My first attempt....What do you think???

Welcome aboard colesy,

We do ask that you review and participate in the critique of at least three other's sites before asking for one on your own. If you do this then I'm sure you'll get plenty of constructive critisism that'll help you with your site. By looking at other sites you'll also get some great ideas for yourself so it helps all round.

I'll take a look at the site in a bit for you

Hmmm.... interesting... I don't really know where to begin with this one because there are a lot of things thata re okay but not quite right.

The box to the right side of the logo looks like an ad or something for some reason - it doesn't really look like part of the site so move that someplace else. You definitely need some good photos of the product on the front page - there are a few in that box I just talked about, but the photo quality isnt' very good and I feel like I'm not getting a very good impression of what this product is really like.

Now, the logo - this is a "heritage" product so I think the logo should definitely be modeled after that. What you have there isn't bad but it's kind of got a pop-ish bubble gum type look. Pick a more traditional font and look for some dingbats or something to add some heritage-looking designs to it. Same with the page headers.

Navigation - the menu should also be changed to a more heritage type design. I also see that you've got two navigation menus on here. If you're going to have two, put the text based one at the bottom of the page - this will make it more useful to people when they get to the bottom and don't want to scroll up to go someplace else.

Layout - feels really boxy to me. I would try to add some curves or something to make things more interesting.

Copyright statement is set in this big huge grey box that is way too big for the text there - could be caused by browserly differences (I'm using NS 6.1)

For a first attempt you have done a good job.

When I started looking at it I mentally put myself into a situation where I wanted to buy a door to see how your site may influence me to buy one of yours .... and came away wishing there was something for me to see.

When I see a door I like I am prepared to read about it...at this stage it seemed very "text heavy", and giving me information I was not ready to absorb. But you said you still had work to do, so this may come.

The eraser graphic has a background. I would investigate "transparent gifs" in this instance so as to remove the white background.

But keep going with it. For a first attempt it's pretty darn good.

Cheers
John Eller

I think it's one of the best first attempts I've seen. About all I can add is that I'd like to see the doors and fittings, etc. with better detail. I'd need to have a good look before I'd buy.

Hello all.

Thanks very much for the constructive comments. I have taken some onboard and will make changes when time allows.

The Webmistress

"We do ask that you review and participate in the critique of at least three other's sites before asking for one on your own."

I'm sorry, I missed the "read this first" post.
I like this site and will be hanging around for a bit.
I will be sure to give my opinion where I think it is worthwhile.

Once again, thanks for the comments.

Colesy

I think everyone else has mentioned the most of it, but one thing i would like to add is the default link message on the status bar, at the moment it just says "status message" on the graphic links, so am assuming you will add something later, please dont use this, i for one like to see if the link i am about to go to is within the site or even a javascrpt pop up, if its a javascript pop up and i have javascript turned off i know not to waste time trying getting there.

this is more a personal plea, but its your page, you have the last say, just thought i'd add my $22.02 cents (inflation)

-sorry about lack of caps, i have sore fingers

Hi,
Nice shot for a first time site. Here is my opinion.

Move the credit card thingy at the top of the page. Near the bottom would be more appropriate.

Add a picture or two of your products on the home page. This will give a visual of what is inside.

The logo needs something. It is drab looking to me. How about a mountain scenery picture with the text over it??

I am viewing the site in IE 5.0 and I see that the site has a tan/yellow color background and the table for the body is a darker tan color. The problem I see is that the table that has the top navigation, side navigation and copyright info at the bottom are grey. Is this supposed to be this way?

I would choose a different color for the links and hover color too.

Found several misspelled words. (yes, i know i am being nit-picky...LOL)

The file size of your buttons are rather large. I am not particularly fond of those anyway. They don't compliment the page at all.

Good luck. You are doing a good job.
DM

Here is my creative feedback.

1. The navigation links at the top are easy to follow. Duplicate navigation links on the side seem a little redundant. (dont use a bunch of links because you feel you have to)

2. I am on a high speed cable connection and the site seemed to take quite a while to load.(could just be timing)

3. Rollovers on left buttons look nice.

4. Not a huge fan of the yellow background.

5. Shopping cart seems to work well

6. Nevermind site seems to be quicker now

7. I would consider using a different font for your stores logo than the font used for page headings.

8. For your first site Great Job!

Brandon