Review Request : harddrivekillers

Welcome to TWF Josh,

Could you please help out some others here by having a look at their sites in some of the other threads here in the critique section. This will not only help them by getting a fresh pair of eyes on their site but it will also help you get ideas for your site on what we generally like & dislike. Also why not stop by the introductions section and tell us a bit more about yourself.

I'll pop back to your site a bit later and have a good look at it once I've had some more coffee to wake up a bit!

Hi!

The text is a bit on the small side, and i dont know about everyone else, but Times New Roman really turns me off. Why not change the font and use Arial or Verdana? (they're much easier to read too!).

Also, its hard to read pages that run full width, if you put your content inside a table, it will make it much easier to read.

Hey,

I see many suggestions to make your site a WHOLE lot better.

First, IMAGES, I know you have one that is your logo which is rough at best. Try some more images in your design. Check other websites for ideas, maybe make a bigger logo that is a little smoother.

People often judge your professionalism and reliability based on your web presence. now yours is not great, the content is good but the layout isn't. It doesn't look professional and I wouldn't send my hard drives to you for that very reason.

I would say that you should use some tables with borders(or no borders) to seperate the navigation and content.

One thing, If I did decide to send you my hard drive I would want to know your address easily. I found that it is only in the FAQ, you should make it available in your contact section.

What I suggest you do is re design the site. If you have knowledge of photoshop or another graphics program, make an image of your site and then let us review it. The best way to re design would be to personalize an existing HTML Template.

Good luck!

Professionalism is what you need. You obviously want your customers to trust you...in a big way. When you look to redesign, don't attempt any grunge look or use any bells and whistles....and for God's sake, get rid of that free host!!!! When I see a Gator pop-up I just want to scream!! But since I'm at work, I will refrain.

1. While a serif font is easy to read, you may want to use verdana or tahoma at 11 to 12 px for the main text. (Some peeps are going to shoot me for suggesting those sizes ).

2. I agree with Coog...IMAGES. Some sort of logo and bordering.

3. Structure. It would be helpful to sit down with a piece of paper (or several) and map out how you want your site to look. Then learn the HTML that will make that happen.

You have a good idea here, stick with it!

What's with all of the pop-ups?

1. You should find a couple of sites that you like and model the navigation/layout after them.

im on this. new text font, and I can put tables in tables!!!!!! who knew? its messy wysiwyg with custom html fixing. The site already looks better (on my screen not update online) with Arial font, much more white space. using nav table and then text on side 20/80% split.

Pop Ups annoy the snot out of me! They will be gone, this is just a trial run. I recommend Ad aware free software for removing GATOR! GATOR is a jerk.

Reviewed some sites, limited capacity for review,
The Webmistress please send some TVR cerberas over here to the states!or possibly lotus elise, I hear they do pretty well, about 3 girls per block.

some of you are in MENSA? geez I may be beyond my league of banging together a site. Thanks for advice. -Josh

also set table padding spacing to 18 around edges. Thanks andy206uk.! -Josh

working to make it seem less "Texty" but putting text into tables with gray background. think it helps seperate thoughts and lends a better flow. -Josh

Look Ma! No Ads! -Josh

any thoughts? Aside from still needing pictures. will be 6 pictures. Still not sure if my affinity for pirate things is influencing the logo a bit much. Thanks again-Josh

PS I know some people may not like scrolling text marquee, i think this one fits in well with the header area and the color (should) match the text boxes.

Hi Josh!

Just a few observations/suggestions here.

If you are trying to convey a professional look you definately need to loose the skull and cross bones logo. Forgive me for my description but it looks like a hells angels biker site at first glance instead of something to do with computers.

Loose the marquee. It is annoying and has "i am an amateur" written all over it. These are rarely used anymore.

Enclose your paragraphs like so using the paragraph tags:
paragraph text here blah blah blah

Your tables need some work. I recommend EZHTML that belongs to one of our moderators. He has some great examples of table layouts as well as other tutorials that may be of some help.

I think once you get your tables correct, your layout will fall into place and look more structured.

Keep up the good work.

Sonia

don't use things like the non-breaking space (& nbsp; ) and the break tag () to position things on your site.

what would you think about replacing the marquee with an ani gif image same gray background but rotating text maybe some sort of dialog or similar with different transitions? The page is fairly stagnant and people like bright lights and flashy things (vegas)? Thanks-Josh

I think the skull and cross bones could work -- but in a different context, perhaps. An alert maybe? Or a big green circle around it, indicating it's a positive thing? More like a warning label or a public sign.

When you're doing layout, keep in mind that you will need to have a visual line to draw the eye. Right now with the text all the same size, and no line on the page (perceptual), it's easy to get confused.

Using proper markup, as Sonia indicated, would also be good, especially if you use headings.

Beware centering text, especially in a narrow column with large text -- it significantly reduces comprehension. Left align that column, and shrink the text a little and it will be more readable.

If it were a gaming site, I'd agree about the bright lights and flashy things, but your site is about the content. If you want to have more dynamic looking elements, consider an illustration of your work, perhaps in flash, that would cycle through a representation of the work you do.

Also, please differentiate the email link from the page navigation.

You may find using colour will add interest to the page, but really, it's your text content that's the most compelling. I'd like to see statistics and references for some of your assertions, though.

...and yes, Mensans can build web pages too....barely, but they do.

hmm statistics, like average hard drive life expectancy is 500,000 hours continous use (57 years +/-) Statistics might be compelling! Maybe a hard drive fast facts page or animation could be convincing to skeptics? I was not sure about centering those gray tables either, full jusitified it looked bad. Ill switch to left align tonite. Thanks -Josh

I thought about mensa, but I would misuse membership, things like so hey "im in mensa...baby, you know what they say about Mensans, HUGE IQ." it would happen, no matter how hard I tried to avoid it.

http://davmagic.com/junk/PAGES2.html

maybe I should look into linking to this guys site or JunkingUSA.com

-Josh

If I were you, I'd write my own articles about HD issues, that way people take YOUR word for it....think of YOU as the expert. Anyone (and their mother) can throw a link to someone else's article.

It's ok to pull quotes though, as long as you give credit, which does NOT mean you have to link to them.

The thing about joining Mensa is that once people find out, they treat you different.

something like this be more up to date than marquee?

still considering where to fit in mailing address instead of faq page, maybe a pricing page with price mailing info etc?

Thanks-Josh

edit we cant link photos?

http://harddrivekillers.50g.com/Hd%20facts%20logo.gif

used ulead 5.

oh no no no, don't use aliased animated gifs, no. if you must, use Flash. But really, it's probably not a good idea, or you can find JavaScript scripts that will rotate text "ads" for you.

I dont know flash or java, i think the gif loads faster than any flash sites ive been to (56K). I have something of a "layout" now with the gray U shaped block and text column under navigation. thoughts? it looks somewhat cubist but again squares are about as artistic as I get. Thanks-Josh

PS what WYSIWYG editor do you use? Composer in netscape is terrible. Any thoughts? Thanks

Also,

1 Were you concerned about disposal of your old hard drives before reading the site?

2 Are you now? More/less?

3 Would you consider using this type of service, or even after reading the site consider it to be too extreme a measure?

Thanks!!!!!!-Josh

PS the reason I want a b/w logo is (if) this is to become a (real) business I dont want to pay for CYMK ad space. B/w Is sooooooo much cheaper. Learned this the $$$$ way. -Josh

Logo still under thought

In response to your questions.

1. No I was and still am not concerned about the disposal of my harddrives, only because I don't have any info on them that is incriminating or secret. Now if I did, I would be concerned.

2. No I'm still not

3. I am well aware of the abilities of data recovery specialists and think that the destruction of hard drives containing sensitive information is a must for corporations. I have read about many corporations/ businesses getting charged with fraud etc and recovery specialists finding emails and such on the hards drives which the companys formatted. It is not an extreme measure but for me using my HD's for a personal PC it is.

Now your new layout:

I like it better than before. Although it still needs work.

CONTENT:
COLOR, add some to your site, justbecause b/w ad space is cheaper doesn't mean your site has to be dull and grey, use some blues, oranges something. The navigation bar is nicer than before, maybe too wide and too gray (read above). Don't include a counter on a "business site" It makes your site seem very amateurish. Use a hidden counter instead. Bar just above the content has to go.

HOME:
Maybe make the "did you know" appear at the top of the site like at http://www.diabloii.net. They have a Fact Of The Day that rest before their content.

HARD DRIVE DESTRUCTION:
The who we are and why HDK can go into a seperate section entitled "About US" or About HDK. Also the quotes should be more organized, dunno how though.

CONTACT US:
Shouldn't be linked to your email etc. But to a nother html page containing your address, email etc.

FAQ:
Don't put another contact us link in the navigation you already have it there.

I know its along critique but I'm sure it is a little helpful.

Good Revision, with alittle more work it should be good.

UPdated design yet again. Finally broke down and drew out how i want it to look. Looks somewhat OK to me. Thoughts?

Yes i would like the gif background to be the same grey as the table background so its blended in more, something to fix tmrw. THanks-Josh

PS colors are for people with personality, gray ah sweet gray and white, thats me.

harddrivekillers.50g.com

Alot nicer. header is too big, try making that animation have a tranparent background, so if you do decide to add color it will still blend in. maybe make the text in the animation smaller to reduce the header size. And the rest of my suggestions above ^

Designing a logo in B/W is good, but there is nothing wrong with adding color once you have the logo set. Actually, it's good. Color is the spice of life...

Then again, consider the source...lol

The site is coming along pretty good. Keep at it.

header scaled down to size of jpg (close in IE darn incompatible browsers) transparent gif on the way. the pictures will add color (somewhat). rid of counter. contact us page done. I like the text in the gray boxes to get your attention if you glaze over the rest of it. I want this thing to load fast for the guy in wayyyy out there with a 28 kilobaud modem using IE 1. Im low tech, for universality. -Josh

harddrivekillers.com

maybe not working yet just set up domain forwarding. go me. -Josh

ps i set gif to anti alias, I have no idea what alias is but im against it now!

redid the gifs with less stupid animation. loads faster. -Josh

It looks very boxy, and there is too much white space.

For the content area, why don't you justify align your paragraphs? It would make it look a bit mroe neater

I agree black and white is a good combination and is MUCH cheaper but on the net, it doesn't cost any extra money add colours to your site.

Visiting your guarantee page, I see that your text is center aligned and bold, try to have consistancy.

excellent full jusified text and changed guarantee page. Thanks-Josh

the pictures will be colorized, even get a live action of glowing sparks I hope! -Josh

is there a webpage that clocks your site download time? I think i recall one, but not the address. Thanks-Josh

added meta tags. -Josh

oooooh read this article!

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,110012,00.asp

haha, im already writing a letter to fairfax financial holdings!This is going to be the best summer job ever! -Josh

PS checked the download time its at

Netmechanic.com or something like that, it was around 11 secs. not bad! (its free to use) -Josh

Ok I found this in the paper, is this not great?

http://harddrivekillers.50g.com/id%20theft%20joke.JPG

Im going to see if the author will let me use it, or do you think its too "stupid" for a professional site?

Thanks for opinions. -Josh

• It takes awhile to load, maybe it's just because I'm on a school computer.
• The site looks nice for just starting out!
• Try to create a better header that attracts a user, somthing FANCY!
• Make the links on the navigation have hover colors.

update, Andy is helping me out with a site redesign! Looks very sweet. He made a great new logo. In the meantime I uploaded the pictures (some). Yay or nay on it? Thanks-Josh

harddrivekillers.com

no one likes my photography skills? ouch-josh

HI!

Your business idea is a very good one, BUT your site to me does not look professional enough (im sorry to say that) It looks like you are running your business from a shed (if you are thats fine!!!) But your site is your shop, make it look like a professional business (im not knocking you at all!) Add a bit more colour. Do some research on your competition and take notes on what thier site look like. Also download Macromedia Fireworks MX and have a play with that

GOOD LUCK!

If you have any questions regarding Fireworks drop me a line

Andy has done a total redesign of it, looks very sweet! hopefully ftped soon. Watch this space!!!!!!!-Josh

GREAT! I look forward to it!

steve

You guys can see a preview at: http://www.nuzone.co.uk/hdkillers/

It's nearly finished now, just needs a couple more pics and its done!

What do you think?

1000 times better!!!! I like it! I will give you a better view later after my lunch break!

steve

I think it looks great!

Any comments?

Thanks Andy! -Josh

Very nice! I like the way you have used the scull but kept it looking professional

Why not have a form for people to complete rather than just a mailto link? That way you'll collect more useful info from them and from experience people prefer to fill in a form than type out an email, just seems more professional.

There appears to be a photo missing for 'Remains of Hard Drive'? I personally would get better photos taken as the ones you have here seem washed out and blurry. The one on FAQ is much better.

Overall a very nice site, well done

A special Thanks to our own Andy206UK. If you need a website that looks good NuZone interactive can do it! -Josh

PS Hey i took those pictures myself. i may have overoptomized them for size.

I'm not sure why I haven't added my 2 cents on this thread, sorry for the delay, better late than never I suppose

I like your layout but think it's boarding on professional, depending on your target crowd, meaning if your going for people that know about computers the skull might be a bit inmature (not the right word), but if your going for the complete newbie the skull could be your worst enemy as a newbie hears all the rumours about viruses, trojans , hackers, stuff that kills your pc ... and the skull is a sign of death (to some people), I have nothing against skulls, I have about 6 on my arms (yeah I'm a bad boy lol), but just thinking about your target group. Maybe make the skull more comical or more serious, just away from the death scene and more into the topic, maybe a tombstone instead?

ok next thing the 'Security and Peace of Mind Through Complete Data Destruction' imho should be a different color, maybe a yellow, the mouseover colour is perfect, makes the site complete.
Also the bottom links, you have a blue link and grey bold links under it, try keep all your links the same colour or underline (no underline on hover) to make them look like links, site design one is optional (thats how i do my ones, same color as text).

two more things on some of the longer pages maybe a 'top' link is needed and the bits in italic grey are a bit hard to read, a normal black should stand out enough as the section topics are bold - kep the italic.

apart from that it looks good
gotta ask, is that skull a dingbat? I'm after one I can add flames to for my hotrod site I'm working on.

Quote: Originally posted by Busy
ok next thing the 'Security and Peace of Mind Through Complete Data Destruction' imho should be a different color, maybe a yellow, the mouseover colour is perfect, makes the site complete.

lol... we've had this discussion already... see Josh... i told ya so (except i did it in orange originally).

Quote: Originally posted by Busy
apart from that it looks good

Why thankyou!

Quote: Originally posted by Busy
gotta ask, is that skull a dingbat? I'm after one I can add flames to for my hotrod site I'm working on.

Yup... its the windows Wingdings font letter N (capital n) vectorised and the bones removed.