Site Reference Forums

Hello Adam,

I would agree, that the site is very much Halloween looking.

I'll start from a visitors/business owners point of view if I were looking for a web designer.
Some of the biggest things IMO that could create problems.

1. Disliked the flash intro page.

2. Not enough contrast between the text and the background, this with the small font size makes the content difficult to read.

3. The spider dropping down on the pages is distracting and IMO gives a look unprofessional.

4. The overall design is on the small side.

From the technical side;

You have used tables for your design. As a designer you need to consider staying up to date and use CSS for your layout/design and not tables.
With all the flash elements you have, what if a visitor chooses to not have flash capabilities on their computer or has JavaScript disabled?

On the home page alone you have 24 code errors;

Result: 24 errors / 0 warnings



line 5 column 72 - Error: document type does not allow element "META" here

line 5 column 507 - Error: document type does not allow element "META" here

line 5 column 686 - Error: document type does not allow element "META" here

line 5 column 733 - Error: document type does not allow element "META" here

line 5 column 781 - Error: document type does not allow element "META" here

line 5 column 857 - Error: document type does not allow element "META" here

line 5 column 927 - Error: document type does not allow element "LINK" here

line 5 column 980 - Error: required attribute "TYPE" not specified

line 10 column 136 - Error: end tag for element "HEAD" which is not open

line 22 column 17 - Error: there is no attribute "LEFTMARGIN"

line 22 column 31 - Error: there is no attribute "TOPMARGIN"

line 22 column 47 - Error: there is no attribute "MARGINWIDTH"

line 22 column 64 - Error: there is no attribute "MARGINHEIGHT"

line 22 column 67 - Error: document type does not allow element "BODY" here

line 23 column 34 - Error: required attribute "TYPE" not specified

line 41 column 28 - Error: there is no attribute "HEIGHT"

line 104 column 29 - Error: there is no attribute "SRC"

line 104 column 47 - Error: there is no attribute "WIDTH"

line 104 column 60 - Error: there is no attribute "HEIGHT"

line 104 column 72 - Error: there is no attribute "ALIGN"

line 104 column 86 - Error: there is no attribute "QUALITY"

line 104 column 105 - Error: there is no attribute "PLUGINSPAGE"

line 104 column 156 - Error: there is no attribute "TYPE"

line 104 column 187 - Error: element "EMBED" undefined

You have a mix of XHTML and HTML you need to use one or the other but not both. This could cause a visitors browser to go into quirks mode and no telling how your page would actually be displayed.

Regarding your TBPR drop, wouldn't worry about that, doesn't really mean anything. The serps is what you need to be concerned with. For months my site was at a 5 as well, with the recent G update it dropped to a 3 but my site moved up in the serps.

Consider taking the flash off the main site and having it in another location for those people that are interested in flash. This way you still have the ability to show off your flash capabilities without making everybody view it.

With the code errors, do you have FF and the html tidy extension?

I agree with Coloeagle points- he covered a lot.

You have a lot of good info and it’s fairly well organized- that’s very good!

The biggest thing that bother’s me is that the site doesn’t strike me in any ways- if I’m looking for a designer I like to see something that makes me think- “wow this is cool, or wow- this is really nice” – with this one it’s so-so

An example of flash for a designer site that I personally like is my buddy Oasim’s:

http://www.oasim.com/

If you want to show off flash- I think he’s done it very well

Apart from design a few things I’d consider:

> font size is small for my liking- hard to read

> contact info buried on contact page- I’d have my tel number in bright lights on every page

> use of space on the homepage (past the flash intro)- not enough “meet” there- why would I go past this page and dig into your site?

> following up on the above- I have little patience and want to see that I have come to the right place- what is it people are coming to your site and what separates you from the rest of the designers out there? tell it to me quickly and show me

> the Terminator pic- while I think it’s well done it may not show a level of professionalism that you want (debatable)

Like Mobtex said in the branding thread- when I look to redesign a site I look around to similar ones and see what I find appealing and what I hate- great way to get some ideas!

5son studios is still very much pre-launch.

Thanks a ton guys for the critique.... I know I need to do something with this site... and you've given me much to work on.

What is it they say about the dentists children with bad teeth?

~A