What do ya think.........? (Gleam Services)

My first impression is... Slow! That might just be my laptop, but the site took ages to load. So I wqouldn't use it on that count. Also, a title is a good place for search terms, so putting your Tel. No in there seems a bit of a waste.

Jake

The blue text on blue background on the carpet and upholstery cleaning page is impossible to read without highlighting it. The black text on the links page is also difficult to read on the dark blue background (old person here)

Otherwise it is very easy to navigate and find out what services you offer.

I personally don't like the trailing text from the cursor. I think you should lose the Top Graphic showing the map of the world. You should try and improve the Gleam Services graphic you should be able to do a good job in almost any photo program if you don't already have photoshop or fireworks try using a more simple text too. I agree with what the others have said too especially about the title tag. Try to make use of it by adding some keywords to do with your cleaning business. Keep it under 70 characters though. Also improve your meta description by adding keywords and the services you provide try to get the main stuff in the first 150 characters, you should try and keep it around 200 characters in total. Also it looks like the page has come to an end but as you scroll further down there is more. If you don't want that other stuff on the main page create a new page with it on. I hope I haven't been to much of a wet blanket on things but I think for a first effort it is ok.

Kushty

woah there, alot going on (very slowly) on your site!

I like the overall look - blue and yellow stand together well.
I would try to get some of the blocking out of some of your images.
The amount of space below your content on soime of the pages is HUGE and makes navigating up and down very insensitive.
Your contact page is also a bit choc full of information that isnt really required if i was say making a casual information question. (On this topic i was also a little surprised to see some google (or other) ad links to other cleaning companies - is this not a bit too close to home?

Hope this helps (not technical so cannot help with how to make changes i'm afraid)

Good luck with it, it's taking shape well.
Toby

gleamservices;214560 wrote: Hi all,

I don`t get upset easily so feel free to let rip, the site is my first and its my company so critisize on any part of it.

I know that the source code is a bit of a mess, I used a a freebie editor to build the initial site which has done some funny things.

It is best viewed with IE

http://www.gleamservices.co.uk

if you was looking for a cleaning company would you choose us?

It wasn't slow for me, but heres my review:

First off you say its "best viewed with IE" but you have to acknowledge that many people nowadays don't even use IE. This means you have to make your site compatible with other browsers so that you don't lose half of your visitors immediately after they load the site. Personally I use Firefox and the menu does not display correctly in its hover state.

Imaging - the images are very poorly made and some even look downloaded. Try investing in a program such as Photoshop and doing some of your own imaging that will look cleaner and fit the color scheme you want to use throughout your site.

The color scheme - blue and yellow, in my opinion, go great together. However, you have 2 or 3 different shades of blue here, not to mention that the brightest of hues are not eye-pleasing. If I was you I would go for a more laid-back blue, and maybe make the yellow a little more white-ish (if that makes any sense to you). Near the bottom of the page your font color goes from bright yellow to black, making it nearly impossible to read.

Also, not to offend, but using a "freebie editor" is not something you want to keep using. I recommend trying to learn everything you can through notepad by looking at the source code and how the freebie editor executed what you wanted on the site into HTML. If you don't feel like doing this then I recommend getting Adobe Dreamweaver.

Well the site is not aligned or anything. Make things aligned with one another in a structured way. It does look messy and hard to differentiate between sections. The colours would be nice together if they werent so bright. Pale them down so that images and bits you want to be in the foreground are!

The menu needs to be aligned to the top because that little extra blue is really annoying. Loose "cleaning" on each menu item, we know that that is what you do!

I am not sure if I like the color / theme of the site. I do not find it visually appealing.

Its quiet nice.I definately appreciate yours work.
But its good if you should still consult the experts.Better if you should visit the Web developers at:-
www.webdesigningcompany.net

I know them .Earlier when I design my own website ,I too have such doubts ,I also paste as you to know others views regarding my website.Then somebody may be -'alex ' recommended me the name of this web designing company.
So ,Its better if you should visit them and asked for your further improvement related specifications.

Hi,
your site looks inviting on first site. the blue and colour scheme is nice. I will be crtitiquing using criteria learned as an ecommerce student.

There are some features that you will need to recheck.
1) Looking down the page, the text at the bottom with blue headlines puts a strain on the eyes because there is not much of a contrast.
2)I do think that looking at your site, i will want to use your company but I think at the top of the page instead of a contact us link, there shd be a number to call as well.
3)On Alignment, that looks good
4) on the words that display when the mouse moves, a black colour is not so good, maybe a different dark colour will attract the eye to it more.
5) On content, I think on areas you're better at, a word about the cleaning will help, as some people like me, might not be interested
in your employees.

Note

Hi ,
I am Augustine Ikpong studying Internet Application Programmer somewhere in Ottawa, Canada. Presently, I have a course in my programme - E-commerce which reqiures an assesssment of a website and as such I am critiquing yours.
Your website looks nice.
However, there are a lot of white spaces on the home page which confuses users that there are no more information below.
The color scheme is poor, there is no contrast.
There are moving texts which distract customers or clients on the site.
Graphics take longer time to load which may annoy your users.
Links disappear onclick which is capable of confusing your users or clients.
Video on id9.html page plays when user does not prompt it to do so.
These are the few that I have spotted, I believe if you correct these you will be good.

Thanks.
Augustine.