Hello,
My wife and I have been lucky enough to have had a villa built in Gumusluk, Turkey. Have done it with my sister and her Turkish husband, who have had their villa built next to us. We hope to rent them out jointly.....Kevin McCloud is spot on in Grand Designs when he says budget about 40% more than you first planned for! Still, we are very pleased with them.
We hope to get plenty of interest from friends and colleagues so not too worried as yet about getting listed on Google etc (although have subscribed to Adwords). Will work on the metatags and all those bits I don't yet understand later.....
Have enjoyed the comments and help on the forum over the last few months...this is my first post.
Anyway, your comments please....the site is probably too wordy? (but hopefully people can quickly focus on what they need). Anyway, here goes.....l can take it on the chin (I think!)
Regards.
Gerald
www.gumuslukvillas.co.uk
Here goes.......
-
Hells Bells
- Posts: 13173
- Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 8:42 am
- Location: French Alps
- Contact:
-
Bellywobble
- Posts: 1262
- Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 7:40 pm
Gerald,
You're probably right about the site being 'too wordy', but I'm just as guilty of that myself!!
Very nice layout, all very clear and good choice of piccies; just one little thing, and it's probably just me, but you use the same two photos (in the same position) on your home page and the 'our villas' page - I'd probably change that around a little, as it makes things look a little samey.
But all the best with this, you deserve to do well with the amount of work put into it.
You're probably right about the site being 'too wordy', but I'm just as guilty of that myself!!
Very nice layout, all very clear and good choice of piccies; just one little thing, and it's probably just me, but you use the same two photos (in the same position) on your home page and the 'our villas' page - I'd probably change that around a little, as it makes things look a little samey.
But all the best with this, you deserve to do well with the amount of work put into it.
AndyLucia
If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all!!
If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all!!
Looks great!
The only minor niggles would be:
I found the left hand navigation a bit hard to read on that stripey background, and a bit small, so long-sighted people (typically older) or anyone with any colour perception problems (10 % of men have them to some degree) might have a few problems.
I also found the way that there's no differentiation between subnavigation and main navigation a bit confusing - maybe change the colour or indent these subsections?
I'd like to be able to click on the photos to enlarge them.
The kitchen photo in Villa Oya could do with a little brightening up...
I like having plenty to read, and it's all good stuff, but maybe look at breaking it up a little with bold headings for people to skim over easily, or perhaps some bulleted summaries?
But these are all small things, it looks super, and I don't feel it's too wordy at all if the text is formatted a little more...
The only minor niggles would be:
I found the left hand navigation a bit hard to read on that stripey background, and a bit small, so long-sighted people (typically older) or anyone with any colour perception problems (10 % of men have them to some degree) might have a few problems.
I also found the way that there's no differentiation between subnavigation and main navigation a bit confusing - maybe change the colour or indent these subsections?
I'd like to be able to click on the photos to enlarge them.
The kitchen photo in Villa Oya could do with a little brightening up...
I like having plenty to read, and it's all good stuff, but maybe look at breaking it up a little with bold headings for people to skim over easily, or perhaps some bulleted summaries?
But these are all small things, it looks super, and I don't feel it's too wordy at all if the text is formatted a little more...
Thank you all for your helpful comments.
Used the same photo twice as I didn't have any alternatives - will be taking some more photos when we go out to Turkey next week. Also a few lounge shots which we haven't got.....
Will work on the left hand navigation when I return - had a quick try to increase the font size the other evening (am using NetObjects Fusion 8) but couldn't resolve it. Have brightened up the kitchen photo as suggested.
I decided not to go for a photo gallery, as there are already plenty of photos on the site. Would nevertheless like to know how to double click on a photo to bring it up full size - anybody know how to do that in NOF8 ??
Regards.
Gerald
www.gumuslukvillas.co.uk
Idyllic Holidays on the Bodrum Peninsula, Turkey
Used the same photo twice as I didn't have any alternatives - will be taking some more photos when we go out to Turkey next week. Also a few lounge shots which we haven't got.....
Will work on the left hand navigation when I return - had a quick try to increase the font size the other evening (am using NetObjects Fusion 8) but couldn't resolve it. Have brightened up the kitchen photo as suggested.
I decided not to go for a photo gallery, as there are already plenty of photos on the site. Would nevertheless like to know how to double click on a photo to bring it up full size - anybody know how to do that in NOF8 ??
Regards.
Gerald
www.gumuslukvillas.co.uk
Idyllic Holidays on the Bodrum Peninsula, Turkey
-
paul smith
- Posts: 62
- Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2005 6:15 pm
- Location: Turkey / UK
- Contact:
Hi Gerald I would be interested in having a chat with you one day on build costs. In additon to our villa we have land with planning permission for 2 further villas and hope to build some time in the future when finances permit. My husband is Turkish and his family are there which will help but it would be good to get an idea. Our builds will be on much smaller plots as only 100m to the sea which seems to be the norm in Turkey the nearer you are the smaller they get.
Ps Your website looks great one thing I did notice was that the font changed on different pages which is not a big problem but
easy to resolve. Well done and good luck.
Ps Your website looks great one thing I did notice was that the font changed on different pages which is not a big problem but
easy to resolve. Well done and good luck.
Always Learning
Re: Here goes.......
We thought this too as we weren't sure that we wanted 'strangers' in our house that we'd spent so long renovating. However, none of them actually want to pay any money to go so I'd probably re-think that one if I were you!! Site looks great, some stunning photos but I do agree the nav bar on the left is a bit difficult to read, same background with a bigger font would probably be ok though.ballamboy wrote: We hope to get plenty of interest from friends and colleagues so not too worried as yet about getting listed on Google etc (although have subscribed to Adwords). Will work on the metatags and all those bits I don't yet understand later.....
Kathy
Gumusluk Villas
Gorgeous pictures. I agree about the left hand navigation being a bit small. To begin with, I tried to click on the pictures to enlarge them, but then I accepted that they wre a reasonable size anyway (and I haven't a clue how to do it).
I'm only just starting to think about my own website, so forcing myself to critique others is as useful for me as it might be for the ones critiqued.
I did feel that, compared to many, the top was a little plain. Have you tried using one of those stretched photos across the top?
Also, I felt that something about the text was too plain. It looked a bit like an academic document. Maybe it's the font, maybe it's the white background, or maybe it's the way it's placed in a big block of text. Whatever it is, if I were you I'd experiment a bit with a few variations, e.g try a pale cream for the background, or a couple of different fonts, or some headings to break it up.
That said, it still does the job. I found it straightforward to navigate, with no irritating loops, and the information was clear. I'm just being a bit picky, that's all.
I'm only just starting to think about my own website, so forcing myself to critique others is as useful for me as it might be for the ones critiqued.
I did feel that, compared to many, the top was a little plain. Have you tried using one of those stretched photos across the top?
Also, I felt that something about the text was too plain. It looked a bit like an academic document. Maybe it's the font, maybe it's the white background, or maybe it's the way it's placed in a big block of text. Whatever it is, if I were you I'd experiment a bit with a few variations, e.g try a pale cream for the background, or a couple of different fonts, or some headings to break it up.
That said, it still does the job. I found it straightforward to navigate, with no irritating loops, and the information was clear. I'm just being a bit picky, that's all.
Debut novelist at http://tinyurl.com/or89jle
http://wivenhoewriters.blogspot.co.uk/
Contributor to anthology 'In a Word: Murder'
http://wivenhoewriters.blogspot.co.uk/
Contributor to anthology 'In a Word: Murder'
Thanks for the replies and constructive comments....my apologies for not replying earlier but that four letter word 'work' and a holiday (to Villa Ata) got in the way!
I will definitely be looking at changing the navigation bar and making it a bit larger - I just need to work out how to do it.....
I was thinking about the font myself - I have put up some 'flyers' at work, and thought they looked a bit stark...yes, the background will change and I'll probably go for 'Comic Sans MS' which loooks a little less formal. May also play about with the banner heading.
Thanks for the comments about the photos - most are my own, but I searched pretty hard on the internet to find some atmospheric ones. Turkey is a wonderful country (despite the recent bombs). As they say 'a picture tells a thousand words.....'
We've had a few bookings for the Autumn, and have placed ourselves with 'Undiscovered Turkey' so we're fairly confident that we'll get bookings next year. We've also got good Turkish contacts in the travel trade so we hope to get a few bookings that way too.
Kathyg - you are dead right about not wanting to let the place out, but as with most of us I guess it's a question of neccesity...until those balls come up on the lottery. I will wait and see if any of our friends/colleagues book - I don't mind doing them a discounted rate but I've made it pretty clear in passing that bills mount up all through the year.....let's wait and see if the interest turns into bookings.
Caroliner - good luck with your Spanish project....and Hanorah, have enjoyed visiting your website ....will pm you re costs but probably of limited use as our site was difficult, with a lot of external work needed to raise the houses to make the most of the site. I'm also told that the Bodrum Peninsula is a fairly pricey area to build in (supply and demand and large numbers of moneyed Turkish families holidaying there...)
Regards.
Gerald
www.gumuslukvillas.co.uk
Idyllic Holidays on the Bodrum Peninsula, Turkey
I will definitely be looking at changing the navigation bar and making it a bit larger - I just need to work out how to do it.....
I was thinking about the font myself - I have put up some 'flyers' at work, and thought they looked a bit stark...yes, the background will change and I'll probably go for 'Comic Sans MS' which loooks a little less formal. May also play about with the banner heading.
Thanks for the comments about the photos - most are my own, but I searched pretty hard on the internet to find some atmospheric ones. Turkey is a wonderful country (despite the recent bombs). As they say 'a picture tells a thousand words.....'
We've had a few bookings for the Autumn, and have placed ourselves with 'Undiscovered Turkey' so we're fairly confident that we'll get bookings next year. We've also got good Turkish contacts in the travel trade so we hope to get a few bookings that way too.
Kathyg - you are dead right about not wanting to let the place out, but as with most of us I guess it's a question of neccesity...until those balls come up on the lottery. I will wait and see if any of our friends/colleagues book - I don't mind doing them a discounted rate but I've made it pretty clear in passing that bills mount up all through the year.....let's wait and see if the interest turns into bookings.
Caroliner - good luck with your Spanish project....and Hanorah, have enjoyed visiting your website ....will pm you re costs but probably of limited use as our site was difficult, with a lot of external work needed to raise the houses to make the most of the site. I'm also told that the Bodrum Peninsula is a fairly pricey area to build in (supply and demand and large numbers of moneyed Turkish families holidaying there...)
Regards.
Gerald
www.gumuslukvillas.co.uk
Idyllic Holidays on the Bodrum Peninsula, Turkey