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I'm currently developing a social network using Rails. It's quite good and it works well, unfortunately something is missing... The design :-( The weakness of many developers (and I'm one of them) is that they lack on arts' inspiration. Look at that menu and the search bar, it's doesen't satisfy me, at all ... The page seems to be too empty especially on the sides. Something is missing but I can't figure out what. Can someone having more estrus than mine, give me some suggestions about the reason of the empty sensation of this page.

The page is available at this url http://i.stack.imgur.com/pVU0E.png

So just how important is white space in an interface design?

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It's missing a graphic/ui/ux designer. Not sure why estrus is a variable. This isn't really an appropriate question for StackExchange, though. – DA01 Jul 11 '11 at 16:18
@Matt. - your edits are still too broad, and you're now asking 3 separate questions. Also, even if this were made into a real question that was on-topic, I'm pretty sure it would still need to be closed as "too localized". – Charles Boyung Jul 11 '11 at 17:05
@Matt. I don't think Giuseppe originally intended to ask a question about whitespace. I think we should just let this one be unless the OP himself comes in and clarifies. – Rahul♦ Jul 11 '11 at 17:27

migrated from graphicdesign.stackexchange.com Jul 11 '11 at 16:08

closed as off topic by DA01, Charles Boyung, Rahul♦ Jul 11 '11 at 16:25

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1 Answer

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Not a bad start.

It's rather clean which is good, just needs a few adjustments.

Either left-align the search bar just below the logo/tagline or move it up into the header at the far right. "Empty" is a good thing, and it's not empty, it looks clean, simple and non-cluttered. It is very important to respect white space and the effect that it has on our perceptions of software/websites. White space subconsciously makes you feel calm. It also helps to improve the readability and focus.

Also you should decide on a standard size for all profile images (like 50x50 or something like that) that doesn't look as oblong and awkward like this one does. You don't need to show the full image, but crop it to the most important part similar to what Facebook does.

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Thank you Matt. But I need more specific help – Giuseppe Di Federico Jul 11 '11 at 20:54

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