Web Hosting Talk : Advertising Forums : Community Reviews : Web Site Reviews : Highland Hills Farm - Site Review

[FijianTribe]

Hi,

I have a friend who designed this site:
http://www.highlandhillsfarm.com

Looking to get some positive critisim and feedback.
A few of the links do not work still. He is finishing the construction on it.

[Reptilian Feline]

Well... the design is OK, but...
The images can be more optimized, the site is a little slow.
Add som more info to the first page, so people know what it's all about, and add a background in some pale green to the menu. Will make the site look more complete.

I like the cow on the first page. Very nice. Needs to be optimized for faster downloads, and that's where the extra inof on the first page comes in... something to read while the cow is downloading.

[sisterscape]

First of all . . . takes way to long to load. And why are you using the same photo twice on the index page?? Generally too many big images. Try using thumbnails to reduce load time. What's with the purple tree on your welcome page?? Your pages are over 100px to big for 800 x 600. Check the spacing of your links and be consistent. I would also be consistent with the font - the header is serif, links san serif. Why the black BG on the FAQ page?? Not all your links are live - at least have them go to an 'under construction' page.

Grassfed is a good thing and I'm happy to see you'll be setting up a CSA. That's the first link I wanted to visit but you don't have that info up yet! Other than an area code which I could look up, there is no indication of where you're located. I think that's really important info for customers to have.

Good luck!!

[FijianTribe]

Friend has now turned the site over to me... didn't like the customer not allowing him to make suggested changes.

Thanks for the reply. Different font styles were under direct order from the customer, same with the image sizes. I originally designed the site to meet 800x600 screens, but the customer talked to another developer who told him those standards were outdated and that he needed to design the site for 1024x768.

Basically I was told just to design and not make too many suggestions.

I will add the under construction links. The FAQ page and other image sizes I had no control over. Same reason as above for screen resolution.

Thanks for your input. I will make some of your suggested changes.

[sisterscape]

Boy, the designer who suggested that 800 x 600 is outdated is pretty elitist and out of touch. As much as I would like to be positive, truth is that the site is cumbersome and unattractive as is and looks very amateur! I understand that your hands are tied. I only hope the job is worth the aggravation. You have my sympathy. Question? Do you really want your work to be associated with a design that is out of your control and not open to discussion? Personally, I'd cut my losses and run.

[FijianTribe]

sisterscape...

Thanks for your remarks, I actually do find them positive. For awhile I was doing the design thinking I was out of touch with the industry standards and just did what I was ordered to do...

Turns out I have been thinking all day about just turining it over to someone else or dropping the site all together. I have stopped working on it until... I get paid... so right now I am counting it as a loss.

Thanks for letting me know I am not the one out of wack.

[victor]

Some clients can be damn stubborn. They hire you then want you to do everything their way and don't take on board any of your suggestions ... makes you wonder why they don't just build the bloody thing themselves ...

[Mr.Biggles]

Looks a bit dated
Large page size