travel site review wanted

Discussion in 'Websites' started by idolw, Jan 6, 2006.

  1. #1
    hi there,

    so there is a website: www.europe-cities.com - we still working on it so not all features work.
    I would like your opinions about following on this site:
    1. general feelings - do you like it?
    2. security feelings - why would (or would not) you buy from this website?
    3. selling pages, such as: http://www.europe-cities.com/hotels-barcelona.aspx - are they encouraging enough to buy?
    4. what makes you think not about buying, but exploring the site?
    5. The speed - how fast pages load and what is your connection?
    6. the speed of the hotel search - please, take a while and click the SEARCH button on the city of your choice and tell me if it is fast enough.

    Finally, what shall be removed and what shall be added? We steadily work on improvements to the site, some sections are not ready yet, but I am asking for feedback about what is already online.

    thanks a lot in advance, and please, forgive me being so demanding ;)
     
    idolw, Jan 6, 2006 IP
  2. tommie

    tommie Guest

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    #2
    Cant think of any comments to be honest, it looks good and trustworthy, enough good information, didnt have to many loading issues but, i did see images that were 1 mb and only 300 by 250 px, they load slowly, probably because you are scaling it with the browser.

    Good luck!
     
    tommie, Jan 6, 2006 IP
  3. idolw

    idolw Peon

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    #3
    thanks for your time and effort tommie.
    the problem for us is to make the site nice and fast at the same time. nice pictures make a site like this more attractive but their weight makes it slow :(

    anyone else?
     
    idolw, Jan 6, 2006 IP
  4. Cash2C77

    Cash2C77 Peon

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    #4
    Your site looks nice, professional with simplicity, I can't see anything that needs work :)
     
    Cash2C77, Jan 6, 2006 IP
  5. idolw

    idolw Peon

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    #5
    thanks.
    annything else?
     
    idolw, Jan 7, 2006 IP
  6. Wiley

    Wiley Peon

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    #6
    Site looks very nice. My only comment is load time but you can fix that with image optimization. I would also recommend more content to give the search engines something to index.
     
    Wiley, Jan 7, 2006 IP
  7. livingearth

    livingearth Well-Known Member

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    #7
    I`m impressed...
    I attempted to add a link to the directory area to my site http://www.citiesamerica.com but I recieved a page not found error...
    Exchange?....
     
    livingearth, Jan 7, 2006 IP
  8. ramakrishna p

    ramakrishna p Notable Member

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    #8
    At times Images play important roll hence they are to be included in home page. What are different way and method for Image Optimization. Web Images normally will hava 72 resolution and gif format. Less resolution will cause loss of quality.

    How the image oprimization is carried out with out loosing quality?

    Regards
    Ramakrishna
     
    ramakrishna p, Jan 7, 2006 IP
  9. livingearth

    livingearth Well-Known Member

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    #9
    Adobe Photoshop does a very good job at image optimization....
    Just open your images in PS and click on "image" choose size. Set dpi to 72. Set diminsions to the height and width in pixils to that which it will be displayed, click file and "Save for the Web" It will give you several views with the most likely one (gif) already highlighted. Viola!
     
    livingearth, Jan 7, 2006 IP
  10. maldives

    maldives Prominent Member

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    #10
    1. Looks very attractive (Nice selection of pictures on the home page)
    2. I feel you should provide more information about your company and possibly about the partners. I don't think there is any use to point the name to a particular person and mention it on the website. It looks like as if Mr. Wlodarski is running the show himself.
    3. Yes, I personally like the individual pages of various cities. They are encouraging.
    4. Confirmation sent within 30 seconds sounds little odd to me but, could be right..
    5. Little too slow (I guess too many pictures).
    6. Also little slow for me but, in gereral it is an excellent feature.

    Overall a very good job :D
     
    maldives, Jan 7, 2006 IP
  11. Rod

    Rod Well-Known Member

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    #11
    The map is way too large (and too slow too load). Move the intro text up to under the title, since that's where people expect an explanation of what a site is all about. Your navigation system is unusual and confusing, in my opinion. Also, there are way too many pics and too little text. You will never get the site optimized while this is the case.

    Anyway others have pointed out the site's good points and good luck with the new site.
     
    Rod, Jan 7, 2006 IP
  12. vulcano

    vulcano Active Member

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    #12
    agree to the previous posters;
    the site looks very nice, don't have problems loading pictures whatsoever. The only thing puzzling me is, you have to be a little bit more carefull with small and capital letters.
    e.g. on your main page it reads >search hotels in europe>
    for my eyes (old european ones:D ) it should read >search hotels in Europe<, like on your Paris page >search hotels in Paris< so even this is correct there, it might look better to put 3-star Paris hotel (also Paris guide, Rome guide) etc.
    Again I do like your side, good luck!
     
    vulcano, Jan 7, 2006 IP
  13. idolw

    idolw Peon

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    #13
    thanks a lot for all your feedback.
    we will work on images, use of capital letters and company presentation.
     
    idolw, Jan 7, 2006 IP
  14. ramakrishna p

    ramakrishna p Notable Member

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    #14
    Thank you livingearth,
    After finishing my home page designing in photoshop...the required images and gradients (except text) are sliced with slice tool. Large photos will be divided further horzontally, vertically to get the page load fast. Later All sliced images are saved for web in gif format(Save for web option). This is normal practice. I would like to know is there any other methods of image optimisation?.
     
    ramakrishna p, Jan 7, 2006 IP
  15. DarrenC

    DarrenC Peon

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    #15
    Loaded fast and looks excellent - good site.

    I can offer you a sitewide link on www.travel-rants.com in return for some good links to another of my sites - PM me if interested.
     
    DarrenC, Jan 7, 2006 IP
  16. idolw

    idolw Peon

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    #16
    maldives,

    thank you very much for your detailed review.

    thanks, we will work on presentation of the company standing behind the website.


    what shall be improved here? Any ideas to make it better? Is it clear, where to click to make a reservation?


    thanks! we need to change it to immediate confirmation.

    would you run away from us because of the time you spent waiting for search results?

    thanks again,
     
    idolw, Jan 8, 2006 IP
  17. jay28

    jay28 Well-Known Member

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    #17
    Looks Very easy to use nice layout.
     
    jay28, Jan 8, 2006 IP
  18. idolw

    idolw Peon

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    #18
    Hi Rod,

    thanks for your comment. What do you mean by unusual navigation? Is it about menus in the wrong place or what?
     
    idolw, Jan 9, 2006 IP
  19. diogenes

    diogenes Peon

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    #19
    I too liked the site.

    From a marketing perspective I liked the 6 Reasons to Choose EC. There are a lot of travel sites. Your touting what makes you unique right up front.

    The way it was listed could be a little misleading to some. They could think that 6 Reasons was a header for the four titles below. I did at first. So I represent the 'slow on the uptake' customer.

    Since that's such a key to your first time customer, I would reformat that somehow.

    Also liked the city of the month. Don't drop the previous months though. You do a lot of work to put that together. Let the customers view previous months. (a Previous months link) If Barcelona doesn't grab them, one of your other month's highlights might.
     
    diogenes, Jan 9, 2006 IP
  20. idolw

    idolw Peon

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    #20
    thanks a lot for your help, diogenes. We all here appreciate it :)
    back to work on the site then ;)
     
    idolw, Jan 19, 2006 IP