OK it's online

[KevinBE]

Now I need your help. All constructive criticism welcomed. I have been working on this site, it seems like, forever. I haven't finished with all of the content but I have 8 pages ready and decided to go ahead and publish it.

Go easy, it's my first time.

Guess it would help to post the url.
The site is at www.restored-memories.com
Thanks Paul for pointing this out.

[Mig]

I like it a lot. It's got a very sophisticated look that's easy on the eyes. I realize the site's under construction, but the gif is tacky, you might want to drop that and replace it with something simpler, like 'site under construction'. I don't know much about web design, but I surf the net enough to know what I do and don't like, and this is an example of the former, in that it's appropriate to the context, it's soothing, no garish flash, colours are muted and it's easy to figure out what the hell is going on.

Good stuff, congratulations
Mig

[clare]

Hi Kevin,

Looks like you have been very busy - good results

I like the graphics and the consitancy between the pages.

Just a quick comment as I have not fully read the whole site but this is my immediate reaction

On your Contact us page you have put the following headers
Complaint, Problem, Suggestion, Praise
its a minor point but would it not read better if it said
Praise, Suggestion, Problem, Complaint

It would seem that the complaint being the first in the list is a little negative - think positive this should come last as no one will need it

You could also change your page titles to something that is included in your meta tags as the robots check this for placing your page in there list.

Will look at this more in the morning - hope this helps

[GOLDCOIN]

I like it.....

It loaded very fast. I have a dial up. The format was easy to follow. Clear and great colors. Appearance was professional.

Just one thing bothered me .... having to adjust my screen so that I could read what was on the right sideof a page.

The only page that was perfect was the page with the "prices.'

You ought to be very proud of what you have done ......

[Paul]

Hi Kevin, it took me a few seconds to figure out how to get to your site 'cause there's no link in the body of your post, in case anyone else is having the same problem, you have to click on the WWW tab at the bottom of the post.
Very impressed with the site, layout, ease of navigation etc is very good.
On the main page you say "please fell free to browse" oops
I would eliminate the Home page and go straight to the Main page.
Your background image of the forest is nice and "looks" good but is not related to what you do, do you have a photo in need of restoration that you could substitute it with?

Hope this helps
Paul

[KevinBE]

Hey guys,

Mig you are right. When I placed that gif there I couldn't find the proper clipart so I let it put that one there. I have just corrected that. Thanks for your comment

Clare, you are right about the contacts page. I haven't spent much time on that page. I just accepted the defaults from the template. I'm not sure it even works. I just filled in a comment and can't find where it went. Thanks for the tips on meta tags. I need to learn more about them so I can take full advantage of this.

Goldcoin, I noticed what you are talking about and am going to see if I can fix that. I guess the graphics on the main page are not allowing the page to fully compress for the lower viewing resolutions. I have just tested it at 800 x 600 and saw what you mean. I also noticed the prices seem to wrap around at 800 x 600 so I have brought them closer to the center.

Thanks guys for the comments. If you notice any more let me know. It's hard to find problems on your own work so I need the input.

[clare]

Hi Kevin,

I have just found your product pages - second viewing

The reason is you have placed your web site navigation bar down one side of the page which is consistant through out your site - this is good. I did not expect to see the changed navigation under the logo at the top so just plain did not see it. You could change the writing at the top to a larger font to catch peoples attention or move it under the main navigation buttons. Your most important details are here with the examples of your work people need to be able to find this. I can't find anything that points me to these navigation buttons.

Hope this helps

I will soon be putting up my new site so I will soon be in the same situation of will people like it? You have done a good job here I look forward to your comments on my little (baby) project.

[KevinBE]

Hi Paul, sorry about omitting the url in my first post. Thanks for your observations. Guess a spell checker isn't a catch-all fool proof system. I have mulled it over in my mind about eliminating the splash page but haven't decided yet. You suggestion is appreciated. No doubt the site will evolve from here. I am learning as I go and do appreciate you help.

Clare, I am taking a hard look at your suggestions. I have made attempts to modify the link bar on the right side. It is not intuitative or as easy to modify as the horizontal bar at the top of the page. I'll have to deconstruct this eliment to see if I can force it to incorporate the additional pages underneath the products page. It took me a while to figure out how to modify the horizontal bar but I am comfortable with it now. The link bar graphics do add to the decor of the page theme but aren't as easy to spot as another type of graphic would be. I'll work on that. I don't regret using the template approach because I have learned a lot and have published the page much faster than I would have if I had designed the pages from scratch. But now I may have to modify some of the key elements of the template to get the look and mechanics I need.

I've been working on this project for a couple of weeks. It seems like longer. I'm going to incorporate the Paypal shopping cart soon. I have been studying the instructions on their site about how this works. It seems that they will save me a lot of time and trouble by using their service rather than trying to re-invent the wheel on my own.

I appreciate all of your comments. Keep them comming.

[Doug Nelson]

Looks good. Your Main Page shows up a lot wider than all the other pages in my browser (IE6). Standard widths help.

[KevinBE]

Hi Doug. Yes I noticed that about the main page. It doesn't compress down as small as the other pages. I'm thinking it is the graphic that is stopping that. I am investigating how to fix it. I am going to lower my screen resolution so that I work in at least 1024x768. I hope that I can set the page to work at that level and have everyone served. I hope I don't have to optimize the page for 800x600. I just don't have a feel for what the average user's screen resolution is. Some books say to optimize for 800x600, some say 1024x768. What do you think?

[G. Couch]

I love what you have so far! Very clean and professional looking. A couple of quick things - The word "Genealogy" is pretty hard to read on the left hand side. Also, you might consider creating a more refined logo for "Restored Memories" just to set the name of your business off from the rest of the text.

[Doug Nelson]

ablrule.gif is what's spreading it out. It's 600 pixels wide by itself.

I like 800 pixels wide as a maximum. It doesn't really make much sense to measure vertically. RP is 750 pixels wide, with a little extra for the menubar.

[G. Couch]

I'd go with 800 pixels wide...but you could always mess around with auto stretching tables to make the site size itself for various resolutions!

[KevinBE]

Hi Greg. Thanks for your comments. I haven't been happy with the sidebar graphic either. The capital G in that font is not very readable to start with. I will try and see if I can redesign those graphics without changing the whole decor of the site. The main thing I like about the current design is the color scheme. I'll need to find some graphic elements that compliment the current theme.

I'm still working on a real logo. I've tried several things and am not happy with anything yet. The logo I used on my business card doesn't look good on the Web page. So you could say I am logo challenged right now.

[G. Couch]

Kevin - you should post your business card logo...we might have some ideas for converting it to the web. I used to work in a place where I created a lot of logos for small companies and it can be difficult to create something that translates well to all media.