Tell me whatever is on your mind. Help me to improve my site!

He has: 17 posts

Joined: Jan 2007

Artesania Galpicos is my new site and I really would love to hear from everyone to review my site.

Any comments are welcome. Be yourself and let me know what you think.

Sincerely,

Manuel Toubes
Artesania Galpicos

timjpriebe's picture

He has: 2,667 posts

Joined: Dec 2004

That's a pretty well designed web site, actually. The only nitpicks I have are really probably only personal preference issues. I find the rotating image on the front page a bit distracting, and the shells as bullets look a bit unprofessional.

Also, I find the dialogs that pop-up when you're actually shopping a bit unprofessional, but I imagine they're built into the ecommerce package you're using.

Those are just very minor issues, and if you didn't even bother with them, I wouldn't hold it against you.

Very nice site! I like your logo, and the whole thing just has a very nice, laid back feel to it.

Brooke's picture

She has: 681 posts

Joined: Feb 1999

I really like it. I actually am interested in your products and I found it wasy to navigate and easy to see the pictures the way that I wanted.

I agree with Tim - the shells as bullets on the front page I do not like. They give the whole site a beach theme - so initially, because of the bullets combined with the teal color, I thought it was going to be beachy jewelry. And it's not!

But great job!!

He has: 17 posts

Joined: Jan 2007

The shells have a meaning. They are the symbol of the Santiago de Compostela's pilgrims (Spain) where most of my jewelry comes from.

I will think about your suggestions.

Thank you a lot,

Manuel

demonhale's picture

He has: 3,278 posts

Joined: May 2005

Looks quite fine. Good job! anyways, I think you need to notch up the font size, and make it a little more darker, although the color now is perfect on my screen, but for high gamma monitors the texts seems to disappear... Also if I could suggest that instead of putting those shells on that bullets, replace them with regular bullets and put the shells beside the headings of "categories" and "more info"... also move the email list above the paypal badge just below the last entry for "more info" ... just my 2 cents...

They have: 17 posts

Joined: Dec 2004

I like the Flash.

Make the search box easier. When I click on it I expect it to be emptied so I don't have to delete everything in it. It can be done easily using something like

onFocus="if (this.value == defaulttext) this.value =''"'

Also, pictures are really important in this kind of web sites. They should be hi-quality clear and sharp. Shells, for example, look like they were resized when they were in GIF form (which causes pixelation) If you have the originals, convert it to RGB (BMP, for example) resize, THEN save it as GIF. Similarly, try to have the product images with the same background color, same style etc for consistency. They match your blue template beautifully.

Navigation and shopping is easy enough. When I click checkout, I saw the logo claiming 128-bit encryption but there is no SSL. Is it implementing soon?

Great work.

Deniz

He has: 118 posts

Joined: Feb 2007

i found your site to be really interesting, I do concur with the comments about the shells and 'mini logos' but i think you could get around them sticking out by having an off white background.

also, an i may well be wrong - is jewelery spelt without the second 'e'? (probably just stuffy english spelling, but it irked me as i'm pedantic like that!)

overall i think you have the balance of content well. in an ideal world you could poke in something to keep people going back to your site/staying longer, like a blog diary link or something - but again probably my impatient pedantism coming out again!

Good work.

Toby

Toby Frost
Frost Conservatories
frostconservatories.co.uk

They have: 4 posts

Joined: Feb 2007

i like it, its well designed and visually pleasing

He has: 17 posts

Joined: Jan 2007

Thank you. Of course I appreciate your kind words, but if there is something yuo don't like let me know. I want to open my mind to new ideas.

Thanks again,

Artesania Galpicos

timjpriebe's picture

He has: 2,667 posts

Joined: Dec 2004

I don't doubt that the shells have meaning. I'm not against using shells in general, just those particular graphics. I would get much more professional looking shell graphics to use on the front page. It's very jarring when the rest of the site looks so professional. The shells stick out like a sore thumb, at least to me.

They have: 3 posts

Joined: Feb 2007

After an initial scan through the pages, I really couldn't see/hear any accessibility problems with this site.
There are a few minor issues:
The site structure should be improved, it doesn't make you wanna click any further. The structure should be made by colors, size or order.
May be some qualitative web designer shall provide you the necessary productive feedback.
I know one: www.webdesigningcompany.net

They have: 6 posts

Joined: Feb 2007

Very nice site! Good logo and well designed website.

I really like it. Pretty good and easy navigation. The only thing i feel bad about ur site is the flash used as the image(rotating) on the top of the homepage does the purpose of distracting the users and the bullets scheme looks too unprofessional.

Anyways,good job!!

They have: 6 posts

Joined: Feb 2007

I will be critiquing your site with criteria learned as an ecommerce student

1) Ease of use: your site is really easy to use and links have been placed appropriately
2) the alignment is very good
3)navigability is smooth
4) Choice of images on home page is nice and gives a good feel of the what teh site is about

but
1) I think the font is a bit too small or rather too light. it just doesn't give a strong feel
2) I think the company name shd also be made a bit stronger, it kind of blends in with the rest of the page.

Overall, the site is good.

He has: 17 posts

Joined: Jan 2007

enoughfun;215883 wrote: I will be critiquing your site with criteria learned as an ecommerce student

1) Ease of use: your site is really easy to use and links have been placed appropriately
2) the alignment is very good
3)navigability is smooth
4) Choice of images on home page is nice and gives a good feel of the what teh site is about

but
1) I think the font is a bit too small or rather too light. it just doesn't give a strong feel
2) I think the company name shd also be made a bit stronger, it kind of blends in with the rest of the page.

Overall, the site is good.

What size would you recomend and what font?

Thank you for yuour review

He has: 688 posts

Joined: Feb 2001

I think it looks great! Simple, clean, professional. Good color scheme which you maintain in from your logo, title, and "little side graphics". 9½ out of 10. My only suggestions are very minor.

a) My monitor is 1152 pixels wide. On the right of the main content it becomes noticeable that the turquoise background is repeating as darker blue spot with a hard left border keeps repeating. (Like I said, minor detail)

b) The fading photos near the top right don't bother me but I think it may look better if it dissolved between the photos rather "dipping to white" between the shots.

Looks great.

He has: 17 posts

Joined: Jan 2007

Thank you for your comments. I will keep them in mind. I really will consider the idea of changing the flash on my home page.

Thanks again,

Manuel
Artesania Galpicos

mfdc's picture

They have: 160 posts

Joined: Aug 2004

the images dont load quickly enough in my opinion on a T1 optic leased line, (12mb eqiv), with that in mind, couldnt you not pre fetch the images or have a site loading page whilst there pre fetched!?

nice layout though - nice site

They have: 33 posts

Joined: Mar 2007

Looks fine, you have flash in your site, it's not good with search engine,

Bill

He has: 17 posts

Joined: Jan 2007

Bill,

Thank yuo for your comments. But Could you esplain why flash is not good with searh engine.

Thanks,

Manuel:confused:

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

Artesania Galpi;218151 wrote: Bill,

Thank yuo for your comments. But Could you esplain why flash is not good with searh engine.

The problem with flash is that search engines can't read any words in it. This is a concern when (obviously), you have text in the flash that you want the search engine to read. It's not really an issue if you're just using it to display pictures. However, the pictures in the flash object wouldn't be found by search engines either. You've got a very small amount of flash on here that is just being used for decorative purposes so I don't think it's a problem. It would be if you were displaying all your product photos in flash.

I just stopped by your site to look for a gift for my sister. The problem I'm having as a shopper is that the site doesn't have any information about shipping rates and where the products are being shipped from. i.e. I wasn't sure if the products were being shipped from Spain or from someplace else. That would increase the shipping time and cost by a lot. I finally did find this information on the policies page when I attempted to go through the checkout - I think this information should be labelled more clearly. Call it "shipping and returns" or something like that so it's more clear.

I am finding the grey text here to be hard to read. Make the text darker and increase the line-height to make it easier for people.

He has: 17 posts

Joined: Jan 2007

Megan;218687 wrote: The problem with flash is that search engines can't read any words in it. This is a concern when (obviously), you have text in the flash that you want the search engine to read. It's not really an issue if you're just using it to display pictures. However, the pictures in the flash object wouldn't be found by search engines either. You've got a very small amount of flash on here that is just being used for decorative purposes so I don't think it's a problem. It would be if you were displaying all your product photos in flash.

I just stopped by your site to look for a gift for my sister. The problem I'm having as a shopper is that the site doesn't have any information about shipping rates and where the products are being shipped from. i.e. I wasn't sure if the products were being shipped from Spain or from someplace else. That would increase the shipping time and cost by a lot. I finally did find this information on the policies page when I attempted to go through the checkout - I think this information should be labelled more clearly. Call it "shipping and returns" or something like that so it's more clear.

I am finding the grey text here to be hard to read. Make the text darker and increase the line-height to make it easier for people.

Thank you for your answer. I will keep in mind your sugestions, but I still think if somebody wants to buy anything from my site the shipping fees are easy to find in the check out pages. Also in my home page we say clear that we ship from the USA, but I will see if I can make this more clear.

Any ways thanks a lot for yuor comments and answer.

PD. you are always welcome to order from my site. I am pretty sure you will like my jewelry.

Thanks,

Manuel

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

Artesania Galpi;218717 wrote: Thank you for your answer. I will keep in mind your sugestions, but I still think if somebody wants to buy anything from my site the shipping fees are easy to find in the check out pages. Also in my home page we say clear that we ship from the USA, but I will see if I can make this more clear.

My opinion is that the shipping fees need to be available before checkout. I know some sites have strange (high) shipping rates so I'm sort of conditioned to expect the unexpected when that checkout page comes up. It's best for those to be posted up front so if people are concerned about it they can see them before they bother going through the checkout process. It just saves a step.

I see the bullet point about shipping from the US office now. I wonder why I ignored that at first. I had a hard time reading that grey text so I tended to avoid reading if possible. Maybe it was the shell bullets and the placement below the main blurb, I don't know.

Oh, it would also be a good idea to make it more clear that those two product photos take you into the actual shopping areas. Just labelling them underneath as "bracelts" and "sets" or whatever those are. Then people would know that that takes them into the shopping area instead of guessing that they will.

She has: 5 posts

Joined: Apr 2007

Hi, I have just had a look at your website and was very impressed with the design, content and ease of use. It's attractive and I found it easy to find my way around.

If I was looking for unique jewelry, I would be very pleased to find your site - the pictures are clear and the text is descriptive and helpful and I would be very tempted to buy.

Many best wishes for your websites success.

They have: 16 posts

Joined: Jan 2007

have you change the shells to a higher resolution?
Just wondering as I looked and they seem fine to me!

Also I have seen sight that have too high a RES and they take a long time to load up and you can loose a lot of people that way!

Just my 2 bobs worth Wink

They have: 18 posts

Joined: Apr 2003

i like the site nice layout but i saw the 128bit encrpytion logo but i did not see the yellow lock on my try you need to make sure ssl is there.

other wise nice job.

Tommy

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