Thread: Your honest opinion

http://www.paddymacschicago.com

Hi,
This is the second restaurant site that I've done. Please give your opinion.

Thanks!

Honestly? I personally liked your other version better.

I think you took the prolific posts from well-intentioned but less than leading peers too seriously. (I remember comments about your menu buttons, for instance, and the "awning" colors, etc.).

I can see what you are trying to do (by adding a photo across a less busy awning), but you might be better off by using a much larger (and clearer) photo cropped so as to fit across the entire awning top, and your logo super-imposed over it with transparant background. >> This way, you can keep your "logo" as pure text, which can actually add to your overall SEO foundations. Also, don't forget to re-title your image within Content relevancy (i.e. "paddy_macs_chicago_restraunt_picture").

Have I confused you enough?

sorry.....

My honest opinion is that the background doesn't work at all with the site.

I like the overall design you're going for - and the way you've divided up the page.

I don't believe I ever saw another version of this restaurant - but I do remember the other restaurant you did :)

You keep doing these Chicago restaurants and I'm gonna long for my roots LOL Just, please, don't do an Italian Beef place - the rest of the world do not know what they are missing if they haven't had Chicago's Italian Beef - juicy - dipped - hot !!!

I'm not totally sold with these navigation buttons either - I think you could select or make one that matches your page better, but they work.

Honestly i like the whole thing very much Irish, on your photos there are a few pics that has not been named but has the cameras attributes on it instead may need to rename them.

Hi,
Thanks for the advice. You're thinking of two different sites of 2 different restaurants.
http://mcnamaras.com is the one with the colorful awning. I can't change that. That was a request by the owner.

Originally Posted by Vasili

Honestly? I personally liked your other version better.

I think you took the prolific posts from well-intentioned but less than leading peers too seriously. (I remember comments about your menu buttons, for instance, and the "awning" colors, etc.).

I can see what you are trying to do (by adding a photo across a less busy awning), but you might be better off by using a much larger (and clearer) photo cropped so as to fit across the entire awning top, and your logo super-imposed over it with transparant background. >> This way, you can keep your "logo" as pure text, which can actually add to your overall SEO foundations. Also, don't forget to re-title your image within Content relevancy (i.e. "paddy_macs_chicago_restraunt_picture").

Have I confused you enough?

sorry.....

i like it, needs some fine tuning imo, i like to see alt text look on buttons and pics (i only act like i know what i'm talking about)

and they both make me hungry, so i think they "work"

Hi, hope you don’t mind, But the next site I will be doing will have a green country sort of look. So I have pinched a few ideas & was playing around with your colours & images to see what problem I may have.
Conclusion! Dark green is not an easy colour to work with & needs browns/terracotta/flowers & earth type colours to blend with it. (I can see why the big boys don’t use this colour) But as it’s a Paddy’s pub! It should really be green.
I wasn’t sure if white was a good idea with green. But after trying the white images on a green, I think it’s the colours in the images that don’t look right & not the white it self. If you have a look at the St Paul add, the black/red/beer/hair all look ok, but the blue is a real miss match with green. This is the same for the NFL image as well. The reds & orange are ok on the TV, but the grey TV isn’t right (can’t win)
Its very hard to be artistic, IT literate & have a business head, (You will be rich, very soon, if you have them all).
But have to agree with the others on some points that there seems to be too much site (ie boarders & menus) than actual page & content. Have a look at this link & see if there are any ideas for you on a condensed version of your site.
As I was saying it was just a play around with colours & different images with dark green.
http://www.collectors-info.com//testing/paddys.html

Good luck.

I'm personally not a big fan of green, however, when it comes to St. Patrick's Day, I like the green - and I personally would use white with the green .... it's the most common, most striking, I really do not like the yellow - perhaps a real shiny gold, almost metallic, but not the yellow.

You could have a green background, white text boxes, with green borders, with green font or even black would match and be better too, green shamrocks here and there ...

Green & White and black is what I would like ....

I too like Bethers, don't care for those nav buttons ... would change those to shamrocks ...

just my opinion ....

lol .... like Chris, I hope you don't mind either ... just felt like "playing in the green" today ...

but as I said, I like white with the green ... so thought I'd do you up with some white and the black ....

Pls take no offence, use it u like, discard if you don't, was just playing ..

Final thought - I'd take Vasili's suggestion regarding the photo in the header, but perhaps just increasing the size and quality may help .....


CLICK HERE

Holly, Could you take what you did and change the background of the page outside the borders to be - maybe black? Or leave it green but put a black border around the entire center portion?

I really like what you did - and hopefully he can get some ideas from it.

Originally Posted by Bethers

Holly, Could you take what you did and change the background of the page outside the borders to be - maybe black? Tossed over the black when I was doing it and thought it was too dark, considered and tried shamrocks for nav bar, but didn't like either, tried shamrock background, no too busy - so.

Or leave it green but put a black border around the entire center portion? I could and I did, lol ....
I added the lines in black down the sides, and agree with that, looks good ....

I really like what you did - and hopefully he can get some ideas from it.

Thanks Beth, lol, and it's not even for us, he may never pop back in, lol, hope he is okay with this .... not a big deal to me ... just playing ....

I like the colors though, green, black & white ... and you could imagine Bethers, I could have filled the pages up with clip art, lol ... but I think what is there is just enough ... scaled back ... lol

This is interesting, while the old site had contrast, the awning colors weren't the highlight of the page. On the other hand, the new page uses green way too much. Your logo is very nice, but combine it with Holly's proposal, while maintaining the irish theme. Holly's leprechaun is a neat add-on.

The NavBar (your's) is too modern for your page and clashes with the rest of the design.

Here's a marketing idea, tidy both up and hold a contest with your customers at the restaurant, let them vote on it and give them some incentive, i.e free beer or an appetizer for half an hour or an hour. What the customer's spend will more than make up for it.

Godo luck.

Originally Posted by bill2006

This is interesting, while the old site had contrast, the awning colors weren't the highlight of the page. On the other hand, the new page uses green way too much. Your logo is very nice, but combine it with Holly's proposal, while maintaining the irish theme. Holly's leprechaun is a neat add-on.

The NavBar (your's) is too modern for your page and clashes with the rest of the design.

Here's a marketing idea, tidy both up and hold a contest with your customers at the restaurant, let them vote on it and give them some incentive, i.e free beer or an appetizer for half an hour or an hour. What the customer's spend will more than make up for it.

Godo luck.

Yeah!!! I bet you live local. lol

I just want you all to know that I love your ideas, and I will let the owner know, but it's his decision in the end. Thanks for all of your help. I really have a lot to learn about design.

Originally Posted by LadyEye

Thanks Beth, lol, and it's not even for us, he may never pop back in, lol, hope he is okay with this .... not a big deal to me ... just playing ....

I like the colors though, green, black & white ... and you could imagine Bethers, I could have filled the pages up with clip art, lol ... but I think what is there is just enough ... scaled back ... lol

And when you think you have it all learned, the pages will turn and you'll be near the beginning again :) - think of it as fun and games - which is why Holly did what she did. And all of us throw in our 2 cents - hope the owner likes what you do for him.

When I first opened the front page it hurt my eyes. It was overwhelming with the colors. I like vibrant look, but my eyes had to adjust from the white and blue I am seeing here. I don't know how to say it. Its not like I want just the blue and white looks. Its just that when someone opens the page its bam what do you want them to see? Want them to be overwhelmed with what you are selling or the colors?

Stratis, What site are you looking at? As the one in this thread is green and yellow?

Ditto Bill's comments. Lookin down the road the sign doesn't read finished it reads " finished?". There is all the help you need right here in the forum and the tutorials. Like I 've said before...have enough problems or questions and you aske for help...YOU end up with the help and FREE goodies, great place.