Thread: Comments Please

After many hours pouring over the video tutorials and scanning the forum for inspiration and guidance my first website is (almost) complete. Any comments or advice gratefully received.
Thanks
Chris

http://themaltsterscountryinn.co.uk

VERY NICE, nice layout, clean, easy to navigate, professional looking, nice colors. On your drink page there is some blank space at the bottom (look for a hidden element causing the page to run long) and the image at the lower left corner is missing. Keep up the good work can't wait to see it when you finish.

Real nice looks great like in the previous thread the page has empty black space towards the bottom of your drink page change the background to white so you will find it to remove it other than that job well done

Looks very nice indeed.
An excellent result for your first website.
The only other thing I could pick out, is the middle page is slightly off centre. The border on the left is slightly wider than the border on the right.
Other than that, nicely done !

Hi, off to a real good start & glad to see your promotion of a very hard business at this moment in time. I bet you would like to throttle Bernie Bernie Ecclestone for moving the F1 venue. (No pun intended)
The site! has got a nice pub feel & is easy to follow.. Couple of small things that might need some adjustment.
On the drink page the text on the left is a little distorted with being an image & the bottom left image is not showing up (red X).
I see you have a few extra images to come, but a few of patrons having a good time would be good on skittles & poker nights.
Slightly larger map on the contact page might show a visitor straight away, where you are in relation to the motorway & main towns.
On the home page there is a larger gap at the top of the page than the others.
Nothing major, but the menu bar has been made up individually & may of saved a bit of page weight just being text links.
Good luck with the pub. Will have to pop in for a pint & bite when I am up seeing the brother in Thrapston.


Cheers.

Nice job. Your site is looking really good. Some of the pics still load a little slow. You might check out the link in Chris' signature above about PIXresizer.
Good Luck!!

Thank you very much for all your comments - much appreciated. Chris next time you're in Thrapston, do pop over and I'll buy you a pint!

Chris

Good site and well thought out. Easy to navigate.
You might want to say what local attractions there are or link to them, to encourage more visitors.
A small mistake on home page (fires. in which)
Good luck with the Pub - Just retired after 30 plus years in the trade myself, so know how hard it is!

Great Job! Layout really works well for the content. Loads very quick.
Good luck with your venture!

well done,

you can be proud of your first effort

the sight navigates well and reflects passion for the business and customer.
i love the animated painter and the moon on the sleep page. both eye catching and a humorous touch.

definitely position background image the same on each page.
open all your pages in BV and click each tab one at a time and see if the background image stays consistant.
make your changes. in the positioning box, bottom rh corner of BV you will see x and y axis positions. move each image until they are all the same.

previous posters have covered the other technical stuff

the rest of this is only my own design opinion
and good lord everyone's got one, no ?

first impressions are very important. maybe start with an index page with a large picture of the inn or a room in the inn
and a navigation button to "home" or "welcome to..."

you can add music to a background. maybe some local traditional music.
to save on loading time for a soundfile check the forum on how to edit sound in background. i don't know which forum it is in
but maybe someone who does can chime in here and help. i use audacity software. it's free. quiet. not too long. not cheesy.

in your header, space "a warm welcome" equally from the top as "in a pretty.." is from the bottom.
I can't access the font so it looks like the image was made with font in photoshop or equivalent program.
which means some work but it will feel better, more welcoming to your viewers eye. an important first impression.

i would go with bold text on the navigation bar- Home, eat, drink... maybe even white font or white background with green font.
maybe a bit larger. maybe a friendly, hand written script font. remember though, the cardinal rule of fonts-- no more than three.
it works with colors as well.

as you seem to have access to photoshop-- you can make custom button images in photoshop and then add them as images into advanced buttons.
make sure they are made to fit button size. you'll get the feel for it.
make sure to save image in documents>bluevoda>images.

then go to----insert>forms>advanced buttons>right click on form>choose properties>choose stlye tab>hit browse and add image.

additionally, i would make the images of the inn and the food larger and predominate. a picture is worth a thousand words. we are a visually shape and image influenced creature. we truly feel with our eyes.

again, well done ! congratulations!

charlie
www.limitationsmusic.com

Thank you all for your very useful comments and encouragement - I haven't had much time to spend long on the site but have made some adjustments. I still can't manage to get the gap at the top of the index page the same as the other pages though. When I open them in Blue Voda they all appear the same but when the pages are published there is a larger gap on the index page. Any ideas?

Many thanks again
Chris

Hi, not sure why! But there is a closing chevron missing on the keywords area on your home page & i think this maybe creating the gap at the top of the page. (I added the cheveron to show where it shoud be) There is also a <csscriptdict>"> part in the same area that i think has something to do with it. Doggy bits in green & red, but not sure how to get around it???????. This is also NOT on your other pages.

<title>Traditional Country Inn with great food and accommodation in Badby, Northamptonshire</title><meta name="KEYWORDS" content="badby, daventry, silverstone, northampton, northants, northamptonshire, england, uk, accommodation, accomodation, hotels, inns, pubs, restaurants, beds, breakfast, bandb, walks, walking, cycling,
ale, food, beer, meals, short breaks, holidays, vacation”> <csscriptdict>"><meta name="DESCRIPTION" content="Dating from the 18th Century, The Maltsters Country Inn at Badby near Daventry, is a traditional Northamptonshire Inn offering good traditional food and ales, together with very comfortable accommodation and excellent service"><meta name="GENERATOR" content="Created by BlueVoda">

Hi, a few more personal comments and suggestions - a little late I know but I happened upon this post when I was looking for something else

I love the feel of the site with the colours and font style reinforcing the traditional image of the pub. I think the homepage works well and I like the fact that this takes you straight into the heart of the site and the pub without a separate "welcome" page.

As a pub has such an important community role, I would definitely add an "About Us" page or at least include the landlord's name and mugshot on the "Contact Us" page.

Have you thought about including a form to collect email addresses of those who would like to be notified of special events, offers, or a simple monthly newsletter? It is always easier, cheaper (free) and more effective to market to existing customers.

Also, you say that the pub is in very pretty surroundings and I would capitalise on this. There are 8 million regular walkers in England (according to a recent Sport England survey) so why not include one or two walks from your pub? Pub walks are unbeatable as a way to lead hungry and thirsty customers straight to your door! You don't even need to create this yourself as you could run a competition for your customers to find the best walks featuring your pub with, for example, a free meal for two for the winners.

Good luck with your pub and your website.

The Pub Walker
www.MyFavouritePubWalks.com
thepubwalker.blogspot.com

Very nice, professional and original, like the flashing moon you are using in your 'sleep' page! Keep it up!

Cheers,

Very nice site, and very inviting. All that counts, in the end. Just down the road, too. I shall have to pop by and check out the real thing.
Well done.

Thank you very much for all the positive comments.Keith N pop in anytime. Brilliant idea about the pub walks The Pub Walker, we get a lot of ramblers as we have quite a few excellent walks around here - in fact The Nene Valley Way starts outside our pub, so it does make sense to make the most of it. Thanks again everyone.