Budgetbetter.com

Nice site... It's very "now". The "apple" look is very in with webdesigners at the moment.

I would say the header could use a tag line of some sort just to clarify what the site is about. Something like "impartial advice to improve your budgeting" or something like that...

Thanks with sites like GreenDezire it's good to hear good comments from you. Thanks. Keep them coming.

awwwww *blushes* you've made me all embarrassed

Thanks man.

I saw your site. Not bad, but you need a navigation menu to let your visitors know the features your site offers, and keep it consistent on all pages. Keep up the good work, you're doing great.

I think you need to add a little more color to your site. I think you should use some of the orange in your logo. Try making the "Filed under:" boxes that color. I also think that grey bar right below the header and logo should be orange also. It should have links on it too. Contact Us, About Us, the usual links .

Oh I forgot, you should write an intro paragraph like on articlez.com web site. It should be place right below the header and soon to be navigation bar, and just below the news. Be sure to include a lot of keywords in the intro.

You need something on the homepage that actually explains what it is the site is about. It is not readily available to me what your mission is or why people should care.

The look of the site is great, perhaps the links on the left menu could be in slightly bigger or be made more noticeable with bolder colour.
Tried to look at some of the spreadsheets you've designed and could only get a html version, this is very confusing as it seems you should be able to download a spreadsheet, if this isn't the case it would be good to advise the user of this.

As said a description of what the site is actually about (including keywords) needs to be added at the top of the page beneath the banner.

I particularly like the calculators section, although - being from the UK - it's a shame these are all aimed at US users. Also I could only get an answer of NaN from the credit card calculator

Thanks NaN is an output you get only if your numbers aren't realistic. I'm going to work on the introductions. Color setup for nav menu and the image tagline. THanks guys!

LOL - lucky those weren't my real figures then
I thought that might be the case, it may be a good idea to provide an explanation for that error as well - somehow!

Nice Site!

A few pointers. On the menu links, make the visited color slightly darker. It may be difficult for people with lower eyesight to read.

The only other problem I see is that it seems too much like a blog! It just seems to me that that style of site doesn't fit the idea. I'm not exactly sure how you'd fix that. Maybe make a navbar above the header?

I think I went to your site while you were making changes. There was no menu on the left as I saw mentioned here, and the top graphic, when i moved the mouse over the edges of the image would cause it to flash on me.

It looks like you did ad text explaining what the site is, however, it is so tiny compared to the rest of the text on the site, looks more like fine print. Additionally, this text ("BudgetBetter.com is your integral guide...") looks like you have the area centered over your main content area and your right menus. Looks way out of place. At first I thought that maybe it was due to my screen size, but it still does this at 800x600.

For the calculators, since you are already useing CSS on them, why not have the numbers right justified as well. Additionally, add some formatting to make numbers like 4235.55 display as $4,235.55. Also try to make it consistant on where you are placing your $, some are in the text box, some are outside.

More help given with the calculators will be a big plus, like how you come up what fast food costs per year. what if i eat all my meals fast food (figure in medical costs for being fat too LOL), compared to maybe once or twice a week.

For the bottom caclulator, the reset and calculate buttons are reversed of the order most used (and you even use above it). The ?? betweent he two seems out of place as well. Since you are breaking it down to be a number with a decimal place, why not have it display (for my case of 164.1 years) read 164 years 2 months (as it will be 1.2 months, since I am making monthy payments the mill mark won't hit till second's month's deposit).

-Greg

Hey, nice website. Very clean looking.

Just a few nitpicks. First, the Site Map has a bit too much space right above it. Second, the little intro paragraph has what I would consider too small a font, especially when considering the rest of the page. The description of the site (and it's good that you added it) should jump out, so anyone who visits the site will immediately know what it's about.

Third, that same description paragraph seems to run over into the side menu area in IE, but not in Firefox. Not sure why, but I would suggest you fix that as well.

Cool idea for a site, and I hope it takes off.

Hello Troy,

I reviewed your website and I like the color scheme you used. The colors blend well together and are relaxing on the eyes. All the links worked when I tested them and overall the website has consistency, except for font sizes used in some areas . I found the information on the site interesting and helpful!

However, I do have some suggestion on how you could improve the site and make it more people friendly. Please don’t take this personal as my only intention is to make helpful suggestions.

The wording at the top of each page I feel is too small and hard to read. You might want to consider making it the same size font as the rest of the website. Also it needs to be centered. Also the font on budget spreadsheet page could be bigger - its hard to read.

A navigation bar would definitely be a big help. I click through your pages and couldn’t get back to home page - that was slightly annoying.

On the site news page where you say add new calculators, it would be easier if you just used a regular text link there - it would stand out more.

On the area on homepage where you list free file tax partners, could you actually link directly to each partners site? It would make it more helpful and easier to actually use that info..

Also you could put a direct text link to your email address. The reason I say this is because in the past when I have used this method for trying to contact someone the web page with contact form would not submit due to errors, etc. This way people can actually see your email address and if per chance that link didn’t work then people could at least see what your email address is and copy and paste.

Ok I’m done. I hope you find these suggestions helpful.

I like the colour scheme. It's fasionable.. Great you can help me with my finances - but how????

Maybe on the front page you should have bullet points e.g:

Quote: BudgetBetter.com is your integral guide to your personal budget and finances. We will help your budget:

• Our in-depth articles will help you get advice for your finances..
• Our worksheets provide templates for you to organize your finances
• Our calculators will help you understand and calculate your finances
• Our forums will give you help and advice and give you the chance to talk about financial problems.

This may be just me, but "Budget Spreadsheets" took ages to load.

Have you considered adding forums to your site as mentioned above?

Did you do this one by yourself or did you use a tool? If you did it on your own may I ask how you got the RSS feed available?

From a user perspective I suggest you reconsider the use of Site News on your start page. Since I typed in budgetbetter.com to get to the site I expected to find things that would help me with my personal budget. Instead I got your news page. After a few clicks I found what I was looking for. Money Saving tips.

I would suggest replacing the current start page with things people can do to start saving money today. Give them 5 things they can do. Like the one about paying your credit card weekly instead of monthly. Good advice for those who can't afford to pay off their card at the end of every month.

From a design perspective I see two things that need your attention.

(1)The navigation menu. The menu items go gray after clicking, but never go back to their original color. You may want to consider having them go gray only while the visitor is on the page. Also, there is no home button. Your visitors may find it hard to get back to your start page.

(2)The Money Articles Page. Where did the navigation menu go?

Hope this helps.

Eric
arcadedot.com