REVIEW REQUEST: HelpWithHosting.com

This site works for me, I'm not a fan of New Times Roman - but other than that I like it.

It loads fast, has well thought-out navigation, and great content.

I don't have any criticism, but I will say this : I think that you could use better product branding - a more proffesional logo (ex : http://www.about.com/), and possibly different font, like arial size:8pt; (I'm really stuck on the font stuff, sorry.)

I have your site book marked, and your right - I am learning from the site

Have a good one.

I definitely agree that the fonts and logo need work.

Read your FrontPage article - you frogot to mention one of its major drawbacks - it writes really bad code that may or may not work in all browsers. Writing style is fairly good.
Nice to see a good introduction to hosting - I know I was quite confused about it all when I first got started. You might want to add some information about determining what exactly you need in a hosting plan, where you can get the best service for the lowest cost, how to set up a domain name, things like that.

My main complaint is the times font you are using. Try veranda or arial. Not crazy about the ads at the top. And ya need a better, more colorful logo. You have some really great info here and I will check back later and read some.

I'll have to have a read late on (i'm looking for a host)

i think the font thing has been mentioned
only thing i can really add is the links at the left, the white seems flat and the list at the top and spaced links at the bottom look messed up, maybe make them the same style, list or no list. using a:hover in a style sheet woulc enhance your links, maybe no underline on mouseover and a different color as well
I'm not to fond of the blue with the greys but i guess with the blues in your animated buttons it kinda blends.

I agree that with a bit if tweeking with regards to the fonts, new logo and links it'll be good. I'll read through it properly later as I have a slight hangover at the moment and that much text (especially in harder to read TNR) is not going down well!!

Everyone seems to agree the fonts need some work, I'll have to put some time into that.

Also, the logo seems to have drawn a lot of criticism. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what type of logo might look good? Should I stay with the site name as a logo or should I try to come up with a graphical (as opposed to text-based) logo?

Anyone have any other input on the actual content? I'm currently working on a HelpWithDomains site so I didn't put much emphasis on that subject for this site, but I would appreciate it if you guys could point out anything else that I forgot to cover.

Thanks again,
Keith

I think I would stick with a text based logo but mess with different fonts. I would probably use a san-serif font. And remember you can always adjust the kerning (spacing between letters) of the letters.

As far as the content I think it is very good from what I read. I recently purchased a dedicated server so that is the section I read

One recommendation in regards to the text and layout. You have some great content there, however some of it is rather long, which is not a bad thing in this case. A rule that I generally follow with large blocks of text is that I try to limit myself to 10 words per line. I believe that is makes the content easier on the eyes to read. I think using a 3 column design would fix that for you. You seem to have enough content to fill a third column (quick tips, related links, books, sponsors, etc).

Lastly.....a "to the top" link would be really helpful also

The site has a kind of Frontpage-ish look to it. It is also lacking in some of the fundamentals of a well-designed website. One there is not a real navbar or at least one with a home link on it. You read an article go to the next page and have to press the back button twice to get back to the home page. So add a home link. The logo is there but has been mentioned, it should be reworked. The text also rests right on the edge of the table, one of my personal pet-peeves. Add some cellpadding to move it out a little.

As far as the content goes, I read the article on Unix vs. NT hosting. Some of the content there was not correct. For instance, this statement:

Quote: In addition, Unix itself is an open source operating system.

That is plain not true. There are some free versions of Unix out there but they are not open-source. Even BSD is not true open-source. Linux by default is open-source and it is required that the source code be made available to all. Instead of using the word, Unix, I would use the term 'Nix based operating systems.

In addition, you have this statement:

Quote: There are also several types of server applications, mostly those authored by Microsoft, which cannot be supported by Unix. These include Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP) and Microsoft's SQL database software, among others. This may not be a problem for long, though, as several companies have already developed software that will allow these applications to run on Unix systems and other fixes are currently under development.

This is true in a way. Chilisoft and others make a 'Nix based ASP but it is not cheap and very few hosts will have it on their servers because of this.

You might also add something to your freehosts info as a warning. Some freehosts allow you to register your domain with them for free or for a nominal charge. But they actually own the domain name and will stick it to you if you want to move somewhere else.

Wow, the "Frontpage-ish look" comment really hurt as I've used Dreamweaver to publish for several years now and intentionally chose a simpler look for this site.

Other than that I'm getting some great points to work on. I'll be reworking the nav bar and the fonts later this week.

Thanks all, and keep the reviews coming.

Keith

Quote: Originally posted by kwdamp
Wow, the "Frontpage-ish look" comment really hurt as I've used Dreamweaver to publish for several years now and intentionally chose a simpler look for this site.

Didn't mean for that one to hurt so much. I don't know why though but it seemed to have some Frontpage type of problems like a text logo, linear layout, underlined text, etc. Just looked a little too basic and maybe too simple a layout. You don't need to add any complexity, you just need to tidy up some things.

I really liked the content of the website. I like anything that is simple and doesn't try to make web development too complicated. I am only an amateur web developer but sites like yours help out a lot in the beginning.

I didn't particularly like all the logos at the top, its distracting. You may want to make your logo a bit more eye catching.

If you don't mind I am going to link them from two of my sites - http://www.supplychaintoday.com and http://www.azconsignment.com.

dave

I think a lot of people will find your information helpful in finding good hosting plans. As mentioned earlier the long blocks of text need some work, they are sometimes hard for people to follow. Overall I like the site and I'm going to put a link to it from my site, and I'll be looking for your DomainHelp site when you get it up.