Working on a website is more of a monumental task as you think it is when you start, but it's done and I'm ready to hopefully start earning the benefits of the site update.
Well, check it out and give me your feedback. Maybe there's something I overlooked.
New site looks good & effective sales tool for U. Paint on Dawud... Kent Moss
Posted by Dawud Shaheed (Member # 5719) on :
Thanks, Kent... And if anyone thinks it sucks, let me know. I ain't skeered.
Posted by Dawud Shaheed (Member # 5719) on :
Wow, I guess nobody but Kent likes it or thinks it sucks. I guess my website is invisible. That's not even a good thing.
Posted by Neil D. Butler (Member # 661) on :
I think it looks great! I'm no expert but I like it!
Posted by Jon Butterworth (Member # 227) on :
Took a little while to load the front page ... and when I got there was overwhelmed where to navigate!
Mayby simplify a little.
TOP Stuff though.!
Posted by Dawud Shaheed (Member # 5719) on :
Yeah, I was worried about the front page loading. It loads fine on my computer, but I'm a little worried about it loading too slow on other peoples computer or slower connection.
Really? you think it's hard to navigate? I put links on the top and picture links on the bottom for people who like to scroll down just to see what's there, but thanks for the input.
that's what I'm looking for so I can change it if I have to.
Posted by Neil D. Butler (Member # 661) on :
Honest to God I really don't like critiquing cause like I said I'm no expert.. but... I think when you click on a topic, a Nice big graphic should pop up first to capture the users attention, say a sample of a store front... then If you want to explain it, then that should be secondary... but like John said.. really Great work.
Posted by Dawud Shaheed (Member # 5719) on :
I agree completely. I went back and forth with my web guy forever about everything and I didn't know my pictures galleries were going to be on a separate page. I think I'm going to talk to my web guy about that. Visuals are everything in our business, thanks Neil.
Posted by Randy W. Robarge (Member # 2022) on :
Dawud, just wondering if the text on the right top should read "Customer Payments" instead of "Custom Payments".
Posted by Dawud Shaheed (Member # 5719) on :
Hmmm, that was something my web guy put there. I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean. Well, the custom in my culture is that if I do work for someone , they pay me....so i guess it's ok.
Posted by Dan Sawatzky (Member # 88) on :
Dawud
You do some very creative work that deserves to be showcased well. And a website is a great place to do it.
I hesitate to say anything but the most positive, especially when I know someone has put a great deal of effort forward... but I do have a few suggestions.... please take them as constructive and not a slam.
As I went through your website I asked myself if it showed your abilities in the very best light possible...
I'd have to say no.
There's a lot of work pictured on your site, but not all of it is your very best. I'll bet if you cut half (or more) of the pictures out, your website would be even more effective, and in the process you would show only your very best work. In the process you would undoubtably bring in more opportunity to do more of the same. I relegate the text to merely add-on sstatus to the pictures.
I was a bit disappointed to open your website, starting with the first page of each section and see boring text instead of some great eye candy which you do. We are in a visual business after all. The first time I looked at your website you lost me in the first few critical seconds. I did come back a couple days later to see more, but had to go looking to get to the good stuff. I'd suggest you work on that.
Remember LESS IS often MORE.
I'm not a fan of flash on a website, especially when a simpler way of doing things can get the job done better in my view. I'd have a few thumbnails of your best work displayed which can be clicked to get to larger images.... but thats my personal taste.
A website can be a very effective tool to showcase our work. More importantly it is an opportunity to paint a wonderful picture of what we want to show our prospective customers. I believe we need to showcase our very best and most imaginative work possible including designs not yet built. A website is a chance to be what we want to be, even more than what we currently are. Then as opportunity presents itself we can indeed make the virtual world we imagine a reality.
I hope this helps...
-grampa dan
[ November 29, 2008, 10:38 PM: Message edited by: Dan Sawatzky ]
Posted by Dawud Shaheed (Member # 5719) on :
thanks Dan. I'm in the process of allowing my web guy to coach me on how to add/delete pictures and change things around myself without needing him. I think you're 100% correct on all you said and I'm definitely going to go through and cut out some of the doubles/un needed pictures. I think the text plays a part, but yes, you are not the only one who has said the pictures should be in the forefront. Once I learn more about how to optimize this site myself, I'm going to tweak everything according to my specs , meaning the best pictures will be most prominent and easy to find.
thanks again.
Posted by Glenn Taylor (Member # 162) on :
Welllllll.....
I'm in the same boat with Dan. It could be better.
I'm a big fan of SmashingMagazine.Com. You may find these links to some of the articles there helpful....
After having gone through several of the articles, I've spotted several mistakes I've made in mine which is why I stopped developing it in its current form and am in the process of revamping it completely.
I hope this helps.
.
Posted by Henry Barker (Member # 174) on :
I would also agree with some of the latter comments, and am in the same position myself at present.
Glenn has been spot on with some great tips that I have clicked on and taken advantage of, thanks for that Glenn.
Airtightinteractive Sitegrinder Photoshop top secrets and now your latest links!
Posted by Neil D. Butler (Member # 661) on :
Is'nt that what I said? lol 100% On the money... I'm glad that Dan said what I was trying to say.. he's so right.
Posted by Russ McMullin (Member # 5617) on :
Dawud, the background image (back20.gif) is 512k, which is huge on a web page. That is why it's taking so long to load. It's also dithered (specks of color), which makes it look less than ideal. Dithering was done a lot back when most internet connections were slow, and many monitors were still using 256 colors. Today's monitors show thousands, if not millions of colors, and dithering is no longer necessary.
For this type of image, saving as JPEG will give a much smaller file size, and it will look a lot better. Because clouds have soft edges, you could set the compression level fairly low before it starts to show visual degradation.
GIF is best for images with mostly flat color, like logos and sign layouts.
JPEG is the choice for photographs and images with a lot of gradients.
Posted by Russ McMullin (Member # 5617) on :
I am noticing that some of your photos could also be adjusted to make them more vibrant. For example, this image looks underexposed and there is clutter around the edges:
Here I used Photoshop to brighten it up, and crop out the unnecessary details:
You could take it even further and retouch areas with power lines and weeds. Posted by Dawud Shaheed (Member # 5719) on :
thanks Russ, It looked way worse when my web guy first showed it to me. It's a huge improvement from there. I sent it to him as a big file, and I figured he would save it to whatever rez he needed, but I don't know. I'll have to bring all this to him one at a time because I'm still dealing with trying to get my payments section working. I had a customer of mine try to make a payment yesterday, but he didn't want to sign up to paypal. he just wanted to pay with a debit or credit card and be done with it. The way it's currently set up it seems like they have to sign up for paypal. Is there anyway to set it up through paypal where they can just enter their info even if they don't have a paypal account?
Posted by Glenn Taylor (Member # 162) on :
Instead of using paypal, check out authorize.net.
Posted by Dawud Shaheed (Member # 5719) on :
I just fixed the paypal thing, If that isn't easy enough for my customers I'll check them out Glenn.
