Opinions on Web/Logo

cusackd

(This is also posted in the arts forum as i want to get there opinion too.)
Hi Folks,
After being stuck with work for the past few months i haven't had much of a chance to get my website in to full motion and get some good fluidity. So i said ill come back to it and ask the guys that know good design how it looks, how it feels and what to do to improve.

Just to let you know there is an issue with speed involving google maps at the moment which i will be looking in to and hopefully resolving soon, so i would love your opinions to be based purely on design and improvement.

Web: http://crime.ie

Appreciate the help.

Carol555

First of all - great idea for a website, I think there is a need for something like that.

It's one of these websites that you want to keep clean, minimalistic and functional.

One thing I'd try is to feature Report a crime link (I guess that's your primary call to action?).
There is a lot of white space between logo/main menu and the map, what about increasing map's height so it meets the thin grey <HR> line?
It might be worth adding [more] link at the end of each latest incident. At the moment some people might not cop on instantly that they have to click on the heading to see details (especially that mini maps are interactive).
Also my personal preference would be to have a bit more distinction / space between each incident container, similar to here: http://www.preventcrime.co.uk/ (Business Customers / Public Sector Services / Residential Customers). Saying so, I know some people prefer a free flowing layout so it's up to you.

Community Awareness is dropped down a bit, not sure if it's because there is supposed to be some content above?

Logo is great, the only thing I'd fix is pixels, at the moment you can see some light grey pixels at the very top of the marker which gives it slightly blurred look, hate when Photoshop does that!

I'd feature social media a little bit more.

Overall a big thumbs up, hope you get to fix the google maps issue soon.

cusackd

Carol555 wrote: »

First of all - great idea for a website, I think there is a need for something like that.

It's one of these websites that you want to keep clean, minimalistic and functional.

One thing I'd try is to feature Report a crime link (I guess that's your primary call to action?).
There is a lot of white space between logo/main menu and the map, what about increasing map's height so it meets the thin grey <HR> line?
It might be worth adding [more] link at the end of each latest incident. At the moment some people might not cop on instantly that they have to click on the heading to see details (especially that mini maps are interactive).
Also my personal preference would be to have a bit more distinction / space between each incident container, similar to here: http://www.preventcrime.co.uk/ (Business Customers / Public Sector Services / Residential Customers). Saying so, I know some people prefer a free flowing layout so it's up to you.

Community Awareness is dropped down a bit, not sure if it's because there is supposed to be some content above?

Logo is great, the only thing I'd fix is pixels, at the moment you can see some light grey pixels at the very top of the marker which gives it slightly blurred look, hate when Photoshop does that!

I'd feature social media a little bit more.

Overall a big thumbs up, hope you get to fix the google maps issue soon.

Thanks for the reply Carol555
Thanks for all the information you have given me, i eventually got the speed on google maps up and running how would have taught it was one lonely image pointing to my localhost rather than the directory, oh well crisis over. I will defiantly putting some of your opinions in to play over the next while especially the social media aspect and making the report a crime more of a feature. I have already implemented the read more button and have been doing some SEO stuff tonight as well.

Again thanks for the support much appreciated.

yutta

"Crime.ie was set up by David Cusack in May 2011 to make people become aware of crime in there area,"

Great site by the way!

cusackd

yutta wrote: »

"Crime.ie was set up by David Cusack in May 2011 to make people become aware of crime in there area,"

Great site by the way!

Thank you for the comment i appreciate your help.

VMotion

David, this is a really good, clean and straight to the point website.
Very good job! Thumbs up!

cusackd

VMotion wrote: »

David, this is a really good, clean and straight to the point website.
Very good job! Thumbs up!

Thanks VMotion appreciate it, give us a like on Facebook if you can. Site also just secured its first official sponsor announcements will be made on facebook in the coming week.

Tayla

Great idea for a website, I really hope it goes well for you.

Well done you

cusackd

Tayla wrote: »

Great idea for a website, I really hope it goes well for you.

Well done you

Thanks Tayla there has been a steady flow of traffic over the past few weeks which is great.

eoghanhickey

Interesting idea for a site. I like the look and feel. Plus it's very straightforward to use, and navigate.

How is it moderated? When a crime is reported who checks to ensure the report is accurate?

eoghanhickey

Oh, and I just noticed there seems to be a broken link when I click about us on this page http://crime.ie/about-us.php

cusackd

eoghanhickey wrote: »

Interesting idea for a site. I like the look and feel. Plus it's very straightforward to use, and navigate.

How is it moderated? When a crime is reported who checks to ensure the report is accurate?

I will do my best to make sure that the reports made on the site are accurate through other forms of media be it news papers or other websites, i will also call local Garda stations to confirm the crime was committed. I will do my best but unfortunately due to it being on the Internet there is only so much i can do, i hope to gain a loyal following with people that are truthful and want to do the best for there community.

cusackd

eoghanhickey wrote: »

Oh, and I just noticed there seems to be a broken link when I click about us on this page http://crime.ie/about-us.php

Thanks Eoghan i was looking for that link to as it was showing up in my xml sitemap appreciate the help.

eoghanhickey

I wasn't really expecting you to moderate each and every crime reported, I just think it might be a problem if/when the site becomes more popular. Nothing would be more damaging than a spat of fake crimes being uploaded to the site.

Maybe you could figure out a way for users to be able to edit / verify reports (think Wikipedia) or figure out a way of preventing users adding false data.

Anyway, best of luck with the site. It's a great idea

cusackd

eoghanhickey wrote: »

I wasn't really expecting you to moderate each and every crime reported, I just think it might be a problem if/when the site becomes more popular. Nothing would be more damaging than a spat of fake crimes being uploaded to the site.

Maybe you could figure out a way for users to be able to edit / verify reports (think Wikipedia) or figure out a way of preventing users adding false data.

Anyway, best of luck with the site. It's a great idea

Thanks for the comments Eoghan I will defiantly take notes of your post god bless google docs i have quite a big list at the moment of what needs updating im actually looking for a members script that i can modify for my site im also looking for some one that has something similar to my site that would join me in the project.

Thanks for all the help Eoghan and it would mean a lot if you could like the page on facebook.

worc

Nice clean website, I think you've used white space really well but I also think you're wasting space with your map.

If I was you, I'd chop the width of your map in half because only 25% of it shows Ireland - the rest is wasted space. I would float it to the right and have either (1) a "most recent crime" to the left of it or (2) a short snappy call to action to report a crime - I'd create your "REPORT A CRIME" call to action using your "C" logo styling. My choice would be a nice call to action to really invite people to report crimes.

You've got the guts of a grid system going on which I like but it's not continued on to the bottom of the page where "about us" and the facebook plugin is. I'd either double the width of your "about us" piece so it's brought in line with the second latest crime above it and do the same with the facebook plugin.

Or else I'd add in some information about your association with Covert Security Consultants - I got really confused when a site opened in a new tab when I clicked on "Security Services" - I know you've got crime.ie and security.crime.ie, and that both sites have the same aesthetics but I was trying to work out what the association was and whether it was a mistake that it opened in a new tab. I think you're going to confuse people with these two different / but the same sites.

Personally I think I'd lose the subdomain "security.crime.ie" and information on the second site that is running under it should be brought into crime.ie. You're got "Security Services" on crime.ie and then "Client Services" on security.crime.ie even though the dropdown menu shows the same services. I’m finding it a bit confusing – I think I get that you were trying to segregate the reporting of crimes to one site and your security services business to another, but I think there is too much overlap going on. I’d either bring them into one site or completely separate them into two different website – you could put at the top of crime.ie “Brought to you by Covert Security Consultants” with a logo and link to that business website.

When I'm on Crime.ie and click "Security Services" it takes me to security.crime.ie but then when I'm on security.crime.ie and click on "News" it brings me back to crime.ie. It was getting on my nerves a little and I was left wondering "right now, which site am I on!?" - but I might just be a tetchy person.

I'd bring your facebook/twitter up from the footer and put it below your main navigation so you might get a little more action for it - I'd check of course it isn't messing with your use of white space there but I think they'd fit in without damaging it.

I'd create an email subscription service (free) to gain followers and you send out a monthly report on crimes in the country - you could do this by county but not sure if you have a tracking system to allow you to do this easily and whether it would add a lot of time. To get followers you have to give them something and I think that offering could be good for your site.

I think you need a face to the business - especially when you're dealing with this sort of topic. Personally I'd put a picture of yourself on the about us page.

On security.crime.ie you have the “what we do” menu at the bottom that flips through what you do while staying on the same page, but then if I go to “client services” the identical menu is on the left and will go to different pages about what you do – I can see what you were doing but I don’t like this difference. For you’re the main page (security.crime.ie) I’d personally put that menu to the left so there is continuity with its position throughout the website and I’d also put that menu to the left of your “about us” page to keep this continuity going because all you have is a brochure download at the minute.