Please review my website

[steveg]

Please let me know what you think of my website cornstoves.net (http://www.cornstoves.net)

I am new to web site building and this is my first attempt.

I am interested in any suggestions for design and security improvement.

Thanks

[(jj)]

Just a quick peek, but I'd suggest that you use a nice static image for your front page instead of the 350k avi file that you have. Not every user will be able to see your avi movie file and all they will see is the "broken image" indicator which makes it look as though you did not code the page correctly. Plus, 350k is a pretty large file for any dialup user that stops at your site.

[cavey]

On mouse over of your links at the top i get a scope around the text. is this a site for guns? you could have them burning instead since this is for fire stoves. you should give a direct link to there "cost comparison" charts. when getting a quote the person shouldn't have to wait for an email back to see how much it might cost. you could use php to make a simple script and spit out a cost without shiping.

[steveg]

Thanks for your reviews. Many of my customers ask what an operating stove looks like, so that is the purpose of the AVI file. I am working on an option for visitors to click on the file if they want to view a stove.

Thanks

[YvetteKuhns]

The site is black and the links have an effect that looks like the scope of a gun. The design is not appropriate for a website selling stoves for homes. A more homey feel would be nice. The hit counter is not necessary. Use webstats to keep track of visits.

There is no About Us page to learn more information about the company. There are no privacy, payment, refund policies visible. There is no contact us page, though most of that info is at the bottom of the page where the copyright info should be. A contact page should include the business name, address, phone and/or fax number, email address, and business hours.

If you have any testimonials or photos of the products on display or installed at a customer's home, include them. Any additional information or images will help sell the products.

[dizzyd]

Yeah i like the idea of flame links or something of that matter. Nice site though

[(jj)]

Many of my customers ask what an operating stove looks like, so that is the purpose of the AVI file

That's fine, but use it in a link that the visitor has the option of clicking on to see. Don't force those on dialup connections to wait for the AVI to load, you may be losing potential customers when they get tired of waiting and leave your site.

[YvetteKuhns]

JJ is right about visitors waiting for the AVI. You can always convert an AVI to SWF.

[dizzyd]

What about changing the default blue link border around your images that have links, to a color to match your site...

[(jj)]

Or just add border="0" to your <img> tags to remove the blue border alltogether. :)

The site is looking much better and is so much faster loading the first page now, keep up the good work ;)

[steveg]

Thanks for the continued review of my site, I am working on more changes as I have time. I have a question, how do you convert an AVI file to a SWI file?

[YvetteKuhns]

If you have Flash, you can convert AVI to SWF. If not, ask someone who has Flash to do it for you! ;)

[(jj)]

Steve,

Played around a little with your avi file, converted it to a Flash swf as well as a .gif file.

The .gif is ~160K and the .swf is ~ 175K

The Flash version would be the best choice (in my opinion) since it will "steam" while loading.

If you want to take a look, they are HERE (http://www.rccomputer.net/stuff/stove.html) There is also a link there to download all of the files in Zip format ~350K

[YvetteKuhns]

How about that. You didn't even have to ask. Isn't JJ a nice guy?! :)

[steveg]

JJ

Thanks for the help with the file conversion, I was looking for a file conversion program when I got your reply. The file looks great, however, I can not download the file through the link on your page. Am I doing something wrong? I click on the link and get a file not found error.

Thanks for the help, this forum is the best.

[(jj)]

The file looks great, however, I can not download the file through the link on your page. Am I doing something wrong?

Nope, you weren't doing anything wrong, it was an old geezers mistake :D Try it now and it should work fine. Sorry

[steveg]

jj

Thanks again for the zip file.