Comments on Design

[TheCandyman]

Any comments or suggestions on this website?

http://westernprocesscomputers.com/

 

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

- You have an anchor around the "Western Process Computers" header that goes nowhere. Why bother with a redundant link? Or is it simply a placeholder for a later link back to root, in which case why not replace the "#" with "/" - hardly any extra bytes?

- While the bouncing overlay over the images looks very nice, I prefer things to be much more responsive and snappier. As a power user, I do not get the impression that it is snappy as it seems to take a while to move. Perhaps easing the effect out, rather than in and out would work (i.e. start it instantly, decelerate towards the end, rather than accelerate / bounce, and decelerate).

- Does the copyright date in the footer really need to go back to 2005? Live for the future, not 5 years in the past!

- When the text above the main image goes to 2 lines (as the first one does), it needs some space below it. it's far too cramped at the moment.

- In IE 7, the top menu looks completely broken. I'm guessing you didn't test this.

- In IE 7 and IE 8 (didn't test IE 6), the image transition looks slow and jerky. I'd make it an instant switch for IE and leave the fade, effects, etc, for the browsers than can run them at a half decent speed.

Apart from that it looks quite nice. The menu is big enough to use, and responsive, and the font is nice and legible.

Hope this helps,
Dan



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[Mike Lewis]

The pictures of the mountains and waterfalls are stunning. They makes me want to pack a bag and go to wherever those places are.

But what have they got to do with Honeywell TDC 2000 & TDC 3000 hardware support? Or maybe they're just place-holders, and you're eventually going to replace them with shots of computers and integrated circuits?

Either way, I'd probably end up admiring the pictures (not to mention admiring the skill of the person who created the slide show), and not get round to scrolling down to the sales pitch.

Is that what you want?

Mike


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Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

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[BigRed1212]

If as Mike guesses, those scenery images will be replaced by product images, then they are an alternative navigation and I would want them (the big images) clickable to that sales area. Show me an image of desktop support or whatever that takes up half my screen and I want to be able to use it to do something.

 

[kjv1611]

I agree on the pictures - very nice, but not applicable. I guess if you were selling web design or photography or something, they could be accurate.

I'm using Firefox 3.6.8 portable on MS Windows XP SP3

A couple other thoughts - on the menus:
1. Enhancements - My opinion, but I really think the menu items should show up directly under the menu header, not all the way to the left. Also, and I don't really know for sure on this, but I'd wonder whether you'd want the menu to spread over the whole page when it's just one column of items.

2. Number of menus - It may just be that complex, and you may need that many menu choices. However, I'd say if you can eliminate or join some, I'd go that route, as apposed to having so many choices. I'd think it'd be confusing and difficult to find what you need. I've never had anything to do with Honeywell parts, so it could just be ignorance on my part.

3. Seeing as how 3 of your menu headers have the drop-downs, whereas the other items do not, I'd move the Enhancements over next to the other 2.

Just out of curiosity, how did you build the site? I'm thinking it looks like a template customized in DreamWeaver. I'd be interested to know, I could be totally wrong. Thanks for sharing any info along those lines as far as how you built it. I would like to know about the picture slider deal. Did you design that in java or flash, or did you use an already designed product? If already designed, what's it called?

 

[kjv1611]

Here's another thought along with what BigRed1212 said. On your actual picture strip, if possible, it might be better if it were set to where the person could over over each picture, thus changing the larger picture. Then if they straight clicked on even the small picture, it'd take them to the desired destination. And then you could maybe add in some sort of pop-up text that gives a short description of where that picture's link will take you.

 

[kjv1611]

Well, I just now noticed there is a summary/description showing with each big picture. So if you had the hover-over event show the selected image, then you'd have the summary there, and wouldn't need a pop-up. Probably a better design that way, I suppose.

 

[TheCandyman]

Thanks for the input!

I made a bunch of changes as suggested. I have struggled a bit to find a large dropdown menu that is responsive. It does need to be large as each of those listed is completely different from the next. Once you click on one (in the future) it will drill down into to more options on that product and all the parts/boards/etc that go with it. I did notice the menu doesn't even work in IE6 (thanks Billy); so any suggestions????

The images are just place holders along with the various text. The point of them was to help my client see the value of what photos can do/sell. Good suggestion on making them links; i had thought about it but i see i never finished that thought.

Th

 

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

To fix the placement of the nav in IE6 and IE7, remove this rule from css.css:

.holder{ overflow:hidden; height:1%; }

To get the nav working IE6 you'll need to use a small amount of JS. See here for more details:

http://www.htmldog.com/articles/suckerfish/dropdowns/

Dan



Coedit Limited - Delivering standards compliant, accessible web solutions

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[ChrisHunt]

I'm looking at the site in IE6 (I know, I know, but I'm at work and not able to change it), so I may not be seeing what modern browsers see, but here goes...

Top menu: A lot of options there. For some reason the blue stripy background runs out just left of the "Links" item and is replaced with plain white. Is that deliberate? It looks odd.

Picture slideshow thing. Amazing pictures which add interest to an otherwise rather bland layout, but the constantly changing pictures and sliding selector thingy is very distracting.

I'd suggest having a single, unchanging picture in that slot - but use different pictures in each section. Right now it looks like you found a cool slideshow script and wanted to dream up somewhere to use it.

Below the picture it's inoffensive enough - hard to say without any real content. I'd look for ways to use more pictures and colour to draw the eye around the page.

I'm seeing quite a wide grey area around the page content areas, is that deliberate or another IE6 artefact?

The links don't seem to have any hover colour or effect, I think you need one.

Last, but definitely not least, the company name and/or logo doesn't appear anywhere on the page! Gonna be hard to build any brand recognition if you don't mention the brand!

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd