Website Review and Suggestions

**JohnS** · 09-13-2006, 11:59 AM

Hey Guys,

Could you please check out a website I've designed:

Emma Snowdon Designs

And tell me what you think. Its powered by a MySQL backend, something i've not used before so this is basically a small attempt at a ecommerce website.

Thanks for your time,

John

**jackyboy** · 09-13-2006, 12:53 PM

yeah john the site looks nice.. very simple and web crawlable

graphics nice ... limited in number but nice

reasnoble load etc

however if you want people to buy id rename collections to shop
its phycologically clearer also perhaps some more keyword dropping in the content make up a short list.

Other thing if u really want to sell include some little php function to get products that you can display throughout ur site perhaps in the left hand bar. Just make the site more obviously a shop that u can buy things on and you will reap better returns . Think less description text as the average users attention span is short and more product pictures linking through to ur shop imo... (convertion ratio). Make a google analythics account and track where ur users go on ur site .. thats the best way to spot problems..

Hope this helps

cheers

Jackyboy

Please review my website Secret-Treats.com -- Gift Ideas for Her... In the appropriate thread.

**JohnS** · 09-13-2006, 01:11 PM

Hey,

Thanks for the reply. The client I designed it for specifically wanted it to be called 'collections' since thats the way she - and other designers design. The website is more a platform to show her work, at the moment the 'shop' side of it is just an added bonus. However we have dicussed how the site will evolve if her jewellery takes off, these include searchs, featured products and random products on different pages - as you suggest. But at the moment, this was all that was needed.

Thanks again for your comments

John

**jackyboy** · 09-13-2006, 01:28 PM

a reply review would be nice john ...

**ADAM Web Design** · 09-13-2006, 03:55 PM

The big problem I have with the site is the low text/background contrast. It's too hard to read.

I also noticed that the CSS loads last for some reason...makes the site look weird while it's loading. You get the no-CSS look, then the CSS look. Somewhat unnerving.

Other than that, it looks cool. Nice and simple, and has an "icy" sort of feel to it. The code's nice and clean (other than the CSS issue) as well.

**JohnS** · 09-13-2006, 04:41 PM

I've noticed that error too, seems to be with IE. Its to do with my method of relating the style sheet to the HTML page, instead of using the 'link ref' method i've been using @import. I'll change that soon, and also work on getting better contrast on the text.

Thanks for reviewing.

**LadynRed** · 10:32 PM

It's called the Flash of Unstyled Content or FOUC and there are workarounds for it.
Flash of Unstyled Content (FOUC)

Surfin’ Safari - Blog Archive » The FOUC Problem

I see one other problem in your code. You've got <div id="clear"> twice. ID's must be unique, they can only be used once. If you want to re-use it, make it a class rather than an ID.

You also shouldn't use <br>'s to space your content. Use your stylesheet for that. Same for the old "border=0" on images, use img{border: none} in your CSS.

I agree with Adam, the contrast, particularly on the menu is a weak, the gray on gray is too close.
Overall, it's quite nice. Easily navigated and nicely presented.

**crush123** · 09-13-2006, 11:49 PM

well designed,
the light color used for text makes it not so readable.
make it dark
nice design and appearance
present some more designs on the main page.

**blue-dreamer** · 09-14-2006, 06:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

The big problem I have with the site is the low text/background contrast. It's too hard to read.

Ditto to this, it's very hard to read.