www.americandiamondsforever.com site review

**rjp2k** · 09-19-2004, 07:59 PM

i have been working on this site for a few weeks now, and will be doing more visual updates soon. the eagle and flag motif will be changing very soon, so if you could take that into account in your reviews. i would appreciate any and all comments on the site. all criticism is appreciated and site reviews will be reciprocated. any help is appreciated.

rjp2k
www.americandiamondsforever.com

**G3MM4** · 09-20-2004, 10:28 PM

OK, first off, I like the American Diamonds Forver title, the way it's been designed. It's simple. But, the US flag and the eagle does need to be redesigned, there's nothing wrong with the actual design, but the design needs to be relevant to your website content. seeing that your website is about diamonds/jewellery (from what I can see), in what way is an eagle relevant to diamonds?

The text "Exquisite Quality With A Personal Touch" is hard to read IMO, the font is is hard to read, it's too "fussy". Maybe changing the font to something more clearer will do the trick.

I like the way the whole thing has been contained in a box, it's clean cut and simple.

The information on diamonds is good, since a lot of people wouldn't know much about diamonds (I should imagine).

Maybe jazzing up the navigation would be a good idea. It's OK, simple, but it's a bit boring. It didn't immediately catch my eye.

In the Contact Us section, I'm not keen on the picture of a building. The building looks old and grubby IMO. If that's where you're based, then it doesn't give a good impression. So I'd change it to something that looks clean and modern to give out a better impression.

Keep the main fonts and font colours consistent. That includes links. Only use a different font etc for your title logo etc.

The Build Your Own Jewellery link really ought to be incorporated into the navigation bar. It looks out of place where it is now.

The Bracelets, rings etc links at the bottom of the Diamond Collection page, are they supposed to be links? If so, I'd create a sub menu in the navigation bar for these, like when you click on the Diamond Collection button, a sub menu could roll out with these things on it.

Diamonds are classy, so the website needs to reflect that by having a classy feel to it.

Overall, what you've done so far is a good start, but needs more improvements. I hope I've given some useful feedback which gives you food for thought.

I'd rate it as 5.5 as it is now.

**mykretek** · 09-30-2004, 01:34 PM

Your text link size in the top and bottom page..I think its rather too large...if you can make it smaller I think it would be nice

I agree that your eagle picture as your logo need more redesign because it looks like a patriotic website...not a high class website that it should be

**taits** · 09-30-2004, 02:07 PM

Like the site design it's clean and simple...

A few thoughs:
1) I don't like the blue line around the page content, it just dosn't do anything for the page...
2) Don't vertically center your pages because the placement page navigation changes depending on the length of the page, just put them all at the top...
3) Change the blue links in the top right to icons customized with diamon shapes, or something other than typical blue links...

**ann9787** · 10-01-2004, 09:11 AM

In general, I think the site looks good but could benefit by having more color. Some of the pictures were a bit fuzzy, particularly the bracelets. Other than that, it's very sharp and clean which I like. If I were in the market to buy, I would want to see better pictures and more detial.

**stenbough** · 10-01-2004, 11:26 AM

For a website that sells diamonds, the design is quite... um... not diamond-like? For example, when I think of diamonds, I don't think of white... I think of black. I definitely don't think of an Eagle, and I'm not quite sure I think of America either. I think for your theme, you should push more of a 'classy' feel that's not American, but is for Americans. I hope you get what I'm saying, 'cause it's kind of complicated to explain.

The theme of your website might be good if you were selling stirrups and lassos, not diamonds. Sorry if this came out bad, but I'm just trying to give my e-pinion on the matter...

**DevelopedWeb** · 10-01-2004, 01:13 PM

I like stenbough's point about the site needing more of a diamond feel to it. However, the front page that clearly displays multiple (large) pictures of diamond jewelry should be sufficient.

My thoughts:
- The "view collection" link is blurry.
- There should be mouseover graphics for the navigation items, since all of the other links have mouseovers as well.
- You should add some bottom padding to the content cell--the text is touching the bottom border.

Other than that, nice site!

**neila** · 10-01-2004, 01:29 PM

hello

when you ditch the eagle logo, take the red, white and blue underlining with it too.

you need a color more associated with precious stones and metals - silver, platinum etc...

i think the "american diamond blah.." logo at the very top of the page is good already. why not take the diamond picture from the end of that and re-arrange the initials ADF around it and slip it in on the top left side where the eagle is now?

hey, what about the theme tune for the james bond film "diamonds are forever" playing on a loop in the background!

good luck with the site.

btw: i found the 4 c's part very informative.

neil

**rjp2k** · 10-01-2004, 03:30 PM

thanks again for all your reply's. i will have the new layout and look up this weekend, and would apprecaite all your help with the new layout

**ejumblesale** · 10-02-2004, 10:06 AM

Hi, I would agree with some of the users that you need a lot more of a diamond feel. You could also jazz it up a bit by using some rollovers.

I wouldnt nessecarily say I think of black for diamonds but especially more whites and greys and shiny, if you have photoshop you could add some lens flare effects which will make it look more reflective.

**rjp2k** · 10-21-2004, 07:49 PM

new look will be up October 25th. changed nav layout and layout of whole site, please check back

**rjp2k** · 10-26-2004, 03:07 PM

new phase 2 of site is up, please check out and let me know what you think. Appreciate everyone's help with this

**jcombs_31** · 10-26-2004, 05:39 PM

huge improvement. I'd maybe spice up the horizontal navigation menu, but other than that, I think it looks good.

**pixelputty** · 10-27-2004, 01:18 PM

It doesn`t seem to flow, to give you an idea of what I think a site like this should look like -

Using the same colours but in your own style, hope this helps and good luck.

**rjp2k** · 11-04-2004, 09:19 PM

your image doesn't show up, can you please let me know

**rjp2k** · 11-04-2004, 09:20 PM

thanks again for everyone's comments, will be making more changes and posting within a week or so. please check back and all comments and feedback are welcome. also have added two new redirects' since the orignal domain was too long.

rjp2k
www.shopadf.com
www.adfstore.com
www.americandiamondsforever.com

**nxb22833** · 11-05-2004, 09:49 AM

I think that you store looks proffesional and with lots of diamonds around. the only thing that I would work on it is when you click on diamonds and start choosing the C's. It looks from far away that you scan them. I would chenge it right away. It brings down your design. Other than it is very for me.

**mortalmadman** · 11-08-2004, 06:16 PM

Jess. You did that. I feel like sush a newb in comparison to you guys. It's REAL nice. I would buy a dimond from there. And I think that's all that matters. I keep being so soft cause I don't know how I would do it better.