Thread: Please critique my site

This is my first attempt at composing a website and had 3 days to get it together. BV was really understandable and made this possible! Been tweaking it a bit in the evenings but still not sure it's presentable to the public. www.mesquitecreekranch.net Any constructive advise is welcome. Thanks! Dayna

hey there. I'm not usually that good at critiquing but I'll throw a few things at you that may or may not be helpful. we'll see. :)

Since you only spent a few days on this maybe several of these issues may be things you just have yet to get to. Like the menu buttons. check when you roll-over. It's still got the default BV buttons. Also, be sure that the font size is the same from page to page on those menu buttons. It's smaller on the Cavaliers page than the rest. Minor detail but it'll make it look more professional to do that.

Regarding the content, I'm not going through and proofreading it, but looking at the integrated pictures, maybe that can get cleaned up some by sizing them down to fit some space between them, or add a frame around it. At least get the pictures to not have edges sticking out like a few of them are. (I like how you have the "Fauna" page).

And for some reason the Fauna and Flora pages just stop at the bottom. I can't tell if there's more. Check the page height in the properties and be sure that your content doesn't exceed the size you have set. This has happened to me before so I assume that might be it. Even if that is the end of the page, it's always good to have a footer or something that shows you "here is the bottom of my page".

And finally... I would recommend a contact form or something other than a contact button that links people directly to an e-mail client to send you e-mail. Spammers will be all over that pretty soon. The contact form is what I use and was actually recommended to me as well when I used to have a link to e-mail just like you. We are just more prone to being spammed that way, and it turns out to be less convenient for some people.

Well, I hope this helps. It's a great start and I think it'll all come together with a little more time. Something I learned in designing my site (and I just did revision number 4) is that it takes a lot of time to make it LOOK simple and clean and professional. You just need to take a little more time to be sure that things like the title "Mesquite Creek Ranch" is the same size font and placed the same on each page, the menu buttons are set the same and that the page itself is either centered or aligned the same on each page.

I hope this helps in some ways. Good luck. :)

hey dayna ... you are off to a great start ... George had some good points ... also consider centring your pages in the browser ... right click onan empty part of the page, select page properties and check the centre in browser box, then republish the page.

on the flora page the text in your banner is out of alignment and bigger than on other pages.

It would nice to be able to see larger examples of your images ... maybe use the lightbox in some area so people can click on a photo and it enlarges ...

Also alll your pages need an unique title describing that page ... this helps the search engines ...

keep up the good work

Hi, ditto with the menu buttons. These buttons are really for a white background (square corners in white) If these are the button you would like to use? It can help to pop a white shape behind them, just a couple of px's above the size of the menu.

Good luck.

My thanks to all of you for giving wise constructive criticism. I did a little work this a.m. and more when back home so maybe the site is looking a little better composed. I still haven't worked on the pix but maybe can get that done tomorrow.
I did select the "center" feature for all pages but 2 pages are refusing to comply, even though I did the F5 button thing. Any suggestions there?
I know I've got a ways to go on the site but your suggestions, help, expertise are much welcome and respected. Thanks!

Hi! Have you considered downloading menu buttons from BV? It would make the left side stand out a little bit better.


http://www.koolspaces.com

The Best Funny Videos on myspace and more!

I did try the BV buttons but as you can see from previous feedback, I didn't do very well so I went to text. Wish I could extend the links out a bit more, though.
I've tweaked the problems a bit more today but still have a bit of a problem - put the smaller BV banner at bottom of each page but it oly showed up in the home page. Do I need to select a different banner for each page? The BV software is such an easy to use program, the price is right (free!) and I'd like to let others know about it.
Thanks. Dayna

Horsegal:

Don't give up on the menu buttons, you really do need them. Keep trying as it will be worth the effort. I used the BV menu buttons and am happy that I did.

Good Luck!

http://www.koolspaces.com
The Best Funny Videos on myspace.com and more!