Your suggestions are truly appreciated (Zoom360.net)

I wouldn't consider myself an expert, but I know what I like and I do like your site. I was surprised how fast it was and really like the magnifer feature.

I would however make the vertical scroller a darker color and there is something missing. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I think it is because I expect to see the site name on the top of the page, as opposed to the bottom.

Hi Kathy:

Thanks so much for taking the time to look at my site. I appreciate your pointing out the muted vertical scroll bar colors. I've darkened them up a bit based on your valuable feedback. Let me know what you think now.

Regarding "something missing" I wish you could figure out exactly what that is. As you may have noticed, the color scheme is very bland. I did that for a reason: I want the viewers' eyes to focus on the product display as soon as the page comes up. I'm hoping that once they see the functionality of the product display they'll want to dig deeper into the site and explore the other samples I have there. My thinking was that the site name is the site name, and it's less important than showing off what the displays can do.

Any more thoughts of yours would be most welcomed.

Thanks again,

Len

I think it is a good site - creative - I like that.

Buuuut...depending on your viisitor you might want to consider making the navigational links stand out a little more. I didn't even look in that section at first.

Also, besides clicking on the logo, there is no way to get back to the welcome page. You may want to change that.

That's all I have...sooooo...it's really good!

A few things I noticed very quickly...

1. My browser window resized. I hate that. I almost closed the window right then. If I hadn't been looking at it to give you a critique, I would have.

2. Very clean, simple design. I like it!

2. The spinning image that was there on the front page blanked out for me when the bar was in the middle. After starting this message, then going back to check again, it was fine. If it just takes a second to load, you might add some sort of warning to that effect.

3. Okay, just clicked a link and it both opened a new window AND resized my browser again. I'm done.

Seriously, I absolutely hate the browser-resizing. If I do, some portion of your target market will as well.

As a matter of fact, this is a service that I might consider for my clients at some point. If I didn't already know you, I would not use you based solely on the browser resize issue.

On the plus size, the colors being muted did result in my focusing on the revolving product immediately, so you accomplished your goal well there.

Tim:

Thanks for the input. I'm much better at Fash than I am at html. What browser are you using? And, if I can be so bold to ask, what causes the window to resize? I do appreciate any help you can offer.

I tested the site using Firefox 2.0 on a Windows XP platform.

Looks like the window is resized by the Javascript at the top of your HTML page. If you want to take the Javascript completely out, that would be fine as the only purpose it serves is resizing the window.

Hope that helps!

Thank you one and all. I did remove that resizing javascript. I hope it's better. I also made the links in the bottom left stand out a bit more. I was using Firefox version 1.2 for Mozilla testing so I just upgraded to 2.0. I notice that loading times vary depending on the browser used, what else is open, etc. I did have some "loading image" text in there to account for the loading time, but I think I had it covered up with something. I removed what I think was covering it up but I can't tell because it loads fast enough for me that I get to see all the images as soon as the page comes up. Thanks again for all of your help and pointers!

I think the site looks great. I like the picutre rotation idea. I love it. The only negative thing I can tell you is the loading time. I have a good speed connection and the site was a little bit slow. If you can improve this would be great. Remember people out there have no patient, and also a lot of them use dial up.

Good lock,

Manuel
Artesania Galpicos

Much better. However, the "Click Here to see additional product display samples" link still moves my browser. The file is http://www.zoom360.net/ProductDisplays.html

There's some Javascript in there that looks like it's being used for valid purposes. However, the following line is causing the browser moving:

top.window.moveTo(0,0);'

Get rid of that and you'll have a perfectly usable site!

I would advise in the pricing section to give some sort of ballpark figure. Something like "prices start as low as..." or "Prices range from X to Y." Or maybe a rough average. I know I tend to like some sort of idea of how much something like this will cost before I even make contact for an official quote.

What Im worried about is your SEO, I think you also need to offer an html version of the site. Design wise, looks pretty ok, you uniquely placed the site name at the bottom right area, but I think you need a logo somewhere there. Also I think you need to add another color because I feel it seems to anemic, maybe color the links, or the horizontal line, a gray shaded color would match well here, say bluish-gray... Also I hope you noticed on the name zoom360.net the letter "t" has a different background than the rest, The simplicity is a good approach, the page just needs a little adjustment...

Thanks for picking up that different color behind the "t". I hadn't noticed it before because it's so faint, but I think I fixed it now. Actually, the name of the business is ZOOM360.net, which is the same as the domain name. I agree that the SEO needs some work. SEO is getting tougher and tougher these days. Flash sites have always been pretty much impossible for crawling, although I heard one of them is now beginning to crawl Flash files (I forget if it's Google or who.) A static site will be coming before long; in the mean time a press release has been issued just this week and more of them will come. The press release issued this week has been picked up by several online mags but I suspect that it will take awhile for the wording to be crawled.

Once again,

Thanks.

I really have nothing negative to say about this site. The colors are good, the design is good, and I love the simplicity of it.

Wow that product rotate thing is good, but why not make it more apparant that this is what you do. To much text, make it more to the point on the first page to make me read more. I dont want to read loads of text to find out what its about and what things do. Bring my attention to that zoom rotate slider a bit more and that should do the trick.

Thanks for the advice from all of you. I've been incorporating your valuable suggestions into the website little by little. I know that one person mentioned his concerns for SEO and, rightfully so, especially with Flash-based sites. One thing I read on Timjpriebe's website is the importance of looking at all aspects of SEO, one of them being the issuance of press releases. I issued a press release announcing my new customized product display windows on Jan 30. The very next day I was contacted by a conference organizer in New York City who invited me as a guest to attend a major retailer/technology conference so that I would have the opportunity to demonstrate my prduct displays in person to some of the top retailers and web designers in the country. The conference is this week and I'll be there for sure, fully prepared with brochures and demos. Wish me luck! And, once again, thank you all for the great input and sound advice.

Good Luck! Tell us how it goes!

Hey, congrats on the invite to the conference in NYC! Glad my advice helped.

Thanks again for everyone's input and constructive criticism. donnisikak, you might want to check your security set-up in IE7. Has anyone else found the projectestimate link to be inactive? It works fine for me and I've received requests for estimates from eTailers who are interested, so it seems to be working for others.

The conference was a great way to network and make connections. I have two companies interested in my services and a major wholesaler in the far east who has asked me to assist in a trial on the effectiveness of my product displays. Exciting stuff!

Once again, thank you all.

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Hi,

loved ur site quite alot. I'm new to this website development thing but i'll say the only thing that i found interesting at first then later on boring was hoe every menu page sprung up from beneath.It was refreshing to click on the contact us page and had stuff come off a li'l differently.

Apart from that its a great website and the springing effect is really nice, just that after a while i think it gets tiring (although it depends too on hwat the site was designed to do or market, and the intended audience).