Big Wow Web Hosting

[tims15]

Hi all,

Could you review this (http://www.bigwowwebhosting.com) site?

Thanks in advance.

[bathurst_guy]

simple, pretty nice coding, i think your fav colour is blue :) it could maybe look a bit more professional but i dont really know what your target market and your goals are but yeh good

[tims15]

How do you think I could make it more professional? I want to put some more interesting graphics on the right hand menu.

[KDLA]

Whoa, there's so much blue here it makes me a tad seasick! :eek:

I've got to give you points for the name: "Big Wow" is hilarious!

bathurst_guy is right: your website isn't very professional-looking. Part is due to the color scheme. It's OK to have a monochromatic design, however in this case not all the shades of blue harmonize (http://www.hitmill.com/html/rgbcolorvalues.html).

Another design element that might be considered intrusive is use of a dotted border. Sorry, but when I see a border like that, I instantly think of clipping coupons. :rolleyes: A solid border might be better.

Oops! One thing you might consider rephrasing:
We also boast impressive customer service!

"Boast" usually implies bragging about something that really isn't worth anything. Hopefully, that's not your customer service! You might consider replacing "boast" with "guarantee," "assure," or "insure."

Good Luck!
KDLA

[tims15]

Have changed the lines, which way do you think was better?

[KDLA]

Looks the same....

You might investigate changing your color scheme before worrying with the lines. Might make things easier.

:)

[icwebmaster]

I'm no pro, but the blue is not very good, looks horrible on a MAC, and I used 2 different pcs one with a matrox dual-head and another with a ATI pci express, each resulted diiferent.

As for a hosting company, prices or not, I would not mayself bite

compare this site (http://www.ipower.com) with that of yours.

Which would you choose?

[Snitchcat]

The first thing I noticed about the site was the colourscheme: IMO, it's too blue for a professional site. Usually pro sites use two colours to offset / balance each other, and may incorporate a neutral colour (e.g., white) to provide definition / contrast.

OTOH, I felt the header / navigation started well and was comfortable to view. Then I hit the left & right columns -- IMO, that shade of blue is unsuitable in such large quantities for a pro site.

Additionally, I found the purple bar at the bottom jarring. I felt it didn't fit with the overall scheme.

Unfortunately, with the colourscheme in the way, I didn't get much further.

Would suggest picking one shade of blue and balancing / contrasting with white, or a similar change.

[tims15]

Cheers for all your comments!

I've decided to completely change the layout and colour scheme of the site, so that should be up in a week or two.

Am also thinking about a new name. Trouble is, I have the imagination of a donkey. I was thinking something like gforce hosting, but that is taken. Anyone got any suggestions? Something which sounds fast, new and reliable.

Cheers,

Tim

[KDLA]

I like "Big Wow" - it's funny: not pretentious or wanna be hip.

It's the kind of name that can lend itself to some campy marketing.

[jmaresca2005]

nice site.

[tims15]

KDLA: Thats what I thought, but didn't think it was suitable for a hosting company

jmaresca: Thanks! Thats the first compliment! ;)

I have thought of h-force hosting for a name, which sounds alright. Slight variation of g-force (told you I had no imagination!)

[LiLcRaZyFuZzY]

i also like that big wow name, and your plans are not bad

[KDLA]

Think about this name: Google.

Did that seem like it was suitable for a search engine?

g-force and h-force sound like gaming sites. A little too sci-fi....

KDLA

[ellicit]

Can I suggest one of these:

http://s92690940.onlinehome.us/TemID00786013.shtml
http://s92690940.onlinehome.us/TemID0078634.shtml
http://s92690940.onlinehome.us/TemID0078633.shtml
http://s92690940.onlinehome.us/TemID00786027.shtml



best of luck.

[spufi]

KDLA: Thats what I thought, but didn't think it was suitable for a hosting company

jmaresca: Thanks! Thats the first compliment! ;)

I have thought of h-force hosting for a name, which sounds alright. Slight variation of g-force (told you I had no imagination!)

h-force and g-force have zero meaning. Big Wow at least has a certain edge to it. Beyond the things already mentioned, I would not center text like you did. It's highly annoying.

[tims15]

Thanks everyone for your comments

I've decided to stick with the Big Wow name at the moment.

This (http://www.bigwowwebhosting.com/bigwow.php) is the new look and color scheme. Spent ages on the color scheme, and still needs improving, so all suggestions are greatly appreciated. The logo will be changed.

Could you also tell me what it looked like in your browser, so I can check for accessibility? It should look like this (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y216/BigWow1/bigwow.jpg). Suggestions on how to make it right are also greatly appreciated:)

Thanks in advance for all your help

[pogy366]

... i think you should stick to "Big Wow". Anything else you come up with at this point might be too forced, and you'll wind up with something that sounds like a sci-fi b-movie title. Keep "Big Wow".

With the last version of the design, i personally would re-think the colors again. If you want to stick to blue (which is cool), maybe use a more muted blue or even a blue-grey for the secondary colors would work better.

If you're going with a mono-chromatic scheme, there shouldn't be such a contrast between them. It's like whip-lash on the eyes. :rolleyes:

For my money, color #0033CC was developed by satan because it kills my eyes.

IMO, you have a good start there. Good luck!

[spufi]

I just said this in another review, but I'll repeat it here. The size of your logo is based on the size of the screen resolution. I would highly recommend you not do this. On larger resolutions, the quality of the image goes down. Not that I think it's all that great to begin with, but yeah.

[hansons]

i seen ur website....its too simple.....but looking nice

[tims15]

I have changed the logo to be fixed size, and the background to be lighter. DO you think the other colours were OK? Also, what browser were you looking at it in?

[pogy366]

... i use Firefox normally, but test in IE, Netscape and Opera when i do stuff. The colors do look better (at least to me they do).

Are you leaving the pale blue background like that behind the header?

[Snitchcat]

Browser: Firefox
Res: 1280 x 1024

Opinion:
The blue background is getting on my nerves. Lol! That said, I like the gentle, pale blue background for the banner image and text content. However, I strongly recommend more balance for the blue -- blue is a strong, highlighting colour, hence the reason contrast to soften it is needed.

I also would suggest putting some space between the company name and the top of the browsing area -- it's really uncomfortable for me to see it placed so high.

As far as text size is concerned, H5 and H4 are a strain to read on my resolution. Anything H3 and above, as well as the normal content text is fine.

Oh, and I like the title -- 'Big Wow Web Hosting'. It's unique and IMO, you should keep it.

(^_^)

[spufi]

I have changed the logo to be fixed size, and the background to be lighter. DO you think the other colours were OK? Also, what browser were you looking at it in?

*ahem*

<img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y216/BigWow1/title/bigwowwebhosting.gif" alt="Welcome to Big Wow Web Hosting!" border="0" width="95%">

That's not fixed.

[pogy366]

*ahem*
<img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y216/BigWow1/title/bigwowwebhosting.gif" alt="Welcome to Big Wow Web Hosting!" border="0" width="95%">
That's not fixed.

...jeesh you're picky!


:D

[tims15]

Yeah, Give us a chance!

[scojo1]

...jeesh you're picky!


:D


I like to think spufi is just thorough

[WriteTaylor]

I also like the name "Big Wow". It's catchy.

I, too, am a lover of blue but my site is a writing website and so I can get away with being a little artsy. The trick is dark colors should be used to highlight. I use dark blue for titles and such and then I have a pale blue background. For your site, I think a white background would be best. If you really don't like plain white, you can maybe use a lightly textured image as the background. Absolute Backgrounds has them for free.

Personally, I like information to be compartmentalized, each thing in it's own box/space but do what works best. I doesn't hurt to surf through and look at other internet sites to get ideas as long as what you develope is your own style.

Good luck :)
Kisha

[pogy366]

tims15 - maybe take a look at the colors on WriteTaylor's web site (http://www.thewritetaylor.com/) there for a tip.... looks close to the same colors you want and shows how to use them a bit better.

[tims15]

Thanks for all your comments.

I have looked at Write Taylors website, and a few others, and come up withthis (http://www.bigwowwebhosting.com/bigwow.php)

I thought about a white background, but decided not to. I have lightened it though, and a few of the other colors.

What do you think of the new title? It still needs work on it, but was just wondering what you thought of the style? I was also thinking of having no rectange around it, just a thin white border around the letters and picture.

Also, what do you think of the nav buttons? They are going to be like the Support one, but without the corners.

Cheers,

Tim

[LiLcRaZyFuZzY]

as you like blue, you might wanna take a look at the company's site where my site is hosted : http://cyberwebhosting.de/
it's in german though, but just watch the design, and not the code ;)

[KDLA]

Hey -

I like the updates you made. It has more of a commercial edge to it. I like, also, the substitution of fonts for the logo/nav. The font has a sort of "Ren and Stimpy" quality to it. Really fits in with the personality of the company name.

[pogy366]

...i think the changes you've made are absolutely in the right direction. The header image looks a lot better.

For the text body, personally, i would swap the light blue with the white. Black text on a white background is always the best way to go if your main focus is providing information to the visitor rather than just being flashy. But that's just me being nit-picky.

Very good job on the changes! :cool:

[tims15]

Thanks for the comments and compliments!

Do you think that it is good enough to go live yet?

[pogy366]

... it's kind of like wondering if you're ever ready to have kids.

You might get a better idea of how it looks and feels by adding content and if that means by going live, go ahead. Unless you have a bunch of people all lined up to flood your site once it goes live, there's no reason why you can't work with it while it's live.

[agent_bozo]

Hi tims15,

I think the design layout is pretty good, like the rest agree that you might want to rethink your color scheme. Here are some useful tools that I use:

http://www.hlrnet.com/colormatch/
http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html
http://www.easyrgb.com/matching.php#Result

Also, I would reccomend that you try and find something to fill in some of the gaps on the right and left i.e. some kind of promotional advert for cheap hosting offers on at the moment.

And I would maybe suggest creating a better looking logo, it does look a bit like you've created it with a free online logo creator tool. If you want the site looking more proffesional this would make a huge difference. If you aren't able to do it yourself, I'm sure you could find a cheap designer somewhere that could knock one up for you.

One thing I would probally c

[LiLcRaZyFuZzY]

the pink bear rocks!

[tims15]

I thought the color scheme was OK now? I think it looks OK, but then again I did think that the design before the changes were ok... ;)

[KDLA]

He/She may have looked at the original design, in the first post; and might not have seen your link you provided in the later thread.

I don't think any of what he/she said is true of the new design - it looks 100% better! :)

[agent_bozo]

Hello all (I'm a he by the way),

the site I've been looking at http://www.bigwowwebhosting.com

Don't get me wrong I think the site looks ok, I suppose it's personal preference at the end of the day, I'm not really a big fan of sites that are solely one color, but that's just me.

One thing, I'm using firefox and I noticed on the http://www.bigwowwebhosting.com/plans.php page that if you have the browser size small, then the "All plans feature box overlaps with the central adverts box

Also there seems to be a problem with the layout on the http://www.bigwowwebhosting.com/links.php (when viewing in firefox).

I like the random email pages by the way, never seen that before.

[KDLA]

Thanks for clearing that up, agent_bozo. ;)

Sometimes keeping everything straight in these long threads is a little tough!

Lovin' the Gummy Bear icon - refresh my 80's flashback: is that "cubby bear?"

[tims15]

That was the original site I wanted reviewed, but have redesigned it since then. The new design is here (http://www.bigwowwebhosting.com/bigwow.php)

Thanks for reviewing the old design though!

EDIT: Didn't see KDLA's post so ignore this!

[agent_bozo]

cheers, not sure if it's cubby. I does ring a vague bell though! will have to look into it. If anyone on this forum knows, can they let me know!

And the new design looks very nice by the way

[LiLcRaZyFuZzY]

try asking in the avatar thread
http://www.webdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?p=438638

[dera]

huge title at the top of the page. its hardly ever a good idea to make images variable in their width... try a different method to get the same result - read on at www.alistapart.com cant give you think to the article site seems down atm

[tims15]

Thanks for all your comments!

I have made the new site (http://www.bigwowwebhosting.com) live. It still needs tweaking, but tell us what you think.

[KDLA]

Hi -
You've made a lot of improvements - NICE.

Just a few observations:
Left-aligning the text. It's more user-friendly that way.

The footer is a little too small for my screen - could the font size be increased a little?

For the "hosting code of ethics," you need to submit a new screenshot.

Something about the purple graph on the "plans" page is a little off.... how about using the lighter shade of blue you used for the certified box for the table headers, then using a lighter shade of that for the content?

Lovin' "mini wow," "wow," and "big wow" - hilarious!

The little "x's" on the members page aren't really needed. The user will click "back" if they've messed up.

Again, NICE WORK!
KDLA

[tims15]

Thanks for your comments. I have changed the stuff you said about, but what colors did you mean when you said about changing them on the plans page?

[KDLA]

The table comparing/contrasting the different types of plans you offer.
KDLA

[tims15]

But what colors were you talking about when you said what to change them to?

[KDLA]

Use the shade of blue you used for the certified box (<div id="wrapper_backgr">) for the table headers, such as General Features, Uptime Security, etc.

then using the shade you used for the homepage's content (<div id="main">)for the table's content.

KDLA

[tims15]

How about now? I didn't like it with the div id=main background, so darkened it a bit.

[KDLA]

NICE! Now the colors don't compete with the text. It's much more legible! :)

[WriteTaylor]

It looks great! The only thing I noticed is that the background of the images on the menu do not exactly match up with the rest of the menu.

Also, looking through the plans, I noticed that only the "Wow" package have the unlimited options. Does the "BigWow" package not include those features as well?

Otherwise good job :)

[tims15]

Thanks! Do the images look better now?

The unlimited features were for all the plans. I have darkened the background to make it more obvious.

Thanks for your comments!

[baseiber]

Your content has too much centered text. That's one thing that can make it look unprofessional.

[WriteTaylor]

Thanks! Do the images look better now?

The unlimited features were for all the plans. I have darkened the background to make it more obvious.

Thanks for your comments!

The website looks great! Thanks for answering my question. I have someone who needs to host their wordpress blog so I'll send them your way. :)

[tims15]

Thanks very much! There's an affiliate program if you're interested