REVIEW REQUEST: pcgameshack.com

Frank, can you please review some of the other sites here in the critique sections as per the posting agreement

hmm...looks like I'm not the only one. 2 replies, 1 from a moderator and 1 from me. well, I have critiqued 2 other sites hampton homes and webmasters junction, I guess now I wait and see if anyone wants to critique mine.

Did you design this yourself or are you using a template? It does look very template-ish but it looks nice overall.

I am finding the blue text to be a ltitle hard to read against the grey background. Try just making that background a little lighter (this would also help to set off the content area from the outer sidebars). Font size could be a little bigger as well.

For your logo, you should try moving the letters a little closer together. "PC" and "game" should be closer together and "shack" should relate to that better (once you've got PC and game moved closer, try making "shack" span the entire width). It would also be nice to introduce another colour here for some contrast. The shades of blue look can be kind of dull.

Otherwise this is pretty good. it's hard to critique tempalte sites sometimes becuase they're so well set up to begin with. I found the site very easy to navigate and well set up. However, I was surprised to find myself direct to amazon.com when I tried to purchase a game. There should be some sort of indication that this is going to happen.

yes and no, this is a template, however, It's a template I designed for use with a budget site package I sell.

I will take your comments into consideration and make updates to my site.

Thanks!

hi, I looked at your site earlier, and was pretty much impressed with the colors you chose, especially the blue along side the top gradient bar. They're a good match.

There are some things though that I would reconsider. The gradient in the center panel is possibly too dark. For content, especially when I'm looking for information, I have always liked a white background.

The other things that I possibly would change is using an image map for your menu bar. If you don't want to remove them, maybe inserting title tags to give the visitor more information when they roll over them.

Generally your site is pretty good, and I think that if I were looking for games to buy on the net, I would probably stick around your site for a while.

One other little thing, your "View Cart" text is showing higher than the "Contact Us" and the "About Us."

ok...I haven't gotten quite the amount of feedback I was expecting. To make it easier, could you guys just rate the site, and give short comments if you feel the desire?

I'll give you 3 categories:

1 is the lowest and 10 is the highest value.

Overall Look (1-10)
Useability (1-10)
Is the site relevant? (1-10)

Thanks,
fbords

It looks fine but doesn't meet the goals. It's boring to look at and there are no "eyeholds" for the user to find to give relevance to the site.

The colour scheme is too monochromatic for a gaming site.

The thumbnails are too small and too low on the page. There are no visible features.

A sales site like this needs to have more contrast in the colour scheme, needs clearer categories and features, the title needs to be knocked to 1/3 the height, and the thumbnails of the featured items need to be larger and closer to the top of the page.

Headings, headings, headings. The organization of the information is non-existent.

There are too many links in the introductory paragraph, which shouldn't be there in the first place, that information should be readily apparent when I visit the front page.

All news items should have thumbnails of the game covers.

The thumbnails shouldn't be aligned bottom, it looks jumbled. For tidiest appearance, make them all the same size (and BIGGER!) or align them to the top of the cell.

While you have text links to your major sections, there is no clear navigation area (the bottom text links are merely a jumble of text). You need clear navigation, in the top of the screen. (I should note that apparently you do, but it blends in so well I couldn't see it.)

The shopping cart has too much white space, the thumbnails are too small and there are no descriptions of the games. Additionally, the add to cart button doesn't match with the rest of the site, though it IS clearly visible. It isn't close enough to the item that it goes with.

You don't have any contact information other than a form, which doesn't lend to a sense of trust about the site. You need full contact information for users to be able to contact you other than through a web form.