new website for wood craftpersons

Thanks for saying this first. I really didn't want to be the first to point out the problems with this site (which there are many), so now I will just agree with your opinion.

Digger

Very annoying site...every link opens a new page? Not very professional looking either...I'd be reluctant to make a purchase from this site.

...and $75 per year to display work on the site. You're joking, right?

Hate to say it, mostly because it's already been said, but someone needs to work on their design skills. I know it's not necessary to have a slick site in order to sell something, but it sure does help if you can navigate through the site without opening and closing each page individually. After all, that's why they put the "back" command as prominently.

Dave

I'll agree with everyone else. Yeech, hire a web designer.

Everybody has to start somewhere. Some of you people need to learn the art of constructive criticism. Creamy Goodness? My constructive criticism to you is that need to shed the smell of Crap that you exude!

Yeah, but elsewhere he claims to have been building web sites for something like 5 years...ABPF, IIRC. And that 75 buck request for posting photos of pieces for sale is just plain arrogant for an unknown site, with unknown traffic from an unknown designer.

Charlie Self "Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves." Dorothy Parker

... on the plus side, his gall bladder seems to be functioning superbly!

On Sun, 18 Jan 2004 22:19:19 -0700, "Creamy Goodness" brought forth from the murky depths:

Yes, have Mr. Robin give me a ring. (I spell/grammar-check sites, too, and he needs both there.)

- Every day above ground is a Good Day(tm). -----------

Swingman responds:

Does that mean we're gonna get another spur tof bile?

Ah, hell, it's Monday anyway.

Charlie Self "Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves." Dorothy Parker

I missed that part. Think I'll shut up now.

Big improvement.

Still need to get rid of the new windows opening up every time you click something.

Why are you advertising yourself under "wood links" ??? What does web design have to do with wood?

I would move that huge 'message board' square to a simple link on the left side.

I would get rid of the 'hit counter' as someone mentioned before. Looks cheesy.

I would not give a spammer free lessons in web design. But that's just me.

-- Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?

On Sun, 18 Jan 2004 21:19:49 GMT, "ljr" Crawled out of the shop and said. . .:

WOW

for that kinda money, a fella can host his own damn site, and yea, actually i DO for that kinda cash

you have only had 285 visitors so I can't imagine many people investing $50 to place their work on a site that has had very few visitors and no proven track record. An idea would to provide a free service for a certain amount of time to get the hits higher and to grow the site.

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 22:49:54 GMT, "ljr" brought forth from the murky depths:

Without leaving your home page, LJ (nice initials!), I do see changes, such as:

I checked several more pages and spaces are missing, words are misspelled (for their context), colors conflict, etc.

Alas, the grammar has still not been checked, so I remain ready for hire, sir.

- Every day above ground is a Good Day(tm). -----------

Okay folks. I found the root problem here.

First let me preface my opinion by saying that I have been a professional web application developer for over 7 years at what some may consider to be the top of the software industry food chain, the Microsoft Corporation. I only mention this to demontrate that my criticism comes with a certain amount of credibility and value.

That said, one of the first things that I noticed is that he is using FrontPage (Microsoft's very pedestrian, consumer web editor) to cobble together these sites. They are static HTML pages. There are tables with empty rows and cells for no reason. There is nothing dynamic or database-driven which is why he charges $25 for more than 3 changes per year (a very steep charge just to update your content).

The next thing is that his layouts, font choices, and color schemes are too amateur to be taken seriously enough for any money to change hands. Also the use of page transitions and hit counter scream "personal web site".

He is also using a Java applet even though this will exclude a lot of users from access to its functionality. Doesn't load on my browser. Java is clunky and slow and requires software to be installed.

And, yes, the new window popups are incredibly annoying.

I do not know this person, but all of these things together paint pretty picture. So I will offer guesstimates as to his intentions. He is a novice at best, and at worst, a Bizarro World spammer.

If he is just a new web dev trying to cut his teeth and make a few bucks, fine. But, he realize the his offering is no where near worth $50 bucks a year. A better business model would be to make his sites dynamic (database-driven with forms for user sign ups and content editing and dump the charge for updates) and offer listings for free to all and maybe do a service fee as a percentage or flat rate of any sales that are generated through his site.

If he is a Bizarro World spammer, he is probably cobbling together these little "sites" in a dark, musty room somewhere late at night. He would be assuming that woodworkers at easy targets who don't understand this whole Internet doo-dad thigy and is hoping that some fools will bite and pitch him

In any case, if enough people are interested, I would be happy to build a site as I described above. I'd even throw in a Members Only area (discussion forum with private messaging). And I'd run it for free to all. I would not say "no" to accepting voluntary donations to help me fill my bad tool habit (that would sure make SWMBO happy). No skin off my teeth either way. Gots me a day job and I makes me sawdust just fine.

Anyway, there's my two bits.

codepath

I find your comment interesting and would like to know more about your getting a web site