New site design...what do you think?

Discussion in 'Websites' started by LongHost, Aug 14, 2007.

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  1. #1
    Please let me know what you think about my new design at authonet.com. The about us and faq pages are almost done. Thanks
     
    LongHost, Aug 14, 2007 IP
  2. Stomme poes

    Stomme poes Peon

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    #2
    A few things:

    The Flash text goes by a little too fast for me to read all of it. I'm not a particularly slow reader. This is important as apparently the Flash text is telling me what your site does/is about. For those without Flash and don't want it because their connection is too slow, you need regular text (hidden under the Flash so those of us with Flash don't see it).

    Welcome doesn't have two L's : )

    You have a place for people to log in. First, I don't want to have to erase what's typed in there before I type anything. Make it so that as soon as my cursor clicks there, the box goes blank.

    Also, no place to register for those without a login and password.

    I'm not going to tell you not to use a table, but if you use a CSS stylesheet, you can eliminate this:
    
    <table width="897" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
      <tr>
       <td><img src="spacer.gif" width="49" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
    
       <td><img src="spacer.gif" width="169" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
       <td><img src="spacer.gif" width="51" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
       <td><img src="spacer.gif" width="98" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
       <td><img src="spacer.gif" width="151" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
       <td><img src="spacer.gif" width="150" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
       <td><img src="spacer.gif" width="171" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
       <td><img src="spacer.gif" width="58" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
       <td><img src="spacer.gif" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" /></td>
      </tr>
    
    Code (markup):
    With CSS, you won't need a bazillion spacer gifs, and in just one place you would set all your widths, borders, colours, etc.

    I would turn this:
    
     <tr>
       <td rowspan="2"><img name="index_r2_c1" src="index_r2_c1.png" width="49" height="443" border="0" id="index_r2_c1" alt="" /></td>
       <td><a href="index.htm"><img name="index_r2_c2" src="home-v.png" width="169" height="55" border="0" id="index_r2_c2" alt="Home" /></a></td>
       <td colspan="2"><a href="hosting.htm"><img name="index_r2_c3" src="hosting.png" width="149" height="55" border="0" id="index_r2_c3" alt="Hosting" /></a></td>
       <td><a href="reseller.htm"><img name="index_r2_c5" src="reseller.png" width="151" height="55" border="0" id="index_r2_c5" alt="Reseller" /></a></td>
       <td><a href="support.htm"><img name="index_r2_c6" src="support.png" width="150" height="55" border="0" id="index_r2_c6" alt="Support" /></a></td>
       <td><a href="about.htm"><img name="index_r2_c7" src="about.png" width="171" height="55" border="0" id="index_r2_c7" alt="About" /></a></td>
    
       <td rowspan="2"><img name="index_r2_c8" src="index_r2_c8.png" width="58" height="443" border="0" id="index_r2_c8" alt="" /></td>
       <td><img src="spacer.gif" width="1" height="55" border="0" alt="" /></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
    
    Code (markup):
    into an unordered list. A navigation menu is really a list of clickie links. You can also use CSS to your advantage here. You can use it to style all your links so they look like they do now, but more accessable (not all screenreaders read alt text, unfortunately). There is a neat technique using empty spans that makes your site very accessable to everyone, browser-friendly, and looks cool for the rest of us who have images and CSS turned on.


    Overall design-wise, it looks very clean and simple. You're selling hosting, and as customer (if I were one) it looks quite professional and looks like it would be easy for me to navigate around and find stuff I was looking for.

    I (if I were visiting customer) would like the About page to be a contact and FAQ page instead of making me click a link that apparently will also have a forum. Esp if your FAQ is short and simple. I would want a street address (reassuring that you're a real company somewhere), a telephone number and an email address that I can see before I click it (in case I use web-based email like gmail, hotmail, yahoo, lycos, or AOL).
     
    Stomme poes, Aug 15, 2007 IP
  3. save-a-family

    save-a-family Peon

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    #3
    Stomme's post is great.

    Why don't you use JS instead of Flash for the homepage effects? This is easily done by JS. Make it non-obtrusive and it will work well for everybody without losing the nice effect and functionality.

    Good luck.
     
    save-a-family, Aug 15, 2007 IP
  4. jakomo

    jakomo Well-Known Member

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    #4
    Hello,

    Looks very professional.

    Home page: Run fast the flash.
    About: Blank page.

    An important thing, where is your email in the site to contact you if I want to ask you somenthing? I think a good idea could be add the email on every page. Maybe you could add a customer service live. People like that.

    My 2 cents,
    Jakomo
     
    jakomo, Aug 15, 2007 IP
  5. Stomme poes

    Stomme poes Peon

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    #5
    Well, there's no email yet because the site's not finished : )
     
    Stomme poes, Aug 15, 2007 IP
  6. sabian1982

    sabian1982 Notable Member

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    #6
    Nice web 2.0 style - id personally like to see a lot more content. Using full on flash is a very bad idea (especially for SEO reasons).
     
    sabian1982, Aug 15, 2007 IP
  7. chazmilles

    chazmilles Peon

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    #7
    The login fields don't look so good. And the fonts of the menu are too bulky.
     
    chazmilles, Aug 15, 2007 IP
  8. azsno

    azsno Banned

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    #8
    clean and simple.........very nice
     
    azsno, Aug 15, 2007 IP
  9. workingeverymin

    workingeverymin Peon

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    #9
    looks real nice how much to build me one.
     
    workingeverymin, Aug 15, 2007 IP
  10. save-a-family

    save-a-family Peon

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    #10
    LongHost, sorry to post here again with nothing to add.

    I got a red rep here from some retard for my post saying ''why use JS instead of Flash.'' That's all.

    You, whoever you are, had enough time to give me such a ridiculous red rep. Be man enough to tell me who you are. It would've taken you one second.

    Sorry again LongHost for posting here, but to get a red rep for posting a suggestion I think is useful is very irritating.
     
    save-a-family, Aug 16, 2007 IP
  11. AnnCP

    AnnCP Peon

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    #11
    I like the colors and layout, but I do think the main portion is a bit to "big" and in your face. That's the one thing I would change, maybe make it less invasive and add more content.
     
    AnnCP, Aug 16, 2007 IP
  12. dreams

    dreams Banned

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    #12
    nice design..but the bottom menu is outside of the layout..check it with with ie7
     
    dreams, Aug 22, 2007 IP
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