The web is long on opinion, but short on informed, constructive criticism.
Thank goodness then for Not Pixel Perfect Yet, a group of web experts who will critique your website's design in public for free, offering helpful suggestions and advice on improving your site's design, readability and usability.
The group is made up of 10 or so Czech web designers who are skilled in graphic design, UI/UX and search optimization.
You submit a link to the group by
e-mail (feedback@divdesign.cz) telling them what areas you'd like them to critique. If your site is chosen, they'll post a screenshot of your design to their Facebook page. The different members of the group will all chip in and provide comments about your font choices, your use of CSS, the way you use images, your logo – anything you want to improve. They pick one site per week.
All of the discussion happens in the open on Facebook, and since the group is public, anyone can join the group and participate in the discussion. Even better, everyone on the web can view the Not Pixel Perfect Yet critiques, making the group a valuable learning tool for budding web designers or anyone struggling with basic design challenges.
A couple of caveats – first, the designers are all Czech, so the responses are usually written in Czech. But the team members speak English and can comment on your site in English if you ask. For the critiques that are written in Czech, Google Translate does a decent enough job of getting the point across. If you're using Chrome, the browser will offer to translate the page automatically.
Second, if you just look at the Wall posts, you won't see much beyond a few sentences about each design. You need to click over to the "Discussions" tab to get to the meatier comments.
Facebook is probably not the best forum for the NPPY mission. The public flow of comments is nice, but you have to be a Facebook member to comment, and the tabbed interface is wonky. Some folks on Twitter are asking the group members to move it somewhere other than Facebook, and NPPY leader Nikol Kokesova says she is considering starting a blog.
You can see a full list of the members at A Digital Moleskine, where blogger Milan Cermak has posted links to NPPY's Twitter feeds, and where I originally learned about the project. There's also a NPPY Twitter list you can follow.
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