Please review HostingSpeeds.com
Dear fellow members,
A few weeks ago I have launched a new site called 'The hosting company comparison project' at http://www.hostingspeeds.com/
A custom PHP script lets registered webmasters check the speed of their host. By collecting all those speed results, we rank their web hosts by average speed, ping speed etc.
Would you be so kind to review the lay-out, functionality and whatever you think is needed to say about it?
Tips are very very welcome! Both positive and negative.
Kind regards,
Jan Paul
How fast is your host? Let's compare!
The Hosting speed comparison project
http://www.hostingspeeds.com/
benf posted this at 00:24 — 14th August 2005.
They have: 426 posts
Joined: Feb 2005
For starters you need some pictures. At least try if you can include the logo of each hosting company so they can be distinguished. Also add some more colour. If you like green put another colour with it like blue. I believe you should have 3 colours, no more no less. One as a shade, one as a neutral and one as an accent. I find it pleasing to the eye. You seen to only have green. I think you should make the point of your site a bit clearer. Having a brief description on the bottom left hand corner to subtle. All websites i think should be idiot proof.
Really good idea though means you can find the best host which is dam useful if your moving hosts.
Good luck.
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Megan posted this at 14:29 — 14th August 2005.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
Not necessarily but this is a good rule of thumb
Rules are made to be broken, of course.
I don't like the colour scheme here. The black and army green is just dull, but then there's that neon box that clashes with everything. The layout is also pretty boring. One thing I'll point out here is that you've got three columns across the middle and they're almost, but not quite, the same size. The principle of contrast applies here - design elements should either be exactly the same, or very different. This applies to fonts, colours, design elements - everything. A very different font, for example, will draw attention while something almost the same but not quite will just look strange.
I think you could use a template for this instead. Normally I'm not a huge fan of templates but in this case all you need is a reasonably attractive design that focueses on the functionality.
I'm signing up to check out how this works. I'm a little annoyed that I have to go through the pains of registering. THis would be a lot better if I didn't have to do that. A lot of users may not bother. (waiting.... waiting... waiting...) Oh, and now I have to install a script? Eh, I don't really care that much.
Megan
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gfawce1 posted this at 19:32 — 14th August 2005.
They have: 8 posts
Joined: Aug 2005
Well done on a good use of CSS divs and classes to layout the site. Minimum use of tables makes the site fast and light. For this type of site I don't believe that images are essential. One tool I use frequently is dnsstuff.com - it's not the most attractive site but it has exactly what I want right in front of me which I'm glad to see is a similar route you've taken.
The borders look a bit unfinished (viewing in firefox) and tha navigation looks a little unplanned. Perhaps use an inline list to handle the nav menu?
Hope that helps some!
FD-Creative - Web Development + E-Commerce
farmer_Tom posted this at 04:54 — 16th August 2005.
He has: 123 posts
Joined: Jan 2005
Starting from the top, you need to be more concise in your title bar (try "Hosting Speeds Comparison Project"). The site has a useful purpose and a clear design but I would narrow the login area and put the google ads in a skyscraper on the sides. As you get more local partners, I would suggest a menu with the flags of all the different countries or a dropdown menu but the list you have is ok for now. Overall,a good site.
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hostingspeeds posted this at 16:34 — 17th August 2005.
They have: 6 posts
Joined: Aug 2005
Thanks for all your comments!
farmer_Tom
Left colomn ... made it a little narrower.
Site title .... now is 'Hosting Speeds Comparison Project'... way better
Flags .... added them, great idea to make it even more local!
gfwace1
what exactly do you mean with an inline list?
unplanned links? please post what would be the best way to display the links, as it is very hard to do it myself due to what I would call 'i wrote it myself blindness'
Megan
Data of all hosting companies is available without registering. Registering is only needed if you want speed details of your own site.
benf
Adding blue, that might be an idea. I will try, okay?
Thanks for all suggestions!!
Jan Paul
hostingspeeds posted this at 17:50 — 17th August 2005.
They have: 6 posts
Joined: Aug 2005
Well, it's blue with dark green now. Please advice on color scheme.
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