Updated version of our website

[Rich]

ya know what they say in Hollywood, even BAD publicity is still publicity

rich

[Rich]

look how many hits I got to my site, it was at least looked at

[J T]

Wed, Feb 25, 2004, 10:58pm (EST+5) [e-mail] (Upscale) wonders: I was wonder how to spice it up a bit without going overboard.

Yellow background, definitely.

JOAT Georges Clemenceau supposedly said, "War is too important a matter to be left to the military". If this is so, it is then obvious that peace is too precious to be left to politicians.

Life just ain't life without good music. - JOAT Web Page Update 28 Feb 2004. Some tunes I like.

[codepath]

PURPLE!!!

[codepath]

Wow, and all you had to do was make a complete ass of yourself! Fear Factor is calling you.

BTW: How many sales did those hits generate?

[Rick Gibson]

Personally I like it as is. It is clean looking and loads reasonably fast. The one comment would be to fix the contact us page. Get rid of the "this page is under developement" stuff and move the contact information from the bottom to the top. That's all you really want on that page, how to contact you.

Rick

[gandalf]

-------------- I've read all the posts so far and I assume you need no more input regarding you actual site. So I offer a little product help. (not a critique)

Birdhouses:

About a week ago I thought I might just make a couple of birdhouses for the garden as we have a large number of magpies in the area (North of England) and they decimate the song-birds (those the cats don't get). I thought that building one would be easy enough but I did a google anyway. Just as well I did because there is more to those things than one initially considers. To keep this short I spent hours on various sites learning about the needs of various species and the predatory threats they face. I also came across sites that just make the kiddies version of same without much consideration of its use. The sites that showed that they knew the desired purpose and provided helpful details regarding species by species requirement and how their product catered for them would have got my business, if I was going to buy one. So I think you could enhance saleability by including similar helpful data, and designing accordingly. Your customers will feel more confident and satisfied that they have made the correct choice for their locale.

Some of the construction information available is very useful and not instantly obvious, until you think about it.(around here those little external perches and landing decks would summon predators in a flash) Things that look nice can be impractical, unless your customer merely wants a colourful or novel ornament.

You can do a google yourself but to start you off try here:

[gandalf]

-------------- Looks OK, I like your top banner and the layout is clean and simple. But, where I assume the menu should be (left-hand side) I get nothing. It may be that my firewall is rejecting it. Have you got any embedded adverts in it?

[Larry Jaques]

On Wed, 25 Feb 2004 15:18:57 GMT, "Rich" brought forth from the murky depths:

"Honest" turns to "brutal" when it's opposite to your own thoughts. Just because everyone can make a website (or put pigtails in an inkwell, drive drunk, shoot into a crowd, etc.) doesn't mean they necessarily _should_, does it?

========================================================== CAUTION: Do NOT look directly into laser with remaining eyeball! ==========================================================

Comprehensive Website Design

[Upscale]

It's a floating DHTML menu. No adverts. Perhaps you have Javascript turned off?

[Michael Baglio]

you start selling homemade birdhouses, you can spice it up. ;>

I'd make only two suggestions-- one from a design pov, the second from usability:

1.) See if you can't find a way to either stretch your top logo, or center the entire page so that the top banner doesn't look so "off center" at screen resolutions of 1200 and greater. The page looks fine at 800x600, but as more and more standard monitors are 1200 the page looks "dated." Being dated isn't an image you want to subliminally project, right? 2.) While the javascript menu down the left side has the advantage of being visible no matter where your potential clients are on the page, it is _not_ a given that they will be able to see it. Especially _your_ potential clients. After 9/11, a lot of companies and many government offices instituted a policy of disabling javascript capabilities in browsers. If my js was "turned off" I wouldn't have even known there was a menu there.

There's a place for java, flash, etc., they serve a purpose at some sites. A site such as yours, devoted _solely_ to effective communications is, I believe, best constructed in such a way as to be totally browser compatable no matter which browser a visitor is using. What that boils down to for you is _keep it simple._

So; Ditch the java menu. Center up your logo banner, using a color scheme along the left and right sides of the banner that allow it to blend in with the background, thereby maintaining a clean appearance no matter which screen resolution a visitor is viewing.

Michael

[Han]

"Upscale" wrote in news:uM9%b.3734$ [e-mail]:

I agree with all comments, except the suggestion for a yellow background. For me, in IE6 (my backup browser) the menu on the left jumps up and down too much. Moreover, in Mozilla Firebird, there is no left-hand menu. Fix that! If you want a stationary left-hand menu, I'd suggest frames.

[J T]

Thu, Feb 26, 2004, 11:18am (EST+5) [e-mail] (Han) claims: I agree with all comments, except the suggestion for a yellow background.

You obviously are a person of no, or little, taste. My second choice would have been purple.

JOAT Georges Clemenceau supposedly said, "War is too important a matter to be left to the military". If this is so, it is then obvious that peace is too precious to be left to politicians.

Life just ain't life without good music. - JOAT Web Page Update 28 Feb 2004. Some tunes I like.

[Rich]

Ok, with all the publicity I have gotten , all this rigamorole has generated

3 sales (all for the stone house) thus increasing my router budget. Now I can get a better router then the one I anticipated. But, one question why the stone house any specific reasons?

Rich

[Morris Dovey]

Any cub scout or brownie/bluebird can build a bird house. The stone house is both unique and attractive.

Congratulations, you've found a /niche/. Now get wild and crazy: Feature a first-class photo of your most beautiful stone house on your home page. (Go with the flow.)

[Rich]

[codepath]

I am a web developer by day (I work at Microsoft). I agree that the removal of the JavaScript menu is the most critical change needed.

Being in communications, it is imperative that your customers have a reliable navigation system. If they do not, then you are not really communicating with them then are you?

codepath

[Rich]

You got me, What is the JAVASCRIPT menu. I work with large aircraft not computers.

Rich

background.

[codepath]

The other guy who jumped in to get a critique of his web site

has a left-hand navigational menu written in JavaScript (a computer language also known as JScript or ECMAScript) that follows you down the page (like the old GeoCities logo).

However, some browsers either don't support JavaScript or have JavaScript turned off which causes the menu to not display at all. Bad mojo when customers come to the site and cannot get to any of the pages.

BTW, that's another thing for your site. Have you tested it out on other browsers/versions/platforms (Netscape 4.x, IE 4.x-6.x, Opera on PC & Mac, etc). When putting up a web that is to be accessible to the general public, you must consider market share and program (and test) it accordingly.

Some features that work fine on your computer (say a Windows XP with IE 6.0) may fail (crash, error, or freeze) say a computer with different software (say a Mac with Netscape). The last thing that you would want is for a component of your web site (like the mouse trails) to crash a potential customers computer. They hate that.

codepath

[Larry Bud]

goes...

1) Better photos. I realize you're a small shop, but if you're going to advertise your products, you need some professionally captured photos. You don't have that many, so it wouldn't be that expensive. Photos that have white backgrounds and proper lighting. I'm sure those walking sticks are quite beautiful, but you'd never know it from the website.

Here's an example of a site that I did: Take a look at the lousy photos they supplied me

look at the new photos they're starting to take: and night. Notice also that the new photo were taken with a very good high res camera, and we have the ability to zoom to a larger picture for some detail work. These are small parts you're looking at.

2) Consistent font sizes and weights. 3) A consistent logo with the name of the company incorporated into the graphic. 4) Better descriptions of the product. The cheese board says: "These boards are very decorative and add a touch of elegance to your serving needs." Why should I buy yours over the other guy? I don't even know what kind of wood these are made from. 5) Either boot the "Home" button off the home page, or highlight the button based on the page I'm currently on. 6) Others have talked about music and mouse trails. I don't hear those, but I may have activeX downloads turned off on this machine. If you have them, dump them.

Unfortunately, I can't always follow my own advice because I do what my clients ask me to do. I had one guy insist I put a picture of his Grandson on his business website!

However, I steer them in the right direction as much as possible.

If you're still confused between good and bad design, take a look at