Topic: getyournotes.com/v2

Hey guys,

I do not design/develop website for a living, but this is my companies site that I am currently trying to work on in my spare time. The old version was boring me so I thought this week would be a good time to try and upgrade. This is the first time I haven't used tables, but I am beginning to get the hang of using CSS only.

Thanks for looking.

http://getyournotes.com/v2

Some "first impression" feedback:

• Black lettering on blue backgrounds in the menu items is not a good idea, in my opinion. Low contrast equals poor visibility.
• I'm still trying to figure out what the photo on the left is trying to convey. I guess it's supposed to convey the frustration of broken pencil points while taking notes, which will supposedly be alleviated by the company's service, but it doesn't feel right to me. It's hard to put into words, but maybe a positive image might be more effective than a negative image. After all, you don't want people to associate the site/service with frustration.
• The various text elements could use a little (OK, a lot) more padding. It seems very cramped the way it is now.
• I have no idea what the media player at the bottom is for. I've tried clicking play, but nothing happens.
• The juxtaposition of "Live support" and "Leave a message" is rich in irony. Good for a laugh, but that's probably not what you want to accomplish. I would take out the "leave a message" text.
• I just noticed that the header graphic says that the company serves three universities, but only two are listed in the drop-down menu on the left.

That's it for a purely visual crit. Haven't really looked at the code.

And I suppose this is kind of off-topic, but boy have things changed. When I was in school, poor note-takers leveraged whatever advantages they had (generally sex, or the possibility thereof) to glean notes from good note-takers. Have hormones been replaced by cold, hard cash?


___________________________
Suho: www.liminality.org | Cell 270 | Sig Rotator | the Fellowship of Sup

(Edited by Suho1004 on 07-29-2008 09:15)

Thanks for the suggestions. I agree that a more positive image could be beneficial as well. I did find an option with my live support to have the graphic disappear when none of my employees are online. As for the main graphic we are dropping the other school, not worth the time for us. I appreciate all the other crit and will make the changes you have suggested.

Thanks again,

B

As for the change with the way students deal with being bad note takers, yes it has changed. I have noticed over the last 6 years that people rely on our product. Whereas I know our product is excellent because of the work we put into it, quite a few of our customers just assume it is better than borrowing someone else's notes because they pay for it. I am not saying this is idealistically ideal, but works for me.

Well, ideally speaking, everyone would take good notes and study hard, etc. Also ideally speaking, there would be no poverty, terrorism, or war.

People will always borrow notes, so figuring out a way to monetize the process sounds pretty enterprising to me. The note-takers get paid for their effort, the note-borrowers get a quality-controlled product, and the entrepreneurs get their cut. Everyone is happy. Gotta love capitalism.



Best of luck with the continued design process.


___________________________
Suho: www.liminality.org | Cell 270 | Sig Rotator | the Fellowship of Sup

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Suho1004 said:

Well, ideally speaking, everyone would take good notes and study hard, etc. Also ideally speaking, there would be no poverty, terrorism, or war.People will always borrow notes, so figuring out a way to monetize the process sounds pretty enterprising to me. The note-takers get paid for their effort, the note-borrowers get a quality-controlled product, and the entrepreneurs get their cut. Everyone is happy. Gotta love capitalism.Best of luck with the continued design process.___________________________Suho: www.liminality.org | Cell 270 | Sig Rotator | the Fellowship of Sup

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I appreciate it. I definitely could have paid someone to do this much better than I can, but doing it myself allows me to edit everything much better, as well as learn a little bit more about things.