Introducing Myself and Request for Advice

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.
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Topcat
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Location: Isla Canela, Costa de la Luz
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Post by Topcat »

I'm going to be in a minority of one here, but I liked the black. However, I echo everything else that's been said, and in particular, too much writing on the first page, and the font is too small - I gave up trying to read it as it makes my head hurt!

Looks a wonderful place, though. Good luck with the rentals,


Topcat
Debut novelist at http://tinyurl.com/or89jle

http://wivenhoewriters.blogspot.co.uk/
Contributor to anthology 'In a Word: Murder'
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Big Sis..
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Post by Big Sis.. »

Welcome to the Forum Badger :) ..
I agree with all thats been said.... Im not keen on the black either...Just wanted to say hello :)
..hope we hear from you again
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Bohinj Badger
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Location: Bohinj Slovenia
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Post by Bohinj Badger »

Dear all,
Many thanks once again to all of the comments which are very useful and I have learned a great deal from them. I am now redesigning the site in my spare weekend time and will let you know how it progresses. Meanwhile you will certainly catch me elsewhere on the forum.

Thanks for your welcome Big Sis. I learn so much from your posts. You are a fountain of friendly knowledge.

Hope you all had a good weekend.

BB
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Garri
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Post by Garri »

Yep, the black needs to go, unless you're selling holiday rentals to goths ;-)

Stunning location and this is your USP, so needs to be exploited visually, which I feel your website isn't doing.

I came across this site on my travels and thought it stood out for several reasons, most of them obvious:

http://www.chaletsdelasemois.be

Not sure about the photo at the end, they should've continued the main pic in my opinion, but it's a great example of a well thought out design/layout/structure.

I like the way they've dealt with the tariff page, nice and easy to read.

By no means perfect, it does provide some inspiration of what can be achieved.
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Bohinj Badger
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Post by Bohinj Badger »

Hi All,

Thanks again for all your advice. I have redesigned the website over the past few weekends. Would be grateful for any feedback. The black has gone!

BB

www.slovenia-chalet.com
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enid
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Post by enid »

The colours look good now. Just a tip - I would make up the beds and put a few things around in the kitchen - it all looks a little sterile at the moment. The beds made up the most important :)
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Garri
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Post by Garri »

I think your headlines e.g. 'Welcome to Bohinj Chalet' etc need to be stronger - either larger text, different typeface or bolder. They look weak and need to be used to break up the monotony of the dense copy.

Also, they're too repetitive as the term Bohinj Chalet is repeated throughout - unnecessary. Can't see the point in this as it's unlikely people will be using that term to search in Google and others.

Choose your headline carefully as these are the first things your visitors will actually read. They're unlikely to read everything else if you don't captivate them with your headlines ;-)

Great photos and nice to see you've added captions - that's good.

You say the chalet is unique but in what way? Is it the only one in that area? You need to tell us why it is unique. More and more people are looking for something different these days, so let them know the USP if it isn't immediately obvious.

Personally, I'm not a fan of flyout menus, they're not user friendly. If I click on 'The Chalet' I get the following:

http://www.slovenia-chalet.com/page4/page4.html

You're relying on users clicking on the flyout options, which many probably won't and they'll end up with same page as above.

It's inaccessible.

The Chalet page should present the flyout options in this case, then we can click on one. Or better, use the page to present an overview of the 2 flyout options.

Same for when I click on any of the other top nav options e.g. The Region presents me with a page called 'Untitled card' and photo of chalet - when I click on it I get a bigger pic but with all the nav elements gone.
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Bohinj Badger
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Post by Bohinj Badger »

Many thanks Enid & Garri

We will certainly take new interior photos next time we are Slovenia, which will probably be in September and we have to take some car with these. Garri your comments are very useful as I had not realised that this could happen with these menus. I will certainly change these at the earliest opportunity.

I am learning a bit more each day.

BB
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Garri
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Post by Garri »

No probs BB...

Some people get wedded to the idea of flyouts but you need to structure your site carefully in order for them to work, otherwise you'll end up with the problem described above.

Best practice, if you want to keep them, is to simply create a root page for The Chalet, and on that page present all, or some, of the info for exterior and interior, with links to each so we can read more if we wish.

The question you need to ask yourself is: does your site actually require flyouts in order for it to work? I'd say no, but like I said, some people get wedded to ideas without thinking of the end user.
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Garri
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Post by Garri »

BB, I'm just in the process of featuring this place and thought of you ;-)

http://www.wildretreat.com

Horrible flyout menus galore, but you'd do well to take note of how they're treating them.

Example: in the nav column down the left, click on the item named Bedwell River Outpost. You'll see the flyouts, but notice that when you click on the nav item itself it displays the first item in the flyout as default - and also gives you a breadcrumb system above so you can track your way back.

Oh, and they use a contextual drop down so you can easily select the main headings of the flyout relating to your choice.

As much as I detest flyout menus this is a perfect example of how to do it right.

The key here, I feel, is in providing the user with a breadcrumb.

A good idea in this site's case since there's quite a lot of content and very easy to get lost in the site, as I'm discovering. The breadcrumb here is a lifesaver.
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Bohinj Badger
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Post by Bohinj Badger »

Garri,

Many thanks for taking the time and trouble to show me this example with your advice. It is much appreciated and you will certainly see this acted upon. Every day I am learning more.

BB
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Garri
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Post by Garri »

Topcat wrote:I'm going to be in a minority of one here, but I liked the black.
Did anyone read the The Times on Saturday? if so then BB may want to re-instate the black background ;-)

There was an interesting article, Black is the new green...

Basically, a black screen allegedly uses less power than a white screen. A nearly all white screen uses 74 watts, a black one consumes 59 watts. They reckon the adoption of what they are calling "the black web" could help solve the "internet energy problem". Is there one?

Anyway, there's even a "black" Google called, wait for it, Blackle. And no, it 'aint a search engine for brothers ;-)

Courtesy of: www.ecoiron.blogspot.com
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Bohinj Badger
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Post by Bohinj Badger »

Garri

-Glad to hear that I am making progress and that things are improving with the site. I have been battling with Rapidweaver and the menus come part and parcel with the theme I am using (but If I had put more upfront thinking into the site...) Your breadcrumb advice really helped but don't think that I am there yet. I am doing this on my faithful mac and ditched iweb in favour of rapidweaver which appears to be more buggy...

Your tutorials with slartibartfast a real gem and I have learned a tonne reading your advice and then seeing slartiblast implement these before our eyes. Real interactive learning! I have still a way to go with my text as it is tooo wordy.

We are going to go over to the chalet in September and will completely re-take all the interior photographs as these are a let down now.

BB
Martha
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Location: Chamonix

Post by Martha »

Looking so much better already!!

btw black is only lower consumption on CRT monitors. On LCDs it's actually higher, because you are having to block light that's already being produced.
Chalet la Foret, Chamonix
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Garri
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Post by Garri »

Yeah, Ian is doing a fine job on his site and wonder if he's keeping an archive so we can see the before and after (I didn't take a screen shot unfortunately)

I've only been giving him input for his home page and helping with the copy, which is much tidier now.

It is great to see the progress unfold.

One thing about flyout menus is they are a bit old school (and annoying). What is becoming popular these days is using AJAX to create what they are calling Dom Tabs - great for splitting up chunks of info and providing an overview without the need of a page refresh. Yahoo! is using this method.

http://onlinetools.org/tools/domtabdata/

I'm currently redesigning my main site and the use of Dom Tabs will be prevalent throughout as it will allow us more freedom to introduce more content and interactivity into our site. And have that content easily displayed and used by our audience - which is the name of the game!
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