Please review: www.financialtechnologies.com

I think the front page is too busy, yes. There is too much stuff competing for attention wich makes it difficult to focus on what the site really has to offer. Try to reduce the number of differnet font styles so that there are only a few different variations to create emphasis. There's an odd mix of inline styles and external CSS in here. You should really consolidate that into teh external main.css file and keep inline styles to a minimum. I also find it odd that there are a number of id references listed and yet most of the layout is heavily tabled. You could drastically reduce the complexity of the coding with more reliance on CSS for the layout.

It loaded almost instantly for me on a T1 so I don't think the images are a problem at all. You really don't have very many at all. You could easily replace the one with the text in the center with regular HTML text.

I am finding the contact us form to be quite confusing but mainly because of the way it is layed out. At first I wasn't clear how the bulleted points on the left related to the form (they don't, but there is no visual separation). The headings are centered so they don't tie in cloesely enough with the form sections. I think a lot of the layout could be cleared up if things weren't centered as they are. Centering text generally doesn't work very well on a screen, so try to keep things left aligned instead.

Another thing I found odd here is that the phone numbers line is below the line containing "Best Call Time" (which sould really be "Best Time to Call")

Other things? One thing I'm noticing is that the page headers are showing up in that space under the blue curve. This puts them above the static navbar content and separate from the page content. The header should tie in directly to the content it is describing.

A better logo is also needed here. The plain text logo does nothing to brand your business.

Thanks for the thorough review, Megan.

I have just talked these things over with my boss and also our main content writer and I think we have some good ideas to fix some of these things. I will get back to you when we have finalized the designs to see what you think.

As for the CSS stuff, I think the main reason it became quite so convoluted is that we have been constantly updated from a previous version and I have never completely rewritten the code. Lots of copy/paste of content, I'd guess. The inline styles have just been a 1st step solution to ridding myself of the font tag, so hopefully I can take the time to rework the CSS sheet soon, after we knock out some design issues.

I'll be back soon! Also, if anyone else has any comments, please bring them on! The more perspectives the better

Oh another note, is there a good resource that you have found for delving deeper into CSS? Thanks!

Hi,

It does look a bit busy if you ask me. I like the top bit down to the menus although ideally it would be smaller to allow more room for the content. After that I agree with previous comment on the range of fonts, it almost screams out advertising hell, avoid (you know like those annoying pop-up things).

The HTML looks well formatted (which I always like to see) and a good use of meta tags too.

Javascript menus good and functional but they move up as you leve the front page due to differing layouts. That always winds me up!!

What is really good is the content, loads of it and good quality but the font thing comes to hit again - way too many to look fully professional but very nearly there.

Might be nice on the contact us section to provide some help on some of the terms used. If someone is badly in debt they may not understand the differences between secured, vendor and credit card. (I could be wrong but it's only a lttle click away to help someone)

Generally looking pretty good keep it up!

Regards,

Me....

Yes, I think its a little too busy, the tma and bbbonline buttons look kind of just thrown in there

How about these three links - "Business debt relief blog, Links, Awards" - below the navigation bar: they seem they are just there, too. Couldnt they be put in the nav. bar or something, where it seems they "belong" (Just an opinion, perhaps you have your reasons )

Also, the paragraph headings...when I first saw the "We Help you get back to Business" heading, I really didnt know it was a heading - maybe they could be made a little bigger/stronger and made a little more obvious; I think that would help give the page a little more order.

Also, it would be tough, but making the blog match the website would be cool

-Will

Janson0 wrote:

1) Is the front page too busy? Does it carry our message and make it easy for people to contact us or does it just convolute the page.

A little busy and too in-your-face kindof effect on me, you need to reduce the number of colors on the texts and on the body as well as reorganize the way contents are presented to make it more reader friendly.

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2) Does it load too slowly? We use some images on the top and I want to make sure it gets downloaded quickly, so as not to drive people away.

Quick enough at 30 seconds on dial-up, and fairly 5 seconds on DSL

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3) Is the site too complicated?

The layout of the menu and the body complicates the site, reorganize and recolor them to make a better effect and impact.

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4) Is the contact form too complicated?

If you can find ways to simplify them and not put ads on the pages the better, more white spaces on forms are better, also if you cant delete some fields, then make it a page by page form, with just 7 fields on the first page for example, then user clicks next, and fill up another 5 etc.

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5) Anything else you see!

You need a contrasting background, like light gray or light blue maybe...