International Property Directory

Ok I will tell what I like and don't like about your site.

First of all I do like the concept. I like your logo. I like the blue and silver colors.

Second I don't like the pics for the four ways to follow your dreams. They look out of place and discolored. Such as the purple and blue faces on the people. If you are tring for the professional look you need to find better pics. The Colors you have choosen for the different ways do not look good. Stay with the blue and silver, have different shades of them. I do like that they change when your mouse is over them.

Third I like the flash you have for the 4 steps, but it goes alittle to fast. Slow it down a bit.

Fourth the banner at the bottom is hard to read. It looks like it is mashed.

Five the menu, take to glow out. It is playing with the eyes and makes me look away. I do like the roll over, but my the lettering bold, it is hard to see the white lettering at normal. I also liked the description that is given when rolled over. Make rollovers for the menu at the bottom it helps people know that is a link and their mouse is on the right spot. And take out the glow again hurts the eyes.

When I go looking throught the site. I look clean with the white, which is nice. But the Header looks plain.

The type might be to small for people with bad eyes to see. And frankly it is usaually older people that can afford to get property internationally so think of them.

BTW if you are wanting to help someone this is how to do it. Not tell them that their are too many other sites like this or say their site is poorly put together. I hope you have learned.

Your index is slow to load on dialup and is all images, you need text.
There are way to many colours, to many distractions. You need to lead the person around the site via the content not mak them look everywhere but no where.
The 1234 bits shouldn't be colourise negatives. The links down the bottom (spam links I call them) need another colour on hover, red on dark blue is to hard on the eyes, even that yellow is borderline. The flash thing, I have no idea what it is as I don't have the flash player (nor want it).

Looking around your navigation there is no links to what the site is meant to be about, you have submit a property, submit a site, your world, as well as link partners, payments and sitemap which should be at the top.
I know your links to the properties are the colour neg ones but what if they didn't display?
The real estate agents around the world pages have a horziontal scroll bar at 800x600, again way to many images, the 'real estate agents around the world' for example should be text, it has keywords for the search engines.
On the about us page a pop up was blocked, way to many images and the red links this time at the bottom are unreadable.

Each page needs a focus point where you start from, we read top left to bottom right so ideally top left is the start, at the moment there are so many distractions, so many link options it's a chore to navigate your site.
IMO the site should be split into sections, the directory as the main content, and a sub ection for submiting and details of it. Not everyone is computer or internet savy, you need to make it interesting for them, make them want to come back and look again and again.

Thank you.

I am way too close to this as you can see.

Paul

Sometimes it's easier to start afresh than it is to keep modifing.

put on paper (yes the stuff made from trees, used in books but in this case would be blank), list what you need (not want, need) on each page, forget the images, the layout, the design, just work out the needs of each page and design from that.
If the pages are a bit bare add a bit more or add to layout.
but remember less can be more. don't make people work for the info, but more pages you have the more keywords you have the more for the search engines to sink into.

I really like your site. But I think it is too heavy in graphics. You should use more text. And don´t make links open in new windows. well, I don´t like them...

I too like the concept you have here. With increasing globalization there will definitely be a lot of people and business looking to expand to whever they can get cheap real estate. I know this is the case in the EU, where the borders are open and people can move to wherever the housing is most affordable (if that's a priority for them!)

I really like the "Four ways to follow your dream" bit in the center of the front page. That's a good way to draw people in right away. Having multiple ways of entering the site is always good.

The problem now is that nothing else on the page is done in the same style. There is no unified colour scheme or graphic identity at all. The box to the right has the same rounded edges but a completely different colour scheme. The navigation bar and main background have a metallic effect which is compeltely different from the flat/solid bright coloured design in the center area. The logo is yet another style, with dark colours and a more corporate look.

What you should do here is design everything in one style. That metalic effect is really outdated looking so go with the bright colours in the 4 steps section. That will create a nice unique look for the site. Also try something different with the logo - the globe concept has been done a zillion times already. Maybe a combination of a globe with a house or building in front would work. A more interesting font for the logo text would also be helpful.

I agree with pablo that links shouldn't open in a new window. This is bound to be confusing for anyone. The only time you might be able to get away with this is if there was an indication that it was sending you to an external site for some reason - ad links would be a good example.

I clicked on the first step, property rentals. This page confused me because I didn't see any content at first - I automatically ignored the sidebar because I assumed that it was extra information or navigation that wasn't necessary. One important part of usability is making things work in the way users expect them to. The main content of the page should be in the center. Sidebars should be reserved for extra information or navigation.

Again, the graphic identity here is different from what has been used elsewhere on the site. Now you have red and navy with square edges, drop shadows, and bevels (bevels went out of style about 4 years ago). Although, this page is much more integrated in terms of style than the front page. The red and navy fit a lot better with the metallic look.

The property listings look good. I was a little unsure at first if this site was for business property or residential. That should be made more clear up front. It seems that there are mostly residential properties here but it was hard to know either way from the start. I'm not sure what is going on here but the "next" button doesn't seem to be taking me to a next page. I searched for "France" - I don't know if there aren't any more listings or if something has gone wrong and it's not working properly for me.

It's not bad but the animation bothers me a little. Too distracting.