PDA

View Full Version : Our website has at last been updated



SteveC
04-04-2009, 10:25 PM
Our own website (our main one) has at last been updated (previously it gave an error in firefox)... if you would like to have a look and provide feedback it would be appreciated and it'll give you a chance to be as blunt as I am.

I’m interested in all feedback, good, bad and indifferent.

Our target market however is small to medium business owners with high speed internet access.

Website: Website Design - comprehensive solutions that generate an income (http://www.website-designs.com)

vangogh
04-04-2009, 11:05 PM
I'll start at the top and work my way down. Also I'm viewing the site in Firefox on a Mac.

I like the thought bubble in the header and it ties in very well with your tagline. I can see how the combination would be a good selling point. The header seems large to me. wonder if the image of the woman could be reduced a little to reduce the overall space just a bit. I like the open feel to it, but I wonder if it's more open than it needs to be. I'm also noticed a small block of blue along the right edge. It's about 10px wide and looks about the same height as your logo image.

The main navigation also seems on the large side to me, though that's not really a problem. I do notice that the first 4 links don't require a click on the submenu, but the last two do. I would think Builder Zone and Support should have a default page instead of having to click on something in the submenu.

The text is a little hard to read on the background. It's better on the home page, but still a little hard to read. I like the softer background and would suggest making the text a little darker. I'd also add some color to the headings inside and I can't say I'm crazy about the background color behind the headings on the home page, though maybe it's more the text color on the background.

The content is good. Great use of testimonials throughout the site.

I really like the footer. Think it's mostly the blue color, but it stands out. You might be planning this, but the Usage Guides are calling out to be clicked, but they don't seem to be links. I expected them to take me to PDFs. Just noticed the copyright still showing 2008. I like how you have a different featured client rotating in that space. On the home page it's cool how the sites move, though some controls would be nice and again I expect to be able to click on each image and either be taken to the client site or their site in your portfolio. The blue block from the right repeats at the bottom of the footer, just to the left of the copyright. Same size, but on the left.

I remember the old site and I think this one is a lot more modern. The old one was looking its age. I think the new site could make better use of color (other than the footer) There's a gray feeling about it. Maybe it's just the text and going darker would change that gray feeling for me.

orion_joel
04-04-2009, 11:12 PM
When you first arrive at your site, some people may be confused with in what respect the speech bubble is talking about. While i can see it changes each time, and some of the comments are easy to link in as this is what clients think, When i first arrived the one i saw was a lady saying "Websites need to make money and ours does" Some people will not immediately link this back to a client comment, and may think you are talking about your own site. It probably is no big deal but maybe just check and be sure that they wont give the wrong impression.

Another thing on the Our Clients page where you have the services used, maybe it might be worth having a page that explains each icon. Because you know what each offers and i do, but i would imagine you are focusing the service you provide to a market that maybe doesn't know what they all mean.

SteveC
04-04-2009, 11:27 PM
Thank you Steve and Joel for your feedback... now that you mention the services used icons... I agree with you, and I will have to do something... I've already fixed the menu and well... I'm digesting all of this and will then act... we're also trying to get the png fix to validate (amazing what you have to do to get websites to work in ie6)...

thanks

orion_joel
04-05-2009, 01:54 AM
No Problem Steve, I think i actually saw some people that were starting a group to try and push people to stop using IE6. Although i think it was more a force people to campaign but anyway.

I think the site is overall a good site, and even though there may be things that don't fit the ideal way that some of us would expect it to be, you also need to consider that you want to have your site set up in a way you are happy with as well. Also that some of the things we may find annoying or may think dont work, may be exactly the things that actually get you customers. So it really comes down to just do it and see how it goes try something else and see how that affects things for you.

SteveC
04-06-2009, 10:08 PM
I've taken on board the icon comments and people wanting to click them, these now bring up some addittional text...

thanks for the input, much appreciated.

vangogh
04-06-2009, 10:46 PM
Definitely better. The icons were begging to be clicked.

dynocat
04-07-2009, 10:14 AM
To me, the header was too large forcing scrolling down to read even the home page.

The text was also too light on the background for easy reading.

Checked out your free resources. :) backgrounds are slow to load (on DSL). They are beautiful and worth the wait. Besides they're free. :)

Guess I've told you nothing you haven't already heard, so I'll leave you alone now. :)

rezzy
04-07-2009, 12:55 PM
Although I like the scrolling images at the bottom, I think they are little heavy on my computer. And it looks like youve done alot of sites, but with no way to get extra info about them.

I think overall its a great website. I think the menu bar is oversized while the text is smaller. On my screen the text and background isnt high enough contrast. And to me it really looks like a lot of random text. I dont really have a direction to follow when looking.

SteveC
04-07-2009, 07:43 PM
Thank you for your feedback, much appreciated.

orion_joel
04-07-2009, 09:02 PM
Not to bad, i see how the extra text comes up on the icons, however you have to click on the icon for that text to be displayed, and it only shows the standard arrow. I wonder if there is anyway to have it show up on a mouse over, or change the pointer when you move over the icon?

Also i see what rezzy means about the scrolling images at the bottom. But i dont think that it is a loading time thing, it is just either the way that it works, or something, but it looks a little jerky. However this maybe is not something that can be easily fixed, without either spending a lot of time or adding a lot of extra overhead to the downloading of the page.

SteveC
04-11-2009, 10:16 PM
thanks everyone that has provided feedback, you've helped make the site what it is now... all feedback has been gone through and that which we agree with, we have implemented... we have have also now, made the entire website validate and also done some pretty extensive search engine optimization... now all we need do is wait and see if it works.

Harold Mansfield
04-12-2009, 12:48 AM
I never saw this thread, so I am seeing it for the first time. The first thing that impressed me is that the site covers the entire area of my screen, probably the first site I have been to (including my own) that is actually for a widescreen monitor. I like that a lot.

The flash scroller with the examples really is a nice touch, and a great way to display them.
The portfolio page, with the icons showing the services is pretty nice too. I like that..I always wanted to do something like that with an icon key.

I think it's very nice and, Very professional Steve.
If I were in the market, i would call. That is definitely a great sales tool.