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Web site advice 6

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nighttrain20

nighttrain20

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I'm looking for advice and comments on my site. I've been doing this for my brother in my spare time and am not a computer guy by trade...not pushing the site but looking for input from you experts...be easy on me I'm sensitive. Thanks
 
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A couple suggestions. Cut the image down a bit. Loads real slow with a dialup.
You can cut the image file size down by using some free image reducers like one of these.
costs, but free trial.
JPG optimizer.

Also, nice looking, but an awful lot of colors.
All in all, very well done.
 
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Hiya,
Good site if youre not a computer guy as you claim! youve done well.As dirtrocker says there is alot of colours. Distracts the users eye too much. Also the purple links is hard on the eyes against the black background? (maybe change the background colour?)

Also you may consider creating some type of menu bar accross the top of the screen and put the key west pools logo in it? GIve it a different colour- something lighter to break up the darkness of the site perhaps?

On your links pages put the "Home" Link somewhere more easier to find? Usually top left...how about making it the first option on your services menu?

 
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Hi

A bit of free advice on images:

never, ever, ever, let a browser resize the images for you!

Your main picture is actually a lot larger than it is being shown on the page, and you have simply resized the image using dreamweaver to suit. However, this means that the image is still just as large (in terms of filesize) and that you are letting a browser resize and scale your images. This results in slow loading and poor image quality.

Use an image manipulation programme, such as Fireworks, to resize your image to the correct size that you want. It will reduce the filesize considerably, and it will look a hell of a lot better quality. Derren
[Mediocre talent - spread really thin]
 
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You could also do with description and keyword meta tags within the <head> section of your code, plus alt tags for your images. These will help with search engine placement and the alt tags will show up if, for some reason, your graphics don't appear.
 
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Thanks folks for the advice, You all have been a lot of help over the last few months.
 
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I'll toss in my two cents worth. Technically pretty advanced - very nice job. The moving text is well done and is tasteful. From a layout point of view - the fundamental point of the site is to sell. You have to consider the psychological effect of your layout, font, and color choices on customers.

Black (background) is a risky choice. To use black is is imperative that you project a &quot;classy&quot; image. The photo of the beautiful pool is excellent. The very bright, mulitcolor, fonts are not. Pick three complimentary colors for your site and use them for most of the design. Use pastels or even pantones (if you know how to deal with cross platform issues). If you want to sell upscale the site needs to look upscale and really most sites trying to sell need to look upscale. Also - don't use more than two fonts on a page in most cases.

You can look at my site listed below. It uses a very dark blue background and might help illustrate what I am opining.

For a first site it is superb. Peace
BT
 
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Good Effort.

But think about your target market. WHen I see flashy sites with lots of colours what I think of is a vulgar site...... By using these effects you risk setting off the subconscious I reckon.

Lose some of the colours in your text. Some of your buttons go darker, some go lighter when moused over. Make them all the same colour to start with, and change them lighter when moused over.

Too many flash buttons. Use gif's instead, will spead the apge up heaps and you don't ened flash for the ffects you are using anyway.

Yep,, black background is a risk... portrays either classiness or evil! You've got to remove the flashing buttons or you can't portray class. Consider blending your centre image to soften it. Checkout for an example.

But nice work all the same, all comments are design opinions only based on what I hear from my clients, which range from streetware sites to mum and dad, farms.
 
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Thanks again to everyone for the input. I'm working on some of the changes you suggested. my next question is, whats the going price for a web site like mine? The one here is for my brother and I did not charge him but his friend would like something similar to it. I haven't any idea what to tell him without looking silly. Thanks in advance.
 
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Costs, now there is an area where you will get tons of different answers.
Figure out your time you have involved in it, multiply that by the figure you would like to see an hour and then figure what you are comfortable with.
If you were given free reign to do the site and not have to go back and forth with the client, that saves some time.
You have to figure all that into it and not cut yourself short.
Personally, I won't do work for less than what I make with my regular job.
 
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I charge $50 an hour but I live in Sheridan Wyoming and can't get more. Heck, I have a hard time finding anyone who even wants a site.

That said, using Dreamweaver I can crack out a simple site in a day so the cost to the client is very reasonable. On the other hand, a big e-commerce site could run $40,000. I have friends back east that won't touch a site for less than $100,000. Charge what the market can handle - which means you won't make much on your first few sites.

Read some books on design - including graphics and magazine layout.

Anyone know of good places to network for work? Do sites like rent-a-geek work? Peace
BT
 
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Nice site but the use of flash for simple links? might be longer to load than regular Html...

Just a thought ;-)
Have Fun...

Sharky99 >(::O>
 
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