Webnauts Net redesign need your review

Webnauts · #1 (**permalink**) 03-22-2006, 09:50 AM

Dear co-members,

two days ago we have launched our new design, and we would kindly appreciate a site review.

We are aware that there are some things to be fixed, as for its markup, accessibility and usability, though we still would appreciate your review and your suggestions/solutions to make it for us possible to provide our visitors with a better user experience.

Check it out here: http://www.webnauts.net

Thanks a lot in advance for your kind contribution, making our web site accessible, findable and usable to all.

Allen · #2 (**permalink**) 03-22-2006, 07:19 PM

Ok - here is a basic review (btw I will be in your country in a month - I can't wait, especially since I have been learning German for a year.)

Footer - I never usually like the "last updated" copy because by default everything will seem old

Since you seem to be using American English - I would change "Password Forgotten" to "Forgot your Password?"

Only other general comment would be to make the links stand out more in the top orange bar - maybe bold? also, im not sure i would do vlink because then it looks odd after you visited one of them.

good job!!
-- allen

Leprakawn · #3 (**permalink**) 03-25-2006, 09:53 AM

I think your upgrade is awesome!

Interesting info about the "Skip to Main Content!" I had no idea about that.

For the nav links--"Home," "Services," "Site Map" and "Contact"--I would underline them only on mouseover because most Web surfers these days should know that those are the nav links. That is just me though, so do it the way you want!

Webnauts · #4 (**permalink**) 05-31-2006, 07:50 AM

Thank you all for your kind reviews. Since your last review, we done a lot of work on our site.
Would you be so kind and have another look?

Leprakawn · #5 (**permalink**) 05-31-2006, 06:30 PM

The Home and Services links don't highlight like the other nav links. Hmm, that's weird... now none of them highlight on mouseover.

Are you updating it at the moment?

Oh, I get it... if we have accessed it once, it no longer gets highlighted!

curtiss · #6 (**permalink**) 05-31-2006, 08:39 PM

I don't recall checking out your web site before, but I do have to say that I really like the look and the layout of it. The large print fits right in with your accessiblity theme, as well.

Nice work.

Webnauts · #7 (**permalink**) 05-31-2006, 10:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by curtiss

I don't recall checking out your web site before, but I do have to say that I really like the look and the layout of it. The large print fits right in with your accessiblity theme, as well.

Nice work.

Thanks curtis. By the way look were we are there: http://mrmazda.no-ip.com/shame.html

Webnauts · #8 (**permalink**) 05-31-2006, 10:31 PM

Thanks you all by the way for your kind review. I hope some others will have a look too.

curtiss · #9 (**permalink**) 06-01-2006, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Webnauts

By the way look were we are there: http://mrmazda.no-ip.com/shame.html

That's pretty cool to be recognized. However, it would carry a lot more weight if that site wasn't so dreadful looking.

The only real comment I have on your site is the fact that all navigation is on the right hand side. Personally, it doesn't make any difference to me which side navigation is on, as long as the page is designed properly to highlight that navigation, which yours is. However, I have seen studies that show left side navigation (and advertisements as well) gets a great deal more attention than right side navigation. It's just something to consider. I'm not sure your site would look as nice if the navigation was on the left side, but it may be more "accessible" to your ordinary users.

Webnauts · #10 (**permalink**) 08-13-2006, 10:26 PM

We did a lot of work since you last review. Would you like to have a look again?
And by the way, I also hate Internet Explorer.

Firefox rules!

curtiss · #11 (**permalink**) 08-13-2006, 11:20 PM

I still like the layout, and I wish I had a graphic artist as talented and design-oriented as yours (unfortunately, it's basically just me when it comes to doing my web sites).

However, a few critiques:
1) I don't like the fact that I lose the navigation completely when I go to your blog and your forum, and that I essentially lose the navigation when I go to the "Directory".
2) There seems to be a minor bug with your active link highlighting. If I click on "blog", "directory" or "forum", and then use the "back" button in my browser to go back to "Home", it still highlights the link that I clicked on to get there.
3) It would be really nice if you had a "search" feature enabled for your site. Especially with the focus of your web site, you will most likely find that a lot of visitors will show up looking for something specific. For instance, I was curious to see what articles you might have had on P3P compliance. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure where to look. A site-search-engine would have been really helpful to me.

I am curious - did you write your own CMS for your site, or are you using something that's publicly available (or even further from the realm of possibility - are you still using static content pages)?

Webnauts · #12 (**permalink**) 08-14-2006, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by curtiss

I still like the layout, and I wish I had a graphic artist as talented and design-oriented as yours (unfortunately, it's basically just me when it comes to doing my web sites).

Thank you very much for the nice comments and new review. Our logo is made by a 16 years old designer from England and other graphics are made by a designer in Austrailia.
We provide also graphic design services upon request.

Quote:

Originally Posted by curtiss

However, a few critiques:
1) I don't like the fact that I lose the navigation completely when I go to your blog and your forum, and that I essentially lose the navigation when I go to the "Directory".

We are aware of that, but while the directory is still under construction, we have not implemented yet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by curtiss

2) There seems to be a minor bug with your active link highlighting. If I click on "blog", "directory" or "forum", and then use the "back" button in my browser to go back to "Home", it still highlights the link that I clicked on to get there.

We know the problem, but we could not come up with a solution yet. Any idea how to fix that?

Quote:

Originally Posted by curtiss

3) It would be really nice if you had a "search" feature enabled for your site. Especially with the focus of your web site, you will most likely find that a lot of visitors will show up looking for something specific. For instance, I was curious to see what articles you might have had on P3P compliance. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure where to look. A site-search-engine would have been really helpful to me.

Our site grew much. You are right. We are planning to implement a serach function so soon as possible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by curtiss

I am curious - did you write your own CMS for your site, or are you using something that's publicly available (or even further from the realm of possibility - are you still using static content pages)?

We are using Smarty.

At the moment we are bussy with optimizing our server performance.

Any other suggestions?