Topic: My first attempt

Ok, I built this web site for my wife. There are things I do not like about it, but she likes it the way it is. Here goes.... www.patternmaniac.com

Mike

"Ever stop to think... And forget to start again?"

just testing my sig now...

Mike

"Ever stop to think... And forget to start again?"

Ok, one more try...

Justntyme

"Ever stop to think... And forget to start again?"

Here are my thoughts:

My personal preference is not to have pop up windows (I tend not to revisit sites that have them, because I think they're annoying), but if you feel that this is critical to your business, I'd suggest making it a lot smaller. It fills my screen, which puts me off. On that note, I think your site would flow better if you did everything on a smaller scale (images, tables, etc.). Your title image is so big, it takes up valuable space that could be better used for the vertical menu items.


I am using a 1024x768 screen resolution, and I still had to scroll quite a bit to see everything on the first page. Your first page should be less cluttered and more organised to make accessing the different parts of the site easier for the customer. There are so many different table cells with big fonts and exclamation points, it's hard to know what's truly important for me to read. As DL said only a couple of days ago, "there is nothing to draw the eye." For design tips, I suggest that you visit one of my favourite sites: Webpages That Suck. Don't be put off by the title; it's a great source for learning what works, what doesn't and why.

Your search engine worked really well for me, as did your forum. I would prefer links on your forum at least back to the home page if not more.

That's all I have for now. I am sure that the mad scientist clan will be around to give you more expert advice.


~N

Thank you very much for the feedback. It is really nice to have some feedback from people who know...

Justntyme

"Ever stop to think... And forget to start again?"

~winks a tear for the allison story~

Ok here are my suggestions:
-Drop the background it draws a lot (too much) attention.
-Look into you text&titles again. They are not very consistent. This is distractive.
-Make titles, which are off the same importance, equaly big. Also text should have the same size all over the site.
-Using a font-type whitout serif (arial, helvetica, sans-serif) would make things a bit cleaner.
-the Main-title bar doesn't fit in, not with the background and not with the links direct under it. And it's a completly misfit on the forum.
-Finally the links on top can be mistaken for none links. They don't react on the mouse going over them. This could be confusing for people.

Sorry if this all sounds i bit harsh, it is not meant to be harsh.



"Freedom of speech is by no means freedom to insult others" from the Razorart goodbye letter.

Once again, I really appreciate the feedback. I am working on some new ideas. I will let you guys know when I have something new to look at...

Justntyme

"Ever stop to think... And forget to start again?"