Ready for a critique!

[sandysewin]

Okay, I'm taking a deep breath here and plunging in.

=====dips in big toe====

Naw, I'm sure the water is fine. ***grin*** You guys are always very gracious and helpful.

I just finished the beginnings of this site for my husband's business. I would love to hear some constructive criticism.

Some of my main concerns:

• Is the background color too dark?
• Is the site boring because every page is set up the same?
• Any grammar or spelling problems?
• Would you buy from this guy?
• Why am I NOT getting email from the contact form?
• Are the photos good enough quality?

I do plan to 'dress it up' and add some more interactive things, as well a some helpful information for potential customers. I just figured I'd get something basic working well and then go from there.

Thank you!

Sandy

[Tom vR]

Re: Ready for a critique!

Very nice. Just a couple of thoughts:

See if you can decrease the pixel sizes of your pictures. I assume you know Collectors-info's guidelines on this....

I like your header banner, but I see you paste it on every page. It's okay, but maybe you can look at Navaldesign's PHP method as well Single Menu Page with Bv and PHP

There are some nice Image backgrounds with wood themes in BlueVoda's folder that is worth considering. The use a shape with a plain colour to cover the content part of the pages.

This is all I had time to look at, but you can be rest ussure, you will get more idees from our other designers.

[Windameer Farm]

Re: Ready for a critique!

Hello,

I think the back ground is a good color for your site. you may want to put boarders on the pictures. may want to put in page 1 page 2 and so on for your gallery and put in a menu option for them so people can go back and look again without having to go thew all of them. if he makes ready to buy shippable item you may want to put in a for sale page also. I can not help you with spelling. I run mine threw MS word for spell check.

I sent you an e-mail thruw your form.

very nice I wish you the best of luck.

[sandysewin]

Re: Ready for a critique!

Thank you so much for taking the time to look and post comments.

You suggested that I decrease the pixel size of my photos, were the pages loading slow? I only ask because I did use pix resizer to bring them down quite a bit.

Using a single menu page is an awesome idea and I plan to do it, I just wanted to get something basic working first.

Using a wood background is a nice idea, I've been playing with it this morning. Now to find a background that doesn't look cheesy.

I'll have to try borders on the pics and maybe use the lightbox option for my first gallery page. That does seem like it would be more convenient.

We don't have any ready to sell items, most of his work is custom built-in cabinetry. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have a few small items ready to sell. I'll have him start right on that . . . in his spare time, haha.

And last but definitely not least, I didn't receive your email. That part is not working and I can't figure out why.

Thanks for all the helpful comments!

Sandy

[Windameer Farm]

Re: Ready for a critique!

And last but definitely not least, I didn't receive your email. That part is not working and I can't figure out why.
For more help withthe form ask for help in the form section ask Navaldesign he knows all about forms and can help you with it.

Jolen

[sandysewin]

Re: Ready for a critique!

Naval Design is AWESOME, I've used many of his ideas, he makes it so easy.

I was hoping not to bug him about the form, and figure it out for myself. I may just have to give him a holler, though.

Thanks,

Sandy

[larazovich]

Re: Ready for a critique!

This is an image optimizer, and it will shrink the kbs, or the 'weight' of the photo so your page will load faster.
I use the pix resizer to adjust the size, and the optimizer to make it as light as possible without losing quality.
Try it and see what you think.

http://tools.dynamicdrive.com/imageoptimizer/

Hope this helps.

[sandysewin]

Re: Ready for a critique!

Ok, well I've spent the day changing all my pages to php and making it so my menu bar, header and the color behind the header are all easily changed with one click, or so.

I also added the wood background, which I think makes it more interesting.

DH wants it to look slick and pro, as he's trying to appeal to a high end clientelle. Am I close? Please, really, be honest!

T'anks,

Sandy

[Tom vR]

Re: Ready for a critique!

Congratulations on a nice piece of work and implementing idees from the forum. Just two more things maybe.

1. Borders around the pictures would be nice.
2. A header just above the menu buttons would help visitors to see where they are on the site. Each page to be unique.

[scubadiver]

Re: Ready for a critique!

The photos are very nice. The green is a little dark against the light blue photos though. The header is wonderful. I like your back button. The wood grain really sets it off nice. I would finish the pages under construction quickly. It is not good business to have show a professional website under construction. Good luck with your business. You are on the right track.

[helganog]

Re: Ready for a critique!

Hi Sandy,
The wood background looks great (or should that be grate? not cheesy!).
I found that the photos loaded really quickly - I agree they would maybe stand out more with a border. Also I found that some - particulary the second gallery page - were too big to see all at once on the page. I see you are toying with lightbox - it's a brilliant solution!
Your husband does fantastic work.
Cheers

[SChajin]

Re: Ready for a critique!

Hi Sandy,

You can breath again...Looks good!

[sandysewin]

Re: Ready for a critique!

Thank you! Everyone's comments have been oh so helpful!

It's a good start.

I'm off to do the gallery page thing . . . and oh, yeah, get the contacts page to actually send me an email. sheeeeeeesh

Sandy

[sandysewin]

Re: Ready for a critique!

I've added a gallery page, it definitely makes navigating much easier. I haven't yet gotten around to adding borders to the pictures. That's a project for another day, maybe tomorrow, even.

Gary still thinks the wood grain border makes it look 'crafty' and not pro enough. Any thoughts or ideas? Here's a pro site that he's looking at and comparing to: http://www.noahreiten.com/index.html It's way more slick that I think I can manage, lol.

I've a question about the pictures, Gary says that on his laptop they're pixelated, yet some of you say I should bring the resolution down yet more, I'm confused. Help?

Oh yeah, and don't bother trying to send an email through the contact form, it ain't workin'. Yet another project for tomorrow . . . .

====sigh====

I really appreciate all the helpful advice and suggestions!

Sandy

[Tom vR]

Re: Ready for a critique!

There is nothing wrong with your site layout at the moment. You can also create that type of gallery with the thumbnails and all. You just need a bit of finetuning and your site will look better then the one your husband is comparing to. There is too little info on that site.

We can still work on a professional background; it is possible. There are awsome ones created by other BV users. Just browse around on other BV websites and you will see. Once you have found an IDEA that can work for you, let us know.

As far as the picture quality is concerned, you have to experiment with the pixel sizes that will work for you. I had same problem and started over with my images. On my site ref ar-zw101 has been redone and the picture quality has been increased a bit. For my size (dimension) a picture size of 9kb to 14kb works best. Any lower and it does not look professional.