REVIEW REQUEST: The Smoke Shop

First of all, I'm using a high resolution (1000 something) and with a absolute width of 720px; it shows a BIG blank white space to the right of it, I suggest two things:

1, Make it relative width (width="100%")
or
2, Keep it at 720px; but centre the table

I recommend the first one

Smoke is usually, dark grey so maybe, try using more of that grey colour on your site to go with it.

In your coding you have:

You might wanna fix that

Using:

Isn't XHTML so change that to:

It will still show up the same.

Thanks Renegade. I changed the >>> to >>>
and removed the extra .

I've never used relative width before but will look into it. Going with fixed width and centering it seems easier, but the last time I centered my tables (on a different site), people reported the table contents were centered too in some browsers. I guess I'll fiddle with it tonight if I can get the kids to sleep.

Thanks again,
Deborah

you could always place this site in a subdomain, so the url would be smokeshop.acleverpenny.com save getting new hosting and domain name.

The more I look at that greeny color, less I like it, to drab (sorry)
Found a couple of typos on the list page
you also might want to add a 'top' link at the bottom of the list page too

haha, good on you for having a quit smoking link section - top marks
oops you have an extra double quote on the broken cig link on the help page, looking at your code it's a missing double quote at the front of the link.

I think our legal smoking age is 16 - should be 18 thou

I find the site rather bland and I'm not keen on the smoking person, I don't like that style of drawing so it's a personal thing, but it kind of looks as though it's just been plonked there and has no relation to the header in terms of deisgn. I don't think that the olive and blue go well together, they don't clash but do nothing for each other. I would have expected a smokey grey/blue colour with perhaps an accent of orange?

You have an unended tag around your 'site design by' which means it isn't being styled properly. You have bold tags in there as well which should be part of the style sheet as well. The only other thing that looks odd to me is the picture of the cigs on the main page, they again just look plonked on the page and look stranded alone on the right there!

Our legal smoking age is also 16 but I agree that it should be 18.

Good start though

urghh.. I just quit smoking so this is a little tough for me to review.

On the table issue, I'd say that it is pretty subjective and can be argued either way. I tend to prefer fixed width centered tables myself but it really depends on the design.

On this site, I'd really consider rethinking the colour scheme. The "greeny colour" that Busy mentions is more of a nicotine yellowish-brown to me. Perhaps that's the withdrawals talking

This is why I love this forum. I would have left the site as is, but I played around in PSP and came up with a new logo and changed the color scheme and I think it looks better.

Busy: Could you tell me how to do the subdomain thing if it's not too difficult? I changed the color scheme to gray and dark red. On my dinky 13" monitor, the color I had appeared as an antique gold, but apparently not to everyone else. Hope you like the new scheme.

Webmistress: Fixed the tag on "Site design..." All pages now validate W3C except the affiliate iinks show as errors because of "reference delimators" whatever the hell that means Hopefully the new look isn't quite as bland.

taff: Sorry to put you through that. Having quit many times myself (lol), I know how hard it is. How exactly do I center the site? When I centered my tables at acleverpenny.com, several people told me it also centered the table contents and I don't want that.

Thanks again everyone. It's definitely an improvement over the first stab and with your help it should get even better.

Deborah

Does look a bit better

What would the site look like with a background color of #efefef ?

To center your tables (using an absolute width) just change this:

To this:

It shouldn't centre the content with it

Also, I failed to mention this in my first post but, the site looks too "sharp" or "boxy" what about some curves?
...actually, I think it's just the contrast between the dark gray and the white background

Thanks again Renegade. Got the tables centered as per your instructions. I was already working on curves to soften the site up some (had a hell of a time figuring them out!) Just got them uploaded and I also added a little more padding.

I tried the other gray, but then the nav text color would have to be changed from white to black. I may do that later, but if I do the site will begin to look an awful lot like this forum with the white gray and dark red!

You've been a big help, so if you have any more tips, please pass them on

Here are the changes: http://www.acleverpenny.com/smokeshop/index.html

Thanks again,
Deborah

Hello dmwhipp,

Oh dear. I'm not a fan of smoking sites but I do very much like the clean and straightforward layout. Visitors would have no problem finding what they're looking for. It's definitely a utilitarian site.

That lettering which looks like smouldering tobacco is a little unsettling for me (and maybe it's JUST me). Assuming that part of the site's objective is to sell cigarettes, might you not want to select a font that suggests elegance and class? This is the same way that tobacco companies market their products; they sell a "suggested lifestyle". Perhaps you might want to theme the site with the shades of an elegant cherry-wood humidor with gold lettering and a font that evokes old 1930's Havana?

Just my two bits. Hope its helpful.

Best Regards,

- zoinks

I agree, I'm not overly fond of the font and effect you have there on the logo. I think I'd have gone for something a bit more formal looking and I'd also have gone for rounder curves, but that's just my opinion

zoinks and webmistress: Thanks for the suggestions regarding the logo font. I'm in the middle of painting my living room, but will come up with something formal/elegant after the weekend.
Deborah

Hello dmwhipp,

Just a few more nuggets for ideas. When I try to associate smoking with class and high society, I conjure up some of the following themes:

1. The Raffles Hotel in Singapore (colors would be white, mahogany and jungle-forest-green)
2. Old Hollywood nightclubs (colors would be yellow-gold, night-blue and black [white can still work for the base])
3. Morocco (think Maltese Falcon - sand-yellow, white, and multi-coloured mosaics in elaborate patterns).

- zoinks