Good websites

white_sw · 15 Jul 2009

I work in the IT industry and in the past worked in intranet website development. I agree with Tom.
The more flashy it is, the more likely it is to put people off. If I goto a website that is covered with flash
and over complitated, I'm straigt onto the next without a second glance at the flashy one. Simple to navigate,
quick to load and straight to the point is what I'd personally do.

Cheers,
Sam

Dibs-h · 15 Jul 2009

white_sw":39t83tgp said:
I work in the IT industry and in the past worked in intranet website development. I agree with Tom.
The more flashy it is, the more likely it is to put people off. If I goto a website that is covered with flash
and over complitated, I'm straigt onto the next without a second glance at the flashy one. Simple to navigate,
quick to load and straight to the point is what I'd personally do.

Cheers,
Sam

Yes but techies on the whole are very tolerant of such things and will persevere with the autoloader. Joe Public on the other hand - won't even click thru to the 2nd page, they'll hit Back on the browser and go to some other site.

Brad - nice clean site. A comment or 2 - there is very little contrast between the white and the adjacent colour. You may need to either change the white for something else or alter the background colour. Your button "bar" isn't quite right in Firefox - I'd check it in Safari as well.

Other than that - it does exactly what it says on the tin!

On the subject Joomla\Drupal and other CMS - it's like using a tank to crack a nut - extremely heavyweight applications, which for just a 4-5 page site are way overkill. Although for some it may work - I would definitely not recommend them for this sort of use.

matt · 15 Jul 2009

houtslager":28pv32tm said:
just outta curiosity, mine needs a few upgrades like spam preventing measures on the contact page, are there any other improverments I could try-out ?

HS, slowing down for the bouw-vak in Amsterdam :?

You need to make it easier to find your contact page (and the others for that matter...). I was nearly back here asking what contact page.

bugbear · 15 Jul 2009

I think all that's needed (especially for a one man band) is a website that fulfil the function of a typical brochure + a typical portfolio.

Most small chippies end up with a 4 page brochure, with a front page (business title, nice photo etc, 2 inner pages detailing work done, quotes from clients etc, and a last page with contact details.

They also tend-to-have a A4 folder with lost of previous project photos.

I believe this represent the content that needs to "hit the web".

Because a website has less limits on capacity, I think a web site should have 3 "main" pages;

A home page (for want of a better word), a "work done page", and a contact page.

I would suggest that the "work done page" should be like the "middle" pages of the brochure, and have your best, or most recent work on it.

It should also provide access to a deeper, or more expansive, gallery.

Don't get distracted by web coding, picture that fade in and out - all that's needed is a simple grouping of pictures (e.g. kitchens, bathrooms, etc).

One classic mistake with web pages is to create super elaborate ones (or get a company to do it for you), and then not keep it up do date.

A simple, but up to date, website beats a snazzy out of date one any time.

BugBear

matt · 15 Jul 2009

What he said...

And, as I've mentioned before... you could do this using Wordpress at http://www.freevirtualservers.com/ all for free.

Night Train · 15 Jul 2009

Interesting stuff.

We are definately avoiding flash or any other bandwidth hungry graphics and animations.

What we are trying to resolve is the three areas of work that I am involved in, furniture, joinery and theatre sets. I don't want to look like a huge company with lots of areas of work nor do I want to look like a 'jack of all trades, master of none'.

We have already decided to forget the electrical and plumbing work, trailer building, plant moving services, upholstery and dress making and supported housing and urban renewal consultation. If it seems to matter I will just link to other specialist I know. :wink:

So it will need to be simple, clear and easy without too much to think about.