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Welll....Site Review? 1

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imstillatwork

imstillatwork

IS-IT--Management
Sep 26, 2001
1,605
US
This site has been up since about 2002/3 I think... My wife runs it, I built it. It is all my code, from sratch. it needs help! I am not a great designer, and often miss layout details that I think are making this site barely average right now.

There is some sort of inconsistancy that I have not sorted out yet. I want some good old fashioned honosty on this one. i'm coming here for help! This is the first site review I's posted.. talk about nervous!


THINGS I ALREADY KNOW:
To many tables left behind: I am working on a CODE only update (same look, better html/css)

link fonts / colors need consistancy / better visability

front page could use more information complete change?

I am open to suggestions concerning anything on the site!

Kevin

Phase 1: Read the CFML Reference
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Profit!
 
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Server Error
The server encountered an internal error and was unable to complete your request.

Application server is busy. Either there are too many concurrent requests or the server still is starting up.
Click to expand...

It's a bit minimal and I don't see any candy ;-)

<honk>*:O)</honk>
Foamcow Heavy Industries - Web site design in Cheltenham and Gloucester
Ham and Jam - British & Commonwealth forces mod for Half Life 2
 
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Did you break it Foamy? I'm getting:
Element ADMINIP is undefined in APPLICATION.

The error occurred in D:\Inetpub\northwestcandlesupply\tracking.cfm: line 2

1 : <!--- --->
2 : <cfif NOT CGI.REMOTE_ADDR Contains "#application.adminIP#">
3 :
4 : <cfif NOT listcontains(CGI.PATH_INFO,"manage","/")>


________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ222-2244 first.
'If we're supposed to work in Hex, why have we only got A fingers?'
Drive a Steam Roller
 
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First and obvious thing (sorry but it really gets my goat) is the spelling mistakes.

catagories - should be categories
Trianagle - ? triangle
shoppping - shopping
proccessed - processed
Most order ship much sooner - Most orders ship much sooner
Burgandy - burgundy
arrangments - arrangements
We want to here from you!We will respond - We want to hear from you! We will respond
but does not limit to: - is not limited to:
united States - United States
southern oregon - Southern Oregon
shipmen on - shipment to
autorized - authorized

________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ222-2244 first.
'If we're supposed to work in Hex, why have we only got A fingers?'
Drive a Steam Roller
 
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AWSOME. I can't spell, can't proof read, and I keep telling my wife to double check it!

one or two i can understand, but crap, I'm embarressed now. whats next?


Kevin

Phase 1: Read the CFML Reference
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Profit!
 
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I've used several text editors that do spell checking, but I don't know if whatever you use has that feature or not. I'm very cautious about sites where there are spelling mistakes that appear to be more than a random typo. I'm one of those people who believes that correct spelling is a sign of someone being meticulous and taking the time to make sure things are correct. If you misspell things, how can I trust your scripts to not have errors in them?

Lee
 
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I totaly understand what you guys are saying, and am looking for the tools to allow me to check all my sites - and I am checking them manually until I find something that works well.

Any other thoughs on the site?


Kevin

Phase 1: Read the CFML Reference
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Profit!
 
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I don't think that the design is bad, I actually like it, but taste is personal. The rest I'll leave to the experts.

Does it validate?



Christiaan Baes
Belgium

"My new site" - Me
 
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Yeah, you really need to tackle the spelling. A spell checker (start with ) would be a good start, but there are places where you've got a correectly spelled word, but it's the wrong word. For example:
We want to here from you!
Click to expand...
That should be hear. You need to get a human being who's a good speller to go over it. Also, try reading your copy aloud - it's a good way to find awkward turns of phrase like "but does not limit to". If you have to be your own proof reader, always leave a day or so between writing and proofing a bit of copy - otherwise your eyes will read what you meant to write instead of what you actually wrote!

OK, moving on...

I find the layout a little cramped. OK, you're keeping the width inside 800px, but you could still be more generous with margins and white space. You should also use a bigger font - older visitors may find your current choice awkward to read, I certainly do.

I also wonder about your choice of colour scheme. Blue is such a cold colour, so it's fighting against your content - candles surely being about warmth and light. I'd consider re-doing it in warm browns & oranges, think "candlelight"!

The links down the LHS of the home page don't really stand out. Maybe if you gave each one a background and/or border they'd have more impact.

You've made good use of product pictures on your individual product annd category pages, you need to do the same on the "Products" page and elsewhere in the site.

Having an "Articles" section is a really good idea, both for Search Engine fodder and to serve your customers generally. So don't hide the link to them at the bottom of the screen. However, your current crop of "articles" are just paragraphs! If you can't write at length on those subjects, try combining them into "Top tips for candle use" articles instead. There's potential to drive sales directly from here: how about (for example) an article on making a centrepiece for your Christmas dining table, with links to the products they'll need to do it. The article pages, too, could use more pictures, and need to be laid out better: the Google ad is currently too mixed up in the content for a start.

You need to have some proper contact details available. If you want me to send you my money, I want to know who I'm sending it to. It's a confidence thing. You also need to show your shipping charges
Some large or fragile items such as glassware may have additional shipping charges not shown on this chart
Click to expand...
Chart? What chart?

Under the hood it looks OK, though you should remove the inline CSS where you can and move it to the external stylesheet.

All-in-all quite a few areas for improvement, but - spelling aside - it's already better than "barely average". Just keep up the good work!

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd
 
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ChrisHunt : Thank you. I have this thread bookmarked, and am going to strongly consider or do everything you've said, but I don't have permission to change the colors :)

The articles are hidden away because they are not worthy. They are subjects that I have been trying to get my wife to write a bit about. I placed a few there to get her started. We both also work full time, so things sometimes take a while to get done. Orders come in steadily, so I think it would be wise to do whatever we can to keep improving the site, and the business as a whole.

I want to redo the front page to incorperate articles, new products, specials, features, etc...

In the works is a new shipping routine that grabs UPS and USPS Rates and gift wrapping & card options (candle-gram?)

Does it validate? Yes.

Kevin

Phase 1: Read the CFML Reference
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Profit!
 
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Element SETTINGS.DSN is undefined in APPLICATION.

It's dropped off again! lol

Rob
 
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I get:
Code: 
 The web site you are accessing has experienced an unexpected error.
Please contact the website administrator.

The following information is meant for the website developer for debugging purposes.
Error Occurred While Processing Request
Element SETTINGS.DSN is undefined in APPLICATION.
 
The error occurred in D:\Inetpub\northwestcandlesupply\Application.cfm: line 85

83 : <!--- check database connectivity --->
84 : <cftry>	
85 : 	<cfquery datasource="#application.settings.dsn#" name="checkDSN">
86 : 		SELECT MAX(category_ID) FROM #application.settings.dbprefix#category
87 : 	</cfquery>

____________________________________
Just Imagine.
 
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It's alive.

You know - that really pisses me off. I'm always telling people to debug, troubleshoot, test, etc.. and the ONE TIME I post a site review - I've got two code issues. After almost 4 years of running just fine. Just because I made a tweak here or there live, which I always do on the test site... anyways... thanks for the replies.







Kevin

Phase 1: Read the CFML Reference
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Profit!
 
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Kevin, nice site. Sleek and smooth. Love the color schema you have so far. In my opinion, the background blue is a bit too distracting.

The "Don't Miss Our CLEARANCE Items!!" section, you might want to wrap that <div> tag with some <br> tags. Looks too cluttered.

The quote on the main page: "Absolutely beautiful candles...even MORE so than expected. Thanks so Much!" you might either want to add the source of the quote or a generic title so the user has an idea the quote is from an actual customer and not the site owner.

On this page in FF I get the link to Pumpkin Floating candles as a text link (ie: <a href=" Floating candles</a>) but when I checked in IE, the whole page is screwy. The image of the product gets pushed to the bottom of the page and each product item row is the bue color background. (this might be the issue you're working, but thought i'd point it our nonetheless)

____________________________________
Just Imagine.
 
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The quote on the main page: "Absolutely beautiful candles...even MORE so than expected. Thanks so Much!" you might either want to add the source of the quote or a generic title so the user has an idea the quote is from an actual customer and not the site owner.

Thanks, my wife is working on compiling more quotes from customers like this, a little title would be a great idea, ro some way to see what is is.

I also pushed the content a little further from the border, and will check the rest of the spacing and alignment when i get to it. It's amazing what a few px here and there will do for the overall look.

I added a overflow:hidden; to the description div, just in case a long string with no spaces or something is accidently inserted, the site won't blow up.

Used the css from the product listings on the cart, for a more consitant look too.



Kevin

Phase 1: Read the CFML Reference
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Profit!
 
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you might want to wrap that <div> tag with some <br> tags
Click to expand...
What is this? 1997?

If you want to add some whitespace around that <div> (and I agree you probably should), just give it a bit more top and bottom margin in the CSS. No need to clutter your markup with <br> tags.

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd
 
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