IT Website

prospect

Hi Folks,

I'd appreciate some constructive criticism for my site:
www.techbits.ie

It is still in development and I'm adding a few new pages over the coming days, but as I struggle with graphics and banners I have to outsource this stuff.


Thanks.

pixeldesign

I think you should add more information in the left sidebar and replace the twitter and facebook boxes. You could add the cart for example, some special offers, news. Also I would use other colors aswell...for example blue+red would work .

Kepti

I'll give a more thorough look over later, but the first thing that struck me was the two out of place looking blue rectangles at either side of the header. It's hard to describe, but they really stand out on a widescreen monitor. I'd get rid of them.

The pre-entered text in your searchbox needs to be a little higher.

Overall I like the design. It's clean and professional looking. Best of luck with the site.

tricky D

The image http://www.techbits.ie/techbits/media/wysiwyg/largereduced.jpg could be omitted as it doesn't do or say much and the space would be better utilised with product there.

You seem to have 3 loctions for the homepage http://www.techbits.ie/techbits/index.php/, http://www.techbits.ie and http://www.techbits.ie/techbits/when only one is needed.

I'dmake the 'Add to Cart' buttons a different colour to your overall blue scheme. Orange would be my choice.

Sitemap not complete.

404 page would be better with a sitemap on it.

Make email addresses mailtos and you could put a map on your contact page.

Some product descriptions have large blocks of text which would be better broken into more paragraphs.

'Proceed to Checkout' button is not wide enough so 'Checkout' is lost below the button.

I don't have to register to buy, that's good.

prospect

pixeldesign wrote:

I think you should add more information in the left sidebar and replace the twitter and facebook boxes.

I quite like the Twitter & Facebook feeds there, but I'll look at it.

pixeldesign wrote:

You could add the cart for example, some special offers, news.

Cart appears on the right side on all other pages.

pixeldesign wrote:

Also I would use other colors aswell...for example blue+red would work .

Blue & Red ? Really. I can't picture that, I'd imagine it is garish. Can you elaborate, I'm no design expert.

Kepti wrote:

I'll give a more thorough look over later, but the first thing that struck me was the two out of place looking blue rectangles at either side of the header. It's hard to describe, but they really stand out on a widescreen monitor. I'd get rid of them.

Is this the Search and Cart boxes you are referring to?

Kepti wrote:

The pre-entered text in your searchbox needs to be a little higher.

Yep, I'm not sure how to sort that, but it is deffo on my hit list now.

Kepti wrote:

Overall I like the design. It's clean and professional looking. Best of luck with the site.

Thanks.

tricky D wrote:

The image http://www.techbits.ie/techbits/media/wysiwyg/largereduced.jpg could be omitted as it doesn't do or say much and the space would be better utilised with product there.

Yep, I have various banners for that position, it is kinda the default one. But I take your point.

tricky D wrote:

You seem to have 3 loctions for the homepage http://www.techbits.ie/techbits/index.php/, http://www.techbits.ie and http://www.techbits.ie/techbits/when only one is needed.

Now, how did you know that ?? You are right. I knew when the site was updated the result was a redirect to techbits.ie/techbits, but it is automatic. Would this somehow have a negative effect?

tricky D wrote:

I'dmake the 'Add to Cart' buttons a different colour to your overall blue scheme. Orange would be my choice.

Okay, I'm going to think about the colours along with pixeldesigns suggestions above.

tricky D wrote:

Sitemap not complete.

To do list.

tricky D wrote:

404 page would be better with a sitemap on it.

Interesting, now on to do list.

tricky D wrote:

Make email addresses mailtos and you could put a map on your contact page.

Map held off deliberately as I am still negotiating a new premises.

tricky D wrote:

Some product descriptions have large blocks of text which would be better broken into more paragraphs.

Yep, I am gonna change that font too I think, it is a bit, eh 'loud' I think.

tricky D wrote:

'Proceed to Checkout' button is not wide enough so 'Checkout' is lost below the button.

Not sure where you mean, can you elaborate?

tricky D wrote:

I don't have to register to buy, that's good.

Thanks.



Many thanks for all your time & input, very much appreciated.

tricky D

prospect wrote: »

I quite like the Twitter & Facebook feeds there, but I'll look at it.

Which is more important, what you like or what helps your customer toward a purchase, ie. revenue and profit and food on your table?

Also, similarly for the homepage banners, which would be better in that area, (which is the most valuable real estate on the page) a welcome banner which makes no money or 3 of your best selling products which do make money?

prospect wrote: »

Not sure where you mean, can you elaborate?

The button only has 'Proceed to' as the Checkout text is pushed off the button.

prospect

tricky D wrote: »

Which is more important, what you like or what helps your customer toward a purchase, ie. revenue and profit and food on your table?

Also, similarly for the homepage banners, which would be better in that area, (which is the most valuable real estate on the page) a welcome banner which makes no money or 3 of your best selling products which do make money?


The button only has 'Proceed to' as the Checkout text is pushed off the button.

I see your points. I suppose I am balancing creating a lasting image (the banner), and keeping the homepage fresh, (regular twitter & facebook updates).
I will give strong consideration to every suggestion here, and they are all appreciated.

Regarding the button, on what page are you referring. After you add an item to your cart, the button on the right should only read 'Checkout'.

tricky D

on http://www.techbits.ie/techbits/checkout/cart

You can see the top pixels of Checkout at the bottom

prospect

tricky D wrote: »

on http://www.techbits.ie/techbits/checkout/cart

You can see the top pixels of Checkout at the bottom

Thanks,

Yeah thats weird, it is fine on Chrome and IE for me??

What browser are you using?

tricky D

FF9

prospect

tricky D wrote: »

FF9

Thanks Tricky, I downloaded FF10 and it looks funny on that.

Now I'm confused.

Fokebox

Looks very proffessional. I like the website, its colors, styles and layouts. Anf there is some things that I would improve (watch attached image)
Best regards,
Fokebox