Please critique my website.

R

rana

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 30, 2002
Messages
242
hi guys...

i want you to critique my website http://www.design-science.net

there are still some things i have to change like the main page and the music control...btw, its flash..

lets say if you were a potential client, would you select my services or do i need to completely overhaul the site...

and be as harsh as you want....
 
Took a long time for me to load and I'm in cable. Took at least 45seconds probably more like a minute. Seems long for broadband.
 
I'm also on cable and found the load time unacceptable. Someone on dialup would probably not wait.

The bright orange background is a bit harsh on the eyes. Text on the navigation is too tiny and faint. I don't see that the music adds anything. I turned it off, but when I go back to the home page it turns itself on again.

Your "about" section really doesn't tell anything about you.

typo on about/future - dissapearing
typo on services/html - databses

Two bad things about flash...

- You have provided no alternative means to access the site. Someone without the plug-in (and there are those who refuse to install it) cannot access the site at all.

- There is nothing there for search engines to index. If I were a potential client, I would be concerned with accessibility to all (including dialup and non-flash users) and how well my site will rank with search engines.

For these reasons, I really don't recommend all-flash sites. Your index page should provide information on the company and then give the visitor the option of flash or html versions. This will solve the search engine issue as well.

Good luck with it. :)
 
so i think i should also make an HTML page and let the user decide which one he/she wants to view
 
I think this is the true challenge of sites nowadays to try to make a flash/html hybrid site that works, where flash just enhances the site but isn't a integral part. The question is on your part for the design I would suggest flash but do you think you can intergrate flash and html together properly.
 
cr3do said:
I think this is the true challenge of sites nowadays to try to make a flash/html hybrid site that works, where flash just enhances the site but isn't a integral part. The question is on your part for the design I would suggest flash but do you think you can intergrate flash and html together properly.
Click to expand...

thats an excellent point...

i think the only flash part i will add will be the navigation buttons...
 
It took me a little long to load (~35 seconds) and I have good cable. While I waited I clicked on another open window and low and behold your site loaded and my Z-560's were at high volume and boomed throughout the whole house. It surely got my attention though.
 
rana said:
i think the only flash part i will add will be the navigation buttons...
Click to expand...
Which won't work for someone without the plug-in. Don't cripple navigation on your site!
 
IMO, I hate all-flash websites that are supposed to be for something professional, like a webdesign company. Yes, this includes 2advanced. There's a lot going on in that site, and imho, it's way too much. I'm the kind of guy that designs simple, yet attractive sites. You'd be better off with a balance of flash navigation and html content for your website. Plus, that flashloop is annoying as all hell after about 10 reps. Lastly, as it stands right now, doesn't look professional at all to me.
 
Op-to-mize. It takes seriously way too long to load. You have to treat it like everyone has A.D.D they are gonna loose intrest real fast waiting for that site to load. And im starting to wonder what it is thats causeing the large file size, the only thing of major substance is the song, unless the 3d text on the home page is a movie file or a series of images... you need to trim some bytes on those embeded files and bring the .swf down.
 
Ack yea I'm over here in the UK and it took a while to load. It would be wise to have LOTS of examples up. Music is catchy but those flash graphics are really bad for your type of business. The rest of the graphics are ok, but show me something impressive.

Now I'm not being rude here but I find it rather amusing that you're going to run a web design website and your asking us for comments. Sorry that's just funnny as hell at 4 am. You need to show me that you are awesome. not good, -awesome. On a 1-10 scale you'd get a 4 from me. Keep working and learning you have potential.
 
1 flash took waaaay to long to load.
2 your play and pause button do the same thing. you should just have a stop and go.
3 if you keep with the flash you should also have a html clone for those that dont want to wait for an hour.
4 php + html is your best friend.
 
wow....thanks so much for the comments guys!....so helpful and no i do not mind any comment at all...

btw...Turd furguson...no it is not based in Ohio, its in British Colombia, Canda..

And impact9....i completely understand what you are saying.....no hard feelings at all...

and the reason the site is so big is because the 3d animation at the starting...

ok...time to start with a fresh docuement....

btw, i have not "launched" my company as of yet...thats going to take another 4 - 5 months in which i can master php and so on...

thanks a lot once again :)
 
also....one more thing,

could you guys give me some good websites to check out...like other web design company websites....
 
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that it took about a minute to load it, and I have an 8 megabit connection...

Flash can be useful for navigation things, yes... but a well-made JavaScript or whatever solution is generally better, and works much better with any system. To be honest, I'm much more impressed with really well-made and simple HTML, with only the bare necessities of clutter, than some useless all-flash page. All-flash is great for "designed sites," that are form over content, but if you want people to hire you, maybe you should consider having your page...

1: Accessible to anyone, with any browser. Ideally, you should have an raw-text version of the site so even people using Links can access it.

2: Fast to load. Useless data is just that. Remove it.

3: Informative and easy to browse. Flash doesn't generally help much here.

4: Easy on the eyes. Don't use annoying colors. Black-on-white is very over-rated for computers, use white-on-grey or something instead, and let people choose the colors via CSS.

I probably forgot some "rules," though... :p
 
nice points.....very informative....

also one more thing....

do all web design companies code each and every site or do they use a program such as dreamweaver to help them out.....because the HTML sites i have seen, it would take forever to code them with that much content and so on...
 
I suggest taking a look at this site I used to hang out in when I was designing websites:
http://www.wowwebdesigns.com

Check out the forums for crtiques, critiquing :)D), and other things. If I ever get back to web-design, I might get back there. My handle there is Woodman.

Good luck.
 
:eek: Too Bright

Flash, :( took me 30-40 sec to load your site, and I have cable... Its not cool to be blasted
with unwanted music when visiting a site... Im glad you added a feature to turn it off ;) I surf
with radio, or mp3 on always..

You tend to keep all your information short and direct, which is ok.. If someone is really interest in your services they will contact you.. Each link to the information opens very fast,
but again I must say: :eek: Too Bright and the fast doesnt help much either.. They both tend to drive many people away, most may well be your potential customers...
 
Yeah, it's a bit bright :eek: Load time was 35-45 sec, and I've got ADSL. I liked the feature that allowed you to turn the music off :p Everything else is spiffy. :cool:
 
yea....the background and the music are out of there....i started again using HTML this time so its more professional...

you guys are awesome...thanks so much for all the advice
 
Lethal said:
I'm also on cable and found the load time unacceptable. Someone on dialup would probably not wait.
Click to expand...

im on dsl and i didnt even wait.
 
DRJ1014 said:
im on dsl and i didnt even wait.
Click to expand...

i can understand.....the load time is too long. I'm sorry, that is completely my fault for not optimizing......

The new site should load within seconds....i can assure that :)
 
1. As everyone else said, it is way too big. If you're going to have a large site, do something impressive

2. You will not get clients using default buttons and graphics that have been made from tutorials. For example, your flash, html, and 3d buttons are just basic gradients and you use default flash buttons for your music player.

3. Also, you will not get clients if your site isn't visually pleasing. You have so many different colors on the site it looks terrible. The backgrounds on your pages are too busy.

4. People are not into large fronts, so don't use them.

Suggestion:
1.Take some classes or tutorials on design, because you don't have a grasp of it. Takes some classes or tutorials on flash layout and design.

2.Be creative, don't half-ass anything (using default buttons/fonts).

3.Don't jump right into a business, because if you don't have a portfolio you won't get clients. Do tutorials, make as many sites as you can, search to web and find sites that give you in inspiration.
 
rana said:
hi guys...

i want you to critique my website http://www.design-science.net

there are still some things i have to change like the main page and the music control...btw, its flash..

lets say if you were a potential client, would you select my services or do i need to completely overhaul the site...

and be as harsh as you want....
Click to expand...

Generally, you don't want your site to load up as slow as it takes now. Believe me when I say that's BIG rule #1.
 
those were some awesome sites.....

shakenbake...thanks for the heads up on 2advanced....i went their also and it just further confused me.....way too much stuff going on...almost gave me a seizure..

thank you all for you input...it is truly priceless :)

and my current site is a bad indication of what i can do....because i rushed it and tried to copy other sites instead of doing my own thing....
 
took too long for too little. as long as i waited i thought there might be something cool about to happen but everything was pretty typical.
 
not 56k-friendly- i have a lan internet connection and it took 30sec. that means on my mother's commodore (yeah, it is that slow) with its 56kbps modem, it'd take about 10min. see if your flash intro can be compressed to something about 1/10 the size at least.
 
the size is my fault....got too much into 3d animation....its just the animation on the first page that makes the site so big...

but oh well.....im doing a complete overhaul....
 
Tony Montana said:
loads too damn slow i got to 10% and i closed it.
Click to expand...

good....you saved yourself the trouble of seeing a crappy site :p :D
 
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