Criticism on Company website

[gcs584]

Hi,

Well, I recently agreed to build a website for a local company. The site was originally designed in HTML 4.01, but I had ray326 help me out quite a bit and help me convert the site to XHTML 1.0 Strict; I actually just finished converting all of it. Unfortunately, due to my lack of artistic ability/flair, the site isn't all that appealing to the eyes.

Anyways, I'd like to hear what you think. Other than comments that I should redesign the site :p , I've been told that I need to clear the first picture on the machine page.

Site: Bobbin International (http://www.bobbininternational.com).

Criticism welcome!

Regards,

GCS584

[LJK]

Hi -
Actually it's a rather good-looking layout!
My only suggestion is to use a sans-serif font
on the page content area to better match the
navigation/rest of site.

Good for you for going table-less!
El

[gcs584]

Thank you very much!

I'll give the Sans-Serif font suggestion a try tomorrow. It definetly feels better not having those nasty tables; although, I will say it was quite a bit of work doing the conversion.

Regards,

GCS584

[zingmatter]

You're design concept seems a bit rectangular for something (bobbins) that I would think of as being curvy. Having the links sit right in the middle isn't a very good idea really. You need to have relevant content on the front page as this is where customers will arrive...no info and they'll hit the back button within seconds. Any search engines won't make much sense of.

Don't bother with the drop-down link - it's not like you stuck for space.

Lastly, you "gainhits" span in order to catch the search engines is what is known as cloaking and will get you blacklisted by at least Google search bots. If your index page needs content to get visitors then why not just give them content?

Hope this helps, I don't mean to sound too harsh.

It's not that you site lacks design, just it needs more consistancey from the index page and beyond. Are they corperate colours?

[ray326]

You need to explicitly set your page background color.

[gcs584]

Thanks for the reviews thus far!

You're design concept seems a bit rectangular for something (bobbins) that I would think of as being curvy.


Heh...like I said, I don't have any artistic ability. You make a good point though! I'm just not able to make cool looking shapes with a graphical editor.


Having the links sit right in the middle isn't a very good idea really. You need to have relevant content on the front page as this is where customers will arrive...no info and they'll hit the back button within seconds. Any search engines won't make much sense of.


Yeah, I'll see if I can organize some content for the front page. I will point out though, that the corporation caters for an extremely specialized area of the industry. There are only two other companies (in the world) that are competitors. It would probably be more inviting with some content on the front.


Don't bother with the drop-down link - it's not like you stuck for space.


Point taken. I've tried to remove it but because of the size of the font, it looks a bit cluttered. I'll see what I can do.


Lastly, you "gainhits" span in order to catch the search engines is what is known as cloaking and will get you blacklisted by at least Google search bots. If your index page needs content to get visitors then why not just give them content?


Fair enough. It has been removed. It was a good try at least :p


Hope this helps, I don't mean to sound too harsh.


Hey, like I said, "Criticism Welcome!" You can't look to improve if you're not willing to take some criticism. ;)


It's not that you site lacks design, just it needs more consistancey from the index page and beyond. Are they corperate colours?

Colors are corporate. They ugly?


You need to explicitly set your page background color

Will do!

Regards,

GCS584

[WebJoel]

I like it! The colors are good, navigation makes intuitive sence, everything (logo, vertical lines, etc) is in the same place on every page-click. -And LOTS of white-space! I appreciate sites with white space (or null space, it can be a very light shade of some complimentary color, not 'just white'. I just hate having information crammed in my face vis "cnn.com"...)

Nicely done!

[bpeh]

the splash page menu seems funny. like previously discussed, what happens if you want to expand the submenus in the menu? would prefer a more consistent layout like your inner pages. design is simple and effective. more info on machines/services will be cool. keep coming.

[dera]

i dont like the the layout, there should be a consistant layout, left content right navigation vice versa or navigation top, dont create something fancy its a website make it as easy to navigate and as visually appealing and readable as possible.

[gcs584]

I like it! The colors are good, navigation makes intuitive sence, everything (logo, vertical lines, etc) is in the same place on every page-click. -And LOTS of white-space! I appreciate sites with white space (or null space, it can be a very light shade of some complimentary color, not 'just white'. I just hate having information crammed in my face vis "cnn.com"...)

Nicely done!

Thanks for the positive input!


the splash page menu seems funny. like previously discussed, what happens if you want to expand the submenus in the menu? would prefer a more consistent layout like your inner pages.

Fair enough. The front page isn't very consistent and is something I'd now like to work on. It's now just a matter of creating quality content (instead of garbage) to put on the front page.

design is simple and effective. more info on machines/services will be cool. keep coming.

Thanks! I'll see what I can do to spice up the front page...


i dont like the the layout, there should be a consistant layout, left content right navigation vice versa or navigation top, dont create something fancy...

Ouch! Point taken on inconsistency. Like I said, I'll see what I can do to arrange a more consistent layout. I'll take that as a positive comment on the "fancy" part... :)

Regards,

GCS584

Keep reviews coming!