Okay, this is still a work in progress at the moment, and I'm aware of a few things which I need to change, such as the favicon, and maybe some of the colours. It's all done using the Mambo CMS and articles so far have been taken from ArticleCity, although once I have an initial batch up I plan writing the majority of them myself, or sourcing them from local wedding service suppliers who I know can string sentences together. Basically what I'm looking for right now is your general thoughts on it. The layout, for example, whether it needs more photographs to break up the text, whether it's easy to navigate, etc, etc. Any advice really appreciated. www.highlandweddings.net Cheers, Baz
What about an informational section for people outside Scotland that want to get married there. Maybe a How To along with a list of scenic places. THat was the first thing I thought of
Personally, I'm not sure if the Mambo is the right package for your site. Also, your ads on the left handside seem be be in bigger font than the body text. Good luck...
Yeah, before I launch properly I'm going to have sections on all that. I'll be providing details of all the registrar's offices, along with links to all the legal forms you need to complete, etc. I'll also be providing details of some of the more popular church and civil marriage venues, along with contact details for them all. All the other services will go into the directory section, which is free for advertisers. justicewhite, Yeah, I must admit I'm already starting to see the limitations in Mambo. It's a lot of hassle to go to if I want to go the route of putting together my own database driven site, though, which is probably the only way I'll be able to do all the things I want to do. Unless you have any other suggestions, of course... And good point on the ads. I hadn't paid them one bit of attention until now, but they do look too big. They must be caught in a css style that's applied to that table cell or something. Better go change that right now since it violates TOS.
The color scheme really turns me off. That yellow/peach background, red and pink do nothing for image. When I think of a weddings I want a different feeling than the feeling this site evokes. Good luck with the site. Shannon
i agree. The site looks techie instead of romantic and memorable. Imho, you need that element/theme for the site. You may want to work on changing the way it looks. Put more romance in the air. Let your visitors see it, feel it and spice things up by inserting more highland wedding pics - make it looks like the experincce is a memorable one. I think that's the most important thing ( i may be wrong )
You guys are completely right. I've been looking at it as a standard information website when I should have been applying the soft filters I use when shooting wedding videos I'll leave what's there for now for Google to pick up on and spider and work on a redesign. Think I'll bite the bullet and code it from the ground up so it can do everything I want it to do. Thanks for the feedback everyone - it's confirmed everything I was having nagging doubts about, so it's been very helpful.
I like the intro on the home page, but I have to agree with everyone else on the look and feel. I tried using mambo, but it had so many short commings for my needs.
Personally, I thought it looked impressive... for Mambo. You will probably be better off coding it yourself (as you have already figured out)... it'll save you SO much hassle... Just remember to make all sidebars, frames, etc. php-includes (as I'm sure you're already going to do).
Yeah, have no fear, PHP includes all the way from me I shudder to think what a painful and mundane job it would be to update my main site if it wasn't for the fact that everything apart from the main page content is a PHP include. I'm taking the whole thing back to the drawing board and trying to come up with a list of everything I would like to do with the site, and which I think would be useful, then building it from there. A complete change of tack from my usual "chuck it together and see" approach.
Kinda figured - but I still run into sites that don't use it - and I feel disappointed for them... Plus, there's nothing better than the pride of your own creation, especially one that does well, and is extremely popular...
The colours are um, not so nice. Too pink / yellow. Eileen Donan castle is nice and all but Scotland is a country of rich colours and fluidic lighting. Since you live here, you probably forget, heh!