My wife's online business

**Finches** · 11-02-2005, 06:16 PM

Gudday all
I have loaded and been tweaking my wife's online site.
I am ready for the criticism it needs.
Please review at www.petalsandpatches.com
Don't be too gentle.

Regards
Finches

Ps: If you feeel like buying something, please do!

**]Xploit[** · 11-02-2005, 06:45 PM

from taking a look at the main page i'm just wondering why all the text is centre aligned but when it comes to navigation bits the second row isnt centre aligned?

also the design on the side looks slightly lower quality than the main heading

when looking at the cloth doll section and the others using this format, the review your cart button overlaps the images at the side, could this be moved in slightly to prevent the overlap?

otherwise its pleasing to the eye and loads fairly well

**Republikin** · 11-02-2005, 07:34 PM

Last updated on , /Tu/7 Se. Is that a stardate?

Also, when I scroll to the bottom of the page there is an odly aligned review your cart button. This seams like a very odd place for that.

**RapidSubmit** · 11-02-2005, 07:47 PM

At a first look, your website does not look like an e-commerce website. Kind of looks like a floral, or a devotion site. Your website is a mail order. Usually customers will come to your website to pay for it now, not order, send a check, wait 3 days, process the payment and wait another 5 days to receive the product. You are better off getting something like www.oscommerce.org that way you have maybe a customer login, your own hosted shopping cart, and more. There just isn't a whole lot of content.

**grammapecos** · 11-02-2005, 11:53 PM

I had javascript shutoff in mozilla and saw nothing accept alot of words that lead me nowhere.

after allowing javascript- I see alot of flowers- to me it took over everything.
since most of your items are stiched-patterns what about going with a sewing theme. maybe stiching some flowers or something.

joining rings- waste of time- clutter up your page to much.

dont give up- I 2nd RapidSubmit go with ocommerce

**AfterShock** · 11-03-2005, 12:18 AM

You should add some CSS, like change link colors, maybe red or rose-ish color. It would look good with the background.

**DianeD** · 11-03-2005, 11:15 AM

Hi Finches,
It's a nice homemade site, and that's about it. Nothing professional about it - but that's not to say with a bit of CSS and better graphics and tweaking, it couldn't be.

I would suggest you take the header (I'm assuming that the flowers and the Petals & Patches are the header), and make it a bit smaller so that it only takes up a small portion at the top of the pages.

I would take those little daisy pics and either get rid of them, or make them smaller and take them along with the links and place them on the left side as a navigation menu. This will free up some space in your center content area. Then make the print a tad smaller, and everything should be able to be seen without scrolling down the (home) page. Same with all the other pages - use one navigation menu system throughout the whole site.

Yes, get rid of the webring and other logo's you have there as it takes up so much room and is not adding any value at all. You have the same daisy pics with the links within your footer area - get rid of those darn daisy pics and just make simple text links in that area. Enough with the daisies!

The "links" page looks to be haphazardly laid out. You might want to use tables so that you can lay them out much neater. Don't center the text next to each banner, it makes it a bit difficult to read.

I would also change all the text to be verdana - it's easier to read. But that's my own opinion.

Just my 2 cents,
DianeD

**JsGroupWebby** · 11-03-2005, 04:01 PM

I have to say the site looks like its a devotion or whatever and not a business site....dont get me wrong i wouldnt want you to do anything thats for perhaps an office professional or whatever but it would be nice to make it compatible with other screen resolutions...because at the moment it is best viewed on 1024x768 which isnt best because most users if they are not on that specific resolution they will not bother moving.

Not being totally negitive...i like the look just not as an online business.

J

**darlington** · 11-04-2005, 06:24 PM

I agree with the comments above in that this site NEEDS new graphics. Does not have that professional feel about it. Nice home made site though.

**kline11** · 11-04-2005, 07:41 PM

The repetitive flower image should be changed. An image unique for each category would be nice. I would have given the image url I am referring to but there is an annoying "no right-click script", then after reviewing the code from IE's "view > source" on the browser menu, I realized that the content itself is loaded via JavaScript. Not good for SE's. Anyway, the concept is good, you just need a little variety in design to accent the variety of the products. Product images would be a good start to hook potential buyers. Lets just say I felt like I was on a site selling flowers. This is not to offend, believe me, it is to help.

**Brian07002** · 11-04-2005, 11:21 PM

I've tried mail order a few years ago, and it didn't work to well. I would get paypal. It's the best!

-Brian

**mike106** · 12-18-2006, 06:48 AM

I have flower related website and i want to exchange links, if intrested please contact me at mike@amby.biz

**jenyfari** · 12-18-2006, 09:59 PM

I think its quite a nice site although your home page looked more to me like an About Us page. The home page really needs to grab the buyers attention. I think you need to just add some photos of your products. Perhaps you could have a photo of a cloth doll and then link to the cloth doll page and then a photo of a bear and then a link next to it to the bear page and so on. This would display all of your main categories of products on your home page and be more attractive to the buyer.

Otherwise I think you have done a great job. Well done!

**jingquan** · 12-18-2006, 10:15 PM

Looks like a microsoft frontpage generated template.

**tonne2244** · 12-19-2006, 12:58 AM

In my opinion, it looks way too amatuerish and you have too many buttons on the left. You need some more graphics, maybe some pictures of things your wife has done on the first page. If you need any help I can definately be some assistance. You have a lot of possibilities, so let me know. I am also seeking reviews on my site http://www.raptureimage.com

**blackhawkpowers** · 12-19-2006, 02:29 PM

You should consider adding a wrapper with a border around the content to give it some design right now it just kinda looks like content and links centered in a page. adding a border and maybe rounding the corners would give you more of a document type look to it that would look much better in my opinion.

**Deja** · 12-19-2006, 09:07 PM

Hi Finches,

I don't know if anyone has specifically referred to this, but I noticed something in the top frame. Not sure if you inserted a frame?

The page in the above image is:
http://www.petalsandpatches.com/applique.htm

Your wife is talented!

I think you're doing a great job.

**ACarOwner** · 12-20-2006, 06:43 AM

It kinda reminds me of the web ring-type websites that used to be popular in the late 1990's. it's a webpage, wouldn't really call it a website (I did find that other page as well). try to be a bit more creative and come up with at least a couple of other pages, maybe a showcase of your products, that's the kind of stuff people look for.

Divide the ordering page into several smaller ones, line their links up in the menu, create a structure and add content, and you'll have an awesome website that'll be a hit among your target audience, I am sure, since you have a great sense of colors and I like the top decoration on the first page (the same one got munched up by design on the ordering page, it's not fully loaded).

good luck with your homebiz, it sounds pretty promising since all the promising businesses started off from little garages with determined people who knew what they were doing, and I believe your wife is just that!

**ACarOwner** · 12-20-2006, 06:45 AM

btw, I didn't see any buttons on the left, strange, huh? Using Firefox 2.0