I've been working on another site lately, Nintendo Addict. Some of you know of it.

Here is the current layout progress:

A huge thanks to .drago. for the logo  

I may need some help when it comes to coding because we will have multiple people submitting content (like a blog). The site will be longer, however I've designed it so I can easily stretch or repeat vertical elements. And the highlights in the menu will not always be there, only when on that page or hovering.

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The logo, Nintendo Addict... I find it difficult to read the addict, as it overlays. Not majorly, but it stands out as not being nice to look at. Also the "e" in Nintendo looks slightly odd... it's sort of stretched to one point, like a misplaced vertice.
 
Other than that, looking good, and the dark theme is working... so far

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Yeah, I didn't make the Nintendo font. I'm not sure why the "e" is like that because the "e" is perfectly round in the Nintendo logo. I'm working on the colors for the overlays, and I feel that that will take some time to get right.

Thanks for the comments though!

Already made some changes:

I got rid of that little outgrowth as well as changed the contrast of the two elements of the logo.

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hey good design and thanks for giving me credit to the logo

And yes you will be credited when the site goes live as well

Really though, I can't thank you enough.

Update:

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Looking nice. Like the general feel of the website.
 
One small thing, I don't like the bar before the 'search icon'. I see what you did there, with the bar walking into the search icon etc. But I think it's just not working.

Okay, I'll experiment and see what I get

EDIT: I did a quick button type thing with it:

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EDIT 2: OK, the new button, you get the idea, but it looks aliased, and it can still be improved.
EDIT: This post was before your last post, reading that now!

Nice, but:

1. The header text's; i.e. Latest Headlines, Latest Reviews, Archives; font looks a little blurry and the top part is a bit difficult to read. Remember: the text should always be in contrast with the background for legibility.
2. You've used only one font (or they're very similar anyway). You should try to use 2-3 different fonts in a design.
3. As Gruzz pointed out, the search form doesn't look right. The magnifying glass icon doesn't look like a button, more like an indicator telling us that the form is for searching. Put it inside the bar or completely outside it, will look better. If you choose to put it in the bar, I'd advice you to give it a dark grey background colour so that users can easily tell it's a button. And consider having the text "Search ..." as default text.
4. The navigation bar at the bottom is barely noticeable. Remember what I said about contrast.
5. In the back and next arrow icons, try removing the drop shadow. They're an overused effect, and sometimes it's better to use them sparingly.
6. The Dark Grey forum background would look better with a linear or reflected gradient. But don't go with a radial or overly complex gradient as they can be hard to reproduce with HTML.
7. The hover effect on the buttons doesn't look nice. How about a light grey/metal background on the selected page instead.
8. The gradient for the right column (Latest Reviews) is barely noticeable and it does not really separate the two columns. A very slight line/border would work well with it.
9. There should be more dark grey area at the bottom after the white container ends, it doesn't look right right now.

Good luck with your site.

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Glomping the internet populace.

One forum at a time.

Wow, lots of info. Yeah I've been planning to do some of those things. As for the Search.... text, I was just planning to add that in in the HTML and not the layout, however I will do that to make you feel better
 
I think once I get it up and running the hover (more of underline....) will look better than it does now.
 
Anyways, when I have time (two big finals tomorrow) I'll be sure to work on it.

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If you have your finals tomorrow, what're you doing here?
 
PS: Wow, I type fairly quick with just one hand.

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Glomping the internet populace.

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I was taking a break from studying (I can't study that long without frying my brain)

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I know what you mean. I need at least 1 hour to watch TV for every 2.5 hours I study. So, if I study for 5 hours, I need to watch 2 hours of TV in between that period. Or else my brain just stops responding and I cannot digest even the most trivial fact or formula!

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Glomping the internet populace.

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Pretty much what is happening to me. Try making about 1000 flash cards in three days. Luckily I already had 300 of them made from past tests.
 
It's funny, 1300 flash cards for 20% of an exam (he's only giving us 100 vocab words however he won't tell us which ones)

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1300? Wow, and I thought the 700 or so for the SAT were tough to learn!

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Glomping the internet populace.

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I died today, twice. Math was horrible (I missed the entire unit on matrices and I had no clue on how to do them without a calculator), and then I forgot most of the vocab.

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I just died once today yet, but who knows what will come. A scooter went past me when I was on a bike. Then the driver saw someone on the pavement she recognized, then decided to jump on the brakes when she was just past me.. Not so smart.
 
Too bad you did bad on your test though. Better luck next time.

Well good luck with Matrices in the future, they're actually very easy to learn.

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Glomping the internet populace.

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Yea, Matrices are pretty simple, a fairly nice part of maths I don't actually know how to do them with a calculator Though admittedly I don't actually have a decent calculator

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LOL, basically in a graphing calculator (I have one), you just type in the matrix in table form and it finds everything for you: the inverse, the modulus, the conjugate, etc. It can even perform addition, multiplication, and other common tasks on matrices. Very handy for the more difficult questions.
 
Graphing calculators are very handy. Not only for matrices, but virtually every topic covered in school. Of course, it's cheating if you use them for doing your homework, but sometimes you're working with one topic and don't want to waste time on another topic ...

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Glomping the internet populace.

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Well, I don't see how it can be cheating for homework if you can use them in exams I keep telling myself to get one... though it's fun to do it all by hand every now and then
Back on topic... yea, uh, what Uttaresh said

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Yeah so for the layout, I think I'll just take out the button and have the glass inside the bar. I feel that is what you people are getting at with that.

EDIT: Okay, here are some changes:

As far as more dark space at the bottom goes, I think I'll add that in later, however I agree with you on that Uttaresh. I do like the gradient on the back as it adds more contrast to the featured content box. I also changed the order of the navigation as the other staff at the site said it should. Oh, and I also like the arrows without the shadow (thanks for that tip as well)

It was interesting. Both the arrows are Smart Objects because they consist of multiple layers and styles and I wanted it organized (you should see all the groups that I have). Well, I think I started with one, made it a smart object, then duplicated it and rotated it. Well, if I edit either one, they both change! Talk about a time saver (once you know that it does that)

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the search bar seems blurry, I'd suggest you to put a solid stroke of 1 or 2 px instead of inner-shadow.The main window has too much shadow, its size needs to be reduced.The text on header is blurry too, just remove the shadows and make it sharper

Did you click on it? It looks really clear when it's clicked and zoomed in to 100%...

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Still looks blurry... or more like an outer glow

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I think the search bar may be ameliorated by:
 
1. Adding a 50% opacity black border around it
2. Reducing the opacity of the inner shadow to around 25%
3. Using a darker font for the "Search ... " text.
4. Giving the text a little more margin on the left.
5. Slightly reducing the magnifying glass icon, so that it does not touch the edges of the bar.
 

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Glomping the internet populace.

One forum at a time.