WebSite Critique

I recently had a redesign on my website and was wanting some critiques.....Right now I am using the table version of my website but I also have a CSS version of it...Im using the table version cause for me its easier to work with....Do you guys think I should switch over to the CSS? Would the site load alot faster and be more seo friendly??

Any comments on the website would be helpful.

www.credit-wisdom.com

 

Compliments to the web designer, it looks very professional.

 

thanks, I actually do all our web design Anyone else?

 

Yeah, I think it looks great!

 

well i think the website redesign may have payed off although im not sure that it has everything to do with it...our traffic doubled today

 

I like the design.
Here are some suggestions.

At the very top, the links and the background color do not have enough contrast. People with vision impairments (or laptops, or in sunlight) will have problems seeing those links. There is a tool you can use to test this. I posted a blog about this, you might want to read it: webfabric.blogspot.com/2007/07/free-color-tools-for-web-designers.html

I hope it is helpful to you.

Take out the word search out of the search box. Don't make the users take an extra step when they don't have to. I like the use of the SuggestFramework. The text on the Suggest is small though, you probably should bring it up a notch.

This is a personal preference, but I would suggest a white search box, because it would stand out more. Its contrast with the black background might help users to quickly identify it.

I would switch to CSS, users would be able to cache the CSS.

Great job on the use of consistent global navigation.

Ben Blanchard
webfabric.blogspot.com

 

Thats a great site! I can't believe you did all of that with tables. Your page source is crazy!!

 

looks incredibly great, but the table thing annoys me. I looked at the page for 20 seconds, and i could saw every piece of imagery loading. Not a nice way to keep me on the site. You should switch to CSS, because it's quite easy for that format (no very advanced knowledge needed, but a very good understanding of floats and the properties for lists).

 

Most definately switch to css, tables load slow. Know why?

Its because when the page loads the browser has to read the table twice.

First, to render all the content inside, and again to get the table widths, margins, and various styling information!

 

Although a switch over to css may be in your long-term best interest, I don't think it will greatly improve the load-speed of your site. The problem seems to be more in the speed of your host. Can I ask what web-host you use / what type of plan you are on?

BTW the site looks really nice, good work!

 

great job creditwisdom! extremely professional look. i love your photoshop graphics =) i'm going to side with everyone else and tell you, CSS is the way to go. plus, when it comes down to changing the layout around, it'll be a lot easier dealing with CSS and <divs. tables, in the end, are ugly and slow loading, while divs are clean, pro and much easier to use (once you learn to use them of course). the site looks great though, i wouldn't switch anything unless using tables themselves just bothers you, like it bothers some other people (not me though).

good job!

 

In my own personal opinion I think you should go with a more clean professional sleek design, this one kind of looks gaming related to me.

Just my two cents, good quality content though

Good luck!

 

Nice design. Bit too busy on the menu front but hey.

I'm with other comments here, top text doesn't contrast with the grey background well. Also get rid of search.... in the search box or use the OnClick javascript function so it disappears. I'm certainly no expert but hope it helps.

 

Just a word of recognition to a job well done. I can appreciate all the work put into this site, I hope it is of good fortune for you.

 

I have a to say that this site is Killer! The whole thing looks stunning and you have good content etc.. to back it up! Well done! Now rake in that $$

 

I agree with the top text and ive been contemplating it for a while now

Also maybe something is wrong with my code but there is a on focus etc. script in the search bar that should be pulling that text and spitting it back in whenever it is clicked outside. Could this be a browser version thing?

As far as css, My last design used it and I had alot of bugs later on as I was adding content and features etc. I was taught with tables a long time ago so this is the way I know not to mess it up to bad...although I know I need to stay with the times so I may just switch it...especially cause even with my broadband I see the images loading which is bad.

good idea with the search box.

thanks for the review

 

Im using network solutions I think their standard plan...ive never been to satisfied with their speed but I dont really want to switch providers being that I have alot of sql databases etc that I would even know how to switch as well as site downtime.

 

I agree the menu's are quite excessive...but being the type of site it is, I think its the best way to set it up that I thought up....try some of the other credit card sites and they are a freakin mess=)

I think im seeing that I messed up my search box script...there should be a on click script in there that was working..

 

I did notice some rank droppings on our main keywords...we have been on the second page for over a week until I updated...could this be due to the load time of the site or something....

 

Something is interfering with my search box script working right...it should clear out when clicked....anyone know?

<input name="query" type="text" value="search..." class="input2" id="query" onfocus="javascript:if(this.value=='search...') {this.value='';}" onblur="javascript:if(this.value=='') {this.value='search...'}" action="/include/js_suggest/suggest.php" columns="2" autocomplete="off" delay="500"/>