Thread: Well, here we go!!!! The official launch!

Before we go, I'm a total newbie at this so please go easy lol J/K, honest opinions please. Big thanks to the you guys at vodahost for helping me iron out any problems...........speedy, reliable help!!!! anyway, hope you enjoy.
The sites for Honda car enthusiasts in the UK, but welcomes international members too. Have big plans (prob bigger than I can actually manage but hey-ho!
http://www.hondaclub-uk.com/

Dark colours dont usually work, but in this case, thats not to bad.

On your inro page, the moving intro text is a little bit distracting, make it occur 2 or 3 times only then stay still on the screen. (ditto your other pages)

All your links work fine.

If you must have your forum in an Iframe, lose or make your header smaller and make the Iframe fit the page, so that you dont get the page jerking up when you scroll.

Very nice looking site.....................well done for a Newbie...............

EDIT:......I did not see any CONTACT Details??

Thanks David! I forgot to put the contact details on (doh!) I'll do that tomorrow after work. I think your idea about the scrolling text is spot on...........it does get a bit annoying after a while!! All will be sorted tomorow! Still not 100% sure on the dark colour layout myseflt tbh. Will se what everyone thinks

Thanks again
Dave

Hi Dave,

• When adding your 'contact details' consider placing them on the bottom of each page with copyright info, as I found I wanted to scroll down as the pages offer the feeling that there is more below.
• Not sure about the large font all in bold on the 'about us' page
• Consider helping SE's with their listing with a little keyword rich content on the home page.
• Gallery looks good... loads quick as well.
• The bottom to top text scroll is distracting.
• You need to 'title' your pages better...Keywords again.

Best of luck...have fun.

I would add footers to all your pages, they seem to just end abruptly. Text menus at the bottom of the page are a good idea when you use buttons as well. Check your page titles, 1 says index and the forum page is untitled. I would also do away with the scrolling marquee's, very annoying. As said before, a little dark but ok for this type of site. Over all not bad.

I did not check your meta tags

I have to agree with David and say its a little dark. Just an idea but why not move the picture on your home page sideways and add your introduction info next to it, that way the introduction is the first thing people see. You can then change your Introduction button into a contact one. Other than that i think its a nice looking site, thumbs up :)

Hi!

I think the dark colours work well for your site but have to say that the deep blue text on the nav buttons is a bit hard on the eye - found myself
struggling a bit to focus on them.

I'd also put an obvious end to your pages with some kind of footer as I agree with the others - I found myself trying to scroll for more!

Otherwise it's a nice looking site!

Elena
Dordogne holiday cottages

Ditto with th above comments. Need to work on the missing keywords & descriptions for the SE's to find you.

Some of this has perhaps been mentioned, but this is what I've picked up.

1) Go through your pages (page by page). I noticed some broken links.

2) Be more descriptive with your page titles. You currently have index, introduction, gallery, untitled (forum)

Search engines will have dificulty finding your site.

3) Have a footer at the bottom of your pages so the pages look finished.


Site looks good and as I'm a Honda driver, I am going to sign up to your forum.

Darren

Hi guys.
Thanks for the comments, I know theres still alot to sort out lol. It helps to have people who know what theyre talking about checking the sit out, that way I know what I've got to fix to make it better! Really pleased about choosing vodahost, the support and general friendlyness of the people on the forum is second to none!

I'll be beavering away tonight on the website, fixing what you've picked up! Might try out different colours/backgrounds etc aswell.

And Darren, welcome to Hondaclub-uk lol!!!!! you'll be the first member!!!

Many thanks guys

Dave

Ok guys, taken on board what you advised and made quite a few changes, and renamed links etc. See what you think. Also, went for a complete makeover colour wise, I think it's a bit easier on the eye. Comments welcome as always! http://www.hondaclub-uk.com/

well, I'm happy with the way it looks now, and the links work fine! Next things are the forum. I have a forum i created on a free site displayed in an Iframe at present, but would like to use php3. I dont have a clue on this!! I looked at the site for it, but it asks about databases etc, which ive seen in control panel here but know nothing about.
Thanks again guys

Hi, looking a lot better. Like the use of the checkered flag as a background. Need to rename your pages in the page properties area. IE: Not index. Something more like Honda car club UK. But make sure its on the page with gaps in the words as well. This needs to be done on other pages as well.

Hi, Great looking site. Just a little suggestion at the bottom of you page you have "This site built using BlueVoda, Powered by VodaHost". Why not sign up as an affiliate to VH and make this link work for you to make a bit of extra cash for yourself or the site?
Well Done!

Hi and thanks for the comments on my site! About the vodahost affiliate thing, I'm really interested in it. I really do like vodahost/bluevoda (thats why I "promoted" them at the bottom of the page!!) so I've just had a look through your link at the affiliate side. Deff going to go for it!!! I'll wait till the sites showing up on google and s/e's so there will be people visiting. It's a bit short on visitors at the mo due to it being new!
Thanks again!!!!!!

Dave (very happy customer!)

Me again! Ok the sites been running now for around 2 weeks, had little teething problems with the forum side of things, so changed from freeby forum to phpbb, back to freeby as couldnt get my head round php! Had no sooner moved to freeby forum (kept the same freeby forum throughout) and it got hacked/someone signed in as admin and posted rubish up everywhere!! So moved back to a php. sat up all night till after 4 am to get my head round everything with php, and finally cracked it (i hope!)
This is the site in it's final state. I've even studied php on forums and have changed the banner (wooho!) to my sites one, and changed the icons for small Honda symbals that I made on my pc (these even change colour for new posts) I really wanted to put a "button" on the forum for going back to the website, but don't know if it can be done? So rathe than have a text hyperlink, ive done it so he forum is in a popup, which seems to work out fine.
Could you guys have a look and see if theres any probs still needing sorted, and if the final design layout is ok? It's showing up on google now at almost top of page (it is top of page if hondaclub uk is typed in search!) so I think Ive got the problems you showed me sorted.
Next step, vodahost affiliate!!
Thanks guys
Dave

I have now worked out how to change a forum topic to a direct link, so visitors can now go back to the website straight from the forum, and the forum is no longer a pop up. I think thats the fun side of website and creating/ running them, the learning curve!
Still need advice about putting a button onto the forum instead of a link so will post up in the relevant section.

Dave