[rankhornjp]

I am putting together a website for the company I work for (self taught, not my real job). So what I would like is for you to visit the site and report back to me on:

Attractiveness
Ease of navigation
Content (does it supply enough information)
Would you want to use us for services, based on the website. (if needed)

We offer DUI School, Defensive Driving, and various counseling services.
Website: www.redirectcounselingservices.com

Any helpful comments would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[DocMindbender]

You need a better right margin space - some words are almost cut off and it will look better.

The clip art is pretty weak. Also the placement could be better. Maybe center it or put it beside the first paragraph of text on the services pages.

You need the company name in the green space at the top. Sort of a title bar.

Bulletted lists need better spacing. A line between items would be good.

I should mention that I viewed your page on my iPhone so it may appear a bit different than on an actual computer (but shouldn't be too different).

 

[cliffhanger]

Couple of things that jump out:

1) Not a big fan of the color scheme.
2) Lose the counter on the bottom of the welcome page. No one needs to know how many hits it has or hasn't had. Your hosting company or server should have all sorts of stats for you to reveiw
3) When you navigate away from the Welcome page, you lose the Contact and Directions link. Those should be visable on every page (in the header or a footer area)
4) Some of the left panel navigation links are wider than the available space. It creates a scroll bar when it does this and you can't read the full text of the link without scrolling.
5) Some of the images your using have been enlarged too much and are pixelated. Find a higher quality source for your images or use images that are vector based rather than raster based.

Hope this helps,

Cliffhanger

 

[DocMindbender]

I should mention that for being self taught the page is pretty decent. A few changes here and there and I think you've got a winner.

 

[cliffhanger]

You'll also want to get your logo on the top of the page. Maybe even with a short mission statement.

Also, you have a "Register" button, but I didn't see anywhere that said what you would register for.

And you've got a link on the "DUI School" page for class dates that isn't an active link.

 

[mountainpass]

I love giving advice, just ask my GF.

Maybe a picture at the top of something relaxing......A real picture of a landscape....of leaves....a lake....

 

[Nothclif]

Looks like a good starting point for someone teaching themselves. A few of my suggestions...

1) Colors hurt to look at.
2) Needs title/header/website name on the web page.
3) Get rid of the hit counter.
4) I'd get rid of the "find" search bar.
5) On the "counseling programs" page the left nav bar links extend off the page.
6) Focus some more on the layout design (colors, higher resolution buttons, ect...)

W3Schools has some really good tutorials to look through http://w3schools.com

 

[SaltySamurai]

*DISCLAIMER....the following points are suggestions and are constructive criticisms. Though they can be read as flames....they are NOT.

Here are some general UI (user interface) tips(and a couple nit-picky ones at the end):

• Lose the left nav area....move the links into a footer.....move the search into the top-right.....left nav areas eat up content space and since you have a top horizontal nav....why have a left-hand nav too? That space is better served for content.[/*:m:sstlxc6c]
• re-work the top right into a better-looking search/login area[/*:m:sstlxc6c]
• Make the nav font bigger and consider changing it to match the font of the content area or something similar. It's currently so small it looks like a disclaimer or something...nav should be more...well....navigable.....and while font is a matter of taste....it's a best practice to not use more than 2 or 3 fonts on a website.....unless your website sells fonts, of course[/*:m:sstlxc6c]
• Some content pages are centered.....some are left-aligned......why? Consistency is good. Pick one and stick with it.[/*:m:sstlxc6c]
• I just realized it's a frameset......frames have been frowned upon since 1999. Search engine crawlers won't appreciate frames, your users won't appreciate disconnected scrolling, and browsers won't puke scroll-bars all over the place if your users have tiny monitors.[/*:m:sstlxc6c]
• I just viewed some code.....PLEASE REMOVE
  and tags. Yes, they still get the job done....but they are deprecated and it's better for your personal development as a web-developer to go table-less and all CSS.[/*:m:sstlxc6c]
  [*]I also see a lot of inline styling......that's a maintenance nightmare if you ever redesign or update the look/feel of the website. Stay away from inline styling.[/*:m:sstlxc6c]

The HTML tips are nit-picky....but they really are for your benefit. Frameworks like jQuery depend on obeying standards and having XHTML compliant code. jQuery can do WONDERS.....but if your HTML is not well formatted...you cannot take advantage of such things.

I hope you stick with web development though.......I've been at it for 11 years and I learn something new every day.

 

[phantoms]

My biggest complaint, put the Company at the Top of the page, not in the scrollable text area. You may have to increase that top area a bit to accommodate a good logo or your text. Here's what I'm talking about:

Here's you a logo if you want to size it for your needs and use it:

Gif version:

 

[rankhornjp]

My biggest complaint, put the Company at the Top of the page, not in the scrollable text area. You may have to increase that top area a bit to accommodate a good logo or your text.

I can't do that. (or i don't know how :shattered: )

I have a set of "styles" that I have to pick from. I can't edit anything above the tabs (or, once again, I don't know how). I can chose to add a logo, but I cant decide where to put it, so it puts it in the small white area on the left. (just updated the site with this so you can see it)

The website is setup to be built via UI, it provides an option for doing it via HTML/CSS but only the part inside the frame.

Hope this makes sense.

PS: thanks for the logo :righton:

 

[phantoms]

Will it let you size the logo a little bigger? If so, it would look better. Also, I put a GIF version up and trimmed the jpg for you if you want to try one of them. The gif has a transparent background (no white background showing).

 

[rankhornjp]

I don't have the choice for size. However, the GIF seems to look better.

 

[phantoms]

I used PP10 to create the text, but you can easily design your own custom logo text online.

Here's a Google search link to dozens of free online text creators - http://www.google.com/search?q=custom+text+graphic.
For example, this was created in less than a minute:

I'm sure with a little effort, you can get the site looking how you want. The main thing is you want it to look professional, because that's what prospective consumers look for.

 

[CountryGun]

Find a better source for your images, and your most of the way there.

 

[rankhornjp]

Thanks for the help. :righton:

 

[rankhornjp]

Also, you have a "Register" button, but I didn't see anywhere that said what you would register for.

And you've got a link on the "DUI School" page for class dates that isn't an active link.

Fixed the link. :righton:

However, the "Register" button, I can't get rid of it. Its there so I have the option of restricting access to certian pages. I don't have a reason to do so..... :?