Track-Finder (For outdoor enthusiasts)

sw33t_r3v3ng3 · 06-09-2014 10:02pm #1

Hi all, I've just finished the layout for the main pages of my site. I would like some feedback on the site. Mainly the home page and the about page. I'm not sure if the banner image on the home page is too much? And also if the text on the about page is too much? Is meta tags all that are needed for SEO or is there more that can be done? (BTW I haven't yet added Meta tags ). The site is only barely done. I have a whole archive to code yet but want some feedback on the site so far. I have used Bootstrap.

Site: http://connect-freely.com/Track-Finder/

(Please don't bother looking at the base site its a completely different project, That domain was just for testing, it wont be the final domain ).

Thanks everyone

the-macho-man · 09-09-2014 12:08am

Hey,

I reckon the banner is a little strange looking. It seems to be stretched horizontally. Not sure if that's how it's meant to look. Also, the colour scheme of the webpage could be improved - the orange of the logo and green buttons really clash imo.

The idea itself is good however from what I can tell, Strava.com is very similar. Strava is quite successful - it's website is driven by the Strava app (1 million downloads on the Android Play store alone). The app uploads the GPS details of the tracks you ran/cycled for others to see. Its features are very similar to your idea such as track/trail discovery and sharing. I'm not saying to quit your idea - however I would recommend checking out how your idea compares with Strava and seeing if you can offer something better, different or new.

I couldn't see your tracks on your website and I couldn't register - I was getting a 404 error at the sign-up page.

Hope this is useful.

Regards,
Matt

sw33t_r3v3ng3 · 09-09-2014 5:55pm

the-macho-man wrote: »

Hey,

I reckon the banner is a little strange looking. It seems to be stretched horizontally. Not sure if that's how it's meant to look. Also, the colour scheme of the webpage could be improved - the orange of the logo and green buttons really clash imo.

The idea itself is good however from what I can tell, Strava.com is very similar. Strava is quite successful - it's website is driven by the Strava app (1 million downloads on the Android Play store alone). The app uploads the GPS details of the tracks you ran/cycled for others to see. Its features are very similar to your idea such as track/trail discovery and sharing. I'm not saying to quit your idea - however I would recommend checking out how your idea compares with Strava and seeing if you can offer something better, different or new.

I couldn't see your tracks on your website and I couldn't register - I was getting a 404 error at the sign-up page.

Hope this is useful.

Regards,
Matt

Thanks a mill for the feedback! As I said its not yet complete. I will implement the Register/Login features tomorrow hopefully. I have it all developed on a localhost server, i'm mainly just testing out everything and eliminating bugs that appear. Think i'll go back to the drawing board with the banner and see what looks good. Thanks again dude!

sw33t_r3v3ng3 · 13-09-2014 5:45pm

I swapped the banner out for a centered logo, look alot better I must admit!

Overflow · 06-10-2014 11:58am

This is just one of the default Bootstrap templates with your logo. Nothing really to critique. At least try customize the default theme a bit. Your logo looks great though !

If your going to use template you should have a look for a better one more suited to presenting a mobile application.

Free themes:
http://bootswatch.com

Very cheap templates:
https://wrapbootstrap.com

sw33t_r3v3ng3 · 06-10-2014 6:01pm

Overflow wrote: »

This is just one of the default Bootstrap templates with your logo. Nothing really to critique. At least try customize the default theme a bit. Your logo looks great though !

If your going to use template you should have a look for a better one more suited to presenting a mobile application.

Free themes:
http://bootswatch.com

Very cheap templates:
https://wrapbootstrap.com

My main reason for using bootstrap is because i am a rubbish designer in html and css. I understand both of them really well, its just everything i design in html and css looks like a 6 month old's colouring book. Awful. I'll have a look at themes!

sw33t_r3v3ng3 · 06-10-2014 6:06pm

I'm considering starting the whole project again. I would be happy with the end result then.

sw33t_r3v3ng3 · 01-11-2014 11:53pm

sw33t_r3v3ng3 wrote:

I'm considering starting the whole project again. I would be happy with the end result then.

Decided not to start over. If you know any cycling tracks around the world please message me so I can add them to the site!

cormee · 03-11-2014 3:01pm

It's a bit plain, it's crying out for a hero image, with full page. It shouldn't be too difficult to find some stunning images, considering the sector it's in.

Also, get someone to proof-read it.

sw33t_r3v3ng3 · 03-11-2014 6:56pm

cormee wrote:

It's a bit plain, it's crying out for a hero image, with full page. It shouldn't be too difficult to find some stunning images, considering the sector it's in.

I like the simplistic design, but I'm not sure if a full page image would look over cluttered?

cormee · 03-11-2014 10:52pm

sw33t_r3v3ng3 wrote: »

I like the simplistic design, but I'm not sure if a full page image would look over cluttered?

I like simplistic design too - but it's very difficult to get it right - so it looks stylish. At the moment it just looks like you stopped styling it, almost - and I'm saying this in the hope you'll take the criticism constructively - like the login to a UPS parcel tracking portal, it looks somewhat industrial, not something I'd expect on a site devoted to an outdoor sport.

If you're going for the minimal look you should flatten everything, lose the gradients, but again, it's very difficult to get that balance and look. Look into the flat UI paradigm that's popular, Google "Flat palette" and lift some colours off one of the palettes, use bigger butons, lighter, modern fonts (Open Sans is quite nice!).

I think you'd be far better off, given the subject matter, going for a large background, both Twitter and Paypal (Paypal have a video background) have them, so the idea is tried and tested. It wouldn't look cluttered if you choose the right image. You should do some a/b testing on a few people, one with an image the other without.

hth

sw33t_r3v3ng3 · 04-11-2014 12:10am

cormee wrote:

If you're going for the minimal look you should flatten everything, lose the gradients, but again, it's very difficult to get that balance and look. Look into the flat UI paradigm that's popular, Google "Flat palette" and lift some colours off one of the palettes, use bigger butons, lighter, modern fonts (Open Sans is quite nice!).

I never actually thought of this! it's a great idea! I'm going to have a look into what you mentioned and hopefully find something!

Track-Finder (For outdoor enthusiasts)

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