Would appreciate comments/criticisms on our redesigned site!

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.
helen
Posts: 22
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:05 am
Location: North Wales, UK
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Would appreciate comments/criticisms on our redesigned site!

Post by helen »

I have taken a deep breath and think I am ready to be bombarded with advice and criticism on our re-vamped site. We had someone set it up for us though (dare I admit it!) content is all down to me!
Site can be found at www.abersochholidays.co.uk
I have my fingers (and toes) crossed!
Helen
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roxytoo
Posts: 1701
Joined: Thu Feb 03, 2005 8:23 am
Location: Spain Costa Blanca

Post by roxytoo »

I think it's wonderful!!

The only critisim I may have is that the rolling photos on the right distracts me from reading the text property!!! I really wanted to read the text but my eye kept wandering over to the right, not sure what the answer is to this!! I think its a very pleasing site, all info is there and very easy to find your way around!
sazzleevans1
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2005 6:01 pm
Location: costa de la luz
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Post by sazzleevans1 »

Bora da,

I loved your site. Very easy to look around and most importantly it looks professional. You must have worked very hard!!

Have you considered translation the site into Welsh at all?

This could give you alot of bonus points with media types from down south.

Hywel.

SARAH :P
Fraise
Posts: 2079
Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2004 8:25 am
Location: Charente Maritime and Middle England

Post by Fraise »

Enjoyed the site! My only criticism is that the photo in the Farmhouse isn't good enough ( hey, this is my opinion!)-it shows an unattractive bunk bed and not much else.I know how hard it is with photos- my site is still lacking in this department!I haven't got enough good ones uploaded yet and I feel some of my best rooms aren't being shown but I think maybe you have the same problem? This cannot be the best room in the Farmhouse? Other than that-well done! Quite a few properties to manage,good for you ! :D

www.thepetitmanoir.com
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vrooje
Posts: 3202
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 2:48 am
Location: Burgundy, France

Post by vrooje »

Helen,

Very nice site! I found it easy to navigate and loaded with information. At first I thought the brown/tan color scheme would be off-putting, but the larger blue-to-white background offsets it nicely, I think.

Let me post my objections, but please keep in mind that overall I like the site very, very much!
  • I agree that the rotating pictures are a little distracting. However, I think it's because they rotate so quickly. I don't have a problem with them being there in the first place -- but unless I just sit and stare at the picture, I won't catch them all. I would recommend tripling (at least) the time between changes of the image.

    Also, I'd like to see some picture captions. Even if you have described the pictures in the text, captions are still important. That might be somewhat hard to code into the rotating pictures, but it doesn't have to be.

    Your fonts are very professional and well-optimized for the page, but they may be a bit too small. I'd recommend increasing them by +1.

    Lastly, the type of navigation menus you're using may not be compatible with all browsers. Have you tried them with Safari and Opera? They work fine in Firefox, and presumably with IE, which will cover you for the majority of people, but you might want to check them in other browsers too.
Cheers!
Brooke
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rich_sipe
Posts: 69
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2005 11:35 pm
Location: Redmond, OR
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Post by rich_sipe »

This probably won't help considering the last post but I thought that the background took away from the look of the site. I would also probably take the gradient fill from the top banner. I know it is fun once you start using gradient fill but it is too much and in the top bar the gradient is not set to be spread enough or the image was saved to low quality so you can see bars of gradient change. I also might even go with a dark brown or (cover your ears) black background. It would really make your main content pop out.

For the bottom print bookmark etc bar I would remove the images and make the text smaller. i don't think that the images really offer that much more to the design of the site and are a little hokey.

Also here we go again but Firefox is splitting up your side table just a bit.

Hope this helps.
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vrooje
Posts: 3202
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 2:48 am
Location: Burgundy, France

Post by vrooje »

Interesting -- it's great to get different perspectives on this site!

The reason I like the blue-to-white gradient background is that it reminds me of a blue sky. The main part of your page is brown and tan, and to me that would be a little dingy and dark if it weren't for the gradient.

But it's very true that another way to go entirely is to go with a dark color like black to make your pictures really stand out. The trick there is that your pictures have to be really vibrant and high-contrast, else the dark background will bring them down instead of pumping them up.
Brooke
helen
Posts: 22
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:05 am
Location: North Wales, UK
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Post by helen »

Noswaith da pawb!
Good evening everybody!
Thank you so much for all your comments! Bit silly of me to choose a bank holiday weekend to invite input - I have a gift shop in the village and of course first bank holiday of the season, with that and the accommodation, it is manic here! Oh dont we all just love our visitors!!!
I intend taking more photos, especially of the accommodation (yep! Bunk room is probably the worst of the house!) - I find it really hard to get good interior shots. I will slow up the changing pictures and hopefully get captions on them too. I will work through all the rest of the comments and 'promise to try harder next time'!!
I find these website reviews (in fact all of the forum) fascinating, though unfortunately the technical bits leave me standing - I just wish I had more time spend reading it more often but I really appreciate all the different opinions and will be taking them on board.
Thanks to all!
Helen :lol:
A-two
Posts: 2091
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 10:05 am
Location: USA

Post by A-two »

Hi Helen,
Love the site, but in the hair splitting department, let me point you to this copy on the new house:

"The house is clean and comfortable though due to be upgraded in the near future, meanwhile it is rather like walking in to an interesting 60’s time warp! But its location and comparatively low rental reflect this."

Hmmmm.... might I think it OK to trash because it's going to be refurbished anyway?

You might be interested to know that one of the biggest selling features of our place is that it is a "Classic 1970s beach house in a very natural setting". We too have "many original features". This is not a bug, it's a feature and a selling point!

Admittedly, we got rid of some of the 30 year old wallpaper, but only after a few years of renting. We were amazed at how our visitors just loved it for what it is, and had booked our place rather than a post-modern, neo-victorian house in the much more glizty Hamptons nearby, even though some of them could certainly afford the latter. We didn't aim in that direction, but they find us, as well families with more modest means.

Generally, I think families are attracted by "unpretentious", they find it more relaxing and enjoyable. The important thing is, as you say, to keep the place comfortably furnished and spotlessly clean. We just add to that luxurious towels, fine bedlinens and quality bathroom toiletries, and of course make sure everything works perfectly.

Consequently, I would encourage you all the way to try playing up the 60s features rather than playing them down and you may be surprised by the response.

Last year we were booked by a big name Hollywood Producer for exactly the reason that our place is a quiet, discreet, unpretentious retreat where he could bring his wife and young children anonymously and enjoy a unique holiday experience - it's all in the packaging.

All the best,
Joanna
helen
Posts: 22
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:05 am
Location: North Wales, UK
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Post by helen »

Many thanks Joanna!
That has definitely given me food for thought.
I will have another look at it with a view to emphasising the 'original features' rather than obliterating them!
Regards
Helen
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paolo
Posts: 3885
Joined: Thu Jun 17, 2004 1:18 pm
Location: Provence, France
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Post by paolo »

Helen,

Double thumbs up from me. The only nits I would pick are:

- the bottom of the page is too busy with little images and different typefaces;

- the left hand menu isn't working very hard. The News & Offers box doesn't grab me and make me click on the specials. "Bargain special" doesn't mean anything to me, it sounds like two adjectives in need of a noun.

On the Bargains Special page you are promoting weekend bookings in Sep-Nov. I would have pics here that show how lovely the place is at that time of year. I'd also set out the reasons for visiting then - it may be obvious that it will be less crowded, but it's worth pointing out.
Paolo
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