"Managed Business" website review
Hi, I have recently started a new venture called "Managed Business"
Basically, it is a company which will not only create a website for a business, but can also manage the entire online side of their business so they are presented with the details of each order + payment etc.
I will not say any more as I want to see how easily people can infer the information from the site.
The site is aimed at small-medium busiensses in the UK primarily.
I would appreciate any advice / ideas etc.
LINK: http://www.managedbusiness.co.uk
Regards
James Gupta
saxman13ga posted this at 18:30 — 29th May 2007.
They have: 16 posts
Joined: May 2006
Overall, I really like the layout.
Its simple, but to the point.
On the front page, the user testimony is sortof hard to read. A bigger difference between text and background color would look better. To me you would want that to stand out, not hidden away.
Also, you might want to make the picture a background image,and the text not in the image. That will make it easier to update, and change if needed.
Really, thinking about it, I would make the picture of the person a little easier to see so they stand out, and it looks more personal/inviting.
In firefox(2.0) the text on the service page goes over the drop shadow. Some padding might be needed.
The image rollovers text is also slightly hard to read because of the color. For some words I had to strain a little bit to read it, and a customer might not like that.
Content looks good, and I can get all the information I may need. You might want to put a ballpark figure on prices so they can get a idea for what you charge?
Overall I think it looks very well done, keep up the good work!
managedbusiness posted this at 18:49 — 29th May 2007.
They have: 19 posts
Joined: May 2007
Ok thanks a lot for your input!
I've changed the rollover quote image, made the links slightly darker to give more contrast, solved the FF2 issue and am just deciding how to phrase the pricing now.
Thanks again
James
Solommon posted this at 09:14 — 30th May 2007.
They have: 139 posts
Joined: Feb 2007
It seemas that you have used template. My IMO: if you are going to run business website you have to have proffesional webdesign on it. Simplest way to hire webdesigner or freelanser.
managedbusiness posted this at 09:43 — 30th May 2007.
They have: 19 posts
Joined: May 2007
Solomon, I did not use a template for the website, it is an original design.
What makes you think it is a template? Given the number of templates on the internet it is inevitable that there will be some which look similar to this.
heebiejeebieclu posted this at 10:11 — 30th May 2007.
They have: 527 posts
Joined: Aug 2004
I keep thinking those blue snippets of text on the front page are links, maybe you ought to consider just emboldening things you want to emphasize, instead of using the blue, which is a colour traditionally used for links.
dragonsjaw posted this at 01:17 — 31st May 2007.
She has: 120 posts
Joined: Oct 2000
on this page:
http://www.managedbusiness.co.uk/about/
this typo:
profressional
I also want to click the blue highlighted words as links.
I do believe that you should be using capital letters for beginning sentences, it looks unprofessional to me when it is not.
I like the overall look and feel of the site.. clean easy to nav.
I feel like there should be a footer on all pages. I only see footer on contact page.
"Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight- 'Got to kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight." - Bruce Cockburn
managedbusiness posted this at 21:56 — 31st May 2007.
They have: 19 posts
Joined: May 2007
Hi, thank you for all your responses
I will look into the link / blue text thing - I can understand why people may mistake it for a link.
Thanks for the tip about the typo aswell, and the footer - I may just put a footer on the index page, or embed it into the METAs.
Thanks again
James
webwiz posted this at 18:54 — 2nd June 2007.
He has: 629 posts
Joined: May 2007
Some more observations:
The title for all pages is identical: "Welcome to Managed Business"-- a lost opportunity to add some keywords for search engines, as well as for making bookmarks / favorites meaningful.
In the footer -- "Manged Business"?
I think you'd be better off using CSS for the rollover effects. Lots of valuable content is hidden when scripting is disabled, especially on the "services" page.
Verdana at 12 pixels is okay here on a 1440 x 1050 laptop. But be aware that Verdana is a comparatively large font, and no longer ships with OSX. So I'd say 12 px is a bit small for the main text. IE users can't resize pixel-cased text. (Also, not everyone has 20/20 vision.)
I find the italics on the pull quote (home page) difficult to read. A bit more leading may help here.
Don't hide scripts and embedded styles with HTML comments. This was only ever necessary for Netscape 1. Instead, XHTML prefers them to be wrapped in CDATA sections.
I suggest adding an H1 text heading to replace the header image when images are off. Google for "image replacement text" - there are lots of techniques available. Search engines and screen readers will be happy, too.
Using nested tables is kinda 1990s. I suggest upgrading your version of Dreamweaver and using its CSS capabilites. CSS designs are easier to maintain, and better for SEO and screen readers, I believe.
Just some ideas to help improve a very nice design, I hope.
Cordially, David
Cordially, David
--
delete from internet where user_agent="MSIE" and version < 8;
managedbusiness posted this at 01:18 — 3rd June 2007.
They have: 19 posts
Joined: May 2007
David - thank you very much for your response, that is exactly what I am looking for.
I'll definately look into changing the font, and as for the rollover images, using CSS for it never actually occured to me for some reason, even though I have used it for so long on text (guess DreamWeaver drilled it into me that *this* is how rollover images are done)
I'll also look into acting on your other comments aswell.
Thanks again, very detailed comments
James
shenku posted this at 09:53 — 5th June 2007.
They have: 10 posts
Joined: Jun 2007
hey, i really like your website nice and clean and simple. just one thing, lots of big images means its slower
if you could do without some then might spead up a bit (although i dont have great connection) all the best
http://www.free2teach.co.za
managedbusiness posted this at 14:17 — 9th June 2007.
They have: 19 posts
Joined: May 2007
Shenku - thanks for your comment.
Would you mind telling me your connection speed / type, and approxminately how long the page takes to load?
Regards
James
riya_senk posted this at 13:29 — 14th June 2007.
They have: 8 posts
Joined: Jun 2007
well after all the changes its looks quite clean and close to professional
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