What stays, what goes?

[nix225]

Hey boys and girls,

I'll be reworking our website shortly and would love to get any feedback on our current site. What works for you, what you think should be eliminated and why.

I do plan on posting our 4 minute promo on the new site with a program called V2F. Anyone have any experience with it?

Any feedback is appreciated. Bad or good.

I have just recently found out that if you're not using IE as your browser, the layout can shift, so I need to pull this site down reasonably quick so I can send out a new mailing. (Don't want to point perspective clients to a half-assed website)

I hope this link is posted correctly. Thanks

Click here (http://www.parrotpros.com)

Mark
Happy Hookbills BirdShow

[scot]

I'm going to look past it being in bad colors and fonts.

the menu swaps around in a weird way, so that you don't know what the links are unless you read them all on every page.

the content is too spread out down the page. Try to get as much information above the fold. ie: make it so viewers don't have to scroll. I would ditch most of the decoration elements in order to make that happen.

Write all the text so it makes sense this time.

Put the strangest / most eye catching / most descriptive pictures upfront so that people get interested in the site immediately.

only put borders on photos that are links.

[zoobie]

Even in IE, it looks weird.

I guess your Template 19 Layout was designed for Netscape 4.7 which was one of the worst browsers ever made. It's also very old code that browsers are going to drop soon.

Try to make a site that's fluid in resolution so not only visitors can view it in 800 x 600 but 1024 x 768 and even higher.

A shortcut would be to use percentages in your tables:
<table align="center" width="80%"> etc...

You may wish to just hire someone for a couple hundred $ and have them give you the professional site you're looking for.

[nix225]

Thanks Scot.

I wanted the birds' colors to attract the attention so I felt a softer, washed out background with the borders would have done it. Obviously it didn't do much for you. As far as the fonts go, I had severly limited options due to the POS program I used to build it. What colors/fonts do you think catch the eye better?

Good points in regard to putting the important stuff upfront. I will gear towards making each page stand on it's own with no scrolling.

What was it about the copy that didn't make sense to you? I've considered removing chunks of text just so it doesn't appear so wordy, but I never thought it didn't make sense. What didn't you understand?

I do appreciate your time and critiques, as well as anyone else who wants to add their opinions.

Thanks

Mark

[nix225]

Actually Zoobie, it's a GoDaddy product called Website Complete.

I noticed the shift with the resolution change too and was told by their support that it was due the fact I used a feature they call 'absolute positioning' with the images. Another reason I need to get this down ASAP.

I may try just simplifying the entire site, add the video promo and see how that flies.

A pro is still an option.

Thanks.

Mark

[scot]

Web design isn't about being eye catching. you've already caught their eyes. You need to be welcoming and comfortable. take it easy. choose two fonts and three colors. don't use anything extra.
http://www.colorcombos.com/combolibrary.html