Both are for the same client

Overall, the Lab Organizer site design is clear and attractive, but there are some things that can be improved upon.

First, the hover button on the first page has decided not to load this time and I cannot get into your site (I will try to reload, but keep in mind, prospective customers most likely will not). You would be better off using a different form of navigation, such as a JavaScript rollover. FP hover buttons are terribly unpredictable. Sometimes they even crash browsers.

You are right about the first page. You may want to keep in mind that search engines will be looking for text on the index page. Also, along that line, I believe you need more of a company description for your site. Coming into the site cold, I have no idea who the company is, if they are reputable, how long they've been around, where they are located, etc.

You are aware that the home button is linked to the product page?

Did you anti-alias your logo? It looks just a bit jagged.

It appears the shopping cart is working. :-)

On the TrippNT site, the header font graphic looks blurry to me and the yellow, "Get Your Lab..." letters are running together. If your graphics program has a way to do it, that would look better with the letters spread apart a little.

I'm sorry, but there's something that bugs the daylights out of me on that home page (haven't gotten further, yet)...all those sentence fragments...fingernails on the chalkboard! One occasionally for emphasis I can overlook, but so many is just a turn-off. I know we talk that way, and in very informal writing we do, but this is not informal. You are appealing to professional, educated people.

On the Product Index page, I see you're not finished, but I have a recommendation for the title graphic. It really needs to be made a transparent .gif. The background is obvious, and the .jpg format is causing a "glow" around the letters because it has been compressed too far. A good rule of thumb is to keep .jpg for photo-type graphics, and for those with lots of gradient attributes.

The click button is not clear as to where you are going when you click.

I got to the Chemical Compatibility Table and lost all page navigation. It is best to keep the navigation consistent on all pages.

Hey...I just went to your order form and saw where the company is. I lived in Lee's Summit for a year and grew up in that area. Small world!

That reminds me...again, no company information up front...who you are, where you are, ditto the related comments about the first site. If I'm a customer and surfing around, looking at products and have a question, is there a phone number I can use to contact the company? I see it on some pages, but not all. Some kind of contact information should be on each page, consistently in the same place, an obvious e-mail address and/or phone number. Often that would accompany a textual navigation bar at the bottom of each page.

I am printing the order form and it gets cut off big-time. From previous online shopping experience (and surfing for research purposes) this is very annoying. You should either make that form a lot narrower, give instructions on how to print in landscape format, or provide a link to a printer-friendly form.

Be sure to add alternative text for all your graphics. You also need to take a look at your description meta tag. Basically, what you've got is another list of keywords. A description should be a sentence describing your business or site.

I do like the way you've put your products in colored cells to separate them.

Best of luck with your site.

Sandy

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www.alleghenyweb.com

Thanx for the critique it is much appreciated
since those two sites are from my first client, and just recently landed two more.

Have a look see at http://www.funblock.com

Now...for the FunBlock site...

I believe I'd go a little further with the primary color theme. I'm not super-crazy about the background behind the menu. Because the color is made lighter or transparent, it almost seems washed-out compared to the Legos.

Again, the nav buttons could either be text or they need to be made into transparent .gifs....They need something.

This is strictly personal opinion, but I don't really like the background behind the other part of your page either (sorry), because at first I strained to see what it was saying, then when I decided to ignore it, I could still tell there was "something" there.

I would remove the line, "page best viewd...." Again, in my opinion, the best designers put pages together that look nice at all resolutions. People will not change their resolutions to view a site. They have them set where they want them.

Raytown...I'm getting homesick. I know that area better than where I live now. Wouldn't it be funny if we knew each other?

The itsy-bitsy italics used for captions are very hard to read. On the About page, for the top picture, I wouldn't even have a caption since it is repeated in the text beneath. On the bottom picture, I'd probably put the caption to the side.

Watch the compression on your photos. If you have distortion (kind of a clear halo), they have been compressed too far.

Usually, I don't like the link border around pictures, but with the colors used on this site, I don't think it hurts a thing. I am not a fan of the bevel effect on pics, though, especially for a business.

You have some good content on this site...lots to work with.

Best wishes,
Sandy

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www.alleghenyweb.com

[This message has been edited by Goober (edited 02-16-2001).]