ZoomConcept Reviews
Minor Problem on http://www.unikgifts.co.uk/index.php 1 You may want to check your website on different browsers during the design process - for example your drop down menu on the help nav button doesnt work in Internet Explorer, but does work in Chrome and Firefox. There is also a glitch in the last 2 browsers when you hover on/off the help nav, (to he left under the nav bar). The same applies with your font - arial in some browsers, times new roman in others. -
-
Chris Griffin commented:Hi Sarah, its IE 9 that doesn't show the help drop down. Its never a bad idea to have a couple of browsers downloaded to test the site on. I'm currently addicted to google chrome !
2 I like the idea of your logo - using a handprint ties in well with the company name - but its overall layout isn't very strong. It almost feels its fall off the page. Aligning the hand and putting it at the front of the logo, removing the hyphens in "unik" might help strengthen the logo and make it look a bit more professional (If you are not changing your logo ignore all the above !!! :) -
Sarah Davies commented:
u-ni-k is named after our children - Ida and Kathryn. We're mums working at home, so we'll leave as it is for the time being. But thank you for the suggestions.
3 Adding a "contact" nav would be helpfull here. Contact links shouldn't be hidden away at the bottom of the page. Ideally you want the user to feel they can get in touch with you easily. -
Sarah Davies commented:
I'm worried about spacing, it was originally up the top but on my PC monitor the spacing of the nav bar was horrible. I'll see if I can work around this somehow.
Serious Problem on http://www.unikgifts.co.uk/index.php 1 Again, the hand and foot print are a nice touch, but maybe not here. These pattern borders on either side of the page scream 1990's website. Using them elsewhere like part of a subtle header of footer maybe a better use of them? Critical Problem on http://www.unikgifts.co.uk/private/productid_victoriap.php 1 Online shopping is not my specialty but this layout looks very unprofessional. Hopefully some other conceptfeedback users can direct you here Summary:
For a company who have designed their own site, fair play - but there is a lot on the design side of things letting you down. A bit too much whitespace - Use the brown of your logo as your colour scheme - assert your pressence and identity! Have a look at some other sites or products for inspiration. Make wireframe sketches to lay out the site you want and then if you are finding it difficult to code, then it might be time to call in some professional help. Best of luck with the redesign!!
-
Summary:
Objective: increase customer trust Give yourself a 9/10 for your illustrations toward your objective(except Logo.)
I have to say the logo is to "cold dead hand" for me .As you are self taught I would have to say study the U.S. cozy warmy Scene first (Disney,Martha Stewart-Barney)this is the aesthetic cozy warmy but the web is more than that.
chrispederick.com has a free web developer toolbar which you can use in Firefox or Palemoon and chrome which will give you some quick understandable(any level of designer developer)tech feedback you may also benefit from grid fox and by all means google " the use of grids In web design" - this is baseline effort In my opinion.
-
Sarah Davies commented:
I've not heard of this before. Thank you I shall google right now, always keen to learn more about web design. Being self taught I rely on the W3 website to help me out as much as possible. It's not mentioned there (not that I've found yet!). Thank you!
-
Robert Tipping commented:Without inviting the wrath of the "validation police"I would say Chris Pedricks toolbar specifically Tools>"display page validation" is W3C for the rest of us - it has rescued me on more than one occasion. If you where able to get around the W3C specifications without falling asleep (guilty)then you may also benefit from the slightly more intense "firebug"add on -a bit heady at times but has legions of fans http://getfirebug.com/
-
Summary:
Hello Sarah - Hope you don't mind the brief review, but I'm just following from your brief review examples.
My first thought was Eunuch
-
Sarah Davies commented:
I don't understand how a word describing a castrated male is a brief review. I'm not sure if this is a comment on our webpages design or my comments on other people's designs. All in all; not helpful
-
Rebecca Perry commented:if you want quality reviews, you must first give them. this site wouldn't work otherwise....
maybe my review should have simply said, " lovely colors"?
-
Patrick Niebrzydowski commented:I thought of eunuch too when I read it, might want to re-arrange the letters NiKU maybe?
-
Minor Problem The logo on the site seems to use dashes, while in the title bar its underscores. I would stick to dashes in the title bar as well Summary:
I feel like the pages that have the types of items you are selling is a little bit confusing to go through. For example, after clicking on handmade in the menu, it took me to the page with Egg Cups, Bowls, etc. At first glance at this page, I didn't know it was just a page that was going to lead me to another page with separate items. Maybe having the sections in the drop down menu would make this easier, and just remove the interim page that gets you to the purchase button. So, when you hovered over handmade, it would show Egg Cups, Bowls Beakers...
Another suggestion, this is just personal preference but, use valign=top so the item descriptions don't move towards the middle, on the pages with the purchase buttons.
As for the logo, it is a little pixelated and also the PayPal logo listing the credit cards looks squished. If you display it as 150x37, it may look a bit better and not squished.
-
Sarah Davies commented:
Thanks Leo, I'll definitely try the dropdown suggestion in my redesign. I'm worried about the issue I'm having with the li:hover in the help section - so I'm going back to basics trying to find out why it does this and why it doesn't work in IE9.
-
Serious Problem Handprints
The handprints contrast the background so much that's almost the only thing I notice.Navigation
The navigation elements up top need to all fit on a single row.Critical Problem Product is king
I don't see any images of the products on the entry page. This is the most critical element, and they need to be predominantly featured.Positive Feature Handprints
The handprints give a personal touch to the site.Summary:
There's a lot going on here, and my eye can't settle on what to look at first. What's the most important thing?
-
Sarah Davies commented:
The artwork of Victoria Plum is a product we sell. But your point is well made. My redesign concentrates more on products rather than "selling". Thank you very much.
-
Minor Problem Navigation will be difficult to modify and CSS styling
Constant width of the menu items does not seem to be the best solution. Personally I'd prefer aligned to the left menu with variable width of menu items.Fluid layout
Looks like you are using fluid layouts. Would recommend consideration of this solution. In general, it leads to loss of control over the appearance of content on the page. Maybe this link will be useful http://coding.smashingmagazine.com/2009/06/02/fixed-vs-fluid-vs-elastic-layout-whats-the-right-one-for-you/Summary:
-
Sarah Davies commented:
Thank you for your advice on fluid layouts. My redesign is underway and I'll do some research. Sarah D
-
Thank you very much for pointing this out. Nav works on IE8 and IE7 (I have them on PCs here). Please let me know what version you were using and I'll see if I can fix.