Finally got our property ready, and the website is also up and running. Any comments (both good and bad), would be gratefully appreciated. I have already had a few from friends and family, which have been great comments, which I will be implementing in the next few days.
Oh and a quick question. Does anybody here still cater for older browsers (such as IE6, I don't mean people who browse and are not in their first flush of youth, although that would also be a great question!). I only ask because my first instinct was to ignore IE6 (well IE8 just came out, and IE6 is 8 years old, which is ancient in internet time!)
Also managed to book 6 weeks in the 1 1/2 weeks we've been advertised, so we must either be doing something right, or we're too cheap.
http://www.chezpiron.com
Website Review
-
catherinedonegal
- Posts: 378
- Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:10 pm
- Location: Dunkineely, County Donegal, Ireland
- Contact:
hi babnik - well done on getting your site up and running. 
ok. a few things:
- i'm getting a large block of white to the right of screen. maybe this can be adusted but you'll need some of the techies here to tell you how.
- on the opening page you say: "It is set in a large mature garden with plenty of space to laze about on those long hot summer afternoons. If it gets too hot, the pool is only a few metres from the front door." i think it could be worded better, rather than a full stop after 'long hot summer afternoons' and instead of 'If it gets too hot, the pool is only a few meters from the front door', maybe say something along the lines of just slipping into the pool to cool off. your first paragraph has me lazing around enjoying the hot summer afternoon but then you tell me the pool is only a few meters from the front door? i'm already by the pool, suggest to me i might slip into to cool off. hope you understand all that.
- i love the way your pics enlarge just by running over them.
- on bedroom pics, pic 3 of 7, could you adjust your camera exposure to get a pic without the outside being almost whited out? i'm sure you wanted it to show the view but it is too bright and so nothing can really be seen.
- on bedroom 3 and bathroom section. if it were me i'd reword "it's a little high to jump from the bedroom to the pool"
that terrifies me! and you don't want to plant any little seeds that might come to fruition after a drop too much of the local wine!
- on pic 8 of 8 bathroom, what's that white unit to left of pic? it looks like a dehumidifier to me, the viewer and makes me think oh oh is the house damp? it might well be a heater but my first impression was dehumidifier and so some others viewing the site might also think that. least ways, could you take the pic from another angle? also - the bin. why? i'd lose that from the pic.
- on the garden and pool section one thing leaps out. you have built a picture of a holiday place for relaxation and forgetting day to day worries (which is very nice btw), but you put in bold 'security fence'. does that mean there is crime in the area? should i be worried? it might be better to forget the bolding of the words and change to simply 'fence'.
- pic of poll 2/11 - can you do something about the roof that is distracting the eye above the wall? maybe take pic from another angle?
that's my input for what it's worth.
ok. a few things:
- i'm getting a large block of white to the right of screen. maybe this can be adusted but you'll need some of the techies here to tell you how.
- on the opening page you say: "It is set in a large mature garden with plenty of space to laze about on those long hot summer afternoons. If it gets too hot, the pool is only a few metres from the front door." i think it could be worded better, rather than a full stop after 'long hot summer afternoons' and instead of 'If it gets too hot, the pool is only a few meters from the front door', maybe say something along the lines of just slipping into the pool to cool off. your first paragraph has me lazing around enjoying the hot summer afternoon but then you tell me the pool is only a few meters from the front door? i'm already by the pool, suggest to me i might slip into to cool off. hope you understand all that.
- i love the way your pics enlarge just by running over them.
- on bedroom pics, pic 3 of 7, could you adjust your camera exposure to get a pic without the outside being almost whited out? i'm sure you wanted it to show the view but it is too bright and so nothing can really be seen.
- on bedroom 3 and bathroom section. if it were me i'd reword "it's a little high to jump from the bedroom to the pool"
that terrifies me! and you don't want to plant any little seeds that might come to fruition after a drop too much of the local wine!- on pic 8 of 8 bathroom, what's that white unit to left of pic? it looks like a dehumidifier to me, the viewer and makes me think oh oh is the house damp? it might well be a heater but my first impression was dehumidifier and so some others viewing the site might also think that. least ways, could you take the pic from another angle? also - the bin. why? i'd lose that from the pic.
- on the garden and pool section one thing leaps out. you have built a picture of a holiday place for relaxation and forgetting day to day worries (which is very nice btw), but you put in bold 'security fence'. does that mean there is crime in the area? should i be worried? it might be better to forget the bolding of the words and change to simply 'fence'.
- pic of poll 2/11 - can you do something about the roof that is distracting the eye above the wall? maybe take pic from another angle?
that's my input for what it's worth.
Hi babnik
your site is very easy to navigate and gives all the necessary information. The enlarged pictures are great, the thumbnails are quite grainy on my screen though (brand new Macbook).
As one might have noticed from my previous post I am one that is more easily sold to some poetry. You guys are native English speakers, right? It is so much easier for you to write an appealing text, one that makes you dream of the sun while sitting in an office in a gray winter evening. It's good to give facts but I feel your text misses a bit of golden leaf.
Same for the pool and bathroom pictures. Everything looks spanking new but too empty and unused. To increase the "cozy" factor, how about a few nice towels in the bathroom? a couple of parasols and a few flower pots around the pool area? Geraniums are a best sellers.
Again, I am being pedantic and all this might be totally unnecessary for others. You already have a nice site and a very pretty house.
Last but not least, I would absolutely remove any mention about mosquitoes. If anybody asks you, you can say that you have one mosquito net just in case (why over only one bed?). There is people who runs away at the only thought that there might be ONE mosquito around.
your site is very easy to navigate and gives all the necessary information. The enlarged pictures are great, the thumbnails are quite grainy on my screen though (brand new Macbook).
As one might have noticed from my previous post I am one that is more easily sold to some poetry. You guys are native English speakers, right? It is so much easier for you to write an appealing text, one that makes you dream of the sun while sitting in an office in a gray winter evening. It's good to give facts but I feel your text misses a bit of golden leaf.
Same for the pool and bathroom pictures. Everything looks spanking new but too empty and unused. To increase the "cozy" factor, how about a few nice towels in the bathroom? a couple of parasols and a few flower pots around the pool area? Geraniums are a best sellers.
Again, I am being pedantic and all this might be totally unnecessary for others. You already have a nice site and a very pretty house.
Last but not least, I would absolutely remove any mention about mosquitoes. If anybody asks you, you can say that you have one mosquito net just in case (why over only one bed?). There is people who runs away at the only thought that there might be ONE mosquito around.
Re: Website Review
http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.aspBabnik wrote:
Oh and a quick question. Does anybody here still cater for older browsers (such as IE6, I don't mean people who browse and are not in their first flush of youth, although that would also be a great question!). I only ask because my first instinct was to ignore IE6 (well IE8 just came out, and IE6 is 8 years old, which is ancient in internet time!)
Unfortunatelly you need to test on all browsers.
I do not have Windows or Internet Explorer and for a long time had my website crooked on IE7. And people were too polite not to tell me! I am dying of embarrasment now! So went on a IEx testing and fixing today.
Now am downloading IE8 as we speak to run test against that as well.
You need to test on
IE6, IE7, IE8
Opera
Firefox 2, 3
lynx
It pays to test on mobile phones and the extremely difficult to code for : iPhone
... since I am still not rich - I can't afford one to run checks
Anyway, many companies and corporations such as the NHS - still run IE6 (however ancient that still is).
Also you may want to sign up to Browser-Testing websites. I forgot the URL. But they give you a screenshot of what your page looks like on various browsers and resolutions.
If I find the link - I will post it here.
Last edited by HenryG on Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
Blue Shutters
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:45 am
- Location: Charente Maritime France and South West England
- Contact:
I love the look of your place, and would come and stay like a shot if we hadn't just bought a place in the Charente Maritime, just got a website up and started advertising less than three weeks ago just like you!
I would say your prices are very reasonable, especially as you have a heated pool. In fact why not try to get a bit more for those last two peak weeks you have? I have been gobsmacked as we have also let 6 peak weeks in 2 weeks flat, with another week for us breaking up the pattern. If anyone asks it was an early bird discount for the prices on offer before!
The tips on photography are excellent, and I hope the geranium cuttings are widely available in the next few weeks...... I think you will be booked solid very soon, especially as you have already done your French marketing with the gites de france and web translation. What an inspiration....
The Blue Shutters look grand too!
I would say your prices are very reasonable, especially as you have a heated pool. In fact why not try to get a bit more for those last two peak weeks you have? I have been gobsmacked as we have also let 6 peak weeks in 2 weeks flat, with another week for us breaking up the pattern. If anyone asks it was an early bird discount for the prices on offer before!
The tips on photography are excellent, and I hope the geranium cuttings are widely available in the next few weeks...... I think you will be booked solid very soon, especially as you have already done your French marketing with the gites de france and web translation. What an inspiration....
The Blue Shutters look grand too!
Thanks for all the comments. All valid, and all will be taken into consideration. Especially about the some of the photos being too clinical and empty.
Images enlarging doesn't seem to work in IE6, so I've had to add a gallery type feature for IE6, which I've left in for other browsers. The large white space to the right is because I choose to keep the width of the site at 800 pixels as many still seem to have that resolution, although 1024x768 seems to becoming more of the norm. I guess for those with large resolutions there may seem to be a lot of space. My HTML coding skills are not quite up to stretching the page yet.
Images enlarging doesn't seem to work in IE6, so I've had to add a gallery type feature for IE6, which I've left in for other browsers. The large white space to the right is because I choose to keep the width of the site at 800 pixels as many still seem to have that resolution, although 1024x768 seems to becoming more of the norm. I guess for those with large resolutions there may seem to be a lot of space. My HTML coding skills are not quite up to stretching the page yet.
Re: Website Review
Babnik wrote:
Oh and a quick question. Does anybody here still cater for older browsers .
http://www.chezpiron.com
siver surfers 
I'm one of 'em Very inviting babnik. Good Luck
-
Starchasers
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Mon Feb 02, 2009 10:28 am
- Location: Lincolnshire
- Contact:
Hey Babnik, place looks lovely.
tested in Chrome here, and the only issue i was having is with the enlarge image function, which loads off page for me at the bottom. Really like the lightbox overlay you've implemented, very commanding.
Usual SEO stuff, you've built the site but nothing done in terms of SEO. consider putting some keywords in those page titles, page names, stick some h1 tags in etc. PM me if you need some pointers.
kind regards,
GG2
ps hello everyone, back from 9 weeks of sunny South Africa, but no LMH access. You can't have your cake...
tested in Chrome here, and the only issue i was having is with the enlarge image function, which loads off page for me at the bottom. Really like the lightbox overlay you've implemented, very commanding.
Usual SEO stuff, you've built the site but nothing done in terms of SEO. consider putting some keywords in those page titles, page names, stick some h1 tags in etc. PM me if you need some pointers.
kind regards,
GG2
ps hello everyone, back from 9 weeks of sunny South Africa, but no LMH access. You can't have your cake...
-
Mountain Goat
- Posts: 6070
- Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2006 1:31 pm
- Location: Leysin, Alpes Vaudoises, Switzerland
- Contact:
I put it down to the weird firewall configuration of the place i was staying in... wasn't so desperate that i tried access from anywhere else if I'm honest... strangely, i was sidetracked by food, wine, mountain air, more food, more wine, more wine, more wine..
remind me why I've come back to London?
remind me why I've come back to London?
