Site critic wanted - first site.

[paulcreedy]

Be gentle this is my first actinic site using using the designer with a hybrid of a built in template and some custom css. I'll probably convert to full css later.

The site is online, but NOT trading as it is work in progress. There are NO products at present as I'm focusing on the layout/design - actual text and products, SSL, will come later.

What I'm looking for is obvious things I may have missed or not placed onto the website, coding errors etc, hint/tips, and general comments about the design/layout.

The site is www.tradepine.com

Thank you

You could post here or PM me.

[Duncan Rounding]

** Thread moved to 'Search Engines and Site Review' forum.

[paulcreedy]

** Thread moved to 'Search Engines and Site Review' forum.

Whoops! Sorry. :rolleyes:

[leehack]

Red and green should never be seen.

Too much red for me, it's the worst online color to use in that kind of quantity, it spells danger and should be used as a highlight or a draw attention color.

The site is left aligned, looks weird on large screens, so center it, this is what people get used to seeing.

Weird black underline when you hover on the links in the top navbar.

No interaction on left hand links, help me know where i am, don't just rely on a cursor.

Errant <p tag at bottom of page.

Couldn't find a single product, looks about 3 months early for a review?

[Mike Hughes]

Based on what's there:

- The green is too sharp. Not really complementary to the red.
- the pages are fixed width which is fine, but alligned left which looks odd.
- The sections pages are all called 'copy_of_xxxx.html' which is bad.
- None of the images have alt tags
- I assume you're selling Pine Furniture. It doesn't say that anywhere.
- Is a 'bedframe' the same thing as a 'bed'? What would people ask or search for?
- Your navigation bar links are right alligned which looks odd.
- The mini cart/RH column moves position on the section pages.

Mike

[guccij]

Many of your product sections are "copy_of_ " urls. Is there a reason for this? Can't see the originals anywhere. All the links need to be named with care for SEO purposes, no lengthy underscores such as in http://www.tradepine.com/acatalog/Living___Dining_room.html

Agree with Lee re red and green. Not nice at this time of the morning, or any time actually.

Your TradePine logo isn't a click through image - and finding your way back to the home page therefore relies on the customer seeing the tiny home button.

Your contact us page doesn't have a mailto for the email address.

Lots of work to be done here I think.

[Rich Brady]

Red and green should never be seen.

Too much red for me, it's the worst online color to use in that kind of quantity, it spells danger and should be used as a highlight or a draw attention color.

LOL You'll hate my latest site then :D

[Rich Brady]

Your banner needs work IMO. It says nothing about what you're selling. You could be selling pine timber for all I know.

On a laptop the Section Links are below the fold, which only re-inforces my comment above.

I'd prefer to see your "No minimum order" & "Free Delivery" combined and put in your side bar, and get rid of the "Buy... Save..." graphics. I don't think they need to be on the home page. A smaller/streamlined version in the product layout may encourage visitors to spend more.

We read left to right, so I would also move your "Home" and other links across to the left hand side.

Center the site is a must IMO.

Having a "Brands" Top Level Section populated with "Roma", "Lola", etc would make the left had navigation neater.

eg:

http://www.vpiaonline.co.uk/

I think and some sort of hover effect is need too.

I hope that helps a little?

[pinbrook]

The centre banner "Buy More Save More " is odd... unless the site is targeted at trade purchases only. Indeed if this is the case then you need to say so.

as a home consumer, if i need a bed i am not going to be tempted into buying 6 in order to save.

Addionally "With no minimum order, you can buy just one item or several." again i would assume i can buy one bed from you, and i expect free delivery on this type of item

Out of interest how are you discounting if i buy a bed and a wardrobe?

[paulcreedy]

Thanks all

Yes, it is an early site preview to get the obvious things sorted out first, as this is my first attempt at actinic which is confusing the hell out of me at present.
There are no products yet, the client will be adding them later.
The colours are the clients choice!
You've picked up a few things I missed though which is great.

I think I'll end up doing this completely in css instead of relying on a template as I think that's causing most of the problems.

Thanks again

[Rich Brady]

Yes, it is an early site preview to get the obvious things sorted out first

Paul, at this stage you would be far better reading 4/5 threads wihting this, theSearch Engines, forum.

Many of the things said can/should/could be applied to mosts sites. Once those issues have been addressed a site should be looking pretty good, then you can com back in here and as for tweaks.

Good luck, looking forward to seeing how it progresses.

[meden]

The colours are the clients choice!

I'm sorry but you need to give the client a shake - even if those ridiculous colours are his corporate identity they will NOT work on the web and cause most people to immediately close their browser!

[paulcreedy]

Hi

The latest incarnation before release to the client is here:

http://www.tradepine.com

Thank you

[pinbrook]

get rid of the stupid man on the index page or at the very least offer a way to stop him, if i were a potential buyer he would bounce me straight off the site

[guccij]

He's a local radio presenter isn't he. Grim. Until you're at the level of Lings Cars, don't even think of using gimmicks.

[Chunkford]

Red and green should never be seen.

Isn't it blue and green should never been seen?

Anyhow +1 on getting rid of the little man. But then i'm guessing your client loves it and has asked you to put it on the site.

[paulcreedy]

Thanks for you comments :-)

I'll look into implementing a pause/play button for the walk on, as it would be better if the user could stop the video.

There are just so many funiture sale website it is an extremely competitive market. Love them or hate them, walk ons are becoming more popular to make a website stand out amongst others when the competition is high.

A user may browse numerous website for funiture before making a purchase, forgetting half the web urls they have visited. The walk on is designed to put the company name in the users mind allowing them to easily remember it and make it stand out. The same goes for the colours - a bit of a shock value - but easily remembered.

[pinbrook]

There are just so many funiture sale website it is an extremely competitive market. Love them or hate them, walk ons are becoming more popular to make a website stand out amongst others when the competition is high.

A user may browse numerous website for funiture before making a purchase, forgetting half the web urls they have visited. The walk on is designed to put the company name in the users mind allowing them to easily remember it and make it stand out. The same goes for the colours - a bit of a shock value - but easily remembered. I have to say i totally disagree with this logic. If i visit and bounce straight off the site- it never even reaches my psyche to come back it it.

A striking design makes it more likely i've remember which site was the one i wanted but not an annoyance.

Fortunately the walkon is only on the front page, so if i were to visit via a search engine hopefully i'd land on a relevant page and never see it ;)

[Chunkford]

Even if they did remember that site with the little man with the crazy colours, they still wont remember the url. Try a nice bookmark this page button instead.
Also, you want them to give their email address. Either by offering free info, competition etc. Then you can remind them of your site easily ;)

[Mike Hughes]

I agree with Jo.

Bright colours, flashing gifs, walk ons, etc are just gimmicks. The message they send to the customer is something along the lines of "I don't care what you're looking for, we're the kind of business that's going to drag you inside and try to sell you some cheap tat."

Mike

[Rich Brady]

This is who you/your client are competing with:

pinesolutions.co.uk

Found be googling "pine furniture"

Neutral colour scheme, it's obvious what is being sold, good navigation. That's where the client's site need to be heading towards IMO

[paulcreedy]

Thanks for the comment everyone.

[thomas]

Paul the talking man is a marmite situation and I like them but still find the cost of having them a bit limiting.

For me the best is a compromise that people can click play if they want to hear them or not, and as someone pointed out to me the other day, a lot of work computers don't have speakers or there sound on so it ends up as upsetting them because they feel they are missing something.

I assume you know when it plays it covers an area of your homepage text making your site look a little out of shape.

[paulcreedy]

Thanks

If you looked within the last few days, the current video isn't 100%. The original was larger with a transparent background.

We're now building a flash video player to give a pause/play/go away button, and make the background transparant. The current player is just there for temp and doesn't have a transparant background yet so it covers some text.

If you browse the net looking for companies to make these video, you will unlikely find them below £500 ex vat. Usually they are around £600-£800 We're in a position to get them made at a considerably lower cost.

Love them or hate them as designers, online walkons and commercials are being used more and more. I work in an area with over 100 web design companies within a 10 mile radius, 300+ within 25 miles. With that competition you have to offer the client something different, and the clients themselves want something different.