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View Full Version : Please take a look at my New Site. Critiques are welcomed



Harold Mansfield
07-26-2012, 08:03 PM
We've already had in in depth discussion of the URL, but I'd still appreciate reviews of the actual website.
Any opinions are helpful.
Thanks

NHAB.IT (http://nhab.it)

Mobile: You can get a free Scanner at gettag.mobi (http://gettag.mobi)

238

Thanks in advance.

vangogh
07-26-2012, 11:55 PM
Before offering some thoughts I have a question. Why a new site? Did I miss that conversation? Don't you already do the same work on other sites already?

First impression is good. The tiles on the home page have a nice Windows Metro feel to them, which I like. The site generally looks clean. It's easy to navigate. It's not trying to do too much. All good stuff.

On the home page the See All and services buttons above the tiles don't seem to do anything, at least nothing I'm noticing. I assume they were supposed to change something, but I didn't see any difference. They are working on the What We've Done Page though.

I like the general layout of the pages and I notice the site itself is responsive.

I'm skimming through the content and it seems pretty good. Why no information about you though. I see plenty singing the praises of WordPress and Facebook, etc. but nothing about the people behind the site. I want to know something about the people I'm going to work with.

Why a generic map on the contact page. It doesn't offer any information. I still have no idea where you are. If you're not going to give out an address I wouldn't bother with the map.

Sorry to say it, but I hate the choice of font for the navigation. The site itself is clean and professional. The font used in the menu is the exact opposite. It's hand drawn and childlike. It's sends the opposite message of what everything else in the site is trying to communicate. I can't help but feel the choice was solely that it looks cool or it's different. It doesn't go with the rest of the site though, which has hard, angled, clean lines.

I won't comment on the domain itself, but I'm not sure what The Web under the logo communicates. It seems like empty words there because the fit the space well.

I get what you're doing with crossing out the sm in small. I assume it's to still target small businesses, while suggesting that you aren't limited to only working with small businesses. That could backfire. It could send the message that small businesses aren't welcome while trying to cast too wide a net to everyone else.

Hope something above is helpful. I'll give someone else a turn now.

Harold Mansfield
07-27-2012, 12:13 AM
Before offering some thoughts I have a question. Why a new site? Did I miss that conversation? Don't you already do the same work on other sites already?
Yeah. I started a thread a few days ago about slowing changing my name.
http://www.small-business-forum.net/managing-your-business/6902-thinking-changing-my-name-what-do-you-think.html

1st Internet Media is fine for a company name, but as a URL it's just too long, cumbersome and having a number in the URL has bothered me for a long time. I've been wanting something shorter and finally stumbled on this and liked it, even though the reviews here in the forum were less than rave.

That's also the reason for "The Web". To give it a memorable phrase. "Inhabit The Web".



On the home page the See All and services buttons above the tiles don't seem to do anything, at least nothing I'm noticing. I assume they were supposed to change something, but I didn't see any difference. They are working on the What We've Done Page though.
Will probably add a few portfolio items there, so it will change the view.



I'm skimming through the content and it seems pretty good. Why no information about you though. I see plenty singing the praises of WordPress and Facebook, etc. but nothing about the people behind the site. I want to know something about the people I'm going to work with.
I could add something there.



Why a generic map on the contact page. It doesn't offer any information. I still have no idea where you are. If you're not going to give out an address I wouldn't bother with the map.

Don't know what to do with that huge space yet.



Sorry to say it, but I hate the choice of font for the navigation. The site itself is clean and professional. The font used in the menu is the exact opposite. It's hand drawn and childlike. It's sends the opposite message of what everything else in the site is trying to communicate. I can't help but feel the choice was solely that it looks cool or it's different. It doesn't go with the rest of the site though, which has hard, angled, clean lines.
I'm not particularly crazy about them either. I'll play around with some others.

Appreciate the feedback. Always helpful.

StefanT
07-27-2012, 07:10 AM
Well, I'm not an expert like VanGogh, but the site looks nice and clean and very professional. It doesn't look like it was just thrown together.

I like the layout and choice of colors. I agree about the map though. It does not help anyone looking to find you so I would take it out.

Harold Mansfield
07-27-2012, 01:01 PM
Agree with the stuff so far:
Changed the nav font, and map on contact page to an image for now.

vangogh
07-27-2012, 05:23 PM
Yeah. I started a thread a few days ago about slowing changing my name.

I completely missed the thread, but I'll pop in and take a look. The domain explains my wondering about The Web underneath. I didn't read the name as Inhabit. I read it as Nab it. The different color on the N wasn't enough to get me to read it that way. Maybe an apostrophe before of after the N. I get why you want to change, but I'm not sure if this domain will do what you're hoping.

With the fonts you can always use the same thing you're using in the main copy. If you want something different try a search for font pairing and your main font. You should be able to find some posts with suggestions.

Harold Mansfield
07-27-2012, 05:54 PM
The different color on the N wasn't enough to get me to read it that way. Maybe an apostrophe before of after the N. I get why you want to change, but I'm not sure if this domain will do what you're hoping.


It already has. It's shorter and much easier to use in marketing efforts. I don't expect it to do anything on it's own. I just wanted something that was easier to promote and didn't take up so much room to spell out.

Interesting, some people see it as an abbreviated "inhabit", and some people don't . It's about 50/50. Maybe I should call it "Dag Nhabit" :).

I'm sure I can come up with something subtle to make it clear to everyone.

vangogh
07-29-2012, 06:41 PM
Yeah, I can see how it could be interpreted either way. I wouldn't expect everyone to see it the way I did, though I would think others would. I guess adding The Web doesn't do the trick. What you might want to look for is something that's unmistakable and can only be read one so that most people see inhabit. You might have to think more about the people who see nab it and think about what would get them to see it the other way.

HandyMarketer
07-30-2012, 12:01 PM
For what it's worth I'll give my opinion too.

I like the site, love the large fonts used and the color combination. I feel like it lacks a little bit of images though, quite a lot to read on each page. I think I might have become a lazy reader on the web :)

The navigation is intuitive but still requires a few clicks to go from one page to another one. Maybe you could add a few shortcuts between related pages?

Also for me the portfolio pages were quite slow to load, not sure if it was from my connection. And I don't always like having to click on icons in the portfolio before seeing what's in it. For example when the mouse goes over one item, instead of just saying what is is (Facebook pages, website, etc), it would be nice to see a small screenshot. It's just that I've used a few websites in the past that had nice grids like that and I used to get frustrated after a while to have to "guess" what was under each tile.

Otherwise a great site, and I still need to check it out on the iPad to see how it looks.

Harold Mansfield
07-30-2012, 02:24 PM
For what it's worth I'll give my opinion too.

I like the site, love the large fonts used and the color combination. I feel like it lacks a little bit of images though, quite a lot to read on each page. I think I might have become a lazy reader on the web :)
We all have. I'll probably start trimming down the text as I make more graphics, and example/demo pages to represent the more complicated services like Online Ticket sales and CiviCRM.



The navigation is intuitive but still requires a few clicks to go from one page to another one. Maybe you could add a few shortcuts between related pages?
Makes sense. There are navigation links at the bottom of the service pages that go to the next service, but I could add additional breadcrumbs.



Also for me the portfolio pages were quite slow to load, not sure if it was from my connection. And I don't always like having to click on icons in the portfolio before seeing what's in it. For example when the mouse goes over one item, instead of just saying what is is (Facebook pages, website, etc), it would be nice to see a small screenshot. It's just that I've used a few websites in the past that had nice grids like that and I used to get frustrated after a while to have to "guess" what was under each tile.

I did try that at first and didn't like the way it looked. I may play with some variations down the line.

On my Android tablet, I'm not exactly pleased, it's just displaying an enlarged version of the smart phone version. I'll need more time to correct that. But I do lke the way it displays on the phone.

Thanks for your feedback, I really appreciate it.

webdesigner
09-13-2012, 02:07 PM
I really like the Metro style design, and I thought of doing the same thing for mine :)

The negatives:

(I think this is just me since I have a monitor that is in portrait 1050px wide) The welcome-text overlaps below
Same goes for the top nav menu


I also like how it looks on my smart phone too.

About your site name though... It didn't strike me as inhabit, it sounded like nab-it (grab it or something) :P

Harold Mansfield
09-13-2012, 05:48 PM
I really like the Metro style design, and I thought of doing the same thing for mine :)

The negatives:

(I think this is just me since I have a monitor that is in portrait 1050px wide) The welcome-text overlaps below
Same goes for the top nav menu


I also like how it looks on my smart phone too.


I've seen that too on a large area in portrait mode. It's just such an obscure viewing option that I haven't done anything to correct it yet. Technically, in portrait mode you should see the mobile layout with a different menu, and without the welcome text, or the bottom logos. But portrait mode is normally a smaller screen (tablet or phone) not a larger one. I'll have to think about how to handle that a little more.

Thanks for the feedback.