|
|
Posted by windandwaves on 07/17/07 04:18
On Jul 17, 2:15 am, Bernhard Sturm <sturmnixs...@datacomm.ch> wrote:
> windandwaves wrote:
> > Hi Folk
>
> > Can you please give me some feedback onhttp://www.sunnysideup.co.nz/clients/corstorphine/
>
> just a couple of things that came to mi mind whilst visiting the above URL:
>
> - Navigational design
> *********************
> - How do I navigate? The small images do not 'talk' to me... I have to
> rely on a mouse over to see that each of the small images refer to a
> main item in your navigation. This is one way to chase away customers:
> don't tell them what they can find, obscure everything and leave them
> alone to discover the treasures of your site. I don't know many
> customers who will react in a friendly way to such a proposition :-)
Good point. We do provide one large photo on each page and we can
obviously not provide eight large images, but we give the customer the
opportunity to see more. I am thinking about a javascript that swaps
the image on each page every minute or so.... That maybe a nice idea.
I will think about that.
> - Who on earth told you that German is only spoken in Germany? I am
> Swiss, and I can't see my flag, so I have to guess that I am not your
> targeting audiance?
Ok, here is my thinking:
1. keep it simple
2. flight attendants wear flags of the languages they speak
3. you could write "click here for german", etc...., but that would
look dull!
4. hotels often use flags to welcome people - no-one assumes that if
you flag aint showing you are not welcome.
5. we can't add every flag, because the languages we use cover
billions of people!
This was my reasoning. How do you suggest we fix it, while keeping
the nice look?
>
> - Why should I identify grey colored text on a grey background as a
> clickable link? Not very clever for people who might have some eyessight
> troubles (and I assume those people are also inculded in your targeting
> audiance?)
True, we dont really want them to click them. they are mainly for
search engine purposes :-)
>
> - What do you mean by placing an arrow in the footer besides your
> flag-icons? Are you telling me, that there are more language options
> available? I still couldn't find the Swiss-flag, but realised, that you
> are trying to introduce a linear navigation with this arrow. This will
> not work, as you are not telling your audiance what they might expect.
Hmmm, this was a really interesting point. The arrows are for NEXT
and PREVIOUS page. Not sure how we would change it. I personally
really like it as you can cycle through the whole site, or go, for
example, room to room....
> - No consistence in navigation design: If I click on one of the images
> at least two new menus are being introduced: one above the small images,
> and one in the footer bar. I can't see which is what, and couldn't
> identify any visual and hence semantic hierarchy between those
> naviations.
The ones above the images are the services (accommodation,
restaurant,etc...) , the ones below are for practical matters (e.g.
contact, bookings, etc...) I wonder if it works. You theorise that
it does not, but I would like to put that to the test.
I will see if we can conduct a small field trial with this. A lot of
points made in this newsgroup is because people say:
- you dont do it that way
- that never works
however, few present empirical evidence whether or not things work.
Professionals look at these things very differently from "normal"
people. For example the site discussed here is usually a favourite
with "normal" people, although it breaks a lot of professional rules.
> Ahhh, and I notice a third menu-structure, when you dive
> deeper into the menu-hierarchy... this is very bad. I suggest you
> re-think your navigational-design.
>
> - No immediate contact information. For a hotel I would expect this to
> be the most important thing. As a future guest I want to know: where and
> who can I contact you, as I want to book NOW. As your client I would
> have insisted on this.
Good point. Perhaps we should make the contact link bold or so? What
we have done is to create several links in strategic places directly
to the contact page.
>
> - What do you mean by introducing a menu item labelled 'Back to
> Functions'? Keep your target audiance in mind: they are not geeks, nor
> are they webdesigners. They want to be taken smoothly by the hands.
> Explain them in a nice manner, that, if they click this link, they will
> be taken to the entry page... whatever.. but something meaningful.
Totally agree. Will change
> - Design
> *********************
> I like your calm and neutral desing. The color-scheme is well used (if
> one leaves the link-colors aside). I think it is quite courageous to
> design the site against all 'common' design rules (logo centered, menu
> at the bottom (where you would expect it the least), more information o
> the top, two columns divided by a big image in the center), and IMHO you
> could almost convince me about it :-)
>
> - Typography
> *********************
> Drop any italic. This is not readable, at least not on screen.
Good point! Totally agree
>
> - HTML
> *********************
> XHTML Strict? I don't think this is a good idea (at least if I read the
> posts from the pros here in the group). Although your site validates.
>
> your print.css seems to be HTML?
hmmmm, yes, the "to do " list!
>
> http://www.sunnysideup.co.nz/clients/corstorphine/s/print.css
>
> I haven't looked at it thouroughly, but I can see some akward things
> there... Why not using the @media selector?
> And, yes: your site will not print. At least on my printer it will print
> the entire layout, which will look terrible.
>
> Just my two cents
> Bernhard
>
> --www.daszeichen.ch
> remove nixspam to reply
Thanks a million for all your comments. That is just fantastic. Much
appreciated. I hope I did not sound too "arrogant" - as Richard would
put it. Thanks again!
Nicolaas
Navigation:
[Reply to this message]
|