Critique me? I can take it, honestly!

[katfysh]

Hello,

I have just updated my website for the 1 millionth time and would like your comments, criticism and feedback.

I'm not the best HTMLer in the world, I admit it. Sometimes I manage to fudge something to make it work but I'm sure my code would make a seasoned HTMLer scream in fright!!! I recently had someone write an index page for me with javascript in it, and for the life of me couldn't get it to work!! Ha ha. So I'm back to basics.

I also use a different resolution from practically everyone in the world or so I'm told, so I'm sure what looks good to me probably doesn't to you. I downloaded a nifty sounding program that it supposed to show me how it looks in different resolutions but it doesn't work! Darn.

Be honest and brutal, I can take it.
Cheers,
Katherine

www.katfysh.com

[MannInc]

Overall, not too bad for someone who's "not the best HTMLer in the world" :) The only item I'd really say you might want to work on is the code itself. Optimizing it can cut as much as 1- 2KB from each page. Keep up the good work.

BTW, there's only a tiny bit of scrolling to the right here on a 15" monitor at 800x600.

[alphadesk]

Hi Kat,

Site looks great. Very clean, easy to nav, functional design for your products. Colors are good and compliments your product range.

Now the things that you might want to look at.

The shopping cart should be a priority. Make as easy as possible for visitors to buy your product with no hiccups.

I am a believer in design white space, but your products pages seem to take it to the extreme. You could show 6 products/page instead of 3 and still have plenty of white space.

You are hear at the forum so you are probably already looking into this. I would setup my own in house guestbook and forum. Bravenet is ok, but the minute you go there you know your not at your site anymore and you have to hit the back button to get back to your site. The free offerings are nice and easy, but at some point it takes your traffic.

[katfysh]

Thank you for your comments. I will certainly be cleaning up my code over the next week or so, I'm still using the top half of the page someone created for me (with some changes) so I don't get some of the code, but as soon as I sort it out in my head I will clean it up online.

I will also change the gallery to have 6 items per page, that's a good suggestion, thanks.

I have briefly looked into my own guest book and forum but have been a bit scared by all the technical stuff. I will look into it again and see what I can do.

The shopping cart has been bothering me for a while now, though I haven't investigated that fully yet either, I was put off because of the costs involved. Whilst I've had the website for a while now I don't really sell enough to pay for all that, just to pay for my next lot of supplies.

If you have any suggestions of where to go about implementing the above please let me know!

Thanks again for your comments, it is much appreciated.

Cheers,
Katherine
www.katfysh.com

[Jeff321]

You should try to eliminate the horizontal scroll on 800x600 resolution. Change your resolution if you're in something above 800x600 and take a look. Chopping off some of the logo image at the top should do the trick. Another thing, I would put the "Home", "Gallery", etc. bar on the left side, before "Links" and "Link to Us". You should put those at the top right. Typically, more important links are put on the left side of a page. Overall, it's looking great--keep up the good work :)

[katfysh]

I have done as suggested and changed my resolution and fixed the scrolling, it looks OK from my end so hopefully it has worked!

I have also changed the galleries so there are more items on each page.

Still working on the rest!

Thanks again!!
Katherine
www.katfysh.com

[(jj)]

Nice site, and some really nice looking jewelry, looks like you take pride in your work.

The one thing I would suggest (other than what has already been suggested), is that you put a bit more descriptive line in your <title></title> tag.

Remember, this is what gets listed when someone bookmarks your site. I know many people are like me, and bookmark a site then can't figure out what a ::Katfysh:: is later on.

And, yes, you do have the 800x600 scroll problem taken care of, or at least I'm not seeing any on my system.

Keep up the good work.

Just my "For What It's Worth"

[MannInc]

Yep, the 800x600 problem is gone even here on my tiny 15" monitor (I promise to get a big one someday :)).

[mackol]

i like it but if u could just make the top menu a little shorter in height it would look much more proffesional :)

[GirlsOnBikes]

Nice Site!
What I could recommend:
1) Have the links at the top centered with the top banner image. Right now those links are right justified.

2) For the links at the top, it would be cool to see some hover color change. As in, when a user hovers over the text, it shows up in a different color. People like this because they know exactly what they are going to click on. Problem is Netscape does not support this, so I'm not sure how your visitor breakdown is (mine is like 95% IE :)). This is called CSS (do a google search if you're intersted).
Here's a link too:
http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/css/

Hope the comments help :)

[Jeff321]

It looks a lot better :) I would agree with (jj)'s suggestion to change the <title></title> tags, however. Something like "Katfysh Jewelry" would be great.

[Atomic-Design]

Cool site. My mother makes her own jewerly too, and sells them at a flea market that I work at. How many have you sold?

[katfysh]

Great suggestion re changing the title ... I too bookmark sites and then forget what they are.

My webstats tell me that ALL my visitors are using IE, though I suppose I should try to keep it functional for all. The menu at the top was part of a design that was made for me .... the person who made it was very slow in responding to my emails and it's taken me forever to get it so I'm not going to bother going back to them. It is designed to have a different colour when hovering, but I couldn't get it to work! There was a bunch of javascript stuff (which I wouldn't have a clue about!), so that's another thing I will have to get around to shortly. I also have a small book on CSS which I haven't even opened yet. I'm working full time in 1 job and part time in another job at the moment so spare time is rare.

To be honest I don't sell very much through the site at the moment. So far this month, i.e. 3 days, I have had 216 visits, 3943 hits ... but I think that's mainly due to the fact that I run a competition there each month. I sell most of my work through local markets, ebay and people I know, plus some custom work. Plus the jewelry trade seems to be very competitive and there's lots of us out there.

Thanks again for all your help and suggestions, I appreciate it.

Cheers!
Katherine
www.katfysh.com

[HalfaBee]

Good looking site.


You should make the thumbnals a bit more optimised. 15K for 1 thumbnail is to big!!

I know its a pest but 90% of people are on 56K modems and 20-30 secs to show 6 products is really too slow.


Halfabee

[katfysh]

Yes that's a good idea too ... I will get to work on that now!

Thanks again to everyone for their comments, I appreciate it.

Cheers,
Katherine
www.katfysh.com