The Website For Your Attention and Review (Layoutspack.com)
I have just launched a new website Layoutspack.com. I would be very grateful, if you could tell me what you think of it. I have read through some posts in this section of forum and I have noticed how constructive the criticism given here is. You can comment on whatever aspect of the site you want.
decibel.places posted this at 01:26 — 28th June 2008.
He has: 1,494 posts
Joined: Jun 2008
I do not use these kind of templates but you appear to have a good collection in a variety of styles.
I am not a "designer" but many of the templates appear "canned" to me - they would take some additional work to be usable, but that is genrally true of any template or pre-written script etc.
I was a little confused that you have no "Home" menu item to go back to the landing page, I eventually clicked on your logo - I know this is a matter with differences of opinion I generally like a menu link or breadcrumb that will lead "Home" for clear navigation.
I also felt cheated when I clicked on the "download now" link and came to a signup page - it's like a lot of porn sites (oh, how would I know?) I mean a tease and then you want money.
You might have success with a "try before you buy" limited selection for free download..
A subscription model is an interesting twist, so you don't sell the product once. Will you have a way for members to submit their designs, perhaps for some pay or credit in return?
Good luck with your business - the testimonials, if genuine, are very complimentary.
Eljey posted this at 09:49 — 30th June 2008.
They have: 15 posts
Joined: Jun 2008
Thank you very much for your review, netsperience. I do appreciate it and it is very valuable for me. It is very constructive and focuses on the areas that are still being developed and it is very likely that all your suggestions for improvement will be taken into consideration.
A subscription model is an interesting twist, so you don't sell the product once.
Exactly, this is a peculiar feature of our project.
Will you have a way for members to submit their designs, perhaps for some pay or credit in return?
In the future probably rather yes than no
greg posted this at 12:02 — 28th June 2008.
He has: 1,581 posts
Joined: Nov 2005
A "Homepage" link is something most net users are used to now, and site visitors having to "figure out" to click the logo to goto the home page is no good.
The site layout is quite neat and smart, easy enough to navigate and find things. I personally don't like the collection of colours, the orange, brown and green are fine individually but not all on the same page.
Of course, if I am in the minority then your colours are fine.
The large area just underneath the navigation buttons ("Still pay-per-product fee?") is a little to big where it is.
It's in a good place as it informs what your site is about and of course has a link to your main package to hopefully prompt people to click. But it takes over the immediate page content, especially as it is the same size and content in it within all pages.
When I click a navigation link, such as "About Us" or "packages" etc I have to scroll down to get the content I requested.
I would either make that half the height or perhaps even better would be to half the width and keep the height and have it on the left half of the page, still under the navigation links, and then the page content can go to the right of it.
A note on the business side of things, you are limiting your market by ONLY selling packages. I know that is your targetted niche, but a lot of people only want ONE template for their one website.
You of course will only sell to people who use a lot of templates.
Perhaps that is all you intended for.
When I click on "Packages", it would be really nice to see what templates I will get with that package.
A lot of people want to at the very least SEE what they are buying. What if they pay $xx and don't like any of them?
Not sure why your homepage meta title has the word "Membership" in it.
You also have one of your meta keywords as "membership", not sure why really it's not what your site is about. You wouldn't put "green" in the keywords as well just because your site has green colour in it.
Good clean looking site though, and the search function seems to work really well.
Eljey posted this at 10:05 — 30th June 2008.
They have: 15 posts
Joined: Jun 2008
Many thanks for your opinion, greg. It is worthy and concentrates on the aspects that need revision. Some of your questions I have already answered while replying to the previous review. Two more:
When I click on "Packages", it would be really nice to see what templates I will get with that package.
A lot of people want to at the very least SEE what they are buying. What if they pay $xx and don't like any of them?
Maybe I don't quite understand you but: after registering and paying a membership fee you will be able to download as many templates as you want within the period of time which corresponds to the money you have paid. In case you haven't liked any of the templates, you can claim a refund only on condition that you haven't downloaded any item.
greg posted this at 12:56 — 30th June 2008.
He has: 1,581 posts
Joined: Nov 2005
I understand now.
I 'presumed' the different prices was for a different amount of templates and or different things with each package.
A possible option then would perhaps be to highlight that each package has unlimited access for the given time, as it doesn't actually state in the package description that for 3 months I get access to ALL templates.
In fact, after reading the three package options, I feel unsure about 1 and 2 because 3 states specifically that I will get "unlimited access to hundreds of website templates, updates, and releases".
And 2 states "without any additional fees, including new releases and updates." but 1 doesn't state this.
So after reading all three I am unsure as to whether I get "unlimited access", "additional fees" or "new released templates" with package 1.
Also in 3 it states "without any per-item fee", so do 1 & 2 HAVE this?
To you of course you know in your mind what each package allows, to a newcomer they have no idea, and people are not only often suspicious about are there hidden fees and what will they get for their money, but they are also easily confused if things aren't explained fully.
I think it needs to be made very clear what you DO and DON'T get with the packages.
I.E. IF package 3 is the only one with unlimited, then state the limits in 1 & 2 descriptions. Otherwise state ALSO in 1 & 2 they are unlimited.
A better way of course where something relates to all three packages is list it in one paragraph, perhaps above package 1 as a packages opening text/description.
I.E. "All packages give unlimited access to all our templates, and also new updates, new releases etc etc"
Eljey posted this at 14:01 — 30th June 2008.
They have: 15 posts
Joined: Jun 2008
Thank you very much, Greg, for your detailed feedback. We'll take it into account.
Greensphere posted this at 13:44 — 28th June 2008.
They have: 91 posts
Joined: Jun 2008
I would shorten the navigation buttons at the top of the page but i do like the colours if i was looking for templates i would definitely hang around.
Megan posted this at 13:32 — 12th July 2008.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
This design looks really big to me. It's as if I'm zoomed in or something, or the site was designed on a much larger monitor.
The biggest problem with this is that the header, navigation, and membership information take up so much space that you can't see any of the actual templates without scrolling. The navbar isn't actually that important here so you could make that a lot smaller.
The join now button should be green not red. Think about it. Red means stop, green means go (I often try to make calls to action green).
On the search pages the search box and sidebar move from the left to the right. That's a bit confusing and disorienting. Keeping it on the right for both page types would be best.
What's the difference beween HTML templates and CSS templates? You can't have CSS without HTML and I sure hope you don't have HTML without CSS!
Everything else looks good. Consistently designed, good colour scheme, good calls to action.
Megan
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Eljey posted this at 08:36 — 14th July 2008.
They have: 15 posts
Joined: Jun 2008
Thanks, Megan, for your commentaries. As for the big design elements, they were meant to be like that. A good point as for color choice.
roje0913 posted this at 14:56 — 20th July 2008.
They have: 9 posts
Joined: Mar 2008
I think the menu area itself is far too tall, your wasting a lot of 'above the fold' space on that. I also dont like that you have such bright vibrant colors and the menu seems like it was left out of the design process all together, if you want to go w/ the same color, maybe try to put a few pieces of detail in the buttons.
Eljey posted this at 07:50 — 21st July 2008.
They have: 15 posts
Joined: Jun 2008
As for the menu it was meant to be like that. Color the same, but thanks for your criticism anyway.
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