New updated Website design

[Booche]

Hope this looks better im 100% more happier with it and the total layout
Link: www.djpdiscos.com

Hope you guys think its better :)

cheers Dave

[Vectis]

Well, without getting into the spelling and grammatical errors of which there are many...

1. The background image is enormous and took a good 20 seconds to download on my relatively fast 3.7MB connection. You probably have it cached so aren't seeing this

2. The animated GIFs scream 'cheap homemade tat'. I thought this was just my own opinion but tested it on another forum and the general concensus was that the majority of these 'sprite-like' graphics are almost universally detested.

3. On my browser (Safari 4 on OSX), the text on the opening page runs out at the end of "if you do need any". The Information page runs out at "questions, queries or comments".

4. The Information page is one big slab of text and needs breaking up.

5. The Information page needs a £ rather than a £ symbol to render properly

6. The FAQ page stops at 'How long does the disco take to set up' - I don't see any way of scrolling further down the page

7. Contact us header doesn't make sense - screen shot attached

8. I don't like the HUGE FONT!!!

9. The text used in the right-click disable script ("HaHa now try nicking things elsewhere") isn't very professional sounding!! Lots of folks might have a legitimate reason to right-click - maybe they want to copy your phone number to their contacts list, or possibly even print the page? What have you got on there that's so proprietary anyway? I can understand this being on a gallery page with unwatermarked images, but on a contact page?? I don't get it!


For me, it looks like a homemade website and doesn't really do you many favours. The colour scheme is quite nice and 'disco-ey' and the logo isn't bad but it's obvious you haven't thought through the technicalities of web design as evidenced by the fact that under Safari at least it has many display issues and the £ symbol.

A quick peek at the source code reveals you're using a web page builder script of some type (surprise surprise) which worries me as I feel that some of the polishing tweaks you'll need to apply to turn this into a great site will need you to get your hands dirty with raw HTML working on the source you already have.

I've looked at literally hundreds of DJ websites and have seen some really good ones and some really bad ones. On a scale of 0 to 5 stars I think you're currently running at about a 2 (IMHO).

Hope this helps!

Oh, and ffs get your copy re-written!

PS. Just remembered one more thing - the ordering of the tabs. First, is 'Links' a legitimate tab anyway? Isn't that just offering visitors an "out"? If you must have links, put a small text link in your footer or something and use the real estate to sell YOU not someone else. Anyway, that said, if 'Links' is to stay, I think it needs demoting. I feel that 'Contact Us' is in the correct place based on the way most folks "scan" a webpage so maybe swap 'Links' with 'FAQs'?

PPS - you're probably aware, but there are not TITLE or META DESCRIPTION elements in your pages. If you want to be invisible to the search engines, that's fine.

[rob1963]

Many of my thoughts are the same as those of Vectis, but I'll detail them for clarity anyway.

Firstly, I think the font is too large.

Secondly, I'd lose the animated GIFS on the home page, as these look tacky.

Thirdly, the bottom half of your copyright message is cut off for some reason.

Next, on the information page the last part of the text it cut off.

Also, on the FAQ page the questions don't stand out too well in the dark pink colour against the black background. In addition the bottom of the text is again cut off. On my computer, only four questions & answers appear. I have no idea how many more there are meant to be after that.

Next, on the contact us page, "Please feel free to contact us for either a price,date,location or any information you may" iss missing the end bit. I'd also add an email link and a phone number (or ideally two: both a landline AND a mobile).

Finally, you really need to sort out your spelling & grammar.

Hope this helps.

:)

[rob1963]

PS. Just remembered one more thing - the ordering of the tabs. First, is 'Links' a legitimate tab anyway? Isn't that just offering visitors an "out"? If you must have links, put a small text link in your footer or something and use the real estate to sell YOU not someone else. Anyway, that said, if 'Links' is to stay, I think it needs demoting. I feel that 'Contact Us' is in the correct place based on the way most folks "scan" a webpage so maybe swap 'Links' with 'FAQs'?

I like to have the page tabs laid out in the order that people are most likely to want to look at them.

Therefore, in this case, I'd change the order from:

HOME-----GALLERY-----LINKS-----INFORMATION-----FAQs-----CONTACT US

to:

HOME-----INFORMATION-----FAQs-----GALLERY or CONTACT US-----CONTACT US or GALLERY-----LINKS

:)

[Booche]

Wow i didnt expect a slateing like that but fair enough i suspect that my work is *please read the forum rules regarding swearing on the forum - content must be kept "family friendly"* i aggree i did make this and im no coder and have no knowledge of it i thought at first it was quite good but after reading these comments i think ill have to look at it again from another perspective, yes my grammer etc isnt brilliant but hey not everyone can spell correctly all the bloody time, the no right click has affected the £ sign and the copyright footer (no idea why though)

as for the pages no displaying corrent thats the problem im having as ive only got access to IE and FireFox and both of them look correct :(

Woud love some advice on how to make it better instead of just pure critisim

Cheers Dave

P.S. took a screen shot and this is how the contact us header appears in both IE and FireFox :(

[DeckstarDeluxe]

I think you'll find most FAQ's are low down on the order.

Get your a good tracking program on your site and you can see what pages customers go to when they visit your site!

Most popular on mine are home (naturally) then prices then gallery and then any of the other buttons I have.

Contact us has never been clicked as all the contact information is at the top left of every page.

[rob1963]

Woud love some advice on how to make it better instead of just pure critisim

That's exactly what Vectis & myself have given you!

Read our posts again!

:shrug:

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Wow i didnt expect a slateing like that but fair enough i suspect that my work is *please read the forum rules regarding swearing on the forum - content must be kept "family friendly"* i aggree i did make this and im no coder and have no knowledge of it i thought at first it was quite good but after reading these comments i think ill have to look at it again from another perspective, yes my grammer etc isnt brilliant but hey not everyone can spell correctly all the bloody time, the no right click has affected the £ sign and the copyright footer (no idea why though)

as for the pages no displaying corrent thats the problem im having as ive only got access to IE and FireFox and both of them look correct :(

Woud love some advice on how to make it better instead of just pure critisim

Cheers Dave

P.S. took a screen shot and this is how the contact us header appears in both IE and FireFox :(

Think you'll find you've had advice off two full time djs with their own websites that must be succesful because they make their living from it.

What you have to remember is that customers dont want a fancy site they just want some small pieces of information thats easy to find.

Getting your SEO is just as important too.

Tell you what, get your family members to look at several sites and see which one they would pick or at least email first and ask them why.

[Booche]

Will look into making a new site again but useing css and php codeing :(

Thanks guys didnt mean to come across like a ungreatfull arse

Cheers Dave

[Vectis]

Woud love some advice on how to make it better instead of just pure critisim


If you're not ready for an honest assessment, then don't ask for one.

:argue:

[Booche]

Stuck with the same design etc but altered a few of the things mentioned got rid of that silly no right click,smaller text, broke up the info page, rearranged tabs,changed faq color, im guessing there is still alot to do grammer etc but im hoping im getting there slowly, again apolagies for being abrupt :)

[Jiggles]

Lets say that in IE6 you dont want to know what its like...

[Booche]

Damn is it that bad :( ive only got ie8, google chrome and mozilla firefox

[Vectis]

Damn is it that bad

Yes.

Use this:
http://browsershots.org/

[Booche]

Use this:
http://browsershots.org/

Thanks mate will check out what a mess it looks like :bang: :bang: :bang:

Cheers Dave

[Marc J]

Will look into making a new site again but useing css and php codeing :(

Sorry to break it to you but this won't make it any easier. If you're struggling with basic HTML then learning PHP as well will just make things harder for you. You still have to output valid HTML code, PHP is just a scripting language which you can use to produce HTML code server-side (in fact, that's just one one of the things you can do with it). It won't produce the code for you, though.


Use this:
http://browsershots.org/

Or for more immediate results IETester (http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage) or M$ SuperPreview (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=8e6ac106-525d-45d0-84db-dccff3fae677&displaylang=en) (for testing different versions of IE only - you still need to take care of Firefox, Safari, Opera etc. etc...).

[Booche]

Thanks guys will try and get a coder/designer to create one.

Thanks again Dave :)

[Booche]

ok so after speaking with alot of people, family members,clubs,community centres,kids parents and friends etc etc ( about a weeks worth ), they have all said it looks ok on there comp etc and been asking what they use etc and they all say the same it looks good ( and i did say be honest even if its hurtfull as such ),ive altered a few of the things mentioned above ie: size of text, layout etc so just wondered if this is any better as im thinking that im gonna have to say this is it as on one hand i could spend the next 6mths altering it to please every one but there will still be a few people who dont like this this and this but as of now i feel its sorted.

Cheers Dave :)

P.S. i know about the gallery before anyone slates me about this, ive lost my hardrive which had the images on, so i now need to take some new pics

[rob1963]

Hi Dave,

Sorry, but I still have the same problems with certain bits of your text being completely cut off.

I'm very surprised none of the people you've spoken to had this problem, as there seem to have been quite a few of them...and I use IE7, which I believe is the most commonly used version of Internet Explorer.

:shrug:

[rob1963]

I'm using IE7 with a screen resolution of 1024 x 768, and the following screen shots show how they display for me.

First, here is your home page, which simply says "Welcome to" at the top. Welcome to what?

6736

Here is your information page, which at the bottom says "please contact us to see how we can provide you with a" and the rest is cut off.

6737

Now here is the FAQ page, which cuts off straight after the question "How long does the disco take to set up?"

6738

Finally, here is the contact us page, which starts "Please feel free....." and once again cuts off a few words later.

Also, as you can see there is a bit of a problem with you mobile phone number, as the middle of it seems it be partly missing, meaning it's not as easy to read as it should be.

6739

Hope this helps.

:)

[Booche]

Cheers Rob i shall look in to them issues straight away :)

[rob1963]

Cheers Rob i shall look in to them issues straight away :)

Glad to help...and sorry again for the day while I tried to find out how to take screen shots!

:beerchug:

[Jiggles]

Come on Rob how hard was it to find the Print Screen button :P

[rob1963]

Come on Rob how hard was it to find the Print Screen button :P

There was a bit more to it than that, Callum!

I then had to go into paint, dump it in there, change the file type to JPG, give it a name & work out where I wanted to save it!

At least I now know for the future!

:D :D :D

Booche,

Here is a screenshot of your amended home page:

6740

[Booche]

Wow my text has got to be really small now as the welcome section is in like size 12 font :( but it looks soooo tiny on my screen :(

will see what i can do thanks again for everyones help

[Vectis]

I then had to go into paint, dump it in there, change the file type to JPG, give it a name & work out where I wanted to save it!


I think Rob needs introducing to my friend Mac... :)

[Jiggles]

There was a bit more to it than that, Callum!

I then had to go into paint, dump it in there, change the file type to JPG, give it a name & work out where I wanted to save it!

At least I now know for the future!

:D :D :D


Pah simpleton. :sj:


I think Rob needs introducing to my friend Mac... :)

I was going to say that but Rob would complain. :d

[rob1963]

Wow my text has got to be really small now as the welcome section is in like size 12 font :( but it looks soooo tiny on my screen :(

will see what i can do thanks again for everyones help

Booche,

Although it's smaller than before, your text still looks absolutely fine on my screen & is easily readable.

Obviously I have no idea how it looks at other resolutions or in other browsers, though.

:shrug:

[rob1963]

I think Rob needs introducing to my friend Mac... :)


Pah simpleton. :sj:

I've always held up my hand to not being very technical, but it's amazing what I discovered by keying "how to take screen shot" into my Google search box!

We live & learn!

(Until today, I hadn't even HEARD of paint...let alone knew where to find it!)

:D

[Jiggles]

Fine here on Safari 4...

[Booche]

Thanks guys this does mean alot t get it sorted im glad its ok for you CB :)

ill edit the DJP bit so its a tad smaller so its not cut off etc, how do the other pages look as ive used that link Vectis kindly provided and its hard to see the other pages as it just focuses on the home page :)

[rob1963]

Thanks guys this does mean alot t get it sorted im glad its ok for you CB :)

ill edit the DJP bit so its a tad smaller so its not cut off etc, how do the other pages look as ive used that link Vectis kindly provided and its hard to see the other pages as it just focuses on the home page :)

Bingo Dave!

All the text is now there in IE7 & nothing is cut off or missing any more!

Just one remaining thing to sort out. The problem with the middle of the mobile phone number missing has now moved to the email address.

Screenshot attached so you can see what I mean, but everything else seems fine now...respect!

:D

6742

[Booche]

Thank god yeah i had to make all the font sizes really small so they dont appear to be cut off i shall adjust this mistake asap as i only altered that font size a little lol

Cheers again Rob for the help :)

[rob1963]

Thank god yeah i had to make all the font sizes really small so they dont appear to be cut off i shall adjust this mistake asap as i only altered that font size a little lol

Cheers again Rob for the help :)

My pleasure, Dave.

Glad you got there in the end.

You can relax now!

:beerchug:

[Booche]

Yeah until someone else says its not right lol

Cheers Dave :)

[SC Events]

Yeah until someone else says its not right lol

Cheers Dave :)

...Did someone call...! :D

The text on your site is way too small, I struggled to read it (Screen shot attached):

6743


Also, you might want to check your spelling on the Gallery page.

[Booche]

...Did someone call...! :D

The text on your site is way too small, I struggled to read it (Screen shot attached):

6743


Also, you might want to check your spelling on the Gallery page.

Thats what i meant when i said it was really small on my screen :( think this is were the issues are goig to start etc :bang: :bang: :bang:

[Pe7e]

Thats what i meant when i said it was really small on my screen :( think this is were the issues are goig to start etc :bang: :bang: :bang:

The font on the home page is far too small, to the point it can't form the individual letters properly in some words.

[Booche]

The font on the home page is far too small, to the point it can't form the individual letters properly in some words.


Yep as i said above the small font issue is what i can see as well i had to resize it to make it fit on Robs screen properley so i think this is were the headache's start as im going to have to put it back to roughly how it was :(

[rob1963]

Yep as i said above the small font issue is what i can see as well i had to resize it to make it fit on Robs screen properley so i think this is were the headache's start as im going to have to put it back to roughly how it was :(

Noooooooo!

There must be a reason why it's fine in some browsers but far too small on others.

It might be worth having a word with the webmeister that is Marc J.

[Booche]

Ive popped it back to how it was for the time being Rob :( (sorry ) but will contact Marc j and see if he can help any way shape or form :)

[rob1963]

Ive popped it back to how it was for the time being Rob :( (sorry ) but will contact Marc j and see if he can help any way shape or form :)

No problem...and I' sure he will be able to offer you some good pointers.

[Booche]

Hope so as i think ive used up alot of the site just on my own lol

[Booche]

Right ive been messing around and designed a basic looking site which works ( i think )

Please note the images in the gallery ARE NOT MINE they are purely there to test out the design etc

I know it looks basic etc but im working on that bit lol

Cheers Dave :)

[Jiggles]

A lot better now! :)

[Booche]

Thanks CB i didnt want to lose the disco look/style my other design had but felt if i was to sort it id have to start again, but ill hopefully get used to this program i got and sort out a more discoy ( if thats a word ) feel to it :)

Thanks again mate :)

Cheers Dave :)

[Vectis]

That's actually BETTER than the last site IMO :o

Anyway, a few pointers...

1. Spelling and grammar are still atrocious. Use of apostrophes & Capitalisation is poor and sentence breaks/paragraphs aren't optimal;

2. You need to seriously rethink certain passages, eg "all of our equiptment is up to the latest PAT (Portable Appliance Testing) Regulations" as this is nonsensical;

3. I presume you provide LM (Limited Manufacture) licences with the DVDs that you create? If not, you're breaking copyright law. If so, why not make a big thing about it on your Information page?

4. On the enquiry form, perhaps change some of the fields for drop-downs because a) people don't like typing and b) you're going to get all sorts of rubbish typed in or worse, entire fields omitted. Also, aren't you interested in the DATE of the event? You should ask folks HOW they want to be contacted, too;

5. On the opening page, why start with a negative? We are a new mobile disco company... would put me straight off if I was looking for someone to perform at an important event. I probably wouldn't make it to the next sentence.

[rob1963]

Right ive been messing around and designed a basic looking site which works ( i think )

Please note the images in the gallery ARE NOT MINE they are purely there to test out the design etc

I know it looks basic etc but im working on that bit lol

Cheers Dave :)

Hi Dave,

I'll have a proper look at the new site later, but for now I'm pleased to say the new site looks much better...and the most important thing is that everything seems to be displaying correctly on my screen & no text is cut off!

:D

[Booche]

That's actually BETTER than the last site IMO :o

Anyway, a few pointers...

1. Spelling and grammar are still atrocious. Use of apostrophes & Capitalisation is poor and sentence breaks/paragraphs aren't optimal;

2. You need to seriously rethink certain passages, eg "all of our equiptment is up to the latest PAT (Portable Appliance Testing) Regulations" as this is nonsensical;

3. I presume you provide LM (Limited Manufacture) licences with the DVDs that you create? If not, you're breaking copyright law. If so, why not make a big thing about it on your Information page?

4. On the enquiry form, perhaps change some of the fields for drop-downs because a) people don't like typing and b) you're going to get all sorts of rubbish typed in or worse, entire fields omitted. Also, aren't you interested in the DATE of the event? You should ask folks HOW they want to be contacted, too;

5. On the opening page, why start with a negative? We are a new mobile disco company... would put me straight off if I was looking for someone to perform at an important event. I probably wouldn't make it to the next sentence.

Thankyou Vectis i shall look into all this and make sure i get it sorted, will need to rethink the wording etc but Thanks again :beer1:


Hi Dave,

I'll have a proper look at the new site later, but for now I'm pleased to say the new site looks much better...and the most important thing is that everything seems to be displaying correctly on my screen & no text is cut off!

:D

Thanks Rob, im quite happy with it now i know it looks abit plain but like previous posts have said customers dont really look for fancy sites etc :beer1:

Cheers Dave :)

[Booche]

Right ive altered a few things but still got a couple of things VV mentioned, hopefully its now looking better :)

Things i need to sort:
Meta Tags, Form ( ive tried drop downs but when ive tested them they dont appear in my email :( ) Gallery - will be adding pics etcs and using a click for a larger picture code

Thanks all :)

Cheers Dave :)

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