Please review my site :-)

**coldfunk** · 06-23-2002, 05:20 AM

Hi Guys,

I'm new here.....I'm always looking for feedback and ways to improve my site.....

Please feel free to review it for me at coldfunk.com If you like it, you may want to swap links or banners with me.

I know the site is not perfect, but I'd love to see what you think!

Thanks
Brian Lee Whitworth
c|o|l|d|f:u:n:k

**HeidiLynn** · 06-23-2002, 05:45 AM

Overall I think it is well done. Of course I do have some little nitpicky comments but you can take 'em or leave 'em

First is that scrolling text on the main page. I would get rid of that. I found it distracting until I moved it off screen.

Also my one other little nitpicky thing is that on the main page you have the navigation links across the top and the logo below, a little too far below it maybe, but still below it.

Then on the other pages the navigation links are squished to the right of the logo.

I think it would look better if you kept the links above the logo. It would give the site uniformity and visitors would know exactly where to find them at all times if they were in the same place each page.

I found the content to be somewhat interesting but that is just personal preference. I am sure you get a lot of interested users.

As far as design and ease of navigation go I would have to give this site a 7 out of 10.

A couple other minor things...

ColdFunk - I thought the logo would be better blue in this case. I mean cold and red just don't seem to go together.

Also in some countries red is a sign of agression or anger.

I found todays quote hilarious

**coldfunk** · 06-23-2002, 05:59 AM

Thanks for your review!!

I am aware of the navigation issues, and I am currently thinking of ideas and things to make this better....

Thanks for rating it as a 7/10.......I am quite proud about that!! I really really do appreciate feedback, and respect and take on board the less positive things.

I am currently going though a major promotion drive and hopefully this should see an interest in traffic boost.

PS. I loved the quote too......so true!!

Brian.

**HeidiLynn** · 06-23-2002, 06:10 AM

btw, if you want to make the link in your signature a hyperlink just do this:

[ URL=http://url.com] blah[/URL ]

of course remove the spaces after the [ and before the last ]

I had to do that so it would display the code and not link it.

And change 'blah' to whatever you like.

**coldfunk** · 06-23-2002, 06:17 AM

Ok, Hopefully this has worked.....**crosses fingers**

**coldfunk** · 06-23-2002, 06:19 AM

Tries again!!

**HeidiLynn** · 06-23-2002, 06:23 AM

You need to remove the last space just before the ] on the end.

**coldfunk** · 06-23-2002, 06:25 AM

Woo-Hoo!!

Done it! thanks for the helping hand

**HeidiLynn** · 06-23-2002, 06:32 AM

No problem at all. Anytime.

I can still remember when I didn't know how to do that with vBcode but someone helped me.

Just returning the small bit of kindness that was shown to me a few years ago.

**coldfunk** · 06-23-2002, 06:40 AM

Thanks buddy!

**coldfunk** · 06-23-2002, 06:42 AM

Whoops. this is supposed to be a reply to my earlier thread....moderator could u move it for me!!

Thanks

**HeidiLynn** · 06-23-2002, 06:56 AM

I don't think I can move a thread and append it onto another one. Why not just delete this thread and add your reply in the thread you meant to have it in?

**DaveMo~** · 06-23-2002, 08:08 AM

Their merged!

Now, it's ready for more reviews!

Dave

**coldfunk** · 06-23-2002, 08:45 AM

Thank you so much!!

**vito** · 06-25-2002, 08:46 PM

1. I agree with the fact that you really should standardize a nav bar and place it in the same place on every page (preferably above the fold)

2. It seems your header is just a bit too big. Your actual page content barely shows up when the page loads. I have to scroll to see more than one line of content. So your header is taking up something like 550 px in height.

3. On many pages, it's difficult to figure out where the page structure is. Everything just seems to "hang" there without any reference to structure. Perhaps look at your pages and try to visualize an overall "flow" of information. That might help you get a better feel for the layout.

4. I agree that the scrolling text has got to go...very distracting.

That's it for now.
Vito

**coldfunk** · 06-30-2002, 11:25 AM

I have taken your advice.

The marquees have gone, I have made the logo smaller and I have standardised the nav bar....

What do you think now...?? click here to go to coldfunk

Please let me know your opinions....I really appreciate the feedback!!

Brian

**HeidiLynn** · 06-30-2002, 11:34 AM

Very nice. I like it a ton more now.

One thing I did notice was that you had the site on Tripod. May I venture to make a suggestion?

I mentioned this in the "best free hosting" thread under Hosting but I will say a little here.

You should try ableinternet.com. You can be hosted free. You get 50mbs of space and 100mbs of transfer, www.yourname.com, FTP, CGI, and PHP. Oh and no ads.

Anyway, back on topic. I really like how it looks now.

Good job on the updates.

**vito** · 06-30-2002, 11:44 AM

Yes, it does look a whole lot better now. One thing I noticed, though. You should doublecheck the sizes of your rollover images. When you mouse over some of the buttons (like Cult Movies) the size changes. Yet other buttons stay the same size.

Otherwise, your changes are good.

Vito

**coldfunk** · 06-30-2002, 12:25 PM

Yes I noticed that too....I have fixed that problem. Try it again, you will see the mouseovers on the nav bar are now near perfect.....!! thanks for pointing it out!

As for being on tripod...I find them to be very good, and have had no problems....I also sign up for tripod plus and am happy with the extras I get with that.....thanks again for suggesting the other hosts, but I think I will be staying with tripod for now.

Keep your eye on the site as I will be updating more very soon....(PS feel free to join my forum as I am recruiting more members!)

Thanks
Brian

**conkermaniac** · 06-30-2002, 03:15 PM

Hi coldfunk,

I haven't rated your site before, so this will be my first time.

The last time I tried, I wasn't able to because I was back in China, where Tripod, I believe, has blocked Asian visitors. I would just like to mention that Tripod isn't a great host really because of only one reason. Though it seems pretty fast from where I am now and it's reliable, it's blocked in many Asian countries. Also, it seems like they don't even offer you domain hosting (you use your coldfunk.com domain as a redirection). I would move to another cheap paid host; there are many out there.

Now onto your website...

I do like the navigation bar at the top; it looks unique and organized. However, I'm not too impressed by the navigation bar in the left-column of your website. The reason I don't like it, I think, is because it looks awkward when everything else on the page (including the navigation table) is centered, but the points inside this menu is not. I recommend that you center everything inside that as well. I think that will be a very easy fix, and it will make the main page look so much better.

Next, the main page is simply too empty. I don't know how to explain it. There's too much space between the logo and the top menu. I know that you want this effect, but the logo perhaps could be bigger. Just look at the two columns for a better example. If you look down the middle of those two columns, you'll notice that the aligning looks awkward. Sometimes, text sticks out, and sometimes it's inward. The picture of the t-shirt, BTW, might be a bit to big.

I am impressed with your use of colors. They don't need any changing, if you like it the way it is. But I do have some personal recommendations that you may/may not like.

Try making the borders of the tables (throughout the site) another color besides white. There might be a little too much of white already.

You also might want to put a different hover color on the links. Otherwise, great work! Fits the theme perfectly.

Now we get to the pages that do not include the main page...On all the pages, I see you have the logo, a home button, and a new "Home" link in your top nav bar. There are so many suggestions I have for this small detail that I think will improve your site

:

1) Eliminate the home button
2) Make the "Home" menu button a brown button like the rest
3) Enlarge and center the logo;
4) Make the logo a link to the main page.

Again, I would like to remind you again that you should not center and left-align things at the same time. I see this is a recurring problem throughout your website. Please also check the Reviews, Mailbag, and Links pages. This effect is actually done very nicely on the Movies & TV page, if you could copy the effect from there.

I love the "Fun Stuff" page. Great content! Only one suggestion, and that would be to use bullets. The numbers you have listed for "Useful Expressions for the High-Stuff Days" cannot be seen (black on black). The font in that section is Times, so you might want to change that back to Arial, like everything else.

The UK Top Ten table is very messy on the music page. You have to fix that!

Last thing before I move on to the interactive stuff...don't get the text too close to the images. It doesn't look that great.

I see you have a free ezBoard. Thank God I have Mozilla (a browser that has an automatic pop-up killer), so those annoying pop-ups don't show up! There are better free alternatives to ezBoard, and I could name some for you, if you're interested.

Might also want to put the forum as one of the links up there. I only see it as a link in the Interact section (easily missed) and as a small link near the bottom of the main page.

Gotta love the images, and there seems to be lots of stuff to do on your website. Very interactive, and I love the content!

Good luck with it!

The Verdict: 6.5