Hi Guys,
Just fished up a redesign on our website. If you have a couple minutes to spare could you take a look over the site and give me your critique of the site, lay out, info and text, what you liked about it, did not like about it..... don't be shy, don't think that will be an issue here, but I need all the comments I can get. Goal is to make the site as user friendly and of course generate more business.

As a thank you to you all I will offer any S2K owner or friend or family of a S2K owner a garage floor job at 20% off the normal cost. Floor colors listed on the site are just a few of the colors we offer. I can do them in about any color or color mix, NFL colors, College colors...heck even glow in the dark flake and chrome flake.

Here is a link to the site:

http://www.ccgarages.com/


Thanks!
JD

 

I like it and I just might be calling you to get mine done.

 

I closed it after about 10 seconds... where's my mute option on the annoying sound? Not to be rude, but I'm usually streaming music on my computer and the fact that I can't turn off the sound w/o turning off my music is really annoying.

 

I hate to say it, but I completely agree with Doug. I'm not sure if I even made it 10 seconds. Forced play music on a site is a very close second to pop-up ads which won't close.

 

OK...I did go back (on mute) in order to at least comment on the rest of the site, and at least you have a volume control once past the intro. In my opinion, I think the music could be done without completely, as that has never seemed very professional to me on a company website.

I do like the layout and flash animation. although, I think the auto-resizing of the main image could be better. As I resize my page, the image distorts depending on which axis of the page is resized. For instance, when maximized on my laptop screen, the center of the image is close to circular. When maximized on my work desktop screen, which is closer to a square monitor, the image is very much an oval. The text also doesn't resize like a font should...it "squashes" just like the rest of the image.

hopefully all that made sense. It's not a huge deal, but would look better if it all resized keeping the same ratio as the image you designed. This way the text would not appear distorted on each side as well. The same goes for the secondary pages as well. I like the layout, but I think a set font size would work better. instead of resizing the text, let it wrap to the next line as you resize the window (as a word document does).

lastly, in line with the music comments, I could do without the beep every time I mouse-over a link. It does get old after a while of browsing the site.

hopefully this doesn't seem overly critical, but you DID ask. overall, I really do like it.

 

Thanks guys for all the input...from the sounds of it the music might need to be done away with...not a big deal, thanks for the comments.
Trentor, thanks for all the insight, I did not realize the font was doing that and will make those changes...that can play tricks with the eyes and make a trip to a site very annoying.

Again thanks to all that commented...I welcome more. Like I said the better I can make the site flow.. all the better. Seeing it all the time those things that have been pointed out here did not jump out at me.

I received a call today from a veterinarian that wants me to do his exam rooms and operation/wet areas...so I guess we might be doing some vet business as well...wonder if I could talk him into getting a 4-Post lift...for those larger dogs and horses.

Again thanks to all for the constructive insight.

JD

 

You asked for it

If you wanted to keep the sounds, you could have a "Select background music" option, default to "off" and have your current as "1"... (or however you want to set it up and word it).

Ok on with the review: (In order I noticed things)

System used: Windows XP, Firefox 2.0.x, screen resolution 1034x760, viewport 1024x565

Other important factors: I'm red/green colorblind. Keep in mind 8% of males (somewhere around 1% of females) are colorblind, so this could be important. Anything I say about grammar should be run by somebody else... I never did like English class.

* At the bottom where it says "Designer Websites by SiteCube.com 2005-2007. All Rights Reserved.Html Site"... there's no spacing between the All rights reserved and HTML site. You may also consider putting a link inside the flash, near the "skip/replay intro" to the HTML site, because the very bottom in small text is a bit hard to notice. Oh and have you looked at the HTML site, I won't even bother saying anything more than that, haha.

* When I go to the HTML site, it shouldn't open another browser window, it's the same site in a different format. Besides, even if you're linking to an external source, it's poor design to open another browser window for the user. Especially this day in age when most browsers make it easy to middle-click to open a link in a new tab.

* During the intro, the two lines at the top (company name/log) are VERY difficult to read when the "circle" part expands because it's a light color on top of another light color.

* The clicking sound on mouseover is still there...

* At the bottom you have a big long paragraph (that most people probably won't read), and in it you state "Classic Custom Garages will get the job done right and will stay looking great for years to come." This sentence needs to be re-worded, IMHO.

* In the parts that expand from the center, there are small arrows pointing left/right (one on each one, on the outermost edge) that do nothing...

* Also in those parts, the first line of text on either side is difficult to read because of the color fade into the lighter color at the top. The last line on the left, the "g" dips out of it's "frame" and into the border. You could expand the "wings" on the side to give you a little more "working" room at the top and bottom, or remove 2-3px of spacing between the different categories.

* Speaking of categories, when the mouse isn't over one, you may be able to put text saying "Select a category to view more information". I like the effect that happens to the text as you scroll over the different categories with the mouse... (just not the sound, as mentioned before).

[Clicks one of the categories(FAQ) ]

* As I mouse over the categories in this screen, they visually separate from their corresponding bullet point, why? I would just give it a nice soft background color or do nothing at all. Also the bullet points don't line up with their vertical counterpart, makes it look messy/unorganized.

* In the main text window, I can't use my scroll wheel (*freaks out*).

* The icon on the left that has "Garage Galleries" There's wasted space to the left of the image, yet you're putting text over another image. Just put the text off to the left, put it always there and just keep the animated image from the background to "catch attention". Also the text is hard to read when it's over the white/black background (until you mouse over and it becomes solid white background box)... but this would be fixed if you just moved the text to the left anyway.

* I like the contact us form, I would use a different icon as I don't think "contact us" when I see a folder. You also have the email address on there twice... just put it in the actual link and in the description text say "using the address below."

* I'm not sure why you have 2 "contact us" sections... this seems rather silly to me. In the second one (the link from the main categories page) at the top it says "Contact ... for a free estimate on" and the sentence is not completed. This also happens on other areas so I won't repeat this issue multiple times.

* Find something to put in the box to the left that is blank on almost half of the screens.

* In the "About Us" section, there's a line break between the 1st & 2nd paragraph, but not the 2nd and 3rd.

* I would honestly move all the links from the bottom, except the FAQ, and just have them in the top near the home/contact us (ok so we're only talking about moving the "About" and "Service" sections, because I would remove the "Free Estimate" and just put text somewhere saying "Contact us for a free estimate" linking to the contact page. It's really redundant to have multiple pages saying "Go to the contact page to do this action". I would put the "Free Estimate" action in the block to the left of all of the category text, or make that block shorter and put it directly above it, similar to what you do with the galaries.

* When you pull up a category, there should be a link to the first "main" for that category on the right if there are other links provided. An easy way to get back to the first screen you see in that category.

* On the first screen you have " Next, imagine that you can have this revolutionary new system installed in just one day, and drive on it the next!* " but you have nothing denoting what the "*" is for.

* In the other services area you mention the LED lighted trim... first I think it should be "LEDs are recessed" (notice no use of the ' mark, same thing goes for "FAQ's"). Second, this could be a great picture to show this off.

* I'm bouncing around a bit now, but when you list a phone number, you should always give "business hours". I once called a "business" because the site didn't list them and woke the guy up because it was a single person "business" run out of his home, and it was at about 3 am.

* On the contact us area, you mention to give any other information that may be needed... but I have no clue what you might need. Maybe word it something like "that you think may be useful."

* At the bottom of the page (below the flash) you have "Classic Custom Garages Serving Dalls/Fort Worth & all of Texas (817) 308-5632 Office". First, Dallas is missing an "a"... Second, last I checked Dallas/Ft Worth was part of Texas, so it really doesn't need to be seperated out. If you feel like mentioning it separate, maybe put "Classic Custom Garages is based out of Dallas/Fort Worth & services all of Texas. (817) 308-5632 Office" (oh and the phone number in the end... give it a prompt or move the "Office" to the front or something.

* The "Car lifts" category, the header text isn't the bright yellow, like every other category header text.

* At the top... when you mouse over the house/folder it says "home Page" and "contact us"... notice the letter casing.

* I should be able to click on the logo in the top left to go somewhere... Idealy back to the home page... or possible a "Contact Us" page.

* Thinking more about it, I would have a "Contact Us" with a very simple list of ways to contact you "Phone w/ Hours of Operation, E-Mail, Contact Us Form (link to the current page where you have the folder icon go to), possible address" and that sort of information. Then use the "Free Estimate" link to go to the Contact Us Form, and from there say "Fill out the form, or visit our Contact Us (link) page for more ways to get in touch with us" or whatever. Either way, reduce the pages that have your contact information to a minimum. You could even remove the main "contact us" portion by putting that information in a static location in the header or footer (which isn't even used it seems) so it's always available.

Ok, that should be enough to keep ya busy for a while... if you care to listen to any of it that is haha.
-Doug

 

Oh, and personally I *hate* flash based websites. For the intro I suppose it's okay... here is a quick list of some major flaws:

1) It's slow. Sure most people have broadband either at work or at home... but not everybody. Also some of your clients may have a garage on property fairly far from a city and not have a broadband option out there. Okay, Okay, you have an HTML site which brings me to:
2) Twice the maintenance.
3) I can't send a link to a friend... "Dude, check this out! I know what I want for x-mas!"
4) I generally can't copy/paste text (such as an email address if I don't want it to launch my email client for me).
5) No use of the back/forward button... I may have just been looking at something, clicked a link, now I want to go back... but I can't because I have to find the original link that I originally used to get there first.

 

also, until apple upgrades safari with flash, there is no way to view your site. You need to add a link (not flash based) to view in HTML

 

Sorry...on an iPhone