Website Review and Suggestions

**VirtuosiMedia** · 07-28-2009, 12:42 PM

Hey everyone, I just redesigned our site and would love some feedback on the design, layout, copy - anything you have an opinion on. It's a web development company. We'll be designing websites and also providing services to businesses and developers through tutorials, articles, scripts, and in the future, products. For our design, I really tried to focus on a clean, usable look suitable to marketing to businesses who are interested in growing their business through their website. I'd like to know if I hit the mark on that account or if I need to do some adjustment.

The site is http://www.virtuosimedia.com/

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

**MDwebdev85** · 01:38 PM

Looks pretty good. I like the simplicity of the site. Seems "less is more" these days. Maybe put a contact button up top with the rest of the menu buttons. It took some looking around to find it.

**WebTraffic** · 07-28-2009, 02:40 PM

Looks great. This is very simple, yet very professional looking.

**The-Pixel** · 07-28-2009, 04:47 PM

Its very blockie. There is no graphical appeal to the website. Its simply blocks with different colors to create a color scheme. I would strongly suggest adding color or images to bring the website to life. You will need to find a method to hold your visitors. Overall its a nice clean professional design I just think other elements should be introduced. Best of luck!

**TWD** · 12:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDwebdev85

Looks pretty good. I like the simplicity of the site. Seems "less is more" these days. Maybe put a contact button up top with the rest of the menu buttons. It took some looking around to find it.

Agree 100%.

Simple is the new sexy.
Just walk around your local Apple store if you disagree.

Very clever how you created the rounded edges with CSS
background positioning by the way. Andy Budd would approve.
Nice

And yes, you need a CALL TO ACTION button in a more prominent location.
In fact with a little image resizing you could make your index page a single screen page.

**VirtuosiMedia** · 07-29-2009, 02:40 AM

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. Suggestions are duly noted and I'll see what I can do. Simple and clean was definitely the agenda for the design and Apple was even an inspiration. Everything is a little big on purpose, to make things appear easier to use, but I wonder if it isn't almost too easy. Let me know what you think.

@TWD I'll eventually be releasing a tutorial on the rounded corners with CSS. Be sure to check back.

**VirtuosiMedia** · 07-29-2009, 08:09 PM

I made some changes to the front page based on people's suggestions. Is that better?

**TWD** · 07-29-2009, 08:21 PM

Its good that you've got your CALL TO ACTION button above the fold.

The big empty space on the left sidebar looks a bit odd.
I'd like to see you try the "Latest Content" in the sidebar.
Added benefit is it gets your link bait above the fold.

The first JavaScript image with the blue background looks too
much like its a placeholder for an unfinished site.
I'd keep everything the same and just swap in a "businessy"
background image.

I bookmarked your article on OOP vs Procedural BTW

**WebTraffic** · 07-29-2009, 11:11 PM

I agree with TWD, something below the navigation on the left would make the site come together.

Change the blue image that rotates to something other than a solid color... a picture of some sort.

Other than that, you're golden

**jamestl2** · 07-30-2009, 02:41 AM

You already have well-written articles, and Rounded Corners are always good

, but most generally aren't looking for positives too often, so I'll go into feedback and criticism aside from what everyone else has suggested, where I'll give thoughts on areas for improvement.

Header
The logo's nice, but why do you need all that extra blank black space at the top? It just wastes real estate, IMO.

Breadcrumb Navigation
A nice feature to have, but I think you should also include your current location within the bar, it'll help people know where they are.

Footer
I already mentioned I like the rounded corners, and the color scheme I think is good too, but the footer links are a little lacking. Why not create another rounded corner div section and style the area a little? It'll liven the footer up a bit (but not by too much).

Articles
Again I already stated that you have some great articles, but the quantity seems to be lacking. I'd say that since your launching a web design and development company, write some more unique tips and things to get more people reading. Quality definitely doesn't need improvement, but a few more couldn't hurt.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, If I spot anything else, I'll post it and let you know.

**WebTraffic** · 07-30-2009, 02:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamestl2

You already have well-written articles, and Rounded Corners are always good

, but most generally aren't looking for positives too often, so I'll go into feedback and criticism aside from what everyone else has suggested, where I'll give thoughts on areas for improvement.

Header
The logo's nice, but why do you need all that extra blank black space at the top? It just wastes real estate, IMO.

Breadcrumb Navigation
A nice feature to have, but I think you should also include your current location within the bar, it'll help people know where they are.

Footer
I already mentioned I like the rounded corners, and the color scheme I think is good too, but the footer links are a little lacking. Why not create another rounded corner div section and style the area a little? It'll liven the footer up a bit (but not by too much).

Articles
Again I already stated that you have some great articles, but the quantity seems to be lacking. I'd say that since your launching a web design and development company, write some more unique tips and things to get more people reading. Quality definitely doesn't need improvement, but a few more couldn't hurt.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, If I spot anything else, I'll post it and let you know.

Good suggestions there. This is why it's better to have multiple people review your site

Also some more things I picked up on... your search box goes directly to google's seach. I would recommend making your search box only for your website. I don't know if thats what you had planned on doing and just hadn't got around to it or what... Doing this allows users to search your site for related articles.

Great articles so far! Keep them coming!

**VirtuosiMedia** · 07-30-2009, 03:59 AM

Thanks guys, great suggestions and thanks for reading the articles too. As just a quick response, James, the header will eventually feature a login box above the search box. The site is static right now, but when I get the CMS I've been working to the point where it can support a site, I'll switch it over and have a lot more interactivity, including search. I have a lot more planned. The footer area definitely needs some work still, so I'm going to try hacking at it this weekend sometime.

As for the articles, etc, I'm planning on releasing about one a week to start with. I'd love to do more right away, but it takes time to write a quality piece and I need to work with clients, do the marketing side, and continue with programming projects. Eventually, though I'd like to get others to contribute as well so I can have daily updates. My goal with the articles and tutorials is to set the bar really high on quality. Anything in particular you guys would like to see?

**WebTraffic** · 07-30-2009, 04:04 AM

Just throwing this out there, but I would love to see an article based on tips to increase web traffic. Once I get my domain changed, my hosting server swapped, and my database back online I would love to do a link exchange to point to one of your articles from mine if you would be interested. That would be completely up to you.

**TWD** · 07-30-2009, 04:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VirtuosiMedia

Anything in particular you guys would like to see?

I'd like to see an articles on a comparison of CMS systems
and on Shopping Cart systems.

You did ask

**Cheeky Offer** · 07-30-2009, 11:08 AM

I like it, im a fan of curvy blocks lol. Think it could do with a little more umph on the front, maybe a long banner on the left hand side with feature, would be nice.

**nemanjaz** · 07-30-2009, 12:07 PM

Hmm its nice but to empty in the header. Try to put some links on the right side in the header, or some text for the SEO.

**DavidB29** · 07-31-2009, 10:37 AM

OK nice site but I'm not a huge fan of the grey.

Like the logo and the simplicity of the design. And as previously mentioned the rounded corners always look cool.

You have your featured articles at the bottem of the page in the footer. These are interesting so why not give them more prominence on the page.

Your search takes you away from the site. Maybe think about developing an in-site search facility with the option to use the external Google search.

Overall though nice site with lots of promise... Good luck

**Hallbjörn Ólaf** · 08-01-2009, 04:51 AM

The most likely issue here is DNS update. When you change from one web host to another you update the details associated with your domain name. One of the updates is the 'Nameserver'. This is the name or IP address that your host will have given you, which relates to their hosting servers.

**TWD** · 08-01-2009, 05:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidB29

Maybe think about developing an in-site search facility

If you have a Google account (and you certainly SHOULD have one if you are a serious online player) you can set up a free Google Custom Search that will only return pages found on your domain. It comes with Adsense though.

If you want the Ad free version it costs 100 bucks a year.

**wayfarer07** · 08-01-2009, 08:24 AM

VM: I'd like to see your header seem more connected. What do you think of this:

Also, notice that your logo is slightly off color from the bar around it? That should be fixed.