redesign of website

[Jelly]

Hi Everyone

I'm probably going to regret asking but here goes anyway.....

I am in the process of redesigning my site. The homepage is almost complete (only a few tweaks!) and i am in process of updating the category photos etc etc.
Still got a lot of work to do on the rest of the site but I would like some feedback on what I've done so far (homepage).

Many Thanks
Karen

[petad]

Hi Karen

Here goes then:

- Really like your flash animation on the header bar
- Nice banner heading - suggest that clicking on the banner on any page should return you home (you can do this by putting your banner into the Header Content box in the Tempate/Header section, where it then acts like a normal image)
- I like the category blocks in the middle, with the pictures, though I would suggest that they are made smaller, with maybe 4 per line
- For me, the amount of blue is a bit overwhelming. Have you tried the menus and blocks on left and right with just white space (leave the buttonised headers blue, which are fine)? Or maybe try the background at the sides in a different colour?
- If you keep the menu background in blue, then I would make the text font Bold so that the menu options are easier to read.
- I would put your address and contact number on the Contact Us page, and not just on the About Us page (I realise you haven't finished yet, so just ignore me if I'm a bit previous...)
- I'd put a link from your Balloon In A Box banner at the bottom of the home page directly to the relevant item
- The "Earn Jelly Points" made me laugh - nice one

All suggestions are made with the best intentions, and like most things are just one person's opinion which others may disagree with. It's a good looking site overall - well done.

Regards

Pete

[Jelly]

Hi Pete

Thanks for your feedback. I appreciate you taking the time to reply.

I didn't know about the clicking on the banner heading and returning to the homepage thing, i will definately make that change.

I'll also look at the blocks on the left and right. I obviously want everything to be as easy to read as possible.

The banner with the balloon thing on will eventually link to the balloon section which is still under construction!!

and i'll update the contact us page, i had completely overlooked that one!!!

Thanks
Karen

[mikepayn]

Hi Karen,

Lovely website, well done. It must have taken ages. Our website (well my wife's really though I do the website stuff) is very simple by comparison because I don't have too much time or experience. Much of my work is in computer repairs/upgrades - Which brings me to my point.

I think we should all be aware that not everyone has a dual processor pc with one or two gigs of RAM and a super video card - Most of the pc's I repair have a Pentium processor, standard PCI video and a small hard disk And memory measured in megabytes. If a site is slow to load, some people (potential customers) don’t wait and go somewhere else.

Lower spec pc's take much longer to load complicated web sites with flash animation, banners and a crowded screen full of high res graphics. I don't know what the average spec for a pc is (Google couldn't help me there) all I know is that the pc's I repair (local families – our kids 6 & 4½ friends parents, early retired 50s with disposable income and local businesses) around here are all of a much lower spec than mine (and I built mine 12 months ago).

Just a thought. Still a lovely site tho'

Mike
http://www.carhamptonemart.co.uk

[mathewhadley]

Mark Boulton Design have been selected to redesign drupal.org, the website of the Drupal CMS. I’m a big admirer of Mark’s writing about design and typography, and I think it’s exciting that a big open-source project is going in this direction.Now, if we could get him to design the Drupal user interface (as Veerle Pieters is doing with Expression Engine), that would really be something.
--------------------------
Mathew Hadley
new way to advertise (http://www.drivenwide.com)

[angelinjones]

A few tips related to redesign of website:

Eliminate what is redundant, outdated or trivial and providing no value.
Reduce what isn’t providing enough value.
Raise what has the potential to add more value.
Create what isn’t available yet but can bring more value.========================

Angelinjones

Intenet Marketing (http://www.drivenwide.com/)

[Dave]

Eliminate what is redundant, outdated or trivial and providing no value.Angelinjones

Intenet Marketing (http://www.drivenwide.com/)

I agree, Delete angelinjones post Rich :)

[petad]

Intenet Marketing (http://www.drivenwide.com/)

And what's this new INTENET thing? Technology moves too fast for me to keep up...