Review Request: www.webservertimes.com

Still has a dated look and feel. I'd expect The Webserver Times to be with the times somewhat. The colours and scheme don't reflect the content theme generally. Consider reworking that, so as to give the visitor a hint about the content of the site. (Why is there a PDA/mobile device?)

Don't give me an article-length intro (or is it an article? I didn't read it) on the homepage. Give me tasters and tidbits, invite me in to variety of articles. Serve up the beginning of your best new article, by all means, but don't inundate with words.

Give me a few more keywords to click on. Apart from the nav and "Moore's Law" at the top of the page, there're no targeting, content-specific links to pull me in. Get more from less words.

Single-bar navigation probably isn't working too well here. Split up the links to content and the links to meta-content. So you want Security, Wireless, etc, separated from Privacy and Contact.

Bring the search box to the top. Might invite more users to look around and stick around.

That's all I can think of for now. Good luck.

Do you actually want a critique of the site? If so I'll move this thread into the critique section.

I agree, you need a complete redesign of youe website. You need to put more focus on your content. I wanted to leave too when I visited your website becase it has just too much text on the first page and I didn't like the navigation (which I didn't notice right away). You need to make your site look more interesting, more organized and make it easier for the users to notice and get to the content.

While you're within my radar, I'll offer up a few comments:

1. you have spaces in your file names -- some browsers will not view these files. The word isn't a Windows machine, do not use spaces in your file names.

2. good coding recommends using all lowercase file names as it's easier for users to remember them (plus you won't screw up linking).

3. it looks like a bad marketing/scam site.

4. Everything under the ad, because it comes in the middle of the page, is considered to be an ad, not part of the site. Ergo, it's not to be clicked on and is suspect.

Suzanne, I was going to say the spaces! ANyways, you should use % as a space instead of a space.

The Nav Bar, make it more graphical, the text doesn't stand out. If you use graphics, then chances are it's going to catch the user's eye.

Again, about the Main text, I would suggest as well that you do a [read more] link after 5 or 6 lines of something.

Logo is kinda weird and "blah"

What's up with the TechDepot thing at the end?

Finally, having a very long intro page is not a good idea. Make it short and sweet, otherwise visitors will leave, as you have seen.

heh, sorry, Kyle.

Also, while I'm thinking of it, having a link that contains keywords is nice, but when it's an entire sentence long it looks like an ad and is harder to comprehend.

Quote: Do you actually want a critique of the site? If so I'll move this thread into the critique section.

Yes, I'd like a critique of the site. Please move this thread to wherever you feel is appropriate.

Roy

Quote: 3. it looks like a bad marketing/scam site.

Hi, Suzanne.
I appreciate your taking the time to critique my site, but it's not a "scam". Okay?

I think Suzanne meant it appears to be a scam site, which is a point raised more than once in this thread -- your design lets down the content. No need to get annoyed.

Hmmm. So I need to work on the design and navigation. I hear that.

Next, I would really like it if you read some of the articles and let me know if they're informative and/or helpful. If you're interested in Web security, for example, please read a few of my articles on that subject. This way I'll know if I'm writing good content.

Much thanks, as always:D

Just looking ath the Web Design page, I see...

Quote: If you click on the headlines below, you will find up-to-the-minute stories about web design and development.

...which is a good example of what's amiss in your presentation. You're using wordy text to describe/instruct the user to do something that would normally be intuitive under the right design circumstances. So if your articles were neatly listed in a box entlitled "Articles", and all headings were underlined and shown as links, with perhaps a descripton or excerpt from each article below the respective headings, then you wouldn't need that obscure sentence to aid visitors.

Skimming over a couple of articles (as most people would), I see you use inconsistent styling. Some headings are black, others blue. Might be easier if you used a universal stylesheet to style all your pages, instead of .

As for content itself, I can't say much. It's written fine. Just a matter of getting people to read it.

What I would suggest is that you go out and get a template to use for this design. Honestly, there's not much to be said for what you've got, and if you're not one for design, why do it yourself? I'm a firm beliver that in the professional world, you shouldn't try to do something you just can't do well. For pracitce, sure, but not when you're really wanting to be successful wtih something. Hire a professional to do it for you, and in the case of design, there are loads of good template designs available for a very low cost. Your weaknesses are overshadowing your strengths here, that's the problem.

I haven't read all of the text here, but why have the big explantiroy blurbs at the top of all those section pages? Why not get right to the articles? I think it's fairly safe to assume that your target audience has some idea of what they're reading about and doesn't need a basic definition before getting to the articles. And besides, in most cases it's pushing the actual article links below the fold where people are unlikely to see them.