Another site waiting for a critical eye.

Get some feedback on your site or ad from other rental owners and techies. Also a library of online resources so you can make DIY improvements to your web presence.
ChrisP
Posts: 35
Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2016 11:20 am
Location: Normandy, France
Contact:

Another site waiting for a critical eye.

Post by ChrisP »

Hello All,

Could I please ask for a review of out site which I put online a couple of months ago?

www.normandygetaways.com

Any thoughts and/or suggestions gratefully accepted.

Many thanks,

Chris
User avatar
kevsboredagain
Posts: 3207
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:32 am
Location: France
Contact:

Post by kevsboredagain »

1st 10 second impression is that I like it but will look in detail after work. You don't need to tell people it's a website, as I think they already know.
FelicityA
Posts: 2816
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2010 2:54 pm
Location: Cotswolds
Contact:

Post by FelicityA »

Just clicked in for a moment and good first impression although I found the two paragraphs of information on the first page a bit distracting. I would prefer one below the other rather than side by side. My eyes were flipping from one to the other, uncertain as to which to read first!

Also what is with the little plus sign that drops down when you click on the four boxes, breakfast, tea and coffee etc. When I click on a box there it goes nowhere?
ChrisP
Posts: 35
Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2016 11:20 am
Location: Normandy, France
Contact:

Post by ChrisP »

FelicityA wrote:Just clicked in for a moment and good first impression although I found the two paragraphs of information on the first page a bit distracting. I would prefer one below the other rather than side by side. My eyes were flipping from one to the other, uncertain as to which to read first!

Also what is with the little plus sign that drops down when you click on the four boxes, breakfast, tea and coffee etc. When I click on a box there it goes nowhere?
Hello Felicity,

Thanks for the feedback, I'll have to have a think about the two paragraphs.

The drop down plus signs are meant to indicate that more information is available. When clicked, a pop-up box should appear, but it may have done so off the viewable area.

I have tested the site on a variety of fixed and mobile devices, but not all, can I ask, what did you use to view the site?

Best regards,

Chris
tavi
Posts: 2578
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2011 9:07 pm
Location: Algarve

Post by tavi »

Hi Chris,

Just had a quick look.

Agree with Felicity - I would replace the two paragraphs on the home page with two bulleted lists showing your USPs...to grab people's attention.

something like:
  • 250 year-old farmhouse B&B with pool and relaxing gardens
    spacious antique-filled guest rooms with ensuite shower-rooms
    luxurious bedding, towels and complimentary toiletries
    home-made breakfast daily
    table d'hote dinner blah blah
and the other bullet list could highlight the location
  • close to the ferry ports of
    xxx km from xxx trains stations
    pick-up service available for
    close to the historic towns of.....
.

Your initial photos seem a bit small - a shame as you have some lovely ones. I can't find any photographs of the shower rooms?

Hope that's useful, must fly.

Tavi

Ps also agree you don't need to say welcome to website..........
FelicityA
Posts: 2816
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2010 2:54 pm
Location: Cotswolds
Contact:

Post by FelicityA »

Chris - in answer to your question about the + signs. I was on a Mac using Chrome.
ChrisP
Posts: 35
Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2016 11:20 am
Location: Normandy, France
Contact:

Post by ChrisP »

tavi wrote:Hi Chris,

Just had a quick look.

Agree with Felicity - I would replace the two paragraphs on the home page with two bulleted lists showing your USPs...to grab people's attention.

something like:
  • 250 year-old farmhouse B&B with pool and relaxing gardens
    spacious antique-filled guest rooms with ensuite shower-rooms
    luxurious bedding, towels and complimentary toiletries
    home-made breakfast daily
    table d'hote dinner blah blah
and the other bullet list could highlight the location
  • close to the ferry ports of
    xxx km from xxx trains stations
    pick-up service available for
    close to the historic towns of.....
.

Your initial photos seem a bit small - a shame as you have some lovely ones. I can't find any photographs of the shower rooms?

Hope that's useful, must fly.

Tavi

Ps also agree you don't need to say welcome to website..........
Hi Tavi,

Thanks for your comments, every bit helps.

I'm pondering the columnar text issue and how best to improve that.

The smaller images can be clicked on to reveal large versions, but may not be apparent. I may need to add a notation or overlay an icon to indicate their 'clickability'.

Prior to moving to France, we lived at Great Rollright which is a little up the road from you near Chipping Norton.

Best regards,

Chris
FelicityA
Posts: 2816
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2010 2:54 pm
Location: Cotswolds
Contact:

Post by FelicityA »

OT to Chris - just drove past the turn to Great Rollright this evening! Lovely part of the world. You must miss it. I send my visitors to the Rollright Stones as our mini-Stonehenge. :wink:
ChrisP
Posts: 35
Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2016 11:20 am
Location: Normandy, France
Contact:

Post by ChrisP »

FelicityA wrote:OT to Chris - just drove past the turn to Great Rollright this evening! Lovely part of the world. You must miss it. I send my visitors to the Rollright Stones as our mini-Stonehenge. :wink:
You could have popped in and surprised our renter. :)
User avatar
kevsboredagain
Posts: 3207
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:32 am
Location: France
Contact:

Post by kevsboredagain »

More time now so I've had a look.

As said already, saying welcome to our website is a no no. You can say welcome I guess but we know it's a website.

The second button took me straight to another section and I wasn't sure how to get back. Finally figured out the logo at the top would do that. On a single page layout, which I like, the navigation up and down needs to be easily accessible, which is isn't.

I was using a large monitor but still the home page/section picture with phone number was off the screen. I also think that section should say what you're selling. All I know so far is that it's a getaway in Normandy. I would aim to show what your are selling to most display sizes, without scrolling.

Key info for me would be how many rooms but I had to keep going to find this out.

The little + symbol leads to a tool tip but it's kind of redundant when the whole image links to the same URL. The user is struggling to click on a tiny icon when clicking on the image does the same thing.

I'm always a bit unsure about putting weather forecasts on a website. I know I still have one on mine. The problem is that most people book in winter, when the weather is bad. Seeing this bad weather doesn't help promote the summer holiday feeling.

Photos in slideshows are a little small at only 550 pixels. I then found a full screen gallery but it seemed kind of detached from the rest of the site. A happy medium would be enough.

"Remember to bring sunscreen" is just a bit over the top. These are you clients not your children lol

Checkin 4pm -7pm seems a small time window.

The tabbed enquiry/booking form is a nice touch.

But overall the site looks good.
ChrisP
Posts: 35
Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2016 11:20 am
Location: Normandy, France
Contact:

Post by ChrisP »

kevsboredagain wrote:More time now so I've had a look...
Hi Kevin,

Thank you for the comments and suggestions, very much appreciated.

Now working on revisions to the site.

Had a look at some of your client sites through websiteproud, very nice work.

Regards,

Chris
User avatar
kevsboredagain
Posts: 3207
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:32 am
Location: France
Contact:

Post by kevsboredagain »

ChrisP wrote:
kevsboredagain wrote:More time now so I've had a look...
Hi Kevin,

Thank you for the comments and suggestions, very much appreciated.

Now working on revisions to the site.

Had a look at some of your client sites through websiteproud, very nice work.

Regards,

Chris
Thanks. It looks like you've acquired the skills needed very well already. I'm curious to know what tool you used to make the site. The code looks good quality but not hand written, so I assume some design tool was used? This may be useful to other people attempting the same thing. The only technical problem I noticed was all the Alt tags are missing. Worth filling those out for SEO.
ChrisP
Posts: 35
Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2016 11:20 am
Location: Normandy, France
Contact:

Post by ChrisP »

kevsboredagain wrote: Thanks. It looks like you've acquired the skills needed very well already. I'm curious to know what tool you used to make the site. The code looks good quality but not hand written, so I assume some design tool was used? This may be useful to other people attempting the same thing. The only technical problem I noticed was all the Alt tags are missing. Worth filling those out for SEO.
I started with one of Themeforest's templates and developed from there.

As you know, a template gives a good starting point, but still takes a lot of work to produce a presentable site.

Besides adding text and images (lots of editing), I had to add extra functionality (pop-up windows), tooltips, etc. and edit most of the CSS and some JS files to suit, but you know how that goes.

I may be a bit of a sadist, but my 'tool' of choice is Wordpad. I do have a lot of experience in IT (not programming) and can muddle my way through HTML5, etc. with the help of Google and www.w3schools.com which helps a lot.

Thanks for the SEO tip, I do need to sort the Alt tags.
User avatar
kevsboredagain
Posts: 3207
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:32 am
Location: France
Contact:

Post by kevsboredagain »

ChrisP wrote: I may be a bit of a sadist, but my 'tool' of choice is Wordpad.
Hopefully with syntax highlighting or sadist would indeed be an appropriate term.

It's refreshing to see someone willing to learn the basics and produce something that looks professional.
Kirigiwi
Posts: 52
Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2015 11:13 am
Location: Italy
Contact:

Post by Kirigiwi »

On the whole I really like it, layout is good and the information presented clearly, but I think you could make a better choice for the images to use at the very top. At the moment you have 1 of the house and 3 of the garden and they need to be made way more enticing so that people will scroll down.

I personally would keep just 1 of the garden then add an interior shot and something to represent the general area. Plus maybe one of the pool as I imagine that's quite a selling point - and I can't find any photos of that at all on the site.

You seem to have nice photos of the dining room and the one of the door with the flowers around is very attractive - maybe more so than the whole house one. When you get the chance try and take some more garden shots which include some garden furniture so guests can visualize relaxing there.
Post Reply