Review for another oldie!

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.
la vache!
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Post by la vache! »

Paul, thanks for your idea. I've changed the font to how you suggested on the homepage, I really like it, what do you think?
Paul Carmel
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Post by Paul Carmel »

I like it! Have a go at making it 1 size larger. If you have another thumbnail, you could try to do the banner like my old site,

http://www.corsicanholidays.com/Corsica ... index.html
Cheers
PC
la vache!
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Post by la vache! »

I've got stacks of photos I can make into thumbnails. How do I get them together, do I need some software?I tried the next font size up, but it's way too big, I think just by making it bold has improved it a lot.
Paul Carmel
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Post by Paul Carmel »

The software I used to make that site cost about 25p way back in 2001, I still have it.........somewhere, if you email me the thumbnails I will give it a go
Cheers
PC
la vache!
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Post by la vache! »

Thanks very much¨for the offer Paul - I've e-mailed you.
la vache!
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Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 7:22 pm

Post by la vache! »

Thanks to Paul, I have changed the font and the header, so any other comments about the site now would be welcome!
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Garri
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Post by Garri »

Good evening Susan,

You have the making of a nice site but I would ditch the idea of having all text in bold - it's actually difficult on the eye. There's no variation, so it's hard to pick info out. Experiment with colours, spacing etc. Consider using stylesheets to control the look of your site, that way you only have 1 file to change without disturbing your content.

Typographically your site is a mess, sorry.

I like the logo though (Bauhaus font?). Perhaps utilise that more for headings.

Photos of a beach on home page is a little misleading as it implies your property is close to a beach but reading the blurb it appears to be a 45 minute drive away.

The photos either side of the logo disrupt the overall balance of your layout, I preferred them when they were all on the right side as they counter-balanced the main photo in your content on left.

Main photo has border, the others don't so it looks like a mistake.

And finally, you should put your navigational elements at the top as well as the footer.
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Garri
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Post by Garri »

Susan wrote:How do I set up a subject line for the contact us e-mail?
Thanks
?subject=Whatever you want to write in your subject line
la vache!
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Post by la vache! »

Hi Garri,
Did you have a good hibernation? Thanks for the comments - I am a website novice (as you have probably realised) so I have no idea where to get stylesheets from. I will look into what you say. Fortunately my site has got very good search engiine ratings, in fact I get most of my bookings from it and not the rental listing sites, so it can't be all that bad! However, I would like to make it as professional as possible,so I really appreciate your comments, but would like them directed to someone who has no idea what CSS is! Also, "typographically", does that refer specifically to the font and/or the placing of the text?
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Garri
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Post by Garri »

Susan wrote:Hi Garri,
Did you have a good hibernation?
Yes thanks. Our first child was born on October 19, so have been enjoying fatherhood and just getting back to 'normal' although I use that word carefully ;-)
Susan wrote: Also, "typographically", does that refer specifically to the font and/or the placing of the text?
Both! How the text is rendered, laid out etc. You've done such a good job with your logo e.g. choice of type, rendering etc, so I was surprised the rest of the type on your site is poor.

If you design your site with CSS it means you can tweak things like the typographical aspects of your site without disturbing the content - the look of your site is controlled by just 1 file containing all the style elements.

A very neat tool for trying out how certain fonts look on screen is Typetester:

typetester.maratz.com

The great thing about this generous little web app is the ability to output the css code for pasting into your site.
la vache!
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Post by la vache! »

Congratulations on the new arrival Garri!
I haven't a clue how to use CSS, only tables - I have just been adjusting things on a small basis. Is there anywhere you can recommend for CSS templates?
Paul Carmel
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Post by Paul Carmel »

Susan,

If you have the time, have a read though the following site. If you drop off mid way through, don't worry, as its dull as ditch water.

http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/
Cheers
PC
moose
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Post by moose »

Hi Susan, I am such a novice I dont reqlly feel qualifed to comment but I love your site (we've already talked about this) but one thing that always grabs me is that you've made your text 'centred' so when I read the titles of the 3 gites I always think it looks a bit untidy - like someone forgot to put the tabs in! You could try just listing them on the left hand margin - and blocking the text? It might just tidy it up - typographically speaking!

Worth a try? (But you don't have to!!!!!!!!)
reddevil
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Post by reddevil »

Fortunately my site has got very good search engiine ratings, in fact I get most of my bookings from it and not the rental listing sites, so it can't be all that bad!
...and this is where another potential problem comes into play. If you change just one word on your page then Google will reevaluate and your search engine ranking will change. OK, for one word your SE ranking may stay the same, but behind the scenes, your score will be different. Will it be higher or lower, nobody but Google and the others will know.

Now, change a whole line from normal font to bold font and this will have a much bigger difference to your hidden score (and therefore your actual ranking). Then change your menu position from the bottom to the top and it will again afect your page.

So, what I am saying is expect your rankings to fall and/or rise or, if you are already getting most of your bookings from Google referals then...don;t fix it if it ain't broken?
--------------------------------------------------
What would you attempt to do if you knew you would not fail?
la vache!
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Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 7:22 pm

Post by la vache! »

Good point on the search engine rating Reddevil. I may leave the menu at the bottom in that case. Moose, thanks for the tip, I will have a play around with the text layout. It looks a bit weird to me too!
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