Please Help With website overhaul.

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HangingAroundHoover

HangingAroundHoover

MGF, Master Grumble Framer
Joined
Oct 15, 2007
Posts
724
Loc
Hoover, AL
Well it's been 6 months since my shops grand opening. The website needs some work but cash is tight so dreamweaver is not a option. Just thought my fellow Grumblers could give some advice on what would improve my site. I'm about to add a shopping cart for all prints and stained glass in the store. Thanks in advance.

www.hangingaroundhoover.com

Michael
 
I love the before and after photo restorations! I recognize those as Digital Customs photo samples - how did you do the b/a to them, or is that code that comes from Digital customs?

It might be a little better if one didn't have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to see them, though. I quick "surfer" might miss them.

And they're too good to miss!
 
Michael,

I don't mean to change the subject but was wondering if you could maybe on a different thread tell us about your Framerica Shadowbox challenge winner. How many hours and how many feet of moulding used, ect.

I voted for your entry, and have never been able to talk to any of the framers who have won the competition. Please don't take this the wrong way but, Was it really worth the money won after you take your time and cost of materials involved?

Now back to the original thread.
 
Betty,

I'm using a service called Homestead.com. With the site I get SiteBuilder software - I'm using a mouse over effect to change the image to the after photo once the cursor passes over it. I'm limited to 5 web pages so that's why I've placed the photo restoration on the bottom of the main page and added a location anchor link at the top of the page. Not the best solution but I cant think of a better solution other than to upgrade my service. Which I may need to do.
 
I don't want to sound mean and I realize that your are currently looking to improve it but try finding a graphic designer! If I happened to come across this site in searching the web, I would never stick around long enough to see the quality work that you obviously can do.
I don't think your implementation of you logo to display store information and links is the best idea for a couple reasons. First of all, I didn't know that it was you logo until I had gone to different pages on your site, vertically stringing text is not user friendly, and they are not easily idenitfied as links.
Generally, a webpage should have a consistent layout for every page. This makes it easier for a person to navigate the site and gives your presentation a feeling of continuity. Your colors change throughout the site (black, white, different blues.) I'll stop in case I have already said to much. Keep in mind that I don't know if you have already updated your site on the back end, so some of my comments may no longer be relevent. Sorry if that was a little too honest but I don't think that any of us have enough time to waste it beating around the bush.
oxnam
 
To start with I would see what features and extras my web hosting service offered. Several offer site building software which requires no knowledge of html code, basically a WYSIWYG interface. For a shopping cart the easiest one to implement is paypal, once your account is set up with them its just a few lines of code, that you cut and paste into your page(s). If you want an interface to your credit merchant services it might require some specialized software, depending upon who your providers are. Most web hosting services offer Agora and O/S Commerce, but only some of the merchant services use those.

For some extras your web hosting service should offer things like easy scripting, guestbooks, blogs, chat, etc. Some of these might be nice to include on your site. Hope this helps some and great job on the shadowbox, I am jealous. I also thought the starving artist example was excellent.
 
Steve,

Thanks for the advice. The starving artist shadowbox was made by my Former Employer. He did do a great job and he also painted the painting inside the shadowbox. Homestead, my provider does include most of the scripting you mentioned.

Oxnam,

Ouch!!!!!!! The truth does hurt. I do agree I need more continuity. The webpage is a mutant hybrid (lol) of 2 websites - www.saycheeseshadowbox.com and hangingaroundhoover.com. Thanks for the advice. Check back in a few days and let me know how you think I've done.

Thanks again
 
Michael - check out this website www.webpagesthatsuck.com There is always a wealth of information on it for beginners and pros alike. BTW - not saying your web pages suck - just passing along a great resource. Worth checking out just to find out about "Mystery Meat navigation." ;)

I agree about continuity and make sure your photos are a little less weighty in the pixel department - your pages took forever to load and I have a pretty fast DSL connection.

On your first page is it just me or is there a huge blank part between the top images, headers, etc and the restorations at the bottom??? Most folks would miss those restorations entirely - I only looked because Betty mentioned they were there.

Have fun!!!
 
Michael,
My first reaction is to say that when I go to your homepage, nothing about it except for 3 words says "Custom Framing" or "Art Gallery." I would say my impression, without reading, would be that you were some kind of home improvement business, home builder, or handyman. I also wouldn't worry about links to Larson or Roma on the home page as much as I would feature images of your framing.

Allsow itz empourtaunt two ouatch ure spieling. Proofread it well.
 
j Paul said:
Michael, unless I am missing them, I don't see any framing examples.
Click to expand...
Yep, you're missing them. Upper left corner of home page "Framing Examples"
Michael, I don't know how difficult it is to do, (Ask Kirstie!) but I'd like to know more about your framing examples. What connects me to my customers is the history...the stories. Kirstie's site (and others') tells about a lot of them.....and then about how they're framed.

I agree with the minimilizing the LJ and Roma links. Okay to include them, but according to your front page, they look more important than you do!
 
HangingAroundHoover said:
The website needs some work but cash is tight so dreamweaver is not a option.
Michael
Click to expand...


I dont have too much time to review all the many post on this topic, so my apologies for if I'm repeating... but you can download Dreamweaver for a free 1 month trial! Why not just DL it now and make sure you make all the changes within one month?
 
I'd say you have made a significant improvement. It's much cleaner, and your brand is more apparent.

Make sure you optimize your images for web use. I have a moderate speed dsl and it still took longer than it should to load. Your images should be 72dpi, and the small ones probably shouldn't be much larger than 10-20kb.
 
I like how the photo restoration image changes when I hover the mouse over it, BUT the restored photo looks more stretched out than the original -- not a good way to show off the difference....

I'm guessing it's just a matter of the web browser trying to squeeze the image into the allowable size.

So my recommendation there is to resize the restored image to match the size of the box.
 
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