Website Updated - Would like some feedback/opinions

Well I've updated my website! I'm still not sure about all the colors or the layout, but I think its an OK start. Just looking for feed back as far as aesthetics, layout, ease of navigation, any typos, etc etc.

www.BlueAppleHerps.com

Thanks in advance!!

I think it looks great. Simple, and profession. I really like what you've done with the cornsnake collection page.:gj:

It's a good start, but pretty light on the pictures.

Matt,

I think it needs a better font and some more excitement. Maybe that can be done through use of color. Simple navigation is nice. What did you use to build this? Let me know if I can help at all!

Jamie

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Originally Posted by pauletto

It's a good start, but pretty light on the pictures.

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Do mean light as in the gallery is incomplete? Or light as in I need more snake pics throughout the website?

I'm still working on taking pictures of my collection. Have about half the corn snakes, and none of the ball pythons though. So the gallery will be a lot bigger when its done.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jglass38

Matt,

I think it needs a better font and some more excitement. Maybe that can be done through use of color. Simple navigation is nice. What did you use to build this? Let me know if I can help at all!

Jamie

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I used RapidWeaver. I had about two weeks of HTML 10 years ago in high school in a computer class, other than that I know nothing about web site building. So for me, this is an easy way to do it, especially since I don't have the $$ to have someone do it for me.

And I agree about "the excitement" part. I'm just not sure how to make it "exciting" without making it too busy or tacky or beyond my abilities.

Matt,

It may seem like a small thing - but I like to know "who" I may be buying from when I visit a breeder's site. No where on your site, is your name mentioned. Perhaps on your About page, you can work in "my name is" and then continue on with the rest of your information.

If I didn't know you from here, I'd probably not contact you if I came across your site, because just based on your site, you're anonymous.

Edit - whoops, nevermind! It's on the first page! Duh! That's what I get for reviewing it before a full cup of coffee!

I also prefer to have a # to contact somebody at if i'm going to be purchasing from them, even possibly an address depending on the value.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Matt,

It may seem like a small thing - but I like to know "who" I may be buying from when I visit a breeder's site. No where on your site, is your name mentioned. Perhaps on your About page, you can work in "my name is" and then continue on with the rest of your information.

If I didn't know you from here, I'd probably not contact you if I came across your site, because just based on your site, you're anonymous.

Edit - whoops, nevermind! It's on the first page! Duh! That's what I get for reviewing it before a full cup of coffee!

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Yeah, its there as you saw, maybe I should try and work it to be more prominent.

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Originally Posted by Neal

I also prefer to have a # to contact somebody at if i'm going to be purchasing from them, even possibly an address depending on the value.

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I have it on the "ordering" page, similar to my name, should I rework it to make it more prominent?

Yea, I would put it on the contact page, along with your first & last name. I would also make it a bit bigger, and top center of the page on contact so its very visible.

Here's what I took away...

1) the header is too big - I run at a fairly high resolution, and it still seems to monopolize the page by taking up over 1/3 of it.

2) background / content division - there isn't really a distinction between the color or pattern of the page background and the content area background which makes the page seem like something is missing. You have a very specific width set, which is obvious based on the header and footer, but the rest of the page just seems to be floating over the top of a gray field.

3) emphasis on colors - you want to draw attention to things like links, but right now they're under-emphasized by being closer to the background color than the main text. (ie. "breeding plans" on the available page doesn't make you want to click it)

4) gallery - love simpleviewer because it allows for cursor-based navigation, but it looks out of place due to it's color, borders, and button style.

5) instructions - dig the how-to's, but making them html format would help with continuity. The pdfs are great for printing - don't get rid of them - but lay out the contents, preferably with pictures, in a html format as well.

Took some of your advice ctrlfreq...

Not sure about doing the build instructions as HTML. I'll think about it though. Everything else was very helpful.

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Originally Posted by Blue Apple Herps

Not sure about doing the build instructions as HTML. I'll think about it though. Everything else was very helpful.

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Glad it was helpful - dig the changes by the way. One thing you might want to do is set the css tag min-height on the contentContainer to something in the 400-500 range - that way the pages with very little content will take up more than half the screen.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ctrlfreq

Glad it was helpful - dig the changes by the way. One thing you might want to do is set the css tag min-height on the contentContainer to something in the 400-500 range - that way the pages with very little content will take up more than half the screen.

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Its a template through Rapidweaver, I have a template editor, but there are several .css files, and I've looked through them and haven't seen anything with a "min height" or similar in them. Not to mention that looking all all the CSS code is pretty much meaningless to me.

Maybe I"ll go check out a css book from the library. Because you're right that on those pages it gets too small vertically.

open the "rw_common/themes/EZ3/styles.css" file and look for this:

#contentContainer {
border-width: 1px;
position: relative;
z-index: 2;
}

and add this line between the brackets:

min-height: 400px;

Adjust to taste on an empty page.

Wow! You rock! :gj:

I set it for 450 px. Thanks again!