Topic: iPod repair site.. any critiques/comments appreciated!

[ethan6]

Hi, so I'm just working on totally redesigning my iPod repair site and would appreciate any comments, thank you!

iTronics Repair:
http://iTronicsRepair.com

[ethan6]

anyone?

any kind of comments would be great, thanks!!   

[lostprophetpunk]

To get critiques, you must be prepared to wait for people to notice your topic...

Right then...

- Validation cannot be done for your site as it is blocked by something.
- Spacing. The spacing on the website is shocking, as it is inconsistent and all over the place, making it hard for users to find content.
- Alignment. Hardly any part of the website is actually aligned properly (the right sidebar). The alignment of divs and headings of those divs are off. Make them all to the left, or all centered...not left or a bit from the left or center. This can also lead to content not being found for users.
Note: You can use grids for the design of the website. This should help you out with spacing and alignment.
- Images. The background of the middle of your headers does not show in Firefox, but it does it IE. This makes it difficult for Firefox users to see headings of most of your divs.
- Typography. Apart from tahoma, the only fonts you use are 'arial, helvetica, sans-serif' for everything else. Make use of serifs for headings and another font for the content...you can also throw in a third font if you have a good enough design.
- Footer. You seem to have loads of space between the content and the footer of the page...it needs to be reduced so the user doesn't have to scroll down just to see the footer text.
- Slogan. It would be quite handy if you were to get rid of the blue gradient bar underneath the nav, as it has no purpose. Then you can put the text 'Professional repair since 2005' where the 'Formely MyiPodBroke.com' is as nobody really wants to know what the site was...as they are viewing iTronics Repair.
- Login. It would be far more useful to remove the big gray bar with the 'login' on it and place a navigation link to login on the far right of the navigation, to make it more visible to users.
- Date. Nobody needs to see what day it is as they have that information available to thewm already through the taskbar of their computer or on their phone. The only real need for it is if the site depends on users seeing that information and using it someway to interact with the site.
- Donation 'Please support MyiPodBroke.com and make a donation today!'. You may need to change that...
- Contact. When I click on the contact link, I do not expect to see the name of the file to be 'about.php' when it is 'contact' on the navigation. You should also include the form on the contact (well, you have it as the about page) page and provide the information you have on 'about.php' with it.

I hope I have helped you in some way.

[ethan6]

wow thank you very much for all the tips, they were very helpful actually it's very nice to have an honest critique for once i will try to work through many of these, again the site i still in progress, so i am trying to work out the kinks in getting everything to be well arranged and easy to navigate.

One question: what would you suggest is the best way to layout a site? i use mainly tables, but i've heard that they're not the best, but not sure what i should be using instead?

Thanks again for the help!
 

[lostprophetpunk]

wow thank you very much for all the tips, they were very helpful actually it's very nice to have an honest critique for once i will try to work through many of these, again the site i still in progress, so i am trying to work out the kinks in getting everything to be well arranged and easy to navigate.

That's ok, I like to tell what is wrong withthe site, why it is wrong and how it can be improved.

One question: what would you suggest is the best way to layout a site? i use mainly tables, but i've heard that they're not the best, but not sure what i should be using instead

You should use divs which create tableless designs. The design you have is not hard to create with divs. This can help you with the structure of the site.

[greenbizkit33]

yeah that white space on the home page is an eye sore lol.

i really hate that moving banner on the bottom. so 1990s
other then that looks really professional. oh yeah maybe work in the 'professional since 2005' into the logo

[ethan6]

yeah that white space on the home page is an eye sore lol.

i really hate that moving banner on the bottom. so 1990s
other then that looks really professional. oh yeah maybe work in the 'professional since 2005' into the logo

yeah i was going to get rid of the marquee scroll, it is 1990s, lol indeed, but thanks for the reminder.

as for the white space, i know there's just too much of it all over, but what exactly would be your suggestion?  I want to keep the site simple and clean to use, so i don't want too much clutter, but at the same time i don't want it to look sparse.

thanks!

[lostprophetpunk]

as for the white space, i know there's just too much of it all over, but what exactly would be your suggestion?  I want to keep the site simple and clean to use, so i don't want too much clutter, but at the same time i don't want it to look sparse.

You can sort that by using grids for light designs. There is a link in my first post.

[ethan6]

You can sort that by using grids for light designs. There is a link in my first post.

ok, perhaps i just don't get it.. but what do you mean by "light designs"?  Do you mean just less heavy colored boxes for my information? would it be better to not have those blueish boxes on the main page? or should they be more snug together? (not have 50px width between stuff)?

thanks again!

[ethan6]

You should use divs which create tableless designs. The design you have is not hard to create with divs. This can help you with the structure of the site.

i tried the these css layouts, but for some reason when I download them, they don't appear in my browser? ie. i open index.html and get a blank white page, and still do even if i upload the files to my server?

[greenbizkit33]

i got it! i will send you a picture of me to fill in the white space lol.

did you upload the css page also? i know it is a stupid question.

i notice you updated your page a little.  looks nice. now it looks so boxy

[ethan6]

i got it! i will send you a picture of me to fill in the white space lol.

did you upload the css page also? i know it is a stupid question.

i notice you updated your page a little.  looks nice. now it looks so boxy

haha lol.

i have done lots of updates now, i'm liking it better if people have any new comments as well ..when you say "it looks boxy" is that bad? lol. i think it's at least an improvement.

i'd appreciate any other new comments as well, i have done lots of changes in the last couple days!

thanks again!

[thewooleymammoth]

IMO the gradient in the boxes need have a harsher transition so the bottom of the text doesnt get drowned out by the gradient. It feels like im reading something with a bright light behind it when i try to read the headers in your boxes. and i think this was mentioned but try to make your boxes height line up.

 ______________   _____
|                        | |         |
|_____________ | |_____|
                            _____
                           |_____|

not
 ______________   _____
|                        | |_____|
|_____________ |
                            _____
                           |_____|

Hopefully that makes sense

[chrisdburns]

I would lose the shadows on the menu bar as well as adjust the spacing between menu items. 

I agree that the gradients need a harsher transition.  I would also change the text (on the gradients) to black instead of white with the current style.

You have an element labeled 'Your Ipod' that is empty.  I assume it's used if you're logged in, so it needs to be hidden while visiting as a guest.

You need to align your input boxes in the 'Your Account' element.  You could also center the submit buttons, but that's just opinion.

2 of 3 of the reviews don't have names with them so they look as made up as it gets. 

Moving between pages is very slow for me.  I don't think it's my connection either. 

[ethan6]

Moving between pages is very slow for me.  I don't think it's my connection either.

would you have any suggestions to fix this?

[greenbizkit33]

it moves fast for me. does anyone use frames these days. i know that could make it faster, but i think that is old fashion

[thewooleymammoth]

dont use frames, the only time you use frames is to fake an ajax file upload.

[ethan6]

yeah i don't think i'd use frames.  what are other people seeing for speed of my website in both initial loading time as well as moving between pages?

again, it's at:
http://itronicsrepair.com

Thanks!

[thewooleymammoth]

http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/

this should help you

[ethan6]

great, thanks!

[FaT3oYCG]

So would learning what web standards are: http://www.w3schools.com/ .