Review Improved Garden Site

**Dolphins39** · 04-10-2004, 01:41 AM

Please review www.landersgarden.com

thanks - - - be as harsh as necessary

support@landersgarden.com

**steveharro** · 09:48 AM

Well you seem to be on the right track but please get rid of the frame layout the search engines don't like them.Try setting out your page with tables set to 100% width so it will adjust to the different screen sizes that should cut out the side scrolling.The text links on the left are scrappy looking try a different font Verdana 11 point is a good one.

Regards Steveharro Best Download Sites

**jammin411** · 04-10-2004, 10:34 AM

I agree with the above 100%. Get rid of the frames. They cause link problems, they are not search engine friendly, and they are just funny looking when you have a navigation window that scrolls while the rest of the page does not.

Next thing, please get rid of the background, or make it one leaf, not a bunch. It is difficult to read some things, and very distracting.

That logo is good. I really like how the edges are fuzzy, do not change a thing there. That is perfect for this site. However, when you go away from the frames, if you do, get rid of the LandersGarden.com text above the body. Make a banner, or use it for simple navigation or something. Maybe even some advertising.

On your virtual tour page, your graphics are not .gif's so they show the white background. That is part of the reason why I suggest going to a simplier background. If you decide to stay with this you need to make all of your graphics a .gif so they can have a transparent background.

Now, on the tour itself, your navigation for it is hard to understand at first. I think that you should change this to a standard navigation style. IE: a left and right arrow, or next and back, something like that. Now I know that no matter where you click it moves on, but keep it simple. Your visitors will thank you.

In your navigation make a home link. Your logo or something needs to be linked to your home page. Rather than naming it LandersGarden.com, make it say home. Include your logo in that also, of course with no border.

Last thing, find out how much traffic that webring will bring in. If it is minimal amounts, get rid of it. Once approved, it is going to take up a very large amount of space, and for minimal returns. That has just been my experience with webrings. Only a couple have actually worked for me, and they were very popular topics. Things like this usually are not high enough on people list to look for a webring.

5 out of 10. Mainly because of the frames.

**Dolphins39** · 04-10-2004, 01:59 PM

Thanks for the advice. Tell me what you think of www.landersgarden.com/index1.asp. Its just the first page, but tell me what you think so i can change everything accodingly.

**Tzunami** · 04-10-2004, 02:22 PM

OK, looks a lot better without the frames.

Here are a few suggestions that might help you to polish it off a bit more:

1. There is too much white space. Try to break it up a bit with sections of colour or re-arrange the site for more effective use of space.

2. You mention your offline store on the first page, but you could tie it in with your online presence more. If people see your online store as a continuation of an established business, they will be more likely to buy from you. Try a larger, better quality picture of the shop on the main page - and use it to break up some of the content.

3. The short survey could be a little imposing on the main page. Either work on separating it from the rest of the content or have it on a separate page.
At the least tidy it up a bit so that the boxes line up.

4. The logo and pictures have been "code resized" causing distortion. Always resize pictures in an image editor and put them into the page using the exact pixel size to avoid this happening.

5. Make more of your contact details on the main page.

6. Possibly a point, possibly not... Is the award mentioned on the main page genuine? If i'm speaking out of term here I apologise, but customers can easily see through fake or "mickey mouse" awards on web sites and they do little to inspire confidence - often instead having the opposite effect.

Other than that you're certainly on the right track - a bit of reworking on the colours and fonts, possibly using cascading style sheets and you'll be there.

Best of luck with the site

**Arfan** · 04-10-2004, 03:18 PM

i think it looked better with the leaf background

**jammin411** · 04-10-2004, 03:33 PM

Ok, that looks a lot better. The only thing I would change is in your left navigation where it is in the text box. Make those just standard links, or look into a javascript pop-out menu or a DHTML menu. I think that would look really sharp on this. Good job though. This is much better.

8 out of 10

**wicko3** · 04-10-2004, 05:29 PM

Yes, a normal drop-down list or pop-out menu would be a lot more user friendly than scrolling down the listboxes you have in your side navigation bar.

I would like to see all of the site in Comic Sans like your body text is. I think Comic is an ideal font for this type of website.

You may want to consider a more interesting title graphic than just big text. If you would like, I could have a go at designing a simple title graphic for you.

The second site is a lot better than the first. It is good how you have aligned the check boxes in your poll, and made the page the right width as well.

A minor point: seeing as you have the "L" in your title capitalised, why not make the "G" capitalised as well. It would just highlight that Landers and Garden are two different words.

Regards

**Dolphins39** · 04-10-2004, 06:39 PM

Do you think the links on the sidebar should always be blue or should they be green?

**wicko3** · 04-11-2004, 05:57 AM

Oooh - tricky one - do you stick with the green or introduce the blue? I'd recommend sticking with green personally.

**tonya** · 04-11-2004, 07:20 AM

I read everyones comments and wanted to add some of my own so here goes.

1. Agree with frames issue never ever ever so if u got rid good !

2. I like the green leaf background and over all colour is good for theme but you should consider plugging a style sheet in (css) and look at your link colours etc. Try thinking about colours that compliment and use them in the whole style. So maybe dark greens or even yellows or olives. Try getting hold of a colour wheel. http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/ try the 30 day trial and look at colour schemes. Certainly the links in blue and purple right now don't fit.

3. The virtual tour is slow (even on my broadband) and I couldnt work out where I was going. Why not draw a map or layout (like an airial) of the site with links to open up zoom in shots of various parts of the site. Speed up the pics by exporting them as smaller jpegs maybe.

4. I see that most of the pages are ASP. I have been an ASP trainer and developer for many years now and can see why its a great idea but don't forget the layout of content is still really important. On your events page for example it says there are no events but then has something else layered over it ! If you need ASP help or lists of forums etc over the time spent working on my own site & its ASP issues and working on development projects I have found some great resources (links available through my site links http://www.tonya.me.uk/Links/links_s...rch1=developer)

Hope this helps - keep at it. It all comes together in the end and is so very satisfying !

Tonya

**steveharro** · 04-12-2004, 09:09 AM

Yes that's much better the only thing I still don't like is the nav links try putting this between the <head> </head> tags and play around with it until you get the look your after.

<STYLE>
A { color: #0000FF;
text-decoration: none; }
A:hover { color: #FF0000;
text-decoration: none; }
P { font-family: Verdana;
font-size: 11pt; }
</STYLE>

As you can see you only need to change the colors or size.
Hope this helps.

Regards Steveharro Best Download Sites

**nixies78@yahoo.** · 04-12-2004, 10:22 AM

Your company Logo in the left hand cornor looks like it's suffered from being resized, is their anyway you could tidy it up. Their also seems to be a couple of issues with the text, the spacing between them looks a little odd. And I don't mean to be too negative but their does seem to be a little too much green. Apart from that it a nice start for a website.

**Dolphins39** · 04-12-2004, 11:53 AM

I fixed the logo, but now it seems blurry. If you know of any good programs that will resize an image please tell me. I also changed the colors. Tell me what you think now.

**steveharro** · 09:01 AM

I had a look at your logo and it's in jpeg format which is better suited to photos.I changed it to a gif and I think it looks a bit better but that will be for you to decied anyway I will email to you I named it flower so you may want to rename it back to what it was.

Regards Steveharro Best Download Sites

**plasticfeet** · 04-13-2004, 01:20 PM

Im not a big fan of the fonts. There is just something about it that makes it look amateur.

**Dolphins39** · 04-16-2004, 09:48 AM

Thanks for the input about the fonts, the only thing is, since it is a garden site, I like the laid back style. I am really concerned with the colors. Tell me what you think. Or if you find any other errors.

**Jcgeuze** · 04-16-2004, 12:25 PM

1. your site site doesn't feel very professional, which makes people less eager to spend money on your site. Its all very basic
, get rid of the ring-banner. Makes it look like a geocity's site

2. some images failed to load.

3. your orderform is not secure, no way i'm going to order there.

4. put up specials on the main page, get people interested the moment they open the page.

**Dolphins39** · 04-16-2004, 11:33 PM

Thanks for the input. Tell me what you think of the sidebar and the fonts, the color, and the overall layout. I am still working on making specials and stuff and so the bar on the right changes every time. But tell me what you think of the layout and the colors and if there are any dead links. Thanks.

**Dolphins39** · 04-18-2004, 01:12 PM

Please review www.landersgarden.com . . . again.

I made many changes including color, design, security, fonts, and most of all . . . NO FRAMES!!!!

Please tell me if you find any dead links or any suggestions.

I am aware that there are not that many pictures in the store so do not tell me that.

Be as harsh as necessary.

Thanks