I’ve had a ‘draft’ proposal from my web master (web-mistress? I suppose it’s gender -neutral). Anyway, I thought I’d post it for your esteemed input. Sure, I’ve my own thoughts (I hate ariel bold) but I need outsiders’ views, please…
All the best…
To those who know – this may be obvious. To those who don’t – I hope I’ve helped.
Edited 3/11/2006 11:52 pm by piko
Replies
My feedback...
1) The upper right photo on the Home page is way too blurry to see any detail. Other photos could be improved as well. Remove the text from the photos and add them to the web page instead.
2) Check with your web host to see if you can get an email address like [email protected] instead of [email protected]
3) What is the significance of ants.ca? How would I find this site if I just knew the name of your company as Piko?
4) The grey background is a little boring.
Sorry if I sound harsh, I just did the same thing with my site and I got great feedback. But some of it wasn't what I wanted to hear, even if it was right.
Joe
Thankyou. I know there's a lot not right, but I needed specifics from others. Sure, it's a 'paste-up' proposal, and things like colours, font, etc will be seen to.
none of you were too harsh - don't pull your punches, I want to make that good impression. It is kind of exciting to have 'my own web-site', but I was disappointed, that's my initial reaction.
All the best...
To those who know - this may be obvious. To those who don't - I hope I've helped.
Joe,
Q 4 - 'ants' seems to be this e-mail address site used for temporary stuff such as this.
Q 3 - what's the difference in your mind? If I go to [email protected] would that be any different, and why. (BTW...that might be someone entirely different)
You're right about the photos.All the best...
To those who know - this may be obvious. To those who don't - I hope I've helped.
Q 4 - 'ants' seems to be this e-mail address site used for temporary stuff such as this.
Register for your own web address (at http://www.register.com for example) This will allow you to have a site like http://www.piko.con. Much more professional. Any sites that have the web hosting's address in it come accross very small potatos, i.e. http://www.aol.con/piko.
Q 3 - what's the difference in your mind? If I go to [email protected] would that be any different, and why. (BTW...that might be someone entirely different)
Again, having your own website name and subsequent email addresses just shows a higher level of professionalism IMHO. Most web hosts allow you to use your registered name and they give you X number of addresses to go with it. You can find hosts like this for less then $10 US dollars a month.
Edited 3/12/2006 4:42 pm by JMadson
Hey JMadson, do Piko a favor and remove his email address from the post before spam spiders get ahold of it and start spamming the h-ll out of it. You should never post email addresses in forums.
Also Register.com domains = $35. GoDaddy.com domains = $9.95
Finally, http://www.micfo.com/cheap-affordable-web-site-hosting.html provides a free domain and the most complete hosting package available. $9.95 a month, less if you prepay. This is the host I use. -----------------------------------------------------------
FT Job Wanted: Chicago, north side/North Shore burbs. http://forums.taunton.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=tp-breaktime&msg=70809.1
Hey JMadson, do Piko a favor and remove his email address from the post before spam spiders get ahold of it and start spamming the h-ll out of it.
I left them in but just changed the spelling a bit. Good advice though.
thanks,joe
Bless your heart - I never thought of that...All the best...
To those who know - this may be obvious. To those who don't - I hope I've helped.
I learned from experience. Here's one they can have...
Oh well, it ain't working on this forum. Check out http://www.spampoison.com if you want to help thwart spambots.
:o)
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FT Job Wanted: Chicago, north side/North Shore burbs. http://forums.taunton.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=tp-breaktime&msg=70809.1
Edited 3/12/2006 11:20 pm by Ted W.
Edited 3/12/2006 11:22 pm by Ted W.
In all honesty, the only design I see is the header text. Otherwise it's drab and about as basic as it gets. The work I see in the photos looks nice to the trained eye but are lacking in quality, which is what the untrained eye will see. I feel a website should reflect the work a contractor does, and that site doesn't do it. Needs some color and more liveliness.
Take a look at http://www.MyToolbox.net, a site I'm slowly picking away at just for the heck of it. Also my portfolio site, http://www.TedsCarpentry.com. MyToolbox.net is a conten management system, with dynamic content and all that. The only graphics is the header and mouse-over buttons. Otherwise it's just a matter of using a colors. Again, for TedsCarpentry.com the only graphic is the logo (and the photos of course). Everything else is just a matter of using simple colors.
If you're paying for that design you should get your money back. Give it to me and I'll make you something really nice, maybe even host it for ya. If it's a freebie from a friend, the no offense intended but you should say no thanks. The only thing that site will do for new clients is scare them away.
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FT Job Wanted: Chicago, north side/North Shore burbs.
http://forums.taunton.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=tp-breaktime&msg=70809.1
Ted:You have some really nice photos on your site. Piko, you may want to compare the quality of the photos on Ted's site and yours and, if possible, strive for something closer to what Ted has in terms of photo quality. After all, that is *the* most important content on a portfolio site.
Ted, thanks for the succint input...I'll let my friend know (more diplomatically, probably!)
I'm not retaliating when I check out 'my toolbox' - but I cannot get anything out of it. I clicked on 'handtools' and what I got was 1 photo of 'Jims kitchen' with no way to see any other of the purported 15 images. (Amend that - I just clicked on the title and there's the gallery). None of the other tabs worked for me, either. So, as you are 'picking away' at it, I assume it's a work in progress?All the best...
To those who know - this may be obvious. To those who don't - I hope I've helped.
Hi again Piko,
Diplomacy was never my strongest asset, so I'm often told. But I can take it as well. :o) Yes, MyToolbox.net is a work in progress. The navigation menu across the top will eventually link to eBay auctions.
You know the saying, if you want something done right, do it yourself. You may want to download the free 30 day trial of Dreamweaver and Fireworks from Macromedia.com. Dreamweaver is for editing and publishing your site. Fireworks is for creating and editing graphics. They'll take some getting used to but you will then be in control of your own online destiny.
As for my photos, they are a select few from literally hundreds. Couldn't have done it without digital, the film would have cost more than I could afford. Also, 3 megapixel camera minimum and took outdoor pics when the elements were just right. It takes some work but that site (tedweddell.com) get's me some premium jobs.
Note that I don't submit it to search engines or anything, I don't want that business. All my business is by word of mouth. But when someone says "You can get his number from his website", a new potential client gets a good impressioin right off the bat. -----------------------------------------------------------
FT Job Wanted: Chicago, north side/North Shore burbs. http://forums.taunton.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=tp-breaktime&msg=70809.1
If the site is mainly a portfolio, and you plan to update it with some regularity, then you might want to consider using a blog to manage all of this.Hire someone to help set up the blog software and design a template for you. Then you'll have full control over posting new text + photos without having to understand HTML or the like.Blog software like WordPress is free (opensource) but you do have to set it up. Some web hosts like TextDrive* already have it installed for you (and, at $12, not at a bad price). Then you'd just need to hire a good web design to whip up a WordPress template for you and you'd be up and running with a fully automated web site that you can easily update yourself down the road.* = http://textdrive.com/
You wouldn't believe it from my output, but I'm trying to stay off this 'puter. In other words - I've tried a web-site builder, but after finding I was still on the flat part of the learning curve, I decided to let someone else do it for me.
"Note that I don't submit it to search engines or anything, I don't want that business. All my business is by word of mouth. But when someone says "You can get his number from his website", a new potential client gets a good impressioin right off the bat. " - for years I've not had to advertise. Now I'm relocating so I need all the help I can get. Essentially the site will be a precis of my work to give an idea. Whether I post it on my van - well, as it stands, I wouldn't. But after valuable input like yours (I don't want diplomacy - if the site grabbed you so negatively strongly then that'll be what others think, too. Thanks) I shall get Karen to rehash it and smarten it up. Yep, it's only a prelim, and I'm hoping that I can post the 'new improved version' for your consideration soon.All the best...
To those who know - this may be obvious. To those who don't - I hope I've helped.
"I've tried a web-site builder, but after finding I was still on the flat part of the learning curve, I decided to let someone else do it for me."To clarify, a blog wouldn't be a web page builder. Rather, just a 'content maintainer'.You'd still want to hire someone to build the site, but then, once built, all you'd have to do to add new portfolio items would be to: - log into the web site
- click ADD ITEM
- type in your text
- click UPLOAD PICTURE and grab the photo off your computer
- hit SAVE.Pretty easy, actually.That said, time is money, so it's often best to do what you're doing...hire it out.
MyToolbox.net is built on the MDPro platform (http://www.maxdev.com), which can be used in a blog-like manner. I can login to the administration area and manage the menu, add content (just as I'm typing this reply), and a bunch of other stuff (photo gallery, forums, products catalog...) You'd never know it from looking at the site. Also, I can easily take any webpage layout and easily convert it to the template for the site.
I realize this is way more than what you need but the important thing is you can add pages, create a photo gallery for each project, links pages to keep track of suppliers - heck, you can even set up a billing system connected to a PayPal account and bill your customers online!
WordPress is an excellent platform for blogging, but I'm not sure it's appropriate for this purpost. Reason being, a blog is more for linear postings - difficult to have individual pages with a simple navigation menu.
Okay, I'm overstepping here, the issue was the site layout. We all agree it needs some work. I'd say get rid of the blockiness, give it a little color and get rid of the bold in the text. It'll show your potential clients the professioinalism they're looking for. -----------------------------------------------------------
FT Job Wanted: Chicago, north side/North Shore burbs. http://forums.taunton.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=tp-breaktime&msg=70809.1
Are you "Peter Blackmore"? Is that the name of the person who runs this one man company?
I opened one of the links, I think it was "kitchens", and started reading about this guy "Peter Blackmore". It reads "he" this and "he" that, "work ethic", "dependability", "reputation on the island", and so on. All in third person writing. That's the way people usually talk about OTHER people, not themselves.
It was confusing to me who was "speaking" and who "Peter" was.
Tipi, Tipi, Tipi!
http://www.asmallwoodworkingcompany.com
I didn't want to stress the "I" so much, so I was using the 'Royal "We"'! But the point is taken, and well, heck, if I can't blow my own horn...
Thanks.All the best...
To those who know - this may be obvious. To those who don't - I hope I've helped.
Before one can give a meaningful critique, it helps to understand the purpose of the site and the goals you have for it.
However, based purely on aesthetics and functionality, I can offer:
- your logo. Looks like a nice logo, but it's not rendered well
at all on the banner. See if you can clean that up a bit.
- The banner is using a LOT of space on the page.
- visually, it's OK. Nothing stunning, but seems to
serve it's purpose just fine.
- content looks good.
- don't center paragraphs of text. It makes it hard to read.
Technically speaking, the site has a lot of things that could be better.
- page layout is being done with lots and lots of HTML tables.
These are unecessary to the extent that they are being used
here. It means your pages are more complicated and larger
in file size than necessary which means the site will
download slower than if it weren't built this way.
- You aren't using semantic markup. For instance, a header on
your page (like "Carports and Garages") should be called
a header in the HTML. This is for a number of reasons, but
the one important use is that Google will treat a header
as being an important bit of content on the page (as it should)>
- There are font tags all over the place. Have your webmaster
get rid of those and replace it with CSS. This will make the
site a lot easier to update/maintain in the future.
Hope that helps. All-in-all, a simple, not flashy, useful site from what I can see. Also note that I do web sites for a living, so my comments are likely overly anal/picky. ;o)