Thread: Want a total honest opinion on site changes

O.k I was going to change the look of my website www.anxietynomore.co.uk and I hope this is the right place to post, if not then forgive me mods....

I want a cleaner crisper look to it and maybe a logo. The site is growing every month and I just wanted to maybe go away from a hobby site (which is how it started out) and give it a makeover and take it forward.

I am happyish with the look, but after looking at sites that are built here I know I could improve things.

So I want an honest opinion, if you think its bland, dull, poor colours etc....then let me know, nothing will be taken in the wrong way.

I was also thinking about getting some new nav buttons done. Any ideas on what you think would improve things. Other people's ideas can only help you widen your options and ideas.

Thanks all, your input is much appreciated.

Be as honest as you like...........

Paul

Looks good Paul.....Good Job

I think it looks great. Chock full of info. Easy to read, easy to navigate. I wish you tremendous success with it!

Noticed that the page transitions are not all the same. There's one little typo on the home page, Paranoia about what peole think

Im new to this but I think your site is very nice. Nice color ,fits subject. I know sometimes we just like to tweak things for the sake of tweaking so if thats what you want to go ahead but its looks like its there already.

Hiya Paul

I just had a peek at your site. It looks great. I use Mozilla firefox, and I noticed on your anxiety_explained page at the bottom that you have some overlap. It could be from my end. you may want to check with someone else that uses Firefox. Image below

Hi Paul

Yes I too viewed on ff and see the overlapping that matrixxxxxxxx refers to .... easy fix these days with being able to configure your preview in any browser with the new BV9 feature.

I find with ff in comparison to IE - the text drops down about a 1/4 - 1/2" (ladies measurements, lol)

Paul - your site looks nice, has worked for you, why change a good thing ... lol ... why not fix this up to work in all browsers and start that new project ... you have much on the go don't you ... lol

Have a few bits that could be changed.
Small list for you.

Your header/banner is 785X101px & has been stretched to 812X103px & looks very distorted
All these pages have text & image overlapping problems with fire fox.
http://www.anxietynomore.co.uk/anxiety_explained.html
http://www.anxietynomore.co.uk/anxiety_q_a.html
http://www.anxietynomore.co.uk/the_book.html
http://www.anxietynomore.co.uk/anxie..._thoughts.html
http://www.anxietynomore.co.uk/panic_attacks.html
http://www.anxietynomore.co.uk/deper...alisation.html
Nearly all page transitions are not in sink with each other. (Jumping around) IE: should use a single template & lock the main structure elements so it’s the same for every page.
The other advantage of using a single template is pages will load a lot faster for a visitor after they have loaded the 1st page they land on. This is because all your BV images will have the same file name & will be in the visitor’s cache for the next page they go to.

Good luck.

Nearly all page transitions are not in sink with each other. (Jumping around) IE: should use a single template & lock the main structure elements so it’s the same for every page.
The other advantage of using a single template is pages will load a lot faster for a visitor after they have loaded the 1st page they land on. This is because all your BV images will have the same file name & will be in the visitor’s cache for the next page they go to.

Thanks Chris and agree with you, the problem is I am forever changing the length of pages and adding information etc, this is on a daily basis near enough and the pages do get moved on the odd occasion, but I will go away and do my best and try and lock them.

Noticed that the page transitions are not all the same. There's one little typo on the home page, Paranoia about what peole think

Thanks for spotting that patience....


Thank you everyone, the firefox problem is a problem as if I do lower the images, then when viewed in what 90% of people view in then the gaps are huge, so I win with one and not the other.

I agree with you Holly on it does well, but that's the problem, the site is growing so fast, around 1,500 more hits every month. Now that's down to the people on here as much as it is me.

I suppose then you start questioning things, like does it look o.k, safe enough and professional enough for people to buy from, could I really take it forward with a new cleaner look etc....

The new project will depend a lot on how this site does as it is related and there will be a link from my the site.

Well thank you all for looking, I will see what I can do with the viewing in firefox problem, if anyone else has any views then please say, I just see some very nice sites here and wondered if I could improve it in anyway.

Hi, was having a play with your pages to solve that over lap, & found if you use separate areas of tables to place your text & images in, it seems to get rid of this problem of anything overlapping. Plus it seems that you can get the images as close as you want to the text.
You have to play with the cell align a little, but seems to work well. It is also has been made a lot easier since the VH team upgraded the way the cells work.
I tried it using your text & tripling it, making your page 3 times the length, plus added 6 images & still all worked fine in all browsers, with no over lap & no large gaps between text & images.
So this maybe the way to go with long pages?

Good luck.

CSS should sort out the problem in firefox as you can add the element 'padding' in which should shift in firefox but stay more or less the same in IE. At least that's how it worked on my website.

Thanks Chris and mook, I will have a play around and see what I can do, even the 10% who do view in firefox can end up a hell of a lot of people over time, so I know I need to sort it out....Thanks again for your help.

Paul

I had the same problem with my globalmook site where the main nav bar in IE looked fine but when viewed in FF it was touching the other boxes in the menus down the side. If you look at my site through both IE and FF you'll notice that in IE the boxes down the left and right hand sides are slightly lower than in FF but it's not that noticable. All this was achieved through a little CSS coding and is definatly the easiest way to move forward once you know what you are doing.

I have IE and firefox installed on my system, this way i can correct the changes as they happen. It is possible to have 2 browsers or more installed. I would highly recommend it, that way you can view your site how other people would.

I will try my best Mook. The marketing of sites and getting them found is my stronger side, the techie side I am still learning somewhat.

But the best way to learn is to play around, if I have any problems I will pop back with a question.

Thanks again, oh and just downloaded your logos, you can never have enough

Paul

http://www.anxietynomore.co.uk/panic_attacks.html

I saw the same problem as matrix1, in this page, well, maybe because I am using "firefox".
Sometimes, if you built your own web, you will notice a little difference when using firefox, internet explorer, opera or other, there is a little trick when doing your own site, but when looking at your site in internet explorer, it is so perfect, there is nothing to talk about but all the best.

Like I said before, if someone is using other than internet explorer will find these issues.
Are you using Macromedia Dreamweaver?

Originally Posted by karel

I will try my best Mook. The marketing of sites and getting them found is my stronger side, the techie side I am still learning somewhat.

But the best way to learn is to play around, if I have any problems I will pop back with a question.

Thanks again, oh and just downloaded your logos, you can never have enough

Paul

No worries about the logo's, just glad they could help you.

One tip i'd offer you on skinning your site is to first create a duplicate site inside another directory and then play around with this one. By doing this you will not affect the original until you are happy with everything, then you just move the files over to the original directory.

This is especially good in case, like i've done on a few occasions, you mess up your site.

Good luck on the update and i look forward to seeing it.

Well changed the pages, there not perfect but a lot better for people viewing in FF....I have had to leave one page...http://www.anxietynomore.co.uk/panic_attacks.html

It was just tooo much messing about and making little difference. I would have to re-design the page and get rid of the images on there, its not the most popular page anyway, so it can wait.

Paul

It looks great when I open it with internet explorer, but in FF, like you said, this page and the last 2 pages as well are not quit right, in "depersonalisation", words are all over each others, in this paragraph: All this worry is bound to make... on your 7th line, they are all over each others.

Still, you did a great improvement to your site, best wishes.

Thanks Joe, it is hard as I have to alter but keep in mind that 90% use I.E. This is about as good as I can get it for now, i may look to improve more later.

Paul

Originally Posted by karel

Thanks Joe, it is hard as I have to alter but keep in mind that 90% use I.E. This is about as good as I can get it for now, i may look to improve more later.

Paul

Tut,Tut, Paul. This was only 5 mins max to change it to work in IE+FF, & that was also playing with other things on the page.
http://www.collectors-info.com/testing/anm.html . lol

Tut,Tut, Paul. This was only 5 mins max to change it to work in IE+FF, & that was also playing with other things on the page.
http://www.collectors-info.com/testing/anm.html . lol

Well Chris it shows my limitations as I don'y know how you did that. What is the main cause of the problem, as some pages work fine and others do not, there must be certain common factors.

First attempt at changing anything, so always willing to learn and improve.

Paul

Originally Posted by karel

Well Chris it shows my limitations as I don'y know how you did that. What is the main cause of the problem, as some pages work fine and others do not, there must be certain common factors.

First attempt at changing anything, so always willing to learn and improve.

Paul

Hi, using this method will still extend a page’s length when viewing in FF, but should keep everything in order above the base line.
But if a page is this long with separate elements, make a table of let say 1 Column & 10 rows, and then place each element into its own area of the table. It should keep it a lot neater.
Place the images in the table as a cell background & centre all the properties of the cell.


Good luck.