Welcome to TWF, thanks for reviewing some other sites, maybe drop by the introduction section and introduce yourself ...
I don't have much time this morning, so cn't go into the site as so, but here are a few things
you need to set your body bgcolour to white (default is showing, in my case grey)
loose the image maps and replace with images if you must have images and always use the width and height tags on all images (very jumpy loading on dialup)
Black, white and grey aren't colours I'd pick for a beauty saloon, you need to reflect your work into the look/feel of the site.
thou the side navigation could work, don't use a 3 column layout, (also gives a big horz scroll bar at 800x600) you have some nice artwork on there (minus the turkey) so use them, make them into a banner/logo, loose the animated slogan and add some style, some flair a reason to look/read on.
If I came across your site, the only reason I would look on would be the fact I noticed the World Trade Center
Offer more pics in your gallery but display thumbnails for people to click on and add some text under them describing what they are, in describing them your using keywords which the search engines like, plus helps the dummies like me
Just a quick note on the gallery page, make sure you resize the images before using them in a web page, don't use the webpage to dispaly them at different sizes (bottom right image). Also might want to adjust color and straighten the bottom left one.
-Greg
The Webmistress posted this at 09:05 — 18th November 2003.
I agree with Busy that for a beauty salon site I would expect something quite stunning to reflect the business. This unfortunately doesn't look very professional to me and wouldn't inspire me to use the salon, remember a website is like a shop front, you have to entice people to come in.
A few pointers:
Don't centre text - it makes it harder to read and isn't professional
Make sure the layout fits 800*600
Don't use gimmicks (like the turkey)
Loose the amination and ensure that the text isn't jaggedy
Specify a font in your style sheet, default TNR is ugly!
If I was creating this site I would take some inspiration from the sign outside the shop, use the curved shape as the header of the layout which contains the logo, tag line and also incorporate the line drawings. Remember the site should reflect the actual business.
Julia - if life was meant to be easy Michael Angelo would have painted the floor....
I dont care what other people say but i like the turkey, but one thing i dont like aovu the site is the navigation bar its downright ugly hope that want to harsh.
The picture of the storefront is a good idea. I agree the layout is a little uneven, the before and after has to be more than cute -- run through the thought process as well. "Typically in this situation X, but we decided on Y, because Z. Try looking around at some sites. Put up some new information each month, you can consider a pseudo emag give customers and potentials reason to check in every so often.
Establish a proposition of uniqueness, find out what the top 3 things people hate about salons, and pay special attention to articulating what you do about them. Perhaps research into this turns up people feel they can't always talk to their stylist. You would then explain "We train our stylists to really listen to what you want. Until they have mastered our three-step interview process we don't allow them out on the floor."
To sum up, even with a layout makeover, the site is just to cute for its own good. The Mona Lisa thing? C'mon. The Gallery pictures? What exactly am I looking at? While the exterior shot lets people know they've arrived at the right location, the rest are just a little pointless. Show something of interest in the photos, if nothing else then as a basic element of photo composition. Since this is a bit of an artistic "style" business, it just doesn't work when the design doesn't support this. As for the turkey -- if you wouldn't put it in your storefront window, do not do it to your site. If you would, then it meshes with the overall communication and relays the personality customers are going to encounter in the salon. I would suggest the stylist/client relationship has a 'pesonality' which can also be articulated.
rosanda posted this at 21:02 — 30th November 2003.
well i can't give any comments, cause you already said that you liked it because you did it. So you beter keep it that way and only make the improvements that suits your needs.
[qoute]I did it so I like it: natiss.com
How I can improove it?
Rosanda you got me all wrong, I do like what I did, and steel I am willing to listen to other people’s opinion - to get all values out of them. What I meant is that I stared for so long at my site – I might be missing something obvious.
I have changed it, what do you think now www.natiss.com
Thank you,
E.T.
cordedpoodle posted this at 21:20 — 30th December 2003.
the navigation bar its downright ugly hope that want to harsh
Constructive criticism requires suggestions for improvement.
Using saturated colors like Red or Blue tends to give a design a harsh feeling especiall when you use two saturated colors. What I generally try to do is choose one dominant color and then one color that is muted (added black or brown) or pastel (added white). Non standard colors are more complex and interesting to the eye for instance Maroon is more interesting than Red.
Use other colors only to call attention to something.
For example:
Main color Maroon
Sub color light brown
attention color yellow or green
A friend of mine gave me great advice. Look at the colors women wear in their clothing.
Interesting note: Women tend to have a color vocabulary at least 2x larger than men. Just take a look at lipstick and nail colors.
I would have to agree with most of the previous posts. However, I like the picture of the store. The storefront looks professional and so does the inside. This is what makes me want to visit your salon. I would resize them and make them smaller. Maybe combine these pictures, your address, and the map to one page?
The first and foremost thing I was hoping to see was pictures. The before&after link excited me...after I clicked on it, I was quite turned off. The mona lisa pictures doesn't tell me Natiss can cut and style hair, it tells me that Natiss can digitally manipulate photos (if that's how you did the after picture, I don't know). The point is that the before&after is a good idea...just get real people on there (and maybe some testimonials). In addition, the black and white photos don't impress/attract me at all. I'd go color.
Also, I like the fun link. However, after I got finished with the romance quiz, the links "yes" and "no" were dead. You may want to check on that. In addition to things like this...I would have an "education" piece. If I have a long face, like mona lisa, do I look better with long hair or short hair. If I have dark skin, do I look better with blonde hair or black hair, etc.
And one last thing. I would reorganize the order of the menu links. "Site map" is important, but probably not the first thing I'm looking for. I would do the before&after first, then the gallery, price list, fun, job opportunities (which seems dependent with "classifieds"), then the site map.
Overall, I think you have a good start.
andymac50 posted this at 08:30 — 2nd January 2004.
The things that I like about the site.
- the colour and sytle of the left nav. area
- the font of "Natiss" on the left
- the simple picture of the model
Really need to think about - the content of the left nav area
1) the first thing listed is a site map....is your site that hard to navigate that you need that at all?
2) map is always a great idea....however on the I would include the address....with telephone #....contact info is always great in case someone is running late or just printed out the one page of your site.
3) Price list - all looks good.
4) Fun....I am not sure if I would include this on the navigation area....did not follow through with the questions.
5) job/classifieds....lose them....you are trying to attract clients
6) before and afters....good idea to include....but lose the page if you don't have the content/pictures.
7) Our gallery....need pics....also use the pic of the store front with the map page....allows clients to place your storefront better than just a map.
Things to Consider:
1) Our Services for an item on the left nav. area....should be the top thing....this would take some items of text off the main page.
2) The placement of the address underneath the World Trade Centre info.
3) Place the hours of service running across the bottom, but ensure the person does NOT need to scroll.
4) Include the "How did you find us" but maybe box it....or some how spice it up.
5) You dont really need the bottom nav. area too....your page does not scroll that much to require this feature to be repeated.
6) Since today is the first of 2004.....time to change the copyright date....lol
Anyways all this from a guy that lives in Canada.
Wish you the best.
Andy
DontFart.com
Don't Fart Around ...Find It Here!
(Coming Soon)
Very slick site the colors go very well together.
The design is nice as well easy to find buttons and very straight and to the point product placement.
The only Critique I have is with the photos(gallery page). Now that you took the other peoples advice. They can be made more web ready. Stick them in a program(photoshops image ready) and get the size down. There are just too many people on dial up still.
The other suggestions (posts) are all up to you. New Yorkers are a diff bred of people so marketing to them always seems to be about TIME if they can't do it quick then BLEEP it (clean up for posting).
Want to join the discussion? Create an account or log in if you already have one. Joining is fast, free and painless! We’ll even whisk you back here when you’ve finished.
Busy posted this at 20:59 — 17th November 2003.
He has: 6,151 posts
Joined: May 2001
Welcome to TWF, thanks for reviewing some other sites, maybe drop by the introduction section and introduce yourself ...
I don't have much time this morning, so cn't go into the site as so, but here are a few things
you need to set your body bgcolour to white (default is showing, in my case grey)
loose the image maps and replace with images if you must have images and always use the width and height tags on all images (very jumpy loading on dialup)
Black, white and grey aren't colours I'd pick for a beauty saloon, you need to reflect your work into the look/feel of the site.
thou the side navigation could work, don't use a 3 column layout, (also gives a big horz scroll bar at 800x600) you have some nice artwork on there (minus the turkey) so use them, make them into a banner/logo, loose the animated slogan and add some style, some flair a reason to look/read on.
If I came across your site, the only reason I would look on would be the fact I noticed the World Trade Center
Offer more pics in your gallery but display thumbnails for people to click on and add some text under them describing what they are, in describing them your using keywords which the search engines like, plus helps the dummies like me
Greg K posted this at 01:09 — 18th November 2003.
He has: 2,145 posts
Joined: Nov 2003
Just a quick note on the gallery page, make sure you resize the images before using them in a web page, don't use the webpage to dispaly them at different sizes (bottom right image). Also might want to adjust color and straighten the bottom left one.
-Greg
The Webmistress posted this at 09:05 — 18th November 2003.
She has: 5,586 posts
Joined: Feb 2001
I agree with Busy that for a beauty salon site I would expect something quite stunning to reflect the business. This unfortunately doesn't look very professional to me and wouldn't inspire me to use the salon, remember a website is like a shop front, you have to entice people to come in.
A few pointers:
Don't centre text - it makes it harder to read and isn't professional
Make sure the layout fits 800*600
Don't use gimmicks (like the turkey)
Loose the amination and ensure that the text isn't jaggedy
Specify a font in your style sheet, default TNR is ugly!
If I was creating this site I would take some inspiration from the sign outside the shop, use the curved shape as the header of the layout which contains the logo, tag line and also incorporate the line drawings. Remember the site should reflect the actual business.
Julia - if life was meant to be easy Michael Angelo would have painted the floor....
e_t posted this at 15:08 — 18th November 2003.
He has: 5 posts
Joined: Nov 2003
I appreciate you help!
I will be back, after I licked my wounds.
E_T
cjb_89 posted this at 22:10 — 26th November 2003.
They have: 17 posts
Joined: Nov 2003
I dont care what other people say but i like the turkey, but one thing i dont like aovu the site is the navigation bar its downright ugly hope that want to harsh.
D856C posted this at 02:55 — 27th November 2003.
They have: 15 posts
Joined: Jul 2003
The picture of the storefront is a good idea. I agree the layout is a little uneven, the before and after has to be more than cute -- run through the thought process as well. "Typically in this situation X, but we decided on Y, because Z. Try looking around at some sites. Put up some new information each month, you can consider a pseudo emag give customers and potentials reason to check in every so often.
Establish a proposition of uniqueness, find out what the top 3 things people hate about salons, and pay special attention to articulating what you do about them. Perhaps research into this turns up people feel they can't always talk to their stylist. You would then explain "We train our stylists to really listen to what you want. Until they have mastered our three-step interview process we don't allow them out on the floor."
To sum up, even with a layout makeover, the site is just to cute for its own good. The Mona Lisa thing? C'mon. The Gallery pictures? What exactly am I looking at? While the exterior shot lets people know they've arrived at the right location, the rest are just a little pointless. Show something of interest in the photos, if nothing else then as a basic element of photo composition. Since this is a bit of an artistic "style" business, it just doesn't work when the design doesn't support this. As for the turkey -- if you wouldn't put it in your storefront window, do not do it to your site. If you would, then it meshes with the overall communication and relays the personality customers are going to encounter in the salon. I would suggest the stylist/client relationship has a 'pesonality' which can also be articulated.
rosanda posted this at 21:02 — 30th November 2003.
They have: 25 posts
Joined: Nov 2003
well i can't give any comments, cause you already said that you liked it because you did it. So you beter keep it that way and only make the improvements that suits your needs.
[qoute]I did it so I like it:
natiss.com
How I can improove it?
Thanks,
e_t[/qoute]
rosanda
http://www.websolutionarchives.com
Rosanda
http://www.websolutionarchives.com
http://www.templatearchives.com
e_t posted this at 18:47 — 30th December 2003.
He has: 5 posts
Joined: Nov 2003
Rosanda you got me all wrong, I do like what I did, and steel I am willing to listen to other people’s opinion - to get all values out of them. What I meant is that I stared for so long at my site – I might be missing something obvious.
I have changed it, what do you think now www.natiss.com
Thank you,
E.T.
cordedpoodle posted this at 21:20 — 30th December 2003.
They have: 160 posts
Joined: Mar 2002
the navigation bar its downright ugly hope that want to harsh
Constructive criticism requires suggestions for improvement.
Using saturated colors like Red or Blue tends to give a design a harsh feeling especiall when you use two saturated colors. What I generally try to do is choose one dominant color and then one color that is muted (added black or brown) or pastel (added white). Non standard colors are more complex and interesting to the eye for instance Maroon is more interesting than Red.
Use other colors only to call attention to something.
For example:
Main color Maroon
Sub color light brown
attention color yellow or green
A friend of mine gave me great advice. Look at the colors women wear in their clothing.
Interesting note: Women tend to have a color vocabulary at least 2x larger than men. Just take a look at lipstick and nail colors.
[email protected]
http://www.alogical.com
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Princess4ubabe posted this at 20:31 — 31st December 2003.
They have: 25 posts
Joined: Nov 2002
I would have to agree with most of the previous posts. However, I like the picture of the store. The storefront looks professional and so does the inside. This is what makes me want to visit your salon. I would resize them and make them smaller. Maybe combine these pictures, your address, and the map to one page?
The first and foremost thing I was hoping to see was pictures. The before&after link excited me...after I clicked on it, I was quite turned off. The mona lisa pictures doesn't tell me Natiss can cut and style hair, it tells me that Natiss can digitally manipulate photos (if that's how you did the after picture, I don't know). The point is that the before&after is a good idea...just get real people on there (and maybe some testimonials). In addition, the black and white photos don't impress/attract me at all. I'd go color.
Also, I like the fun link. However, after I got finished with the romance quiz, the links "yes" and "no" were dead. You may want to check on that. In addition to things like this...I would have an "education" piece. If I have a long face, like mona lisa, do I look better with long hair or short hair. If I have dark skin, do I look better with blonde hair or black hair, etc.
And one last thing. I would reorganize the order of the menu links. "Site map" is important, but probably not the first thing I'm looking for. I would do the before&after first, then the gallery, price list, fun, job opportunities (which seems dependent with "classifieds"), then the site map.
Overall, I think you have a good start.
andymac50 posted this at 08:30 — 2nd January 2004.
They have: 20 posts
Joined: May 2003
The things that I like about the site.
- the colour and sytle of the left nav. area
- the font of "Natiss" on the left
- the simple picture of the model
Really need to think about - the content of the left nav area
1) the first thing listed is a site map....is your site that hard to navigate that you need that at all?
2) map is always a great idea....however on the I would include the address....with telephone #....contact info is always great in case someone is running late or just printed out the one page of your site.
3) Price list - all looks good.
4) Fun....I am not sure if I would include this on the navigation area....did not follow through with the questions.
5) job/classifieds....lose them....you are trying to attract clients
6) before and afters....good idea to include....but lose the page if you don't have the content/pictures.
7) Our gallery....need pics....also use the pic of the store front with the map page....allows clients to place your storefront better than just a map.
Things to Consider:
1) Our Services for an item on the left nav. area....should be the top thing....this would take some items of text off the main page.
2) The placement of the address underneath the World Trade Centre info.
3) Place the hours of service running across the bottom, but ensure the person does NOT need to scroll.
4) Include the "How did you find us" but maybe box it....or some how spice it up.
5) You dont really need the bottom nav. area too....your page does not scroll that much to require this feature to be repeated.
6) Since today is the first of 2004.....time to change the copyright date....lol
Anyways all this from a guy that lives in Canada.
Wish you the best.
Andy
DontFart.com
Don't Fart Around ...Find It Here!
(Coming Soon)
0pn posted this at 13:42 — 4th January 2004.
They have: 6 posts
Joined: Jan 2004
Very slick site the colors go very well together.
The design is nice as well easy to find buttons and very straight and to the point product placement.
The only Critique I have is with the photos(gallery page). Now that you took the other peoples advice. They can be made more web ready. Stick them in a program(photoshops image ready) and get the size down. There are just too many people on dial up still.
The other suggestions (posts) are all up to you. New Yorkers are a diff bred of people so marketing to them always seems to be about TIME if they can't do it quick then BLEEP it (clean up for posting).
Want to join the discussion? Create an account or log in if you already have one. Joining is fast, free and painless! We’ll even whisk you back here when you’ve finished.