Please review my site

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Marion
Posts: 114
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 2:51 pm
Location: Nice, Cote d'Azur
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Please review my site

Post by Marion »

I have a web site on virgin freespace. I will be purchasing a domain name and plan to revamp the site. The site was created a couple of years ago using Hot Dog. I no longer have access to update it as I am now living in France and no longer have a Virgin account. Before I go ahead and redesign the site, I would like comments on what works and what does not.

Is it slow to load up? I have a high speed connection but suspect that it may take longer to load with dial up. Any suggested improvements would be most welcome

Marion
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vrooje
Posts: 3202
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 2:48 am
Location: Burgundy, France

Post by vrooje »

Marion,

Welcome to the forum!

Feel free to browse around and review other sites -- there is such a variety of sites on here now. So many good ideas to be had!

I admit that I didn't get past the first page of your site -- the bright blue background was too jarring for my eyes. I found the yellow text a bit hard to read, and the red text impossible to read. Red-on-blue seems like a good idea (primary colors, etc.), but in practice it almost never works out.

I did notice a couple of other things before I had to click away: the right-side thumbnails were all broken images (and broken links) for me, which I would guess is due to the use of backslashes rather than forward slashes in the source code image paths.

Also, the word "owned" is spelled "ovwned" in the first paragraph.

The photos that I did see looked nice, though!

Are you planning to use frames in the new version? I advise against it -- there are many reasons to avoid frames altogether in favor of other layout tools.

I feel like I'm being mean, sorry -- but the property looked like the website wasn't doing it justice.

Cheers,
-Brooke
Brooke
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Chalky
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Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2005 1:31 pm
Location: La Duquesa, Costa del Sol
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Post by Chalky »

Hi Marion,

I didn't find the blue background as bad as vrooje did, but it could do with being toned down a bit. The home page looks a bit disjointed - there are different sized photos and the right hand side ends up a bit messy. Some of the photo-enlargement links don't work, and when they do, the enlargements aren't large enough, in my view. Also, visitors need an easy way to return to the home page - either make the linked pages open in a new tab so the original is still there, or provide a "back" link.

The apartment pages are nice, but why aren't the photos all the same size?

One final thing - the headline: "1bedroom" should surely be "1 bedroom" and "sleeps 2, 4 or 8" - what if there are six of us?

Chalky
Chalky

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enid
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Joined: Mon Dec 27, 2004 4:47 pm
Location: Labretonie France
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Post by enid »

It would have to be a colour revamp for me too. I did like the larger text - goes smaller later but by then I wanted to read on. The text and photos are very enticing but that first page is just too busy and gets in the way for me.
alexia s.
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Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 6:38 pm
Location: Provence
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Post by alexia s. »

Marion,
Why don't you put "Sleep/s 2-8"?
(If the viewer doesn't understand "sleep/s" the meaning will become apparent further on.)
Best,
Alexia.
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paolo
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Location: Provence, France
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Post by paolo »

What works:

- good pictures (can't tell if they are too big because I have broadband)
- the structure of the site
- the text

What doesn't work:

- colour scheme. While you could argue that it reflects the sunniness of Nice, it is also a strain on the eyes, and that is a no-no. The link buttons on the left are at risk of scaring people off.
- use of frames means the text is invisible to a search engine.
- homepage right column of pics and captions is messy and user-unfriendly. Pics are too small and they should be spaced out so we know which caption belongs to which pic.
Paolo
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