You may remember a post from Zach about a month ago on here asking for a webdesinger

well i was chosen and ive been working on our home site, which is now almost complete

I would like you to take a look at it and tell me exactly what you think

Click Here

Jaymc.co.nr

Hiya Jamie,

I'm going to take it apart, as I usually do with any site I visit. :)

I don't know whether this was your choice or not but I think the name should be something more distinctive. Everyone claims to offer "professional" Web design these days. A more unique name would be better, I think.

The centered text on all of the pages makes it harder to read. Also, I think it should be a larger font for easier visibility.

The "buttons" at the top of the page change to a bold type when you hover over them. This makes them wider, which means a sort-of annoying flicker when you move over them. It would be better if just the background colour changed instead of changing the font to bold type.

This is probably just my personal opinion. I think there should be more space between the objects on the space, i.e. the margin and padding between things. And I don't know whether the circular ring background is helping the site out much. It distracts your attention from the text quite a bit...

Also, the page title doesn't change between pages.

The things I do like:

The content and general layout. Although, I would've done it in CSS myself. But I'm just being nitpicky now lol Also, the pictures down the left side are generally very nice.

James

Overall I like the way the site looks, although I don't care for the 'out of focus' mouseovers on the top of page menu. Who wants to look at out of focus text. The server seems a bit slow too.

But, far and away, the biggest thing that you need is someone to grammar, punctuation and spell check all of the site. Some quick examples:

Home Page, first line: "...the number 1 for cost effective...". The number one what? This grammar says that you are the number "one". You aren't promoting a number, you are promoting a business. Should be something like "the number one provider for ..."

Home Page, second line: "up most" should be "utmost". Also, "along side" should probably be "alongside"

Home Page, third para: "No need to worry, PWD handle all the hard work so you dont have to...". should be something like "PWD can handle" also "dont" SB "don't"

Etc, etc

I saw on one page a sentence where I wasn't capitalized.

Obvious grammatical errors like this will drive people away quickly.

Overall, I like the design, but think that to look more professional, it would be more colorful.

Hey Jamie.

Good start. I think the site is looking great, as all your work usually does!

Should the "I'm Ready" etc. buttons be on every page? Maybe I'm just missing the logic, but I'm not sure why those should only be on the home page.

As was mentioned, the centered text is frustrating, to say the least. "Professional Web Design" for the company name is not good. That just doesn't say "we're a reputable business." In fact, not having any contact info besides an e-mail address isn't great either. Any legitimate business would have an address or phone number (at least), in addition to the e-mail and contact form. Remember that in e-commerce, if potential clients even think in the slightest bit that you are trying to hide something, or that you are not reputable, they will just go someplace else, without even thinking twice about it.

Check the entire site over for spelling, punctuation, and grammar usage. Many are just wrong, others aren't consistent. The grammar, capitalization, missing words, etc. on the first page alone is appalling. ;)

Also, anyone who knows the Internet knows that unlimited bandwidth and unlimited disk space are not possible. If you think it's a possibility, I'd be happy to sign on with you guys for a month, and we'll see how long your host will let me stay unmetered. ;)

Lookin' good though!

Bryan

well since we're back in freshman english class, lets fix one more thing:
"...quite off putting..." (3rd para, 1st sent)

it should be "off-putting"

i also dont like the centering. on the first page its all fine and dandy, however, on the FAQ, contact, and ordering pages, its annoying.

now in general. the pages are black and white, you're gonna need color to keep people. you have no idea how annoying that page is to look at for like just 1 minute, it hurts my eyes, im not an animal, i can see color. also, if you keep the grey-scale theme, you're going to have to get rid of the green on all of the pages, including the gif's on the homepage, green doesnt go well with grey at all. all of those darker blue colors seem to work okay. if that were me i'd add those colors as part of the actual theme and totally get rid of the green and any other color.

i like the layout, its pretty sweet looking but i think those wide boarders would get annoying after a while, mainly only in that middle part because the borders are the same size as the actual content in the inside.

and one last thing: see that third table on the services page? its wider than the other tables by like 10 pixels or so. oh the ordering page should also have the "select boxes" with the grey-scale theme on them.

keep up the good work!

FBI Agent

AIM: EliteAssassin187

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one word summary - dull

i think to try and sell what your trying to sell - u really have to stand apart! i different, more vibrent colour scheme would make a massive difference. The content seems good but i dont think you ll be able to keep potential customers there long enough. the layout works well, howeva i agree with what everyone has already stated regarding the navigation buttons,text justification & spelling errors.

it might a sound like a bad review but its not, its only a few easy fixes.

I think the site looks nice overall...And ditto to the comments above. I'm not qualified to comment on graphic design, but a little color would make it nice, and the spelling and grammar is pretty bad. There are simply too many errors to point them all out here, but I will say that I don't believe that "off-putting" is even a word (hyphenated or not). If it is a word, it shouldn't be. Either way, take it out and say something else.

A few other comments:
1. I have this awful feeling that the PHP behind the site is very strange...Why is each page index.php?page=pagehere.php? I'm guessing you are using this to avoid having to put the navigation and header links on each page, but you should be doing this with php includes.

2. On the ordering page, why do you have enormous question mark graphics whose only function is to create the javascript popup tips that are much smaller than the graphics themselves? Follow Microsoft's example and make anything with popup tips small and subtle. Also the grammar in the popup tips is even worse than on the rest of the pages...

3. The header graphics are nice in concept, but they are choppy in appearance...Can you smooth them out a little so it doesn't look like I accidentally set my screen to 256 colors?

4. Take the -:: out of the title...Titles are for titles, and it's annoying to me when they are used for decoration.

5. On the ordering page, you should have checkboxes for basic, host, and advanced...Not a dropdown menu. You can use javascript to ensure that if they check advanced, they have to check basic. But shouldn't it be possible to get hosting without getting basic or advanced? Either way, any situations in which you are selecting non-mutually exclusive options should usually be checkboxes or listboxes.

6. Nobody in their right mind is going to order hosting when you don't tell them how much of everything they get.

7. Use JavaScript to preload rollover images...It takes several seconds on your slow servers to get the images to change onmouseover, which ruins the entire effect.

8. On the referral.php page, there's no link to "learn how it works."

9. Why is JavaScript coding half the price of PHP coding? If anything, javascript is more difficult...

10. It's very unethical of you to take a script from dynamicdrive.com and put it in your script without giving proper credit to the author. If you don't know how to do the necessary javascript yourself, then learn. Don't take somebody else's work, strip off the credits, and pass it off as your own. Mike McGrath's popup information box.

-SN

Actually Jamie, going on from what FBI Agent wrote, you need to check the English even further. 2nd sentence should read "utmost" not "up most", and "alongside" not "along side".

Personally I would also get rid of the tired old BS cliches about "ultimate" this and fancy language that... ex. "Once we have an understanding of what you want, we will go about creating your site which will take us through the following stages" - what's that all about then?

Keep the language simple and factual, stop crapola cliches nobody believes. The visitor wants facts, truth and getting to the point, not meaningless claims they've read on every similar site on the net.

What makes your service special? What makes it better than the rest? Why yours and not one of the millions of others? You haven't told us this....
"Site Planning - Plan out what you want, such as specific colour themes, fonts, layouts, and more" - that's web page basics, so what's the big selling point?
"Site Designing - When supplied the necessary information, we will begin to design your site" - Yes, and...? That is common sense progress of putting up a page, so what's special about that?
"Advanced Features - If and when advanced features are necessary, we can implement them into your website." - Like what? Define an "advanced" feature today? CGI-bin? PHP? SSI? Integrated messge board? Those are standard features these days, as are so many of the formerly "advanced" features of last year.
"Hosting - Once your site is complete, we can supply you with what you need to get your site on the internet" - Umm, isn't that the whole point of these design services? So what is your twist to this? What makes this a selling point?
"Domain Name(s) - Don't have a domain name? Click here to see if the domain you want is available." - Wake me up at daybreak please, this tired old thing is a sleeping powder. Which service? Oops.... wrong one, you missed out this domain option... and this one... and this one... Or would that be Oops... domain pointer services (like .tk) use spam-ad crapola so who wants them? Either way, this old chestnut is not a selling point these days.

Sorry Jamie, but that is only the first page, and without even discussing the page design itself, I see nothing inspirational or outstanding about this site.

I see just another wannabe thinking he talks like a big fish, when he really sounds like one of the millions small fry already out there. Page one offered nothing, and said nothing. So tell me after reading that drivel, why anyone would even want to click to another page on the site so they can read more of the same?

Let's see what turning that page brings, to prove the case? Let's see what you say about "why us"...
"So you have come this far, but are thinking why should i choose PWD over the rest. Well to put it simply, unlike most web design companies we consist of a dedicated team who all work exceptionally well together to produce the end product. With this in mind, we have experts in each web related field such as hosting, design, graphics, programming. " - PROVE IT! Unlike most.... says who, where's the evidence? We have experts... sorry, but read above, I think I just showed they aren't, else why can't they even make their own page look like a winner, and that means content as well as layout?

I think I'd best leave it there, though I could continue with the other pages. Judging by what I saw at PWD's own site, there is nothing to encourage anyone to use their services, because their own site lets them down, instead of standing up as an example of what they really know about PROFESSIONAL design. Hell come on, even a spelling and grammar check would have been an improvement!

Thanks for all your comments, i read them all

especially safeTsurfa, you killed me off, but im greatful

1 : slow server = 15k upload which is mine, only temp till we get the site done

2 : grammar, ive been left in charge and im finding it really hard to convert my scally liverpool scouse talk into standard grammar

3 : someone said something about green on the page, what green

4 : im really stuck on the navigation system, ive had about 4. overall ive decided to go with a simple one with some smart effects, but obviously they arnt apealing. ill rework them

5 : sounds like most dont like the colour, ive actually went out of my way to keep everything grey, it can work well but obviously in this case not so good

Theirs really too many points youve made to go through, but main things are

Need to make more colourful

check for spelling errors, and ask one of my friends who have A levels in english to help us out with grammar

ill add more content as in let the customer know exactly what their getting, and for how much. as well as little help icons which will hopefully solve any queries their and then

ill probs have another look at the navigation, make some slight adjustments

thnks for your comments, much appreciated!

Jaymc.co.nr

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For the 'record'... I agree with all comments above, especially the grammar and graphical content.

What irked me the most, was the lag for the image change overs on the buttons below the main section... I didn't go too deep into it as most of the issues are already defined.

IR

I too agree with all of the comments above! I would also like to add one more point.
I understand you are offering a web design service? (correct me if I'm wrong?).
Unfortunately the site looks very un-professional, with no use of Flash or animation of any kind and a few old hat java-script mouseovers, this will not inspire anyone to hand over their hard earned cash for "professional web design".
I dont want to sound harsh but maybe you should get a copy of Macromedia studio MX and spend some time getting to grips with it, sorry!!

Wizard ICT. Microsoft Certified Professional

so a site has to have flash on it to be good? thats total non-sense. i dont even bother learning it because most flash animations are too large for 56k users therefore you lose about half of your customers because you wanted to make your site look "cool".

i think everything else has been covered, ill just leave it at that.

FBI Agent

AIM: EliteAssassin187

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I agree. Flash is not required to have a professional site. Flash makes a website bloated and slow for users that do not have broadband. Of course, Flash looks nice... but that does not justify its use.

I site doesnt have to have flash to look good, that is true. However a site for a web design service is a bit different. If you are offering a web design service you need your site to show off your talents and capabilities. This usually requires some kind of graphics or eye-catching animation (be it Flash, animated GIF etc) as customers and some point will require this.
This particular site shows no graphics capabilities at all, which was the point I was making rather than it "having to have flash".
Just as a side point Flash does not have to be too large or "bloated" if used for small images, menus etc and designed correctly!

Wizard ICT. Microsoft Certified Professional