New Site Review 1

[Wullie]

Hi All,

Just created a new site for a client and would like comments if you have time.

The site is not live yet, is on a temporary domain and still partially under contruction but you shouldn't see any errors. (Hopefully)

The payment processing is set to a test account so no actual cards are processed if anyone wants to test the full system.

http://necomputers.freshlookdesign.co.uk/

Any comments appreciated.

Thanks in advance Wullie

http://www.freshlookdesign.co.uk

http://www.freshlookdesign.com

http://www.mailtosanta.co.uk

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change.
The leader adjusts the sails. - John Maxwell

 

[coldfused]

Looks good wullie. My personal opinion is that the header is missing something, but nice and clean none the less.

Only other thing I would reccommend is put the prices along side the inventory in the list boxes. That way the user can kinda build what they can afford as they go rather than clicking away and not realizing they have spent to much until the end and then have to go back.

Nice site though, solid.

http://www.orlandomediasolutions.com

csatterwhite@orlandomediasolutions.com

 

[Wullie]

Thanks mate,

My client doesn't want to display the single prices for any items on the website so this is outwith my control.

This is one point that I did mention at the start but the client chose the current way.

Thanks again, Wullie

http://www.freshlookdesign.co.uk

http://www.freshlookdesign.com

http://www.mailtosanta.co.uk

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change.
The leader adjusts the sails. - John Maxwell

 

[palbano]

Wullie nuf said

_{010100 1000111 1001001 1000110}
-pete

 

[GUJUm0deL]

wullie, good job...but a few comments:


1) On the checkout page (the page where the user has to check the checkbox that says 'I have read and agree to the terms and conditions'), do all those fields have to filled, or can they left empty?? I submitted the page with the fields empty and no alert poped up asking me to fill in the info...

2) Also on the same page, out of curiousty, where exactly are the terms/conditions displayed for the user to read before they accept them??

3) On the "track your order" page, is the alert supposed to come after the page is submitted and then redirect you??

4) I really don't like the idea that this site tracks the IP address of its users, any real reason for this?? Its not anyone can hack the system and get confidentail information off of it, or can they ??

5) As virt2002 already mentioned, the only real thing missing is on the header...it looks too plain, any chance you can add an image there?? Like the company logo??


Forget the Nobel Peace prize, I just want to take over the world!!

 

[Wullie]

Thanks Guys,

GUJUm0deL

1) The validation for ths field is the only one left to do, I was aware of this. If you had chosen any of the other payment methods, the validation is all on them.

2) We are waiting for the solicitor to write the legal parts of the site, it will be a link to the actual terms & conditions.

3) All the site uses server side validation. The only part that will use client side is the credit card form as this posts directly to the payment gateway. Also, to check if the details were correct, I need to check the database, so it needs a submit to the server.

4) The site was designed to keep it plain and simple, yet effective. The client is happy with the current way it is.

This check was more to see if any errors appeared than a visual check, I should have mentioned that.

Thanks again guys, Wullie

http://www.freshlookdesign.co.uk

http://www.freshlookdesign.com

http://www.mailtosanta.co.uk

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change.
The leader adjusts the sails. - John Maxwell

 

[Wullie]

Hi mate,

After reading that again, I noticed that I missed #4.

IP addresses are tracked by any and all sites, no matter what they tell you. When you request a web page, your IP is stored in the server logs for every single request you make.

IP addresses are not linked to personal information in any way so you have no reason for concern.

The IP being shown to the user was a temporary thing and will probably be removed before the site goes live.

Hope this helps Wullie

http://www.freshlookdesign.co.uk

http://www.freshlookdesign.com

http://www.mailtosanta.co.uk

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change.
The leader adjusts the sails. - John Maxwell

 

[4x4uk]

Nice clean and well designed what more can I say
Regards
Ian Infinity exists! - I just haven't worked out a way to get there yet.

http://www.ne4x4.org.uk/

|

http://www.ne4x4.org.uk/Ian/

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http://www.ne4x4.fsnet.co.uk/beck/

 

[Tarwn]

General:
Nice, very clean and smooth. I like the colors you have used, gives it a crisp feel. The menu bar rollovers are a little slow, I would suggest (as I always do) using CSS and making those anchors so you can use the hover to change the background color.
Also I agree that the header is missing something, that grey bar is begging me to put a date/time in the upper right...or something anyways.

Ok, IE6 @ 1024x768
See above, no extra comments, works great

Opera 1024x768
Again, very nice, the rollovers don't work, but I think this is a general opera issue as I have some that mess up the screen refersh in opra

Specifics:
Home Page:
I am going to check out a site to buy a computer. I get to a homepage, "hmmm...there is a monitor and a windows XP logo, so I am probably in the right place, but what is all this text?" You may want to introduce some clues as to what is in the text either by way of paragraph headers, another image or two, or some other way. Frankly when I get to site that has a long page of straight text, I generally hit the back button, because I would have to read the whole page just to ind out the information I am looking for is in the second to last paragraph.

System Builder:
I won't mention the prices since the customer has already refused
I think this page looks a little spaced out, perhaps se how it would look with only 1 linebreak between each item to choose from?

Calculate System:
I like the idea of having the system and price sections a litle seperated, but you have that big Price down there, how about some sot of title for the top section? That would make it look as if the pasckage consists of a compute and a price for the computer, but I think two one word headers would help seperate the two sections better.

Checkout:
Just because
How about some javascript in the checkbox:

onClick="this.checked?this.style.backgroundColor='green':this.style.backgroundColor='red';"

Tracking:
    Spacing again, it seems the tracking number and email are a bit to seperated for my tastes, also you could add in about another quarter height to that section so that it feels like it fills the area better, than move the IP line down there so there is a reason for it to be so long. Or not :)

Privacy Policy:
   Perhaps bold the headers? I think the font-size is perfect, but bolding them might help break up the sections a little. You could also put links across the top for each of the sections and anchor them, but thats not a suggestions, just a "could-do" type of thing :P

   How about another image? Maybe a picture of someone signing something that looks like a contract or something along those lines, I like the color scheme and all, but I think a little splash of color could make this page much nicer. I would probably aim for something with soft colors though, more of an accent piece than something to steal attention.

Contact Page:
   Hmmm...thats a rather long address, glad I don;t have to remember it :)
   The spacing between the lines seems a bit much, you may want to decerease it a little, say to about half a character height. I think the spacing definately helps the look of it, but right now it looks a bit stretched out.
   The times next to telephone are running together, when I look at it, halfway through my first cup of coffee, i see a single long string of text, perhaps introduce a few spaces between the times for monday and the text for tues-fri?
   Credit card images, this is noticeable to me. The whole site has the clean, crisp cut to it, then we have some cc images. Some of them appear to be extremely fuzzy. I would suggest either finding beter pictures (which may not exist) or do a very slight blur on them to cut down on the pixelation. Another option would be to save them as jpg (scary, I can now tell what kind of picture it is just by looking).

Ok, hope you don't mind that I went so in depth, most of this is suggestions, I don't think there were any rel problems, though I didn't read the text (To many colour vs color posts already ;) )

As a final note, I really like it and wish I had come up with that look and feel. I especially like the title boxes and the little white boxes in them, it's the little details that really make a site look professional and up to date.

Great Job! Can I borrow it? ;)

-Tarwn

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[Tarwn]

Hmm, and now we see why Tarwn doesn't generally type unil aftr his 2nd cup of coffee, maybe I should have spell-checked that _{01010100 01101001 01100101 01110010 01101110 01101111 01101011 00101110 01100011 01101111 01101101}
^{29 3K 10 3D 3L 3J 3K 10 32 35 10 3E 39 33 35 10 3K 3F 10 38 31 3M 35 10 36 3I 35 35 10 3K 39 3D 35 10 1Q 19}
Get better results for your questions: faq333-2924
Frequently Asked ASP Questions: faq333-3048

 

[Wullie]

Thanks Guys,

Tarwn,

Thats the kind of review I like.

There aren't many posts that I need to open 2 windows to reply to, one to read what you said and one to type.

I would suggest (as I always do) using CSS and making those anchors so you can use the hover to change the background color.

The original idea was with text and css but I just couldn't get it how I wanted it in various browsers, I ended up going with images.

Also I agree that the header is missing something, that grey bar is begging me to put a date/time in the upper right...or something anyways

As above, I have tried various things in this place, but I ended up with it blank, I will try again with the date to see if it looks ok.

I get to a homepage, "hmmm...there is a monitor and a windows XP logo, so I am probably in the right place, but what is all this text?" You may want to introduce some clues as to what is in the text either by way of paragraph headers, another image or two, or some other way.

This is where a few problems occur.

For this site I built a complete admin section that allows the client full control over the site.

He can update prices, add new products, delete products, track all orders, edit the text using an online WYSIWYG editor etc. He has no technical experience with building websites so I have to keep this as simple as possible.

I did originally have images and headers next to each section but then noticed that the page content was being altered and the images and headers were not, which makes it look worse than not having them in the first place.

System Builder:
I won't mention the prices since the customer has already refused
I think this page looks a little spaced out, perhaps se how it would look with only 1 linebreak between each item to choose from?

The spacing on the page is exactly what I was trying to achieve. I visited a lot of similar sites recently in research for how they implemented the options. Most companies display just the dropdowns with maybe a few pixels spacing. To me, they looked a mess.

Spacing the options out makes them look more independant of each other rather than a huge line of selects.

Calculate System:
I like the idea of having the system and price sections a litle seperated, but you have that big Price down there, how about some sot of title for the top section? That would make it look as if the pasckage consists of a compute and a price for the computer, but I think two one word headers would help seperate the two sections better.

There is a title for both sections,

Checkout:
Just because
How about some javascript in the checkbox:
ÿonClick="this.checked?this.style.backgroundColor='green':this.style.backgroundColor='red';"

Already planned, I still have to go back through and alter the text next to them and am planning on adding this at the same time.


Tracking:
Spacing again, it seems the tracking number and email are a bit to seperated for my tastes, also you could add in about another quarter height to that section so that it feels like it fills the area better, than move the IP line down there so there is a reason for it to be so long. Or not

The IP line will very likely not be there when the site launches.

Privacy Policy:
Perhaps bold the headers? I think the font-size is perfect, but bolding them might help break up the sections a little. You could also put links across the top for each of the sections and anchor them, but thats not a suggestions, just a "could-do" type of thing

The privacy policy has just been added last night, this is one that I have added, I don't know if the solicitor is preparing one or not so this may be temporary.

Again, problems are likely to occur when the section is edited by the client, if they add a new section, they would need to create a new anchor link, my head bursts thinking about that.

Contact Page:
Hmmm...thats a rather long address, glad I don;t have to remember it

I said the same thing.

I had to add 3 address boxes for the admin, and that was before town, district etc.

The times next to telephone are running together, when I look at it, halfway through my first cup of coffee, i see a single long string of text, perhaps introduce a few spaces between the times for monday and the text for tues-fri?

This is a sore point.

Originally, the client added the times into the telephone section in the admin, so I edited it and created a opening hours area. Since then, they have decided to change the 9am - 5pm Mon - Fri to what you saw, it seems when I make more space, they use it up.

Credit card images, this is noticeable to me. The whole site has the clean, crisp cut to it, then we have some cc images. Some of them appear to be extremely fuzzy. I would suggest either finding beter pictures (which may not exist) or do a very slight blur on them to cut down on the pixelation. Another option would be to save them as jpg (scary, I can now tell what kind of picture it is just by looking).

I'm on this. The images that I have at present were not optimised at all, they were thrown on to get the idea when I was creating the layout, I still have to change them.

Ok, hope you don't mind that I went so in depth, most of this is suggestions, I don't think there were any rel problems, though I didn't read the text (To many colour vs color posts already )

I don't mind at all, I really appreciate you taking the time, thanks.
Wullie

http://www.freshlookdesign.co.uk

http://www.freshlookdesign.com

http://www.mailtosanta.co.uk

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change.
The leader adjusts the sails. - John Maxwell

 

[Tarwn]

Glad you found it worthwhile, good points concernng the admin tool, I can think of a way to handle it, but it's rather complicated and sounds like something I would do for the shear heck of it (javascript? clock? digital? no images? what? )

Again, very nice look, wish I had thought of it myself _{01010100 01101001 01100101 01110010 01101110 01101111 01101011 00101110 01100011 01101111 01101101}
^{29 3K 10 3D 3L 3J 3K 10 32 35 10 3E 39 33 35 10 3K 3F 10 38 31 3M 35 10 36 3I 35 35 10 3K 39 3D 35 10 1Q 19}
Get better results for your questions: faq333-2924
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[xutopia]

I say you should make it clearer on the front page that you can build your system or get a custom built one. Make it so people know it in 5 seconds.

Other than that the interface is really nice when building the system. It would be nice to add a price in the drop down.

Excellent work! Gary

http://www.xutopia.com

Haran