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Subject: Site for review
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carizzio
Nuker
Nuker
Posts:12
07 Apr 2008 10:44 AM  
Hey all, the following url is to a client site I did in DNN. 

http://www.eclipsesys.com

I believe it displays properly in IE6... but it was primarily tested in all the recent browsers.

Constructive criticism not only welcome but encouraged.

Thanks.
andyb1979
Nuke Ace
Nuke Ace
Posts:56
08 Apr 2008 10:01 AM  
Its a very professional and well designed site. I like the overall look & feel and is another in the line of excellent looking dotnetnuke sites. If I have some criticisms, they are minor, in no apparent order:

1. Its not immediately apparent on the homepage what the site is actually for. I gather by looking a little closer its for medical instruments? Are you selling them, recommending them, building them etc...

Maybe this will be more apparent to someone who is working in this field. I would have a think about how you are presenting your content on the homepage and what a naive user will think when looking at the site. Content can be rotated if you want to keep it consise yet still display a range of options to users. There are modules that exist to do content rotation.

A good book on site usability is "Dont Make Me Think" - cant remember who its by!

- I will note that the content is presented very well on other pages. My criticism on this point is mainly with the homepage.
- e.g. these pages are presented excellently http://www.eclipsesys.com/EquipmentServices/tabid/174/Default.aspx, http://www.eclipsesys.com/PartsLocator/tabid/245/Default.aspx
its immediately apparent what they are for and you can locate content within them quickly.

Something I like about the content on the site is that the pages don't suffer from the "tumbleweed effect", where a page has too little content to warrant having its own page. Each page does have its own identity and is appropriately consise yet has enough information to be useful. The only one I really find fault with under this criteria is the homepage.


2. The FavIcon could be changed, its dotnetnuke default at the moment. This is a 10 minute job and can be done with this site http://www.favicon.co.uk/

3. You could use sIFR to add a custom font to the header above the image on the homepage, this would allow you to add a custom font, yet leave the text in there for search engines. Do a google search on "Futuristic Fonts" and you will find hundreds of great free fonts for download. The sIFR tutorial with dotnetnuke is issue 10 or 11 I think. sIFR 3 is now out which I've used and found it simpler and more powerful than sIFR 2.

Finally Im not a bit advocate of flash, but I almost expected the image on the homepage to move! Even a slight modification such as keep the planet/sun image static but animate the text very subtly can reduce the static effect that looks a bit oldschool.

Ok, that sounded quite critical, that's not my intention - I actually think the site is really good, but these are my immediate opinions which I thought might be helpful!


Sites I made thanks to DNNCreative vids!
Rock Rhyme & Reason Fest | The Big Match
carizzio
Nuker
Nuker
Posts:12
08 Apr 2008 1:55 PM  
Thank you for the complement and for such an extensive review. I really wasn't expected something as thorough and helpful as that. I will be swapping that favicon, slipped my mind... THANKS! And I have heard of SIFR and you brought up a great point there, I'll be reading up on that asap and hope to utilize it in future projects. I too am not an advocate of flash, I feel it is not necessary in about 90% of the cases it is used, but I do see what you are saying with the home page and how I have the large banner images. I do not personally know flash, but have heard it can be quite expensive to have someone develop for you and the client was on a somewhat limited budget so we opted to stick with static images for the header graphics.

Thanks again for taking the time to review the site Andy. Got a couple more in the works that should be done soon that I will be posting.

Take care!
andyb1979
Nuke Ace
Nuke Ace
Posts:56
15 Apr 2008 2:28 AM  
Yes, you don't need anything complicated. Just the background image static with some text fading in would give it some life.

Only ever put the flash on the homepage. Otherwise, every time someone clicks a link, it reloads and restarts. Annoying!!! xD

Also, I'd recommend trying SwishMax - this is an adobe flash alternative. It lets you develop in flash, but it only costs $150 USD for a license. I've not tried it but will be giving it a go soon as I work for non-profit organisations, and these guys give a 50% discount for charities. A 14 day trial is available from here:

http://www.swishzone.com/index.php
Sites I made thanks to DNNCreative vids!
Rock Rhyme & Reason Fest | The Big Match
carizzio
Nuker
Nuker
Posts:12
15 Apr 2008 12:38 PM  
Nice! Thanks for the info. Once I wrap up a couple projects I'm going to be lookin' into that.
host_critics
Nuke Newbie
Nuke Newbie
Posts:1
11 May 2008 3:20 AM  
Hi there,

Could you please also review http://www.asphostcentral.com?
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