my new site

[rfrick]

Hi. I am seeking comments/criticisms/whatever on a new site I just constructed, which is on Powweb. It's

http://dofocusing.com

Focusing is a psychotherapeutic technique. The website has information about it. But the centerpiece and most important part is guiding you through a focusing session.

And then there is perhaps an odd choice on style.

Oh well. Thanks.

Bob

[Kitchensink108]

Right now, there's not a whole lot of design going on. It's just text and a single image on every page with a solid color background. I suggest building the design up. The first thing I'd do is add a banner, and then add other design elements to make the site unique and interesting. It's pretty bland the way it is now. You don't have to make it really elaborate, just enough to give the site a sense of identity and such.

The essays are displayed in a new layout with a collapsed nav. Keep the entire site consistent (have all the pages look the same and have the same, or very similar, navigation).

Use page titles more often.

Also, a lot of your pages have very little content (I especially don't think you need an entire page to say "Everything at this website is free;" this would be better said directly on the homepage). I was thinking AJAX would be good to use for the focus sessions. Especially if you add the design, most of the time spent downloading a low-content page will be in downloading images. AJAX is a lot faster in that you're only updating a small part of the page. I'm not saying you have to, or even should do this, I'm just throwing it out there.

It feels like I was going to say something else but I can't remember what. Oh well.

[YvetteKuhns]

The design feels incomplete, like looking at the main frame in a website built in frames. There should be a website title (header) at the top of the page. There should be copyright information at the bottom (footer) of the page. The navigation menu (links) can appear at the top of the page (below the header) instead of the left side since there aren't many links. And again at the bottom of the page (above the footer) if the pages are longer than one screen view.

The font style and color scheme may appeal to some women but not men. If your target audience is just women, you may have chosen to do this. But I am a woman and I am not crazy about it. The peach and purple don't look good together to me. Try this color combination chooser (http://www.siteprocentral.com/html_color_code.html) to help you.

The home page should define the target audience and site purpose. There is no need for a link to say the website is free. That should simply be stated on the home page that this is an information/education website and not a solicitation. There should be a page that explains who the website owner is. After much clicking, I found a page (About Guide) that says visitors interact with a computer program and not a person. That is weird. The links need better organization and a site map may be helpful.

I am confused about this website. Most visitors would be. You need to explain why someone would want or need to visit this website. How does this website enrich my life? Why should I visit, revisit or recommend this website to others? Is this a website for people who have trouble reading, completing tasks, or other mental disabilities? You really need to help visitors decide if they are your intended target audience.

Focusing is a psychotherapeutic technique.

Expand on this. Tell people what this is, what this does and how helpful this is. Focusing may help students achieve higher test scores. If this is true, say so. Then anyone in that target audience would read more information. Focusing may help mothers get organized, complete multiple tasks and reduce stress. If this is true, I would be interested! I just didn't feel compelled to read the entire website as designed.

[rfrick]

Hi Yvette. I changed the home page to try to better describe what people can learn from the website and who can benefit. It's a little like trying to describe colors to a blind person -- it is easier to fix their vision and let them see for themselves. But you were right, and you explained your point well so that I could see it. I hope the page now does a better job.

Maybe I should also make it clearer that reading the information on the website is a very low priority. Hmmm. I tried to work on colors, but without any success -- I found some that looked nice without the picture but when I added the picture it was horrible. Maybe tomorrow.

[YvetteKuhns]

It's a little like trying to describe colors to a blind person

I know that you will have difficulty explaining your website's site purpose and defining the target audience in a few paragraphs on your home page, but that is what you need to do. Try to get keyword phrases that are related to get more traffic from search engines. You can even write articles explaining symptoms and techniques to relieve symptoms.

My son had a homework assignment where he was supposed to describe a cylinder to someone who never saw one before. Remember, he is in the third grade and he said it had two faces and it can roll. I had to laugh. While true, that can be confusing if told to a five year old. I told him to add that it is round with a circle on the top and the bottom and it looks like a soup can.

I tried to work on colors, but without any success -- I found some that looked nice without the picture but when I added the picture it was horrible.

I feel your pain. Really. That is why I tell people to have text and images when designing a web page. If you design first, then add the images, you find that color schemes may not be ideal. You may consider using black and white or sepia photos. Or very neutral or muted colors for the background.

Right now, the background color looks similar to the skin color in the photos. That makes the photos blend into the background when they should have more contrast. Did you try a very pale or light blue? It is a calming color like the sky or water and will contrast with the images.

[rfrick]

So, to wind this down to a depressing conclusion... Fortunately I have a good definition/description of focusing -- it is a technique used to discover the hidden information in a complicated thought or feeling.

Unfortunately, this claim is inconsistent with how people think the mind works. So I am never going to to be able to describe focusing to people in a few short paragraphs. (Long lecture mercifully deleted.)

Fortunately, all people have to do is try focusing. Then they will know what it is and what it does.

Unfortunately, because they don't know what focusing is, they won't try it. And all that is ignoring the problem of why someone would go to the site in the first place.

If I can find a nice design or better colors, which at the moment seems unlikely, that won't help the above. I tried a few completely different color schemes, including light blue, but before implementing the best of these I noticed that it looked worse than what I had. I did lighten the background and it seems a little better to me.

Bob

[YvetteKuhns]

Bob, don't give up. I think that you can find ways to explain why someone would want to try focusing. As I mentioned before, you need to find specific needs and when people look at the list of needs, they can decide if they have one or more of those needs. If they do, they may try focusing.

It seems easier to define what focusing can help than what it really is. That also makes it easier for people to find this website in the first place. I just can't imagine many people typing "focusing" in a search engine request. But I can imagine them typing "attention disorders" or some specific problem. Most people search for problems to find and/or compare solutions.

As for color scheme, even black and white could be okay since this is an information website. But you may want to find colors that help with concentration and/or relaxation. Scroll down the page to see the psychology of color (http://www.prochroma.com/article15.html). As I have read in interior design articles, the color green is used in hospitals for its impressions.

But choose the best hue - I personally don't like sallow green, army green is warlike, forest green is like nature, bright green can be too bright and so on. Blue and green can be like seeing water and plants, very calming. Lighter colors can be for the background while darker colors can be used for text. You can change the brightness of your images or even the color tones to work with your new color scheme.

[rfrick]

BTW, did anyone happen to try the focusing? (It's really just a presentation-of-information website without that, and I wouldn't have bothered to even make the website except I thought I could computer-guide the process.)

Bob

[YvetteKuhns]

I couldn't stay focused on your website to try it! :D Hey, maybe I will try it when I have time. Or I can ask my son to try it. Like I said before, your website didn't talk me into trying it.