Can I have some feedback on my new website please

[MrsHBeauty]

Treatments | Belle Vie Beauty

I've had it designed for me. Theres a few things id like changed, but I was looking for some opinions please.

x

 

[MrsHBeauty]

Belle Vie Beauty

thats the home page link

 

[Mydreamwebsite]

Hey there!

Lovely website, I adore the colour theme.

I noticed there was no SEO on the website to help with google rankings. I also noticed there was no domain name attached to the page. Is this from a free website company?

I think it would be great to add a gallery page if you have any images to upload.

And I would personally make the writing a darker colour as the colour writing it is can be hard on the eye.

Other than that I really like it. xx

 

[MrsHBeauty]

Hey there!

Lovely website, I adore the colour theme.

I noticed there was no SEO on the website to help with google rankings. I also noticed there was no domain name attached to the page. Is this from a free website company?

I think it would be great to add a gallery page if you have any images to upload.

And I would personally make the writing a darker colour as the colour writing it is can be hard on the eye.

Other than that I really like it. xx

Thankyou, it is a draft from a company building it for me. I have gone for a 3 page package. I dont have pictures at the minute, but I am starting to take some, and might add it n at a later date. I was thinking of asking to put pictures of me and my staff on the about us section? Im unhappy with the treatments page, there are things missing and I dont like the flow. I currently have this website www.fishy-feet-spa.co.uk but I want to move away from vista print.

 

[Mydreamwebsite]

I will PM you now hunni as its not right for a web designer to not meet your expectations and needs. You are meant to be amazed by what they do. Xxx

 

[Verve Designs]

I like the logo (cough cough)

I like it, but- it seems rather....plain? Seems to be lacking a bit of "oomph" somehow.

Are you able to edit the site yourself? I see it's a fairly basic HTML site- I'd be concerned if you weren't able to log in and change stuff yourself (the "flow" of your price list for example ought to be someting you can log in and do), not being able to do so is a little old-fashioned these days

*edit - I've just seen it costs £149 for a three page site basic HTML...that seems a bit steep!

 

[Mydreamwebsite]

I like the logo (cough cough)

I like it, but- it seems rather....plain? Seems to be lacking a bit of "oomph" somehow.

Are you able to edit the site yourself? I see it's a fairly basic HTML site- I'd be concerned if you weren't able to log in and change stuff yourself (the "flow" of your price list for example ought to be someting you can log in and do), not being able to do so is a little old-fashioned these days

*edit - I've just seen it costs £149 for a three page site basic HTML...that seems a bit steep!

I agree fully! £149 is very steep for a basic 3 page website design. Well done with your logo work I like it x

 

[Ruth Mills]

I like the logo (cough cough)

I like it, but- it seems rather....plain? Seems to be lacking a bit of "oomph" somehow.

Are you able to edit the site yourself? I see it's a fairly basic HTML site- I'd be concerned if you weren't able to log in and change stuff yourself (the "flow" of your price list for example ought to be someting you can log in and do), not being able to do so is a little old-fashioned these days

*edit - I've just seen it costs £149 for a three page site basic HTML...that seems a bit steep!

I'd agree that having content management where you can make pertinent changes to the site yourself is also a huge bonus - after all, that is what you are getting with Vistaprint and the free website providers (Weebly, Yola et al) - so if they can give you that for free, then it would make sense for a company you are paying good money for to offer it as well.

The main disadvantage of the free website providers as I see it is that the graphics usually aren't up to scratch, and the range of templates is somewhat limited.

But it is certainly possible to do good SEO with the majority of free website providers. If a free website provider doesn't give you the option to edit your meta tags, for example, then they are really missing a trick!

Also £149 for a static 3-page site seems rather expensive in my opinion too!

 

[j.smith1981]

Sorry to but in about this but I had to reply to this:

I like the logo (cough cough)

I like it, but- it seems rather....plain? Seems to be lacking a bit of "oomph" somehow.

Are you able to edit the site yourself? I see it's a fairly basic HTML site- I'd be concerned if you weren't able to log in and change stuff yourself (the "flow" of your price list for example ought to be someting you can log in and do), not being able to do so is a little old-fashioned these days

*edit - I've just seen it costs £149 for a three page site basic HTML...that seems a bit steep!

I have just completed doing a members area, essentially 1 page but replicated due to its database queries (of which I had to go through 6 months of designing for, the actual information architecture not visually logically designing systems is what I do) they paid me £3,000.

If you are going to be making money a 3 figure sum with a Content Management System so you can update it yourself would be fairly cheap to be fair even if you are charged just under £900.

Thats how much true Web Development costs, if it helps your work then we want a pinch of that for the effort thats gone into the work.

But then the work a developer/designer (their 2 entirely different areas, I am a programmer went to University), it's just I was crawling around site and suddenly came across this and thought I would give you a decent heads up in the web world, a developer won't be skill in CSS, like wise a designer won't be skilled in development i.e. web based programming (the latter of which I do professionally, have a computer science degree to back this up with)

You could however use rentacoder now called vworker for this (I am on there when it comes to work when I want a random challenge).

 

[Verve Designs]

Sorry to but in about this but I had to reply to this:


I have just completed doing a members area, essentially 1 page but replicated due to its database queries (of which I had to go through 6 months of designing for, the actual information architecture not visually logically designing systems is what I do) they paid me £3,000.

If you are going to be making money a 3 figure sum with a Content Management System so you can update it yourself would be fairly cheap to be fair even if you are charged just under £900.

Thats how much true Web Development costs, if it helps your work then we want a pinch of that for the effort thats gone into the work.

But then the work a developer/designer (their 2 entirely different areas, I am a programmer went to University), it's just I was crawling around site and suddenly came across this and thought I would give you a decent heads up in the web world, a developer won't be skill in CSS, like wise a designer won't be skilled in development i.e. web based programming (the latter of which I do professionally, have a computer science degree to back this up with)

You could however use rentacoder now called vworker for this (I am on there when it comes to work when I want a random challenge).

I have absolutely no idea what point you're trying to make.

Are you just suggesting that what you get paid is fair enough? How's that helping the OP exactly?

If you're suggesting the good people of Salon Geek are going to pay £900 for a content management system website when they can get a perfectly good one for less than £200 then, frankly, you're mental.

** I also, ironically, have just noticed that this post isnt helping Jemima either..sorry

 

[j.smith1981]

I like the logo (cough cough)

I like it, but- it seems rather....plain? Seems to be lacking a bit of "oomph" somehow.

Are you able to edit the site yourself? I see it's a fairly basic HTML site- I'd be concerned if you weren't able to log in and change stuff yourself (the "flow" of your price list for example ought to be someting you can log in and do), not being able to do so is a little old-fashioned these days

*edit - I've just seen it costs £149 for a three page site basic HTML...that seems a bit steep!

I have absolutely no idea what point you're trying to make.

Are you just suggesting that what you get paid is fair enough? How's that helping the OP exactly?

If you're suggesting the good people of Salon Geek are going to pay £900 for a content management system website when they can get a perfectly good one for less than £200 then, frankly, you're mental.

** I also, ironically, have just noticed that this post isnt helping Jemima either..sorry

It's not a case of being mental its a case of you will make money out of it (if any luck you should) then the profits are going to be quite high so you end up paying for a decent site.

I think you are reffering to a non custom based solution if you want something around £200, even when you consider WYSIWYG if their from a hosting company they won't customise the solution just for you, I am talking about bespoke solutions here, if that is not what you where reffering to then that's fair enough but a 100% customised solution you will be expected to pay way over £200, I have never seen a site be sold for that unless their amateurs or just looking for the experience, or even just cutting corners.

You pay for what you get, I mean if you had to go through what us web developers (not designers) are commanded to deal with XSS (Cross Site Scritping, if you accept payments online and someone replicates your site on another page and steals peoples information then that's a breach of the data protection act, let alone if their sniffing the network of the Payment Service Provider (PSP) that's against PCI Compliance (Payment Card Industry( The company that owns TK Maxx was finded several thousands for breaching that regulation)).

I mean I have several solutions myself that I have developed over time to do with various CMS solutions, not actually on my blog at the moment since I am developing this database but if you have not found anyone say in 4-6 weeks time I should be free, any income for me from £35 or above is good enough for me at the moment, sorry I should have stated that before, but what you have to appreciate is that you get what you pay for with this kind of stuff you see.

If you look at this piece of work here someone wants their blog site upgrading their willing to pay over £200 approximately for http://www.vworker.com/RentACoder/misc/BidRequests/ShowBidRequest.asp?lngBidRequestId=1815028 (and thats just routinely updating a site pretty much and handling any problems thereafter once the upgrades completed) I said willing since they could quite rightly pay below that but there's this general concensus on vworker that really low bids tend to get you not very much done for your money.

Thanks,
Jez.

 

[Craig Fulton]

Treatments | Belle Vie Beauty

I've had it designed for me. Theres a few things id like changed, but I was looking for some opinions please.

x

Hi jemima,

Some positives with this site. I like how the homepage doesn't scroll down and that you have clear navigation; with 3 options below. The logo looks good (nice one Carl) and the colour scheme looks nice. One problem is the middle banner doesn't say anything about your business. It's using a very bland stock Image (ask them what site they are using and pick your own one). There's no reason for me to say "wow, this is the salon for me". This can be your chance to communicate your salon through imagery and, as Carl put it, add that little oomph. Get some exciting colour in there. Also don't just repeat your salon name. Say why you are unique and why I should spend my money with you.

The treatment page does need a little work. A scroll down option, when you hover over treatments, with headings such as 'massages' and 'eyebrows' will allow you to sell the treatments more specifically, with more information and with targeted images. Get people excited about your treatments and really paint them a picture of a wonderful experience that they will only receive with you!

 

[j.smith1981]

I have to say it's a good site with it's layout, looks a bit too long, have you considered column layouts more?

I mean one trait allot of people don't bother with (new users on thes site, unless they really are demanding something) won't scroll down a page you see.

Just for thoughts.

Sorry about missing this reply here:

Well it would really not be efficient to design a bespoke CMS for every web client who comes along; however, it is within the realms of possibility to design a generic CMS that can be re-used for each new client (and customised as necessary); if the design is such that the amount of re-work per client is minimal, then it can potentially be profitable in the long term to offer CMS powered sites for less than you say, provided you are a workaholic and prepared to do contract work during the week while devoting your evenings and weekends to working on the CMS and sites for clients.

Yea what you are of course describing is an API (Application Programmers Interface), where you make generic codes sets and call upon them and make a completely different site as per each project, I mean there are CMS systems out there that can accomplish things like this like Wordpress (I use for my blog, since I kept criticising my own development and just wanted to create an online diary for myself).

OK my degree was in Chemistry, not Computer Science, but I did do a year of research in computational chemistry as part of my degree which involved programming in C, then got a job as a C++ programmer and switched to Java a few years later and contracting a few years after that, but I certainly know a fair bit about web development. Although so saying, using frameworks like Hibernate can *really* speed up things like database design; the Spring Framework is an absolute dream to work with in terms of really flexible "plumbing" for web applications; leveraging technologies like these can really increase productivity and greatly speed up application development.

Just goes to show you learn something from every site really, I never have heard of those 2 Frameworks before, problem with me is I like to understand what's going on under the hood I mean that's why I have been dabbling in the more science side languages like low level programming I mean Assembly is one (evident on my blog somewhat) with all the base systems and stuff.

It's also possible for someone to be good at web development AND stuff like CSS, Javascript, etc, as well as being good at Linux system administration and whatnot too... Why limit yourself?

Yea I mean I did try and get back into doing CSS and I mean it's weird how client side scripting still gets counted as a designers base, when it's really essentially programming in it's own right.

One thing I wanted to ellaborate if I may concerning your site, about the columns thing I mean what if a user was not to be bothered in scrolling down for what ever reason? There's literally possibly 100's of others ok maybe there isn't but I think you get my point?

But the actual look of it looks really good to me, something I have been getting into myself is SEO and I have to say wordpress is a great site when you want impressive search engine rankings, something I really should (being that my blog is basically the default theme in WP) is get into customising wordpress, probably for now more on dev's level.

But really well done on selecting a good company, I mean it's all about personal views, one thing if I wanted say (talking from my own view here of course), if I want something say I am looking for a wifi router to go within the office where I work, then I would go trailing through all these products (in your case it'll be services) then you definately want that then you will scroll down, is this making any sense at all (being that I barely got any sleep last night, really have to stop thinking of ideas when I am meant to be sleeping lol, if you've met any insomniacs then I bet I can pass them easy not a problem lol)?

Again just for thoughts but the very best of luck with the site!

 

[Verve Designs]

"You pay for what you get, I mean if you had to go through what us web developers (not designers) are commanded to deal with XSS..."

I usually have a music conversation with my 11 year old if I want to be patronised that much

 

[j.smith1981]

I am sorry if that sounded at all patronising it really wasn't.

Another thing that I noticed when looking at various pages of the OP's site, is that there seems to be quite allot of the same tags.

I don't think it'll be too much of an issue but I was told when going through a guide of CSS called CSS Mastery by Andy Budd that you shouldn't really be using too many tags on a particular part of the site, you have say 4 H4 tags (I think that's what I noticed, could be another heading type) but the same concept applies that you could use the <br /> or <br> tag if you are going for strict HTML then it would be the <br> as the XHTML standard is the <br /> tag (you always have a closing tag in XML (XHTML is just eXtensible HTML as such).

 

[furiousfrog]

I am sorry if that sounded at all patronising it really wasn't.

Another thing that I noticed when looking at various pages of the OP's site, is that there seems to be quite allot of the same tags.

I don't think it'll be too much of an issue but I was told when going through a guide of CSS called CSS Mastery by Andy Budd that you shouldn't really be using too many tags on a particular part of the site, you have say 4 H4 tags (I think that's what I noticed, could be another heading type) but the same concept applies that you could use the <br /> or <br> tag if you are going for strict HTML then it would be the <br> as the XHTML standard is the <br /> tag (you always have a closing tag in XML (XHTML is just eXtensible HTML as such).

I'm not sure what you're driving at here, but having 4 <h4> tags on a page isn't really a problem. A good rule of thumb is that you have a max of tags that corresponds to the number -ie just 1 <h1>, 2 x <h2>, 3 x <h3> and so forth. You won't get penalised if you stick to that.

Also, her declaration is XHTML 1.0 Transitional, so <br /> is absolutely essential - having unclosed breaks would invalidate the markup.

If you run it through W3C's markup validation service, the document is perfectly valid with no advisories. Whatever your subjective opinion on the site, the coding's clean and well done.

 

[furiousfrog]

Oh, and fwiw, I really like the site you've got. It's clean, well-written and looks very professional. The comments about the stock images are valid - they can look a bit generic on occasion, but this doesn't detract from the professionalism of the site.

Colours are good and the whole thing is easy on the eye. I actually think you got a bit of a bargain there for £150. You should see some of the eyesores I've had to fix for people who have had to pay significantly more than that!

What is it you're not happy about with the site?

 

[Yadagi]

I actually prefer your Vista site, prefer the colour and background design, and set up. I would change the Fishy feet name and leave it as Belle Vie Beauty and change some of your pics and leave others . Don't waste your money , there are plenty of threads on here to help you with your own site .

 

[Ruth Mills]

I especially like the section with the navigation menu (Superfish incidentally - one of my favourite jQuery plugins of all time)... although I think it would look more interesting if there was a different caption and image below the navigation menu on each page... or maybe even a slideshow of pics fading in to each other (easy enough to do with jQuery and a plugin called Innerfade).

The rest of the site (below the navigation menu and image) is perhaps a bit on the minimalist side to my eyes though; particularly the treatments page; with regards to the treatments page, it's a bit of a shame if that in particular is not content managed, as salons often add new treatments and change prices, and it would be quite a hassle (and probably an expense too) to have to get in touch with the web designer every time you want to change a price or whatever! Things like special offers too will probably want to change every few weeks or every month or whatnot.

The actual HTML code itself looks pretty clean though.

 

[MrsHBeauty]

Thank you for all your help, as you can imagine most of it has gone over my head lol I have learnt things today tho. I have asked the website guy a zillion questiones I hadn't even thought of asking, possibly to late but at least I'll know. I really don't like the treatments page.

Thanks again for all your help x