Website Review and Suggestions

**tonya** · 05-14-2004, 01:08 PM

I have gone for a new look for my site & would appreciate some feedback.

not all the pages are linked up to the new template i am doing them a bit at a time - i hadnt realised i had so much content.

http://www.tonya.me.uk

**warick** · 05-16-2004, 10:26 AM

excellent! you love pink / lavender type colors eh? I must admit that the color combo was rather shocking at first

.

It grew on me though after a little while. The navbar is very consistent, easy to find and easy to use. You spend a lot of time on it and it shows through ease of use and consistent design.

After viewing the Biology site though, it hit me as to what was strange about your personal site. The content isn't really set apart from the background of the page, even though its centered on about 800 pixels... I guess I prefer for the dead space on the page to kind of fade in the back that way the content is easier to focus on.

Nice site! I give it an 8 based on ease of use and consistent design.

:: ! spacey ::

**cmonkey** · 12:39 PM

Overall it's a nice site, I agree with warick that the color scheme is a little intense, but once I started clicking around my eyes got used to it. I would consider getting rid of the Flash into, it doesn't really serve any purpose or add anything to the site.

Some of the type gets a little lost against the background color, try and darken the lavender/purple type a little bit. The color that's giving me trouble is the color of the type in the first paragraph on the home page, the other color below that isn't too bad.

I don't understand the purpose of the exit button, I think maybe it's because I've never seen something like that used on a site before. But then again, I did click on it and read the message so maybe it's purpose is just that

I noticed that you didn't change the page titles from "Untitled Document" to something more relevant on several of the subpages of the site, I guess now I'm just nit-picking.

Overall, very nice site.

**tonya** · 05-16-2004, 01:48 PM

Thanks for comments so far. Colour well..... considering I am not really a pink girl its a bit out there but something of a trademark now so its gotta stay.

I see your point re content & its been suggested I choose a darker purple or something for outside table to highlight the centre portion. I will think anon.

Page titles yup just havnt got around to typing them all in again after replugging content into new template. Still some pages to **** too but also exams to take !! so it will happen but slowly !

mmm Exit page. yeah wierd concept a customer enquired about a few years ago which I thought was an intersting idea so tried it. I guess the idea is reverse psychology. Offered an exit will people go or will they be tempted before they do to just have another peek at this section or go & look back at that ??? .... I would be interested on peoples thoughts. Probably only works in a personal site though.....

**Gritta** · 05-16-2004, 09:06 PM

Visited your site and found it interesting. Think that your artsy graphics offset the fact that the site is basically pink and purple.

Liked the site concept and the organization. Found it easy to navigate.

Some nitpicky things are some misspellings and inconsistencies on the main page:

1. travelling s/b "traveling"
2. resouces s/b resources
3. You refer to the Marine section of the site throughout, but sometimes it is capitalized (Marine) and sometimes not.

All in all - enjoyed my visit to your site.

Gritta

**Xxxxxpp** · 05-17-2004, 01:35 PM

I like the overall navigation of the site. you find your way very easy. good job.

**AJAX** · 05-17-2004, 07:17 PM

Great personal site

I think it looks great and I found the section covering Marine Biology very interesting. Very good content on the greenhouse effect & the info. about the earth not being completely round. Good luck with your studies.

AJAX

**ATLien** · 05-17-2004, 07:35 PM

Looks very nice, I love the pink, but their is to much of it. I would try maybe boxing the content area in and leaving that pink then out side around where their is no content, maybe make it a light grey. The pink just is to much. I think that if you are going to have a site that is not 100% then you should have a bordered box around the actual site, then a different colored background on the sides. That way it breaks the color up alittle.

**neorex007** · 05-18-2004, 02:00 AM

I like the navigation, I think the color contrast ok, although I don't like pink. The thing I would change about would be getting rid on the intro page, it does not really have a purpose, and maybe the exit link too. Overall though, I think it looks nice.

**tonya** · 05-18-2004, 04:50 AM

Thanks all for the comments. I am pleased to hear that the navigation is nice & easy & everyone seems ok with my header graphic (which is pics of me with various effects). I note comments re colour. I have tried once or twice with various darker colours outside table to box it in as ATlien suggests but its too dark so maybe the pale pink & white - but then the text looks wierd purple. This weekend maybe some tests & ayou can all check it out again 4 me & let me know what you think.

The exit page - see above comment re reverse psychology - just a laugh really (David Siegal - Creating Killer 3rd Generation websites) proposed it as an idea wierd though may sound. & am interested on views re this.

Intro page - oh wow i love my sneaky little - come in & have a look thing - also its a barrier that clearly says this is a personal site ! Does it have to go ? people seem to hate it !!! ???

**jammin411** · 05-18-2004, 09:39 AM

The only thing I do not like is the Infra Red image of that clown or something at the top. Quite frankly, it scares me

Really the only suggestion I have is to put a box around your newsletter section on the homepage. That will allow it to stand out, and be it's own section.

8 out of 10

**carmack** · 05-18-2004, 10:23 AM

Compared to the other personal sites I have reviewed, this one is better than average. I agree with everyone that is is clean and easy to use.

My suggestion: Remove the intro flash movie. There is not much to it and it doesn't give the user any benefit - just delays the time it takes them to get into the site.

**tonya** · 05-18-2004, 08:13 PM

Ok much as I hate to see it go - the flash intro has gone !!!

boo hoo

anyway here are a couple of tests for new colours
http://www.tonya.me.uk/testtemplate.asp

http://www.tonya.me.uk/testtemplate2.asp

to be honest I prefer the non white one visually but dislike the very dark background & tried a few other shades but couldnt find one that worked. The white with my signature pinks feels washed out to me which is why I stuck with overall pink but please give me your feedback !

**carmack** · 05-19-2004, 09:39 AM

I'm glad to see you removed the flash. I know that flash intro's can be cool, but ultimately you need to keep in mind how the user will benefit.

I would also say this is true for the debatable exit page. People who click on the exit page link likely want to leave the site. Out of curiosity they click the link, only to be dissapointed that they actually are still on the site. Just another thought.

I looked at the new colors - which look much better by the way - and my vote is for the second one. It is still colorful and has personality but looks cleaner then the original.

Nice job.

**tonya** · 10:25 AM

mmm not surei am convinced - will try it out & see what people say .......

**tonya** · 05-20-2004, 10:11 AM

& i think i meant to add a link on exit page that does actually close the window if you click on it but then figured just because people are leaving doesnt mean they have finished browsing & couldnt figure out javascript to get window to change to their home page maybe or something like that.

**rodgerkirk** · 05-21-2004, 02:34 PM

Love your site. It's quite cool for a personals website. Colors were (female touch) just perfect, soft and smooth. Enjoyed navigating through your site.

**greenie** · 05-22-2004, 02:26 PM

The website is almost faultless - the main problem are the graphics... you are using .jpg file formats which means that you loose out on quality and the images go 'fuzzy' or 'dirty' around important lines. This is ruining the clean image portrayed by the website. I have experimented with all the different file formats and recommend that you use .png. My latest website (www.h2o-studios.co.uk) employs the .png format and you can see the quality of the image work for yourself.

Aside from that the bottom set of links MUST be made graphical to fit in with the rest of the site. This is the only thing that is really letting down the website.

I would rate it as 7/10... keep up the good work

**tonya** · 05-23-2004, 04:39 AM

Good point re png files. In fact all my graphics start out as png files but are so much bigger than jpeg or gifs & seem to take so much longer to download etc - so whats the best thing to do ??? eg that header graphic is huge as a png file !!

p.s text links on bottom are text so they comply better with websites for RNIB rules (ie those with visual impairments whose web reading programs struggle with graphics but will read text links no problem. I work with the RNIB sometimes (Royal National Institute of the Blind)

**zingbats** · 05-23-2004, 06:10 AM

The best option with images (in my opinion) is to try a range of file formats and compression settings within those formats. It allows flexibility.

Also (coming from the UK [the home of the english language]), travelling is spelt here with double "l", ajust accordingly to whether you're American, English or neither!

Great site though, works on a good few resolutions