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Home > Archive > General Discussion > January 2004 > Feedback requested
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Feedback requested
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| yanqui 2004-01-15, 2:35 pm |
| I'm new to web design, and I couldn't see paying someone to do something that I could do myself. I've got a site at http://www.bossva.com and I'd like some honest feedback on it. When you see the site, you'll be able to understand the target market, and why fancy bells and whistles weren't particularly desirable. It will be an evolving work as I implement more skills I acquire (like spelling--geez I couldn't spell acquire--twice now!), but it will serve the purpose for now.
By the way, every page except for the RFQ was hand coded--written in HTML line by line! It was the only way I could get what I wanted on it. FP was truly inhibiting, except, as i said, on the RFQ.
Thanks in advance, and be brutal, please.
(You'll never hear me say that in any other situation!) | |
| mindmesh 2004-01-15, 2:51 pm |
| Overall it's Good.. The Homepage, I don't like. Not sure why, though. Maybe it needs some borders or myabe tone down the Bold letters. Again, I'm not sure. And the only other thing I noticed was on the RFQ page. You may want to move the text box for:
Your Company Name
All the other boxes are underneath the title, except for this one. For conformity you may want to change it.
Overall It's pretty good. | |
| yanqui 2004-01-15, 3:08 pm |
| quote:
Originally posted by mindmesh
Overall it's Good.. The Homepage, I don't like. Not sure why, though. Maybe it needs some borders or myabe tone down the Bold letters. Again, I'm not sure. And the only other thing I noticed was on the RFQ page. You may want to move the text box for:
Your Company Name
All the other boxes are underneath the title, except for this one. For conformity you may want to change it.
Overall It's pretty good.
Do you think the homepage need to be just a bit different from the rest of the site?
And thanks for the suggestion on the text box, nobody else caught that! It's where FP put it, but I'll try to change it. | |
| jimbo2002 2004-01-15, 3:28 pm |
| Web design is something I am getting interested in, but Im still at the very basics, just messing about really. Anyway I thought it was a good clean site, no waffle or clutter, easy to understand and navigate, the links were quick. Two things I noticed were, under ADMIN SUPPORT, Finance ops, 4th category down (spreadsheets) the word "finical" should be financial (just to prove I really read it). Also the dates on the reference articles, on the right are getting a bit dated, maybe. But technically seems fine to me. Thats just my thoughts. | |
| mindmesh 2004-01-15, 3:55 pm |
| quote:
Originally posted by yanqui
Do you think the homepage need to be just a bit different from the rest of the site?
And thanks for the suggestion on the text box, nobody else caught that! It's where FP put it, but I'll try to change it.
Yes. The hompage is suppose to grab their attention and make them want to go to other pages. I like the other pages because they are mainly information. I hate websites that don't have any sort of info on them. Just fluff and a link that says:
click here if your over 18
Nothing makes me madder then that. 
J/K.. Try and spice up the first page. Make people want to stay. Make them think your a bigger company then you really are. | |
| yanqui 2004-01-15, 4:17 pm |
| quote:
Originally posted by jimbo2002
Two things I noticed were, under ADMIN SUPPORT, Finance ops, 4th category down (spreadsheets) the word "finical" should be financial (just to prove I really read it). Also the dates on the reference articles, on the right are getting a bit dated, maybe. But technically seems fine to me. Thats just my thoughts.
And I appreciate them! Fixed the misspell--that must be a real word, because the spell checker didn't pick up on it!
I agree that some of articles are a bit old, I have some newer ones that will be going up when I pull them all together. Thanks for the feedback. | |
| Deja-vue 2004-01-15, 6:48 pm |
| yanqui,
Change the Font, put some Color (Backgrounds) into it.
There is too much Text on the Frontpage. The Visitor will get bored and wonder off.
I do like the links on the left Hand side, you could put more in there, for Example: "About me" and "About us" or "Our Mission", "Links" you get the Idea.
Don't go too exotic on the Font, something that everyone has, but get rid of the Times New Roman.
nothing personal,yanqui
 | |
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| what deja mentioned, separate it instead of
all that under the BOSS link.
too washed out, everythig just disappear into everything else.
align text, notice when you switch between pages, your page shifts due to the heading size being different.
as mentioned, you should frame it, not with frames, but separate the elements, this goes back to pt 1 beign washed ou. the color bleeds, no spearatio of elements, I think the left navigation buttons are out of place... Need to think of ways to align the letters/words in the buttons too. The distances between buttons different from pages to pages. so does your news item on the right.
that reflection things is so early 90s, think of something new, simple and clean.
navigation buttons keep it univorm istead of taking out the current page's button... how annoying would it be for a client to have to look and find what they are looking for again becuz of the shift?
that's it for now.
viewed with mozilla firebird 0.7 | |
| bearing 2004-01-16, 4:15 am |
| I have noticed a couple of things.
In the About BOSS section.
quote:
I have achieved Brainbench certification in Business Fundamentals and Accounts Payable, and Brainbench Master's Level certification in Typing (speed and accuracy) and Written English. Click here to learn about the significance of Brainbench certifications. To see details of my certifications, enter transcript number 4636394.
This doesn't read too well, I think it may be that there is too much use of the word 'and'. You have also followed a comma with an 'and' I don't think a serial comma is neccesary in the context you have used it.
Would it sound better like this.
quote:
I have achieved Brainbench certification in Business Fundamentals, Accounts Payable, Typing (speed and accuracy) and Written English. Click here to learn about the significance of Brainbench certifications. To see details of my certifications, enter transcript number 4636394.
quote:
I am a CompTIA A+ Certified PC Technician. my scores on the Hardware and Operating Systems exams can be verified by CompTIA. Let me know if you need this and it can be arranged.
The 'my' in this section needs a capital 'm'.
And as others have said, the front page needs to hit you square in the face and say 'This company is the business'.
Just my twopenneth. | |
| Particle 2004-01-16, 7:05 am |
| Yanqui, on the whole it looks good.
I feel that the writing gets a bit close to the links on either side, some more space between would separate things out a bit more.
Also, I noticed that your email links point to a Bellsouth.com email address, but you've got a bossva.com web address. I was wondering what the reason was, and thought it might look more professional if the email address was @bossva.com too.
I liked the links on the right to articles about VAs as I'd never heard of the concept before. However the "Hire a Virtual Assistant" link (http://realtytimes.com/trnews/rtapa...vtassistant.htm) cannot be found, and these links might be better in a new window so that people don't go away from your site.
Good luck with the venture. | |
| yanqui 2004-01-16, 1:01 pm |
| Great tips--I'll be seriously looking at them over the next couple of days and making some changes. I have completely reworked the home page--take a look again and see if that answers the things you didn't like about the other one.
http://www.bossva.com | |
| yanqui 2004-01-16, 2:04 pm |
| quote:
Originally posted by mikop
what deja mentioned, separate it instead of all that under the BOSS link.
Not sure what you mean, but I'm looking at it.
quote:
all washed out, everythig just disappear into everything else.
Do you mean the elements should be more defined and separate?
quote:
align text, notice when you switch between pages, your page shifts due to the heading size being different.
Yeah, I didn't like that either--I'm working on it.
quote:
as mentioned, you should frame it, not with frames, but separate the elements, this goes back to pt 1 beign washed ou. the color bleeds, no spearatio of elements, I think the left navigation buttons are out of place...
Is this more important with the home page, or should I apply it all over if possible? I mean, if I could get the home page to meet that, would it suffice for a while or should I withhold submission until I get it to work site-wide?
quote:
Need to think of ways to align the letters/words in the buttons too. The distances between buttons different from pages to pages. so does your news item on the right.
working on it.
quote:
that reflection things is so early 90s, think of something new, simple and clean.
You must be a whole lot younger than I am--and than most of my friends! Early 90's to you is ancient history and Early 90's to us is yesterday! I may revisit that later, but I think it may work with the new homepage.
quote:
navigation buttons keep it univorm istead of taking out the current page's button... how annoying would it be for a client to have to look and find what they are looking for again becuz of the shift?
Agreed!
quote:
that's it for now.
viewed with mozilla firebird 0.7
Okay, I'm not sure how it's going t look when I post this message, I've tried to use some of the conventions I learned in HTML, and we'll see what kind of student I was.
Thanks for your input, Mikop. | |
| yanqui 2004-01-16, 2:12 pm |
| quote:
Originally posted by Particle
I feel that the writing gets a bit close to the links on either side, some more space between would separate things out a bit more.
I'll play with the cell padding a little and see what that does--thanks.
quote:
Also, I noticed that your email links point to a Bellsouth.com email address, but you've got a bossva.com web address. I was wondering what the reason was, and thought it might look more professional if the email address was @bossva.com too.
The reason originally was that I didn't have a web address, so I was using my own as a reminder that I needed to put something there. On every page, when I went to change the links, the webmaster link accepted the change, but the contact in the body of the text didn't. I had to go into the html and write it in. Don't know why that happened--microsoft stuff, I guess.
quote:
I liked the links on the right to articles about VAs as I'd never heard of the concept before.
Pretty cool, eh?
quote:
However the "Hire a Virtual Assistant" link (http://realtytimes.com/trnews/rtapa...vtassistant.htm) cannot be found,
On one page, yes, I found that after I read your post--I'll fix that.
quote:
these links might be better in a new window so that people don't go away from your site.
That IS a good idea--I think I have a resource for a script that will do that!
quote:
Good luck with the venture.
Many thanks! | |
| jimbo2002 2004-01-16, 2:51 pm |
| Checked out your new web link and noticed a couple of typos, under YOUR FINANCES the word "equiment" and under YOUR INFORMATION the word "tarket" I hate to sound picky but I guess if you are selling professional services such as secretarial it wont look good if you have spelling or typing errors. Just my thoughts on it. | |
| Deja-vue 2004-01-16, 3:34 pm |
| Looks a lot better, still too much Text on the Frontpage.
Typos: Equipment , customers and Target wit a b instead of a k.
Font is nice now, still too much white Background.
Think of your Frontpage like the Entrance of a Hotel, not all Rooms are available from the lobby...
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| yanqui 2004-01-16, 5:36 pm |
| quote:
Originally posted by jimbo2002
Checked out your new web link and noticed a couple of typos, under YOUR FINANCES the word "equiment" and under YOUR INFORMATION the word "tarket" I hate to sound picky but I guess if you are selling professional services such as secretarial it wont look good if you have spelling or typing errors. Just my thoughts on it.
Good grief--when will I learn to spell check?
It's not that you're picky--you're right. I do spell check on all my Office docs, I just got excited about this template, I forgot all about it. Thanks! And thanks to you to, Deja. | |
| yanqui 2004-01-16, 5:39 pm |
| quote:
Originally posted by Deja-vue
Looks a lot better, still too much Text on the Frontpage.
Typos: Equipment , customers and Target wit a b instead of a k.
Font is nice now, still too much white Background.
Think of your Frontpage like the Entrance of a Hotel, not all Rooms are available from the lobby...
I'll consider the text issue, I'll run it by a whole lot of people before I hit the search engines with it, and I'll go with a general consensus.
Not sure what you mean with the Hotel analogy. 'Splain? | |
| yanqui 2004-01-17, 9:39 am |
| quote:
Originally posted by yanqui
Not sure what you mean with the Hotel analogy. 'Splain?
DUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
!!!!!!
DING DING DING DING DING DING!!!!!!!!!!!
Sometimes I have to blink real hard to engage my brain.
A more heirarchical structure, you mean, right?
Like, instead of going from the home page to each service, go from the home page to a page that shows the benefits of using a VA, another page that shows the range of services, then from that page a series of pages defining the scope of each service type, then maybe from the benefits page, another page showing what types of services use VA's, with the article links, and opening a new window for each link--like more of a tree structure than what I have now, is that what you mean?
See, THIS is why I asked the experts! |
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