Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Another first site for opinions

Options
  • 12-08-2009 12:12pm
    #1
    Morlar
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,273 ✭✭✭


    I setup this site for displaying items of mostly 2nd world war militaria

    http://www.militaria-archive.com/

    and from a layout/design perspective I would be interested in some opinions.

    For the first few weeks of it being online the focus was creating the content and uploading and not really paying too much attention to the layout etc.

    The plan is to have it as simple and clean as possible while being intuitive to navigate and friendly to search engines.

    Any hints/opinions/tips etc would be helpful, easy ways to improve the layout & navigation etc (bearing in mind it is non profit and put together with no dreamweaver/web design experience) so please use beginner/simpleton terms if possible.


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    LowOdour
    Registered Users Posts: 2,452 ✭✭✭LowOdour


    Hey molar, as with everybody who puts a site together for the first time fair play.

    I want to be honest and say i find it a difficult site to stay on too long, its verr frustrating.

    I dont know what this page is suppose to be
    http://www.militaria-archive.com/Coming%20soon.html, but i stopped reading after the first few words. The font and drop-shadow are off putting imho. And that it's actually an image is not good either. you could try something nicer with a nice font.

    Your photo viewer (example:
    http://www.militaria-archive.com/blitzkrieg/content/WH_France19_large.html )has no links back to home page or any sort of naviagation. Plus the page is completely different to the rest of the site. was the gallery/photo viwer purchased?


  • Options
    #3
    Tim M-U
    Closed Accounts Posts: 417 ✭✭Tim M-U


    I cant judge the website because its just has no use in these days...


  • Options
    #4
    Morlar
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,273 ✭✭✭Morlar


    Hi - thanks for checking and commenting.
    LowOdour wrote: »
    Hey moRlar, as with everybody who puts a site together for the first time fair play.

    I want to be honest and say i find it a difficult site to stay on too long, its verr frustrating.

    I dont know what this page is suppose to be
    http://www.militaria-archive.com/Coming%20soon.html, but i stopped reading after the first few words.

    That page is supposed to be a 'coming soon page' - that is all that it is supposed to be. It is not really an integral part of the site just an add on.
    LowOdour wrote: »
    The font and drop-shadow are off putting imho. And that it's actually an image is not good either. you could try something nicer with a nice font.

    I suppose that is a matter of taste really. I chose that font because I liked it & thought it was nice, also added the shadow for the same reason. I suppose if you ask 100 people they may not all agree on the ideal font.

    The reason it as an image instead of text/html as I did not know how to make it look like that in plain text and wanted to differentiate it from the rest of the site visually. Not everyone will like the fonts etc so I am not too worried about that.
    LowOdour wrote: »
    Your photo viewer (example:
    http://www.militaria-archive.com/blitzkrieg/content/WH_France19_large.html )has no links back to home page or any sort of naviagation. Plus the page is completely different to the rest of the site. was the gallery/photo viwer purchased?

    That page you mentioned does have a link back if you click on the title at the top of the page it drops you back to the home page. It also has a 'Next' & 'Previous' link on every page - also an index one to drop you back to the parent page. It is the same navigation principle throughout the entire site (though I believe one or two out of about 30-30 pages may be broken) and is based on Lightroom which is what the galleries are built on. I suppose it may take some getting used to if you are not familiar with it. Thanks again for checking and commenting.


  • Options
    #5
    Morlar
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,273 ✭✭✭Morlar


    Tim M-U wrote: »
    I cant judge the website because its just has no use in these days...

    That is not very clear if you don't mind me saying so. What exactly do you mean ? Do you mean in terms of the content ? If so I am not really looking for critique on the content. The site is for people who are interested in Militaria - it's not people who are not interested in militaria.

    Is your comment is a critique in terms of the layout and design, usability etc ? If so 'it has no use thesedays' isn't very much to go on.


  • Options
    #6
    Tim M-U
    Closed Accounts Posts: 417 ✭✭Tim M-U


    Morlar wrote: »
    That is not very clear if you don't mind me saying so. What exactly do you mean ? Do you mean in terms of the content ? If so I am not really looking for critique on the content. The site is for people who are interested in Militaria - it's not people who are not interested in militaria.

    Is your comment is a critique in terms of the layout and design, usability etc ? If so 'it has no use thesedays' isn't very much to go on.

    what i meant is, its not very interesting because the look of the website is not great.

    just my opinion.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #7
    lostprophetsie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 112 ✭✭lostprophetsie


    Hi Morlar,
    the design is clean and simple I would have to agree with the other poster about the drop shadow, maybe make the shadow more transparent if you want to keep it.

    Also ensure to give your images alt tags for SEO purposes (alt="").

    I think its a good first attempt though and with the feedback you get here can become much better.


  • Options
    #8
    Morlar
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,273 ✭✭✭Morlar


    lostprophetsie wrote: »
    Hi Morlar,
    the design is clean and simple I would have to agree with the other poster about the drop shadow, maybe make the shadow more transparent if you want to keep it.

    Also ensure to give your images alt tags for SEO purposes (alt="").

    I think its a good first attempt though and with the feedback you get here can become much better.

    Cheers for that - I will definitely check out the alt tags for images thing. Also probably do something about the font when I get around to it. Thanks for checking and commenting.


  • Options
    #9
    mikkael
    Closed Accounts Posts: 96 ✭✭mikkael


    Hi,

    I just had a look at your site, and first impressions are, very good. A nice bit of white space and that's good imho - it's amazing how many people are afraid to put it there, instead substituting for garish yellow etc. which distracts from the content.

    I would be inclined to make the header a bit bigger perhaps, and / or switch to slightly less italicised ( woa, spelling? ) text.

    Otherwise the only thing I'd do is maybe space the knives / text at the bottom of the homepage ... they seem to be getting blended together a bit to my eyes.

    Otherwise it's really good.

    Regards,

    Tony.


Advertisement