More than adding new features I intend to make the existing ones easier to uses first, for example adding a comment requires the user to go through several pages, I'd like to add the comment box to the details page, I'd like to do something similar for the rating system, likely using AJAX.

I'm also considering adding a categorisation system to make the site easier to browse.

Definitely. If the vectors were organized into category's, the site would definitely be better for people who visit. Everything else is fine.

Ok, I've started to add the category's, I've added a drop down just below the search box, it's not anywhere near finished yet, I still need to add the category field to the submit page and go through the database giving all the vectors a category!

Any more comments?

Some nice vectors there!

Andrew

Had a look again and I would say that there needs to be more information about the site (who owns/mantains it, who contributes, what it's purpose is - we know you are giving away free vectors now)

Ok, I'll add a paragraph once I've changed hosts, this is a priority for me at the moment as the site keeps been taken off-line due to the high volume of traffic, thanks for your comments.

I would put it on a seperate page 'about us' as a link at the top of the page like the others.

OK, would it work better if I altered the contact us page into an about/contact us page?
I'm just concious of having too many links in the navigation, I don't really want to reduce the font much as I think it would make the site less accessible.

At first glance I saw a few things I'd update/change. When I get back from some appts I'll add my 2 cents. Its nice though. Simple, clean, engaging.

I've changed the contact us page to an About/Contact Us page, it can be found at http://www.freevectors.net/contact.php

Any comments?
Thanks very much!