PDA

View Full Version : Working on it ...



CADesign
09-16-2008, 08:20 PM
Hi All,

I'll likely still go with WordPress for my new business site but haven't had the time to invest in learning WP much yet.

In the mean time I've put up a temporary site using the CyberLand-USA (http://www.cyberland-usa.com) website building program.
It's not finished yet, as you will see, I only worked on the home page so far.

If you'd like to check it out it's here. (http://cascadeadvanceddesign.com)

Please bear in mind that this is geared toward local business.
I'll improve on it as I have time, especially contact information and a bit more information about the business. I have in mind keeping it simple, to the point but not unpleasant to view. It may seem a bit redundant but I was trying to use key words that might help direct the right people to the site.

I could use some feedback, comments and suggestions if you've got the time.

Thanks,

Dave

KristineS
09-16-2008, 09:22 PM
One thing I have to ask is why people capitalize words that don't need to be capitalized. You've done it with several words in your opening paragraph. I've seen a lot of other web sites that do it as well. I'm just wondering why.

I have to admit this is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. In my opinion, for what it's worth, it just looks messy and as though the person who wrote the site didn't know the rules of capitalization.

Also, why do you have your services menu in two different places? If it were me, I'd put the four service areas in the boxes under the text, and move the menu that is on top of the pictures currently to the left hand nav. To me that just seems cleaner.

I think you've got a good start going, these are just a few things that I noticed.

CADesign
09-16-2008, 09:47 PM
Thanks Kristine,I

Great suggestions! Just what I was hoping to get some guidance on.

The CAPS thing is probably a product of my Technical Writing past where I sometimes used caps to emphasize certain points or items. I'm glad you pointed it out, it doesn't belong on a website. (see, I even did it in the sentence above ... I'll never learn :rolleyes:

The services all started out in the vertical column and I only moved two of them, I'll group them together as you suggest. Good point.

I'm not sure how to move the nav bar to the side using the online program but I can always FTP the files to my computer and use a standard HTML editor to accomplish this.
I have some different pics to substitute as well and will redo my logo so it is in sync with the color scheme and sized in proportion to the other items on the page.

I appreciate the tips and feedback, as I said, just what I needed ...


Update: I made some changes per Kristine's suggestions but haven't had time to revise the menus yet. Somehow I lost my "Home" tab so once you leave the home page you can't get back ... That will need to be fixed ASAP.

BTW ... Vangogh, Thanks for the Badge, I'll wear it proudly ... The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is one of my all time favorites.
Thanks,

Dave

vangogh
09-17-2008, 02:12 AM
Dave so far so good. I missed the all caps words, but I'll offer my take on them. They're generally considered shouting online. I think they can be used here or there to emphasize something, but use them sparingly. I'd sooner make something bold and if the emphasis only needs to be a little, italics.

The site definitely looks professionally done. I'm pretty sure I've seen the basic template a number of times so it's not exactly unique, but it still looks good.

You're welcome for the badge. Steve (cbscreative) is the one who designed them and I added the code for the copy/paste. As happy as I am that you added it, it's making the layout of the site look off. When my eyes are on the page they want to see a left hand column in the empty space above the badge. A vertical menu would fill the space nicely, which sounds like your plan.

I know there's not a lot of content on the site yet, but the area could also be filled with featured work or just images of your work.

Another option is to move the badge so it sits below the main content instead to the side of the content.

I want to see more content, but so far it's off to a good start.

KristineS
09-17-2008, 11:03 AM
I definitely like the new design better. The text looks much better without the caps, and I like the service boxes grouped down at the bottom.

The left side definitely still needs something. Is that where the menu will eventually go? Right now it just looks really blank.

CADesign
09-17-2008, 11:47 AM
Thanks Van and Kristine,

I've placed a menu bar along the left now to fill the void.
My logo still needs work but you can start to get the idea of where I'm going with it.

I'm quite limited by the use of this online software.
As I mentioned previously, I lost my 'Home' menu tab and can't seem to get it back or make a new one (yet). I have KompoZer which is an HTML editor under Linux so I will try to fix the lost page link there then FTP all back to my host site.

Van, I have a question regarding redirecting a url.
My old website was on my IP's site at w3.gorge.net/timber/, it comes up on Google if you type in Cascade Advanced Design.
Is there any way for me to redirect the old page (http://w3.gorge.net/timber/) to the new site (http://cascadeadvanceddesign.com) ?

I assume this is only something that my IP can do, just not sure if they will.

Thanks for your comments, I think they are really helping me out a great deal.
I hope to eventually create a different header which is more unique and hopefully still profesional looking.

Dave

SteveC
09-18-2008, 12:27 AM
I would suggest that you look at your new website in IE7 as the menu on the left extends over all of the content... in firefox, etc... it works fine, just not IE7

CADesign
09-18-2008, 02:34 AM
Thanks Steve!
I do use FireFox in both Linux and XP so I hadn't noticed yet.

Man, that is ugly in IE7 ...
Not sure how to fix it yet but I suppose I can clean it up with FrontPage.

Thanks for letting me know, it's appreciated.
(Just when I thought it was starting to come together ... :rolleyes:)

Dave

billbenson
09-18-2008, 02:47 AM
It's not to happy in IE6 either...

Looks good in FF though.

vangogh
09-18-2008, 03:18 AM
I'm guessing you fixed the issue with the menu since they looked good to me just now in IE7.

To redirect the page you ideally want to use a 301 or permanent redirect. You generally set that up on the server. With Apache you use a file called .htaccess There's no name, just the long extension. I'm not entirely sure how you set them up on a Windows IIS server, but I know it can be done and can point you to instructions.

You can also set them up using server side code like php or asp.

However looking at your old page I assume it's a freebie site and you don't own the domain or have the level of access to the server you need. Can you create php or asp files and use them with the old site? If so let me know which and I'll find the info you need.

I'm guessing it's html only though, which I think only leaves a meta refresh or a javascript redirect, neither of which is transfers any of the search engine benefit from the old to the new. This is one reason why it's usually not the best idea to put up a site under someone else's domain.

The meta refresh is the easier method. Just add this meta tag in the <head> section of your page:


<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url=http://cascadeadvanceddesign.com/">

If someone tries to access the old page they'll be taken to the new site, but any links flowing into the old page won't be transferred to the new site.

CADesign
09-18-2008, 12:02 PM
Thanks Van, that will help me out.
Looks like my site has gone from bad to worse ...
Somehow my fonts got messed up too
Had to revert to an earlier version while I make some changes.

Thanks to all for checking it out, it really helps.

Dave

CADesign
09-25-2008, 05:03 AM
I've done a bit more work on my site.
I dded some pics and repositioned the text boxes to make them more uniform. My logo still needs work, I just need to get time to work with that so it has some depth and looks more professional.
The email addresses now are linked to open your email as they should be and I added a bit of information about my drafting and design background.

The site's not finished, by a long shot, but I hope it will do the trick until I get more time to work on it.

I'm open for suggestions and you won't hurt my feelings with criticism so please fire away.

Some things that I see:

The white background in the text boxes makes it a little hard to read.
The header is stock so not very unique.
the text is a bit to long winded and may lose anyone visiting the site.
The pictures may not all go together well.
In "About Us", my test uses "I have" too many times and perhaps would read better if I used "I've" in one or two spots and get rid of the rest.
I'm aiming for a professional but warm and frendly approach since my target is local and rural.
I tried not to use CAPS too much and did use my spell checker but I always miss something.

Thanks for taking the time to revisit my site.
Link is below my signature.

Thanks,

Dave

KristineS
09-25-2008, 08:11 AM
Dave,

I still see a few grammar errors, commas where they don't need to be and stuff like that. I'm also not sure your About Us text is selling you and your expertise as well as it might. If you want a little help with the text, PM me.

Also, why is the tab About Us and why is the title on that page "Our People"? You say in practically the first sentence that your business is a sole proprietorship, which will lead most people to believe you work alone. I'd change those titles.

Design is not my thing, but I will say this, the salmon colored logo paired with the gray graphic looks funny to me. It's not a great color combination.

CADesign
09-25-2008, 02:14 PM
Hi KristineS,

Thanks for taking a look and pointing these things out.
It sure helps to get another perspective!

I like your suggestions and may take you up on some advice on the text.
I'll go another round with making the changes that you have suggested then send you a PM to see what we can do to improve on that.

This is a learning process for me but it's fun as well. Having an online presence may bring in an extra client or two which will make it all worthwhile in the long run.

Thanks again for your help! It's appreciated.

Edit:
I took a look at the links that you have under your signature to get some ideas.
I sure like the clean look of blogs and will dive back into WordPress one of these days to see where that takes me.
My current site is, hopefully, better than my previous site, the next should be better yet.

Dave

vangogh
09-25-2008, 05:40 PM
It looks like you've already made a few changes based on Kristine's suggestions.

I agree about the colors not quite working together. I think they do when they're in different locations, for example the menu, where the salmon and gray aren't directly touching, but within the header things seem a little off. It might just be the hard edges around the logo. The images in the header seem ok, it's more the logo that looks a little funny.

Maybe getting rid of the salmon color outside the oval. If the logo just sat inside the oval it might work better. It's possible the color will still look off in the logo in which case you might want to drop the background color from it entirely and if you drop all the background color you could then use a different color for the line work of the logo.

CADesign
09-26-2008, 01:27 AM
The logo is definately going to get a make over.
I've been experimenting with using the logo as a layer so that I can use it as an overlay.
This way I can just substitute backgrounds to find what works best.
Funny how little things can become such time consuming tasks.

Look at it this way Van, I'll stumble around for the next 6 months trying to get it right then end up finally getting it right by getting a professional such as yourself to make it look easy. :) Maybe I'll learn enough in the meantime to be able to do some maintenance or at least edit the text as the need arises.

Actually, I'm pretty happy with the look of the text boxes on the home page now.
I don't like the menu at the top and can't seem to get rid of it with the template and online program I'm using.
I think I've got too many pictures on the left maybe I'll take one out there, seems kind of distracting.

Once I make some more changes that KristineS suggested and revise the logo I think I'll concentrate on learning some WordPress basics. I like the clean looks and have been noticing sites that use WP as I surf now.

Thanks for the input, it all helps.

Dave


No one told me this was going to be easy.
If I can get the logo fixed and

LJLynch
09-27-2008, 02:34 PM
Hi Dave -

Looks like a good start. I like the About Us page where you introduce yourself, but I'd put your picture there rather than a teeny, tiny picture of who knows who.

And I would certainly add a section on who your clients are with some sort of testimonials - my site has audio from a few, with more coming. And I'd certainly include pictures of them as well. If they are businesses, you want to make this a win-win - you are promoting them at the same time they promote you. If you do audio, then make sure they are positioned as being smart and successful.

vangogh
09-28-2008, 07:46 PM
I like the idea of using audio (or even video) with your testimonials. Anything you can do to make the person offering the testimonial more real to your site's visitors should help legitimize the testimonial itself and lead to it carrying more weight in the minds of potential customers.