Topic: Only a small site but need feedback!

Hey there

I have just done a small site for a local comapny in a type of format that I would not normally use.

Can u give me as much feedback as possible on the usability of the site, and what it looks like in different browsers etc...

Cheers

Hadlinho

Schoolboy error that was bound to happen!!! no url well here it is!!!
www.primrosefayre.co.uk

Personally speaking, I think it's pretty sparse. And being one who has had his ass handed to him on a silver plate in here from time to time, I think I can actually say stuff now. LOL. Only kidding. I never like when sites have the main portion of themselves pop up in another window. I still can't figure out the significance of it, but I guess personal opinion is what counts right? The splash page would probably look better centered in the page. "best viewed in a resolution of 1280 by 1024 pixels", I'm sure it is, but there's not really much there to make any kind of a comparison. I think you used a behavior in dreamweaver for the pop up window, well I made the same mistake before by not realizing the hand dissappears and it looks like there is no link. I know it's just a menu site, but I would work on not having that pop-up, I use pop up blocker, and when I turn it on, I don't see anything.

Ok, I've had my two cents. Is the food good? I'm going to be in England next month, I'll stop up to Kent.

Ok, first off, let's get this out of the way: Most of this site is rather pretty.

Now, far more important things than pretty need to be considered though!

1) Ack! It says enter here, but it's not a link?? Oh....it is a link....but the cursor isn't there - VERY bad. Don't take away the expected behavior of things like cursors.

2) Best viewed on 1280x1024 what the hell is in here??
Oh....it's a popup And it's.......far far smaller than 1280x1024....so, why do I need such a high resolution??

3) Ok, what do I do now that I'm in here??
Ah, ok, menus.
~click~

err.....oh, ok, I get to pick a menu now....Oh, I get it...this is a food service business of...some sort.

Ah! How do I get back??? Oh, there, that tiny little link in the inconspicous space over.....there ->
Wow, that is partcularly small at this high 1280 resolution

Hmm, back to "Main"? Nope....doesn't do anything.....?

Anyone who's default font size is larger than average will not be able to see the whole menus. Even at the default, the 'sandwhich' menu goes past the bottom of the pop-up.

[This message has been edited by DL-44 (edited 08-13-2003).]

{{I had to break this into two posts....UBB didn't like it I guess....though I've seen far larger posts here...}}

Ok...let's look under the hood....

Doctype, that's a start. Encoding too, yay =)

Ack! <font> tags in this day and age??

I see style sheets being imported, yet there is gross abuse of the deprecated and derelict <font> tag, and for some reason that I cannot fathom, there are inline stlye declarations for every div on there

There is also a very odd and overly complex pile of divs, p's, etc taht don't have any sort of stuctural significance or any visible stylistic significance, and could be made much simpler and much more logical...

.

Ok, to summarize my thoughts -

1) Get rid of the pop-up. It serves absolutely no purpose, and is going to be troublesome for some users.

2) Ditch the splash page altogether. It also serves no purpose. Having the main body of information on the front page in a flexible non-javascript reliant layout would be of great benefit all around.

3) Please don't tell people they need a staggeringly high resolution. Especially when they in fact don't at all.

4) Don't take away user controls. For some particularly impressive dhtml sites and the like, pop-ups without controls are cool. For a business site that exists to pass information on to customers, it is a virtual death sentence.

5) Make the important things more prominent. For instance, delcare what exactly it is that this business does, right off the bat. Make the list of menus already visible on the front page - don't make the user look around to try to find them.

6) The menus themselves - they need some better visual heiarchy. It's just bland insignificant text now. Make the headers stand out, use hr's, use borders, etc.

7) Put some structure into your code. You have a simple list of services that should be just that - a list. But instead you have each list item in an over-styled div that actually has no....style. That's a *lot* of work to get a list to display as a list, especially when the W3C thoughtfully provided several varieties of lists in all of your available versions of HTML.

In one case I see 3 consecutive p's with nothing but a nbsp in them.... surely there is a better way to get what you need there...

I think that covers most of it.

Let me compact that -

* No popup. No Splash. No loss of browser control.
* Visually and logically structured code. Lose the <font>'s and the bizarrely complex <div> arrangements. Put CSS in the stylesheet where it belongs.
* Present the intent of the website plainly and clearly, on the first page.
* Keep all the navigation visible in a side menu or top menu.

Hope that helps. This site has a visual feel that is very warm and inviting. The structure or lack there of) and presentation, however, will drive users away.



[This message has been edited by DL-44 (edited 08-13-2003).]

Yeah, that's about it. Just to let you know, though, here's a visit to your site from an ordinary viewer's perspective (as ordinary as I can get, I suppose )


1. I see the splash page. I want to leave your site. Splash pages make me cringe. I think I'll continue on, though.

2. I don't see a way in. Where's the entrance. Oh, wait. This text is a link. But it doesn't look like one. Guess I'll click it anyways.

3. Nothing happened [technical note: I have popups blocked]. Click again. Nothing. Oh well, I'll go visit some other site.


End of story.

(Sorry if I sounded overly sarcastic. Didn't mean to. Well, actually I did. Oh well. )


[EDIT: OK, now that I've actually taken a look at the site, I have to say, it's very *visually* pleasing. Just do what DL says, OK? ]



[This message has been edited by ozphactor (edited 08-13-2003).]

I really appreciate the feedback guys, just what I needed!

I am working on ensuring that the menu stays at all times so that there is a clear navigation. Also i am going to remove the pop up and splash because thinking about it there really is no point having it there at all!

Hadlinho

That's very good to hear =)

Here are some things to keep in mind as you go - things will naturally lay themselves out pretty logically if your code is clean and valid.

I always recommend that people switch on up to XHTML 1.0, and there's no reason not to go strict. Transitional is raelly just another way of saying 'half-ass' IMO. It's not much of a change from HTML 4.0...just a little more strict on structure.

Use the right tags for the right purposes. If you ahve a list of services, use a list to code it. If you have a header, use an <hx> tag.

Don't wrap things in <p>'s and <div>'s just for the sake of having the wrapping tag. It's kinda like putting your sandwhich in a baggy, then putting the baggy in a paper bag, then wrapping the paper bag in tinfoil....

<font> tags are terrbble things. In addition to being a deprecated tag, they are simply not efficient or structurally valid. Use your stylsheet to set the default styles for you headers, paragraphs, lists, etc. If you need special formatting on only some of them, create a class in your stylesheet, and specify the appropriate elements as being that class. If necessary (ie - if there is no structurally relevant tag for a particular purpose), you can use a simple <span class="special-class-for-this"> to wrap things in.

And last but not least, strip as much code as posible out of your pages. The simpler and more logical you can make you code, the easier it will be to alter, update, and format it.



[This message has been edited by DL-44 (edited 08-13-2003).]