Revamp awaits your comments

[enid]

I'd be really grateful for some feedback. I realise everything isn't quite there yet but I need some feedback before I go on. This has been such a learning curve for me and I have taken an age to get this far but I hope I'm not too far off the end now.

I still have to do the When to Come page and add links (those of you who link to me could you remind me and I'll redo the links here)

Be gentle with me - I'm an old woman

http://www.peyrenegre.net/_newsite

[pete]

enid

I wish my site looked more like yours !! it is really easy to navigate and use and i am definatly no techy

something funny happens with dates when i look at the living in france tab

pete

[Chambo]

Hello,

I loved the look of your site, especially the top intro banner, with the gorgeous pictures. I also really liked the colour scheme.

I guess the info to the living in france recent posts haven't been added yet?

The only thing I'd say about the front page would be that the 3 large photos in the vertical line would like lots better aligned, or the same size. Oh, and a big bedroom shot (like the one on the facilities and services page) would be great on the front page too.

Echo the alignment (and possible borders?) of photos for the gites page too.

These are just my thoughts though, really nice site,
Anna

[Chambo]

Hello again,
Forgot to say there is a typo - "read ARICLES about our life in France"..
Anna

[Bellywobble]

I love the web site it sounds both informative and inviting. I got a little confused with the photos though. I wasn't sure why some were from The Isle of Wight and why one was of a white van?
I felt there were too many in the gite section. I tried to view them as a slide show but it was taking forever. As some were very similar, I would suggested taking some out.

Also some were lovely and crisp but others very blurry! The pool shots were blurry but I could still see how lovely it is.

Having read the site information I was dying to read the articles but they wouldn't open for me.

I'm not surprised its taken you ages to put together but its going to be well worth it.

[polly]

I must say, that considering that you were expecting negative feedback - it's a great website.

I like the colour scheme, and the navigation. You have excelent content, with lots of information in a nice clear format.

One negative comment, which isn't really critical, is the image alignment. If your images were more in line, then your page would look a lot neater.

Good luck with your site though, and well done.

[Martha]

Enid, this looks super. Is it adapted from a wordpress layout? It's really, really great!
I think the gallery could maybe do with a bit of work - I agree with Bellywobble, some are blurred and there's too many. Maybe divide them up into albums?

I also think it would be good to make the galley link more obvious as it always seems to be what people want to see first.

Lovely photos in the top bar!

[enid]

Aha I can explain all re the white van!!! I had forgotten that I had that photo gallery there - I did it following a conversation with Jane about using Flickr and it doesn't link to the right photos it was just there to see if it worked. So MUST change that very quickly.

Thanks for the comments. Now I'll 'fess up. My daughter did the template - I am doing the content. I was just using the WYSIWYG editor in Wordpress but that kept causing lots of problems so I started to teach myself code.

I obviously have some more learning to do!!!

I would like to centre the whole thing so that it shows up the same on different sized screens and centre the photos so any tips on that would be gratefully recieved.

You have excelent content, with lots of information in a nice clear format.

Thanks for that I was worried about the content.

Re the Living in France posts - yes I've only got he headings but I wanted to do that to give a feel of how it should be.

So
the gallery link isn't right I can easily sort that,
the pictures I can change but need to learn how to centre them
Need to learn how to centre the whole thing
Proofread
Write the articles!!!!!`
Write the When to Come page

Thanks so much and more input would be lovely.

[Giddy Goat]

I was lucky enough to have had a preview of Enid's site a few weeks ago and to have given her feedback - there's nothing more to add as it's all been said - I too love the banner, the colour scheme, and the wealth of information written in such a friendly and inviting way. Enid makes good text writing look easy - but it isn't!

I'm lost in admiration Enid and will look forward to seeing the final result, it's fab. Congrats,

Jane (of white van fame )

[enid]

Aw Jane that's so lovely - I was really worried about the content - wanted to give the info but be friendly too - it's not easy. Hats off to all copywriters.

I'm hoping Garri is around and e-richard perhaps to be a bit more brutal! - think that's what I need.

[paolo]

Chapeau, Enid, looking good so far. I'll take for granted all the good stuff and just tell you what I would change:

- I always think it is a waste of a heading to say 'Welcome'. It's not as if it actually puts someone more at ease to read that. This is the first thing that will be read, and could be the last. It should say what the site is about and reassure the visitor that they are in the right place. I would say:

"Peyrenegre: Holiday Cottages in the Lot-et-Garonne, SW France"


- Put 'Booking Information' in line with the the other three at the top, which allows you to push the whole page up a bit.

- Add captions to the pictures in the middle of the page so we know what we are looking at (not just in the alt tag), and we are encouraged to click for more.

- On the bigger versions of the pictures, include an extended caption, explaining for example what is in the health suite.

- The top banner montage ends in half a picture, makes me want to scroll sideways. I would cut it and work in a picture of the surrounding countryside to say "Rural French idyll!" I would also put in a thin white line between each of the pictures, for clarity.

- I like your quotes on each page. I would put each in quote marks, and attribute them. Don't name names, just use initials or initials and home town. The one about it being like unspoilt Provence and Tuscany hits hardest and I would have that on the homepage. The Priestly one is too vague.

[e-richard]

I'm hoping Garri is around and e-richard perhaps to be a bit more brutal! - think that's what I need.

Brutal ? Nah I could never be that

But here goes:

Home page/general
Content, overall layout, text styles and colors are all very good. It has that Wordpress/Blog look, but thats no bad thing.

The banner montage. I may have preferred one single panoramic picture. Matter of taste, but less cluttered than the existing one, which seems to go on an on for ever to the right (I have an extra extra wide screen so can see lots more pictures than you !)

3 lots of navigation (1 at very top of page, 1 under banner and 1 more down left) - they seem to overlap. I am confused as to what is what, they seem to be subsets of one another. Can you explain what you're trying to do ?

Aesthetically, the front page can be smartened up:
1. Make the width of the top left picture, exactly the same as the width as the side navigation
2. Make the 3 pictures in the center all identical width
3. Put a space between the 3 vertical pictures. actually you probably want tp put a carriage return between each of the pictures anyway, as they will otherwise go horizontal on a very wide screen.

The above ideas can/should be applied to other pages as well.

A couple of specific pages:
Facilities page.

Two different styles:
Style 1: short sentences, left ranged, tiny pictures on right:
a. Put a full stop at end of each sentence. Even better, make them into bullet lists, but not indented if you can.
b. Picture is extremely small, and no real clue to click for larger one. This piture could do with some lightenening/photoshop tampering.

Style 2: prose, justified text with small pictures on either side.
Both pool pictures click thru to the same. One of them is wrong. Otherwise, this is cool.

My point here is do you want two different layout styles within the body of one page ? I feel it would look smarter if the whole page just used one of either of the above styles.

The Region Page
(at the top it says Our Region, on the side it says The Region and both go to same page)

This uses a smaller font. Why ?
Try to maintain Consistency throughout the site.
There is a missing open double quote on the quotation from Sam Taylor.

I have avoided duplicating some other very good points made above. Hope this helps. Sorry if it makes more work for you, but, well, you did ask !

[enid]

Thanks Richard

I don't want more work but of course I realise that I have to do some more!!! This list is very helpful for me. I am learning how to write code as I go so if anyone thinks I am not addressing their points - I am but slooooooowly!!!

[Brian]

I've got my own unorthodox ideas ideas about what websites should look and feel like.

I think sites should be visual not textual, and as far as I'm concerned, the best way to sell a resort is through video. If you don't have video, then the home page, in my mind, should have a single, splashy image. I do believe a picture is worth a thousand words. So that the one area your site could improve upon. The home page, which I think is the main sales tool, needs a nice big visual image.

Everything else is very professional looking.

I think web content is headed towards video and away from text and still images. It's what web 3.0 is all about.

[enid]

Thanks for you prompt if rather brief review. I shall add you comments to the list.