Web Hosting Talk : Advertising Forums : Community Reviews : Web Site Reviews : Tell me about it

[2beone]

I'd like to know what you guys/gals think of this website.
http://anntracks.com
thanks in advance

[Bogdan]

Hmm...


I think your font color is pretty dark, white would look better (maybe).

"Custom Songwriting Services"
"Sign Guestbook!"

Are on top of each other. Hard to see what it says like that


The site loads pretty fast, would load faster w/out the DHTML coding.

Overall it's pretty easy to navigate the site


my 2 cents

[BC]

Hi,

Hmmmmmm....... A couple of pointers I'd like to make.

==========================
Browser : MSIE 5.0
OS : Win95
Speed : Cable
Resolution : 1024x768
==========================
Disclaimer : this is only advice from a web designer's point of view. It's up to you as to whether to take it or not. However, I provide advice so as to improve the usability of a site so that visitors will come back time and again.
==========================

<---- Problem sections

1. You do not need the DHTML fly-in code. It takes too long to load and severely impacts the loading time of your site. I did a little test of the site with and without the DHTML coding (by switching JavaScript off) and the site without DHTML loaded in 2 seconds flat on my cable connection. With DHTML, it's up to about 8 seconds, and even after 30 seconds my status bar still says 'Please wait... Generating DHTML code'. Unless you have a very specific reason to use that DHTML fly in code, I suggest you drop it. It certainly didn't impress me

2. As Bogdan said, the two links Custom Songwriting services and Sign guestbook seem to 'intersect' with each other. Not a good look...

3. Web visitors including myself do not like to be told to view the site at a certain browser version. The site should be backwards-compatible with nearly all version. In fact, getting rid of the DHTML code would help substantially in this case.

4. Consistency, consistency, consistency. If your opening page is black, then make the rest of the site black. The bio is yellow backgrounded and doesn't feel like it's part of the same site. Consistency is essential in terms of usability. Same for the light blue-ish CD page.

5. On the CD page, there is a huge white space down the middle of the page underneath the marquee, which completely throws the layout off. To get around it, put the marquee in a single table by itself then form a 3-column table to get rid of the space.

6. Design wise - it feels rather amateurish and unpolished. It unfortunately looks like it definitely came from a WYSIWYG editor and the site seems to communicates a lack of care.

Overall : there is potential, but there is a lot of work required to drag it up to standard. First impressions were negative, and that was re-inforced as I went through the rest of the site.

Best of luck.

[2beone]

Thanks for the review, the feedback is very important. Let me start with some background. This was my first major site other than my own personal ones. I care alot about this site since it's going to be an advertisment for my work as a budding designer. Alot of colaboration with the client has gone into this project on what the site should be like
I've really learned alot about pleasing the customer on this one.
I know about consistency and have conveyed this to the client but since she ultimately is in charge of what her site looks like, we settled upon these colors.

We'd tried several things for the front page, flip books and such, and settled upon the DHTML as a last resort. I do agree though that it slows the page. Do you have a comparable solution? I think now she's considering a flash intro, so we may not be using the index at all.

And let me ask, what do you see that indicates a WYSIWIG editor, (other than the disclaimer on the front page of course)? Aren't the editors for end users including developers to use as part of a set of tools to utlize for this job? I have of late decided I should try to hand code, I know a little, tables, forms and such.

On resolution, I have mine set at 480 * 640, a 17in monitor, win98, ie 5.0 or netscape 4.7. Upon setting to different resolutions including 1024 * 768. I don't see the links stacking on each other nor the white space on the cd page. Can you elaborate more on that?

I have tried in vain to please both browsers, ie and netscape but haven't found a compromise without sacrificing the client's needs for the project.

That's about all I can think of at the moment, thanks again for the feedback. looking forward 2beingone.

[Chicken]

2beone,

If your customer insists on these color schemes and the fly in text, then you aren't going to want to use this as your showcase site for your design efforts.

IMHO, black should only be used for space or dark themed sites. A rich, dark blue would have made this site look more classy. Yes, it is overused, but there is a reason it is overused. Going from black to pastel yellow or pastel blue is just odd. Basically, I don't think any of these colors helps the overall look of the site.

The DHTML flying text should go! If you are going to use it, then have another page for the home page with the same look but with static links so that everytime you go back to home, the text doesn't fly in. You can barely get away with this ONCE, but more than once... yeeee.

Why are there links to the design program, msn and netscape at the bottom? If you can't give yourself a good reason for this, and can explain how this adds to the site in ANY way, then remove it. There seems to be a different version of the copyright (credit line) on every page. Some with links, some without, the main page has larger text and a link to contact you. What is the reason for this? Again, if you can't come up with one, the make this small and consistent.

What the customer wants is VERY important, and sometimes you sacrifice a few things in order to give the customer what they want. This does not mean that you ignore basic design priciples. As it has been mentioned, this site lacks consistency. Keep the links and the overall look of everything in the same place so your visitors don't have to work at it, to find their way around.

If you want me to tell you that it is great, then fine, it is great. But, if you want my honest opinion...

edit
Ohh, and I didn't see the overlapping problem, nor the white space either, but I think that point is moot.
/edit

[2beone]

Thanks for the feedback.
No, I don't want you to tell me it's fine, I want real honnest opinion.
I will in fact talk with the customer about a new look for her site. I think that's the best solution at this point.

How can you tell something is done with a WYSIWIG editor rather than handcoded, for my own reference. I've heard this before and just wondered, what to look for.

You know I didn't think to have a second index page so that the fly in text would only happen once, that's a very good idea and to be honnest, I have been bothered about it myself. A very good solution indeed.

raising a toast to you all for the feedback. thanks so much.

[Chicken]

Originally posted by 2beone
How can you tell something is done with a WYSIWIG editor rather than handcoded, for my own reference. I've heard this before and just wondered, what to look for.

See how everything is nicely centered and divided by those nifty horizontal rules? No real layout, just row after row down the page. Dead giveaway.

[Trijnie]

Hello,

You can find everything in the source.

<META NAME="generator" CONTENT="Sausage Software HotDog Professional 5">

[BC]

Actually, Trijnie, the site also mentions it too, in the footer of the front page.

[Trijnie]

Actually, Trijnie, the site also mentions it too, in the footer of the front page.

Missed that one BC.

2beone: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/images/smilies/smile.gif If you want to make this site look professional, you should remove that link.

[sergio]

Originally posted by 2beone
I'd like to know what you guys/gals think of this website.
http://anntracks.com
thanks in advance

It had some errors:
on my browsers lines "Custom Songwriting Services"
"Sign Guestbook!" where interferring.

[BC]

You wouldn't be using Netscape, would you Sergio?