Any comments welcome!

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.
vinruane
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Location: Co. Sligo, Ireland
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Any comments welcome!

Post by vinruane »

hi guys,

have been hanging around in the shadows for a while getting information and thought i'd finally come out of the woodwork!

I'm currently in college and have created a website for our house in Sligo. I'm not studying IT or anything and kinda learnt as I was going with this. Have had a few bookings through the site already but would like to get it up in the search results.

The site is fairly basic and am hoping to develop it as I go. Anything ye can recommend (good or bad!!) is greatly appreciated.

The site is www.tymonscottagewest.com
lushsandwich
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Location: rosciano ,abruzzo,italy

Post by lushsandwich »

hi,
i would say it looks like you have a beautiful place.
for me personally,i dont like the hand-drawn picture type thing as the header.
the actual pictures say a lot,lot more.
sandwich
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Ju
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Post by Ju »

Welcome on board.

I have to disagree with sandwich. I really like your header. It says what you are, and it stands out from the crowd. It also gives you something to put at the top of letterheads and your booking form.

Other than that I like the site. It is simple, but it says what it needs to, is easy to navigate. well done.

Ju
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Jimbo
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Post by Jimbo »

I'm with Ju in liking your header and your site. I'd be tempted to improve the shot of your cottage - against the light has washed out detail and it looks a bit 'ordinary' compared to the romantic header version. I'd try not to use the same picture twice (Aga shot), even though it's a nice image. Most of all, I'd love to see some pix of the thriving Irish music scene in Gurteen which would, I'm certain, be of much interest to your potential guests.

Funnily enough, we have a tiny but thriving Irish music scene here in the Dordogne. In a nearby village pub, a bunch of French school teachers play and sing with (just about) passable Irish accents. Great fun evenings but only in the winter months, so guests don't get to enjoy them.

Good luck with your rentals.

Jim
vinruane
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Post by vinruane »

Thanks for the info guys,

we waiting for a bit of nice weather to take some more photos so will hopefully be updated soon. I hadn't really thought of getting some of the irish music scene but thats a really good idea. Updating the site soon with photo gallery and more info about local activities.
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pambon
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Post by pambon »

Well, I also love the unusual pen & ink header, so different from the run o'the mill ones; well done.

Welcome to the forum, those 'spose I'm still a newbie myself :lol:

Hope you get loads of bookings! My OH from time to time says he'd like to visit the Emerald Isle, but the years are on his shoulders, so we'll see.
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HenryG
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Post by HenryG »

Hi,

Very nice site

About the header - most people will like it - but a few will not.

And that is pretty important, because "a few" is still a significant proportion. Sure you can never please everyone, but most times you can improve things further

I believe, some people will have difficulty with the header:

The hand drawing is indeed beautiful, must have taken you ages. And the font is also very nice and well chosen.

But when dealing with drawings, most logos, diagrams (ie things that uses few colours) - it is best to save the result as GIF or PNG - instead of JPEG

When you save a (semi) linear drawing as a JPEG - you may end up with a fuzzy, smudge coloured image as a result.

Sure, you may increase the % quality, but that will only make the image much heavier. So a best solution is to go back to your original drawing and save it as GIF or PNG. Optimise it to 32 colours max. Make it monochromatic.

Also a good proportion of people (1 in 10 perhaps?) have less-than-optimal eyesight.

The will struggle reading past "James Tyson Farmhouse".

A big chunk of your possible visitors will be over-50's again not all have brilliant eyesight.

So how to fix this?

I don't know - try various experiments and choose what works best.

* Maybe make it larger or crisper?
* Or change fonts for the subheading?
* Or maybe even leave the subheading font as it is - but add another subheading with same text before opening the main paragraph

ie:

1. First the Picture Heading

2. Then your Navigational Menu

3. But now a repeat Subheading:

Self-Catering Cottage
Gurteen, County Sligo
(or something similar)

4. Then Open paragraph

I know it may sound redundant
But it's all about maximising readability for everyone and also making the site more Search Engine Friendly.

Anyway hope the advice helps. All the best
Last edited by HenryG on Sun Apr 19, 2009 7:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
vinruane
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Post by vinruane »

Thanks Henry,

I've been wondering about the fonts and sizes used etc so I'm going to play around with them and see if an improvement can be made.

Thanks for the comments everyone!
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HenryG
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Post by HenryG »

I know this is not the prettiest of sites:

http://www.piano-teaching.co.uk

But there is an example of how to mix two fonts. A hand-script one and a normal one.

And because the subheading is plain text - that site gets Google points for that search phrase.
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pambon
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Post by pambon »

HenryG wrote:,Also a good proportion of people (1 in 10 perhaps?) have less-than-optimal eyesight.

The will struggle reading past "James Tyson Farmhouse".

A big chunk of your possible visitors will be over-50's again not all have brilliant eyesight.

So how to fix this?
The answer to this is, like me, to have your cataracts done :lol: then you can see perfectly :lol:

You can never please everyone all the time, only some people some of the time...
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HenryG
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Post by HenryG »

I once dreamed of an eye operation.

Only a handful of people in the world can do it.
Including this guy in Italy, but he charges way too much, over 10'000 Euros.

So I gave up on the idea.

But I do find that very frustrating, since not long ago - I had more than excellent vision, could see things a mile in distance, and spot the tiniest of spec or colour abberation on any illustration.

If my vision carries on deteriorating - I will need to change my day-time job: graphic design
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pambon
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Post by pambon »

HenryG wrote:If my vision carries on deteriorating - I will need to change my day-time job: graphic design
HenryG if your vision keeps on deteriorating you will need more than a job change..... :cry:
vinruane
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Post by vinruane »

Hey guys,

thanks for all the comments, this exactly what I was looking for. Keep the comments coming guys, comment on absolutely anything! I have tough skin so no worries!! :lol:
brendan
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Post by brendan »

I like the header but I´m not overly keen on the blue/white - I think it looks cold...would emerald green be better?
vinruane
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Post by vinruane »

I was going for the more modern look using the blue. I tried the green last night and unfortunately if all the writing is green it looks like sick :shock:

I might try and incorporate more green throughout the site though. Thanks for the input!
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