Please review my site...Its due for redesign

**FHD - Chris** · 04-20-2002, 02:55 AM

Hi,

I need some constructive criticism on my site which can be reached via the url in my signature. The current design is 2 years old and the site is generally outdated. I'm considering putting in an articles feature for user submitted articles amongst other things but I would really appreciate some feedback on how I can improve.

Thanks,

**TimSchroeder** · 04-21-2002, 12:44 PM

FHD - Chris, just wanted to let you know I will be reviewing your site later today. Meanwhile, any other members have some opinions??

**TimSchroeder** · 04-21-2002, 10:51 PM

Hey FHD - Chris!

Here are a couple of my thoughts...

Load Time: Great.

Link Partners: Great! Because I'm there

And I just saw my banner...

Ok, on a more serious note!

You have a nice DIRECTORY OF WEB SITES going!

I suggest adding a paragraph up top telling a little bit about the site and maybe a little more text elsewhere. As well, it will be hard to get any good search engine listings without some keyword rich text. As is, everything is a link.

I would also maybe suggest making some of your links open in new windows, otherwise your visitors are probably leaving you site as fast as they get there. I see that your directory links do, which is a good thing.

When I clicked on What's New, the page does not have a direct link back to the homepage. I know the logo takes you back home, but some newer net users might not realize this.

Your PREMIUM LINK PARTNERS are all right aligned, while the others are all left aligned.

Your domain is great! freehostdirectory.com

Maybe add a bit more color or use some pics as your heading categories (I'm not sure about this suggestion)...

Overall, great Job!

**DaveMo~** · 04-22-2002, 01:39 PM

Hi Chris,

Here are some more IMO's and suggestions for your site.

I suggest some color for the background. The white with the blue fonts is good, but needs toned down some. The shading for the titles in the boxes is good. Maybe some more shading or colors (even light colors) to lessen the impact of the white.

The Premium Link Partners is not actually right aligned, but it seems that there is a paragraph code and it indented the following sentences.

The site did load quickly and navigation was good. I suggest a home link on each page, even though the logo/header takes you back there. Also, the logo is different on the partners page. Should it be the same as the other pages?

I think the content and the purpose of the site are both good. You do need to make a couple of changes in reference to this forum since the name and logo change.

And I also saw the FWT banner while I was there...cool!

There's a box called Learn To: on the site. I expected to go to an article or an introduction to some program when clicking on the link. It went off the site to an affiliate site. Seemed confusing. The first link says Learn To: Get newsletter subscribers but the link goes to iRewards. It seems that it has nothing to do about obtaining subscribers. Here's a big IMO and one of my pet peeves, and this is constructive, but links like that seem deceptive and ruin the credibility of the site. I would have accepted it more if this box was incorporated in the Featured Sites box. So my suggestion would be to move those links into the above box, or even have the links go to an article or short intro before going to the respective sites. I'm sorry if that sounded kinda' harsh.

Overall, I think it's a good site and can be a useful one. I think some articles and/or user articles would be a good addition to the site. An about page or opening paragraph would be good.

I hope that helps.

Dave

**thesawmillguy** · 04-27-2002, 01:55 AM

IMO - the site looks great, very informative from what I have seen so far. I will check it out more indepth in th next couple of days.