Website Review and Suggestions

**thehuskybear** · 04:33 PM

I started out coding this site from scratch, but since this is a personal project of which I limited time to complete, I decided to try something different. I have used joomla before, but I had heard Drupal is more developer friendly, so I thought I would give it a try.

Anyway, Fish'n Arizona is a community for Arizona anglers who want to share information about fishing methods, fishing spots, and anything fishing related. I am nearly finished, however there are a few things I need to work on and some ideas I am debating over.

I'd like to know what you guys think of the design... although it is quite simple, as well as the site features (think from a fisherman's standpoint!). Also, if you feel like doing some testing for me, feel free to register for a new account and enter your username as test---- (where ---- is any 4 numbers of your choice).

Click here to visit FishnArizona.com

Thanks,

Sam

**wowconomics** · 01-15-2009, 07:25 PM

Its a very clean website.

Is that empty space on top for advertisements? If not you may want to try and fill it with something.

One thing I noticed was the footer was the same as the header. Usually I see Privacy statements, Site maps, contact link, and copy right information down there. I don't know if its that big of a deal but wanted to point that out.

Maybe one addition you can add is a news feed or links of fishing related articles and news events? I don't know how often that happens though.

I like the color scheme, and the load time is fairly fast ( I am on cable internet)
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**thehuskybear** · 01-15-2009, 11:27 PM

Thanks for the reply! I am undecided about where and how I plan to implement advertising on the site... I did think the header would be the best spot.

As far as the footer goes, that is one area that I haven't got to yet... Im still working on the technical writting on the site (including privacy statement, disclosures, and such)

I appreciate the idea about the news feed. I was thinking about adding an events page, but a news feed might work as well.

Thanks again for the review... you brought some other things I would like to hear about in reviews, such as load time. Drupal has a great page caching system, from what I hear. Currently, page caching is turned off since I am in the development stage.

Any other thoughts?

**seolman** · 01-15-2009, 11:49 PM

Looks good Sam. I'm ready to pick up my pole and head for Lake Havasu right now

- great choice to go with Drupal.

**thehuskybear** · 01-16-2009, 12:00 AM

Haha... I didn't realize it, but I had posted a review for the design way back when I started this site in July. Its funny looking back now, I went through several design concepts that got progressively more complicated and finally decided on a design that is uncommonally simple for me. Anyway, if any one is interest, here is how the side evolved from first design to current:

http://www.webmaster-talk.com/websit...community.html

I guess I get carried away with personal projects... it seems like its never good enough! haha Like right now, I think the current design looks little old school and too much like a portal, but the thing is... its a fish'n site.... I gotta keep that in mind.. people dont come for the design, they come for the information!

Anyway, sorry for the rambling... anyone else have any suggestions or comments?

Thanks,

Sam

**thehuskybear** · 01-16-2009, 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seolman

Looks good Sam. I'm ready to pick up my pole and head for Lake Havasu right now

- great choice to go with Drupal.

Lake Havasu over Costa Rica? haha Ive never been to Costa Rica, so I can't comment on the fishing, but I hear it is beautiful there... I think I have a cousin to is living there

**elmasry** · 01-16-2009, 01:45 PM

the site design look so cool, I'm using joomla, never tried Drupal

**BigK** · 01-16-2009, 04:10 PM

in general i like the site (i always love clean sites) but this one is maybe a bit too clean in my opinion.
the layout is nice but i would use a different background color

**thehuskybear** · 01-16-2009, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigK

in general i like the site (i always love clean sites) but this one is maybe a bit too clean in my opinion.
the layout is nice but i would use a different background color

Thanks for the review... I think I know what you mean about it being "too clean"... It is very simple for being one of my designs...

Do you have any suggestions for a background color? Im open to trying different combinations.

Thanks,

Sam

**thehuskybear** · 01-17-2009, 09:46 PM

Bump

**thehuskybear** · 01-21-2009, 03:14 PM

I made a few changes to the design... I changed the background and added some other simple stuff... I think it gives it a very different look.

Any thoughts?

**cansan** · 02-01-2009, 05:45 PM

Looks very nice and the layout and design works well. I especially love the left column, some nice ideas in there.

Overall, looks very well done and quite polished.

I think the part that could be improved is the header, it looks a bit empty to me.

**thehuskybear** · 02-01-2009, 11:15 PM

cansan, thanks for the review! When you say the header looks empty, could it be because of the flat background? Do you have any suggestions on how you think I could improve it?

Thanks,

Sam

**andr112** · 02-02-2009, 11:31 AM

When I chose any menu tab (for ex: Reports) I will see Home link in breadcrumbs.