# Would you consider having a look at a site?



## Horseteeth (May 12, 2003)

[FYI, this is posted at MacNN as well. I'm aware of this, I'm not trying to spam though, just trying to combine the knowledge of more people].

I've redesigned this site I've worked on from the ground up, and I think the result is much better than before. The only page I'm not too fond of is the language-specific index page, though I don't think it's bad either. If you want to have a look and tell me what you think (as to graphic design, navigability, ...), I'd be honored. It's still on a free geocities account, but it's getting it's own domain this week (finally). One question on the side: are there any compelling reasons NOT to go for the Geocities Plus package (offering me 25 MB/ 10 GB/month , domain name, ftp, ...)? Sometimes, you'll find there are wellknown things to say against some SP... 

 Anyway, here's the site:

http://www.geocities.com/asterix_holiday_house/ 

 (note: only the English and Nederlands/Dutch sections are finished - so you can also check out the old style by going for French, German or Spanish. If you do make the comparison, tell me what you think about that too). Thanks.


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## dlloyd (May 12, 2003)

Well, the site is OK, but I wouldn't go with the Geocities Plus hosting... I use ICDSong.com, and they give you far more, for only 5¢ more a month...
Looking at the Prices page though, I woudn't want to stay there. I think there should be a flat rate with _everything_ inclueded. It's just plain stupid to have to pay extra for *electricity!* Sounds a bit amateurish to me...


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## Horseteeth (May 12, 2003)

> _Originally posted by dlloyd _
> * It's just plain stupid to have to pay extra for electricity! Sounds a bit amateurish to me... *



Heh, don't shoot the pianist. I only made the site, I have nothing to do with how the business is run.


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## kalantna (May 12, 2003)

I would look at your concept again. The first page is very nice and clean, but then it seems as if you change your idea on the next page by changing your background from white to grey. Also if the name is going to be red it should be red throughout. Treat it as a logo if it is not already.


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## toast (May 12, 2003)

I'm a frame hater, but the rest of the site is okay. I enjoy its overall lisibility. But I hate frames, did I say that already ?


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## Arden (May 12, 2003)

The first page is okay with an all white background, but if you switch to putting your stuff within a gray frame you should do the same with every page.  It would look very consistent and very professional to put every page in your gray frame.

I'd suggest you don't put the path of your site so prominently at the top of each page.  That's not what people want to see, but that's the first thing that greets them.  You should make it very small and put it at the bottom of each page.

You shouldn't include your pricing/conditions on the information page if you have a separate page for them because it is redundant.  I say put that info on one page, and if you put it on the information page, that's one less page you need to maintain.

I think you should separate the link for "About this site" from the rest of the content because it is not relevant to the hotel itself and only plugs your own skillz.  Maybe make it smaller and put it under the note about ADSL.

Finally, we get to the hosting option.  Why would you pay for a mediocre service like Geocities when you can get Breezeland absolutely free?  The only condition is you the webmaster have to visit their sponsors' sites; your site sports absolutely no ads whatsoever (unless you have your own, of course).  You can get 25 MB, 50 MB or 100 MB absolutely free, with all the necessary extras like CGI (well not anymore, but it might be back), PHP, MySQL, etc.  Check it out and see if you like it.

I viewed your site on a Windows computer running Internet Explorer 6, and it gives me some errors on each page.  It says there's a syntax error on line 2, char. 29 (hm).  I'd suggest you look at it on a Windows machine if you have access and work out any kinks you find.  I don't see any code errors, but it says they're there.


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## Natobasso (May 13, 2003)

Some gut reactions from a fellow designer:

--Make it abundantly clear what the site is for on the very first page. I couldn't tell the site was for a hostel/bed and breakfast till the third page I clicked through. This is WAY too long to make a visitor figure this out. Most, less curious, visitors don't have my patience to continue beyond the first page. Give them a reason.

--I agree with the consistency comments from other respondents here. Find one page layout and stick with that. The web is crowded with sites with centered text, flashing animated gifs (ugh!) and no specific design plan. Rise above them with a consistent look. What audience are you hoping to target? The savvy, older traveller or young college backpackers on summer holiday?

--Same thing with the logo. And don't place it vertically. It limits it's "memorability". Choose a standard color and make it a logo that repeats in the same place in your design layout. Look to corporate sites for great examples like apple.com and iomega.com. 

--The multiple language feature is bang on. I would add the flags next to each language just to make it that much more clear. 

--As for hosting you can find many service that will give you tons of space, bandwidth and service for less than US$10/month. Try my favorite: http://www.newtechadvisors.com. The site design isn't much, but you get 200MB of storage and Apache Servers and customizeable email addresses for US$99/year. Domain name registration is only US$15/year. 

--frames. Avoid them at all costs because they inhibit search engines. Search engines are the main thing driving customers to your site so make it as easy as possible for them to find you by not using frames. Search engines only read the main frame for content and leave the rest untouched. That means that data is effectively "hidden" from their view. Not a good idea. Use tables instead. That will help your design as well. 

Hope this helps!

Cheers, Nathaniel


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## Horseteeth (May 14, 2003)

Thank you all for the replies so far, I have no doubt you will be able to see the changes pretty soon.
I have two remarks right now though:

1) You are all right about the inconsistency, it might have been what was bugging me (but in that strange way, when you can't really see it because you've been way too close to it for a long time). I was trying though to make the first page (the language page) stand apart from the rest, and give it a sort of entry hall look, a page people shouldn't be seeing but once. I will try, however, to get the look of all of the pages closer.

2) I read some remarks on frames. I have not used frames though (unless you're talking about the old sections -french, german, spanish- but these WILL be fased out). Where do you all see frames?

Let me repeat, however, that I much appreciate the remarks you've given me so far, and any remarks you'll wish to share in the future. I'll sit down this afternoon to decide what I'll change.


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## toast (May 14, 2003)

I'm French, so I tried the Frenchy version of the site. And I did saw frames, although I didn't check that a second time


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## Arden (May 14, 2003)

On the matter of the logo:  I don't think it's a bad idea to have your logo on the side vertically, _as long as_ you make it subtle and include a more prominent, "memorable" version at the top.  You could use the big, red name at the top and incorporate a subtle, gray version in the frame surrounding the page's content.  Just a thought.


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## Daeyin (May 25, 2003)

<quote>Search engines only read the main frame for content and leave the rest untouched. That means that data is effectively "hidden" from their view. Not a good idea. Use tables instead. That will help your design as well.  

</quote>

Ach!  Tables!  Will we never escape tables?  Sorry, I just think that avoiding if you are going to avoid the old way of web desing (frames) you should avoid other old ways of web desing (tables).

CSS, sadly, isn't as well supported or even on many people's older browsers.

Just my little rant.


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## Ugg (May 25, 2003)

I like the layout of the German site better than the English one.  It is less cluttered and more in tune with the character of the house.  The only thing I didn't like about the German one is the yellow banner at the top, I think the script would be much more in keeping with the style.  

Although German isn't my native language, there did seem to be some grammatical errors.  Also, on the price section it doesn't specify whether it is per night although I assume it does.  

It is a great way of showing a house.  Congratulations!  I look forward to seeing the final version.


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## Dusky (May 25, 2003)

> are there any compelling reasons NOT to go for the Geocities Plus package (offering me 25 MB/ 10 GB/month , domain name, ftp, ...)?



Monthly Fee:
GeoPlus:  $4.95
ICDSOFT:  $5.00

Setup Fee:
GeoPlus:  $10.00
ICDSOFT:  Free!

Domain:
GeoPlus:  geocities.com/your-Yahoo!-ID
ICDSOFT:  yourdomain.com (If you don't have one, one can be registered for you for an extra 5 bucks.  Cheap!)

Emails:
GeoPlus:  None
ICDSOFT:  Unlimited (Webmail, Pop, IMAP)

Subdomains:
GeoPlus:  None
ICDSOFT:  5

Data Transfer:
GeoPlus:  5GB
ICDSOFT:  5GB

Disk Space:
GeoPlus:  25MB
ICDSOFT:  333MB

Remote Loading:
GeoPlus:  Yes
ICDSOFT:  Yes

Free PageBuilder and PageWizard tools:
GeoPlus:  Yes
ICDSOFT:  No (I'm sure you don't need this stuff.)

As to customer support...  ICDSOFT is great at it!  It's one reason why I migrated to ICDSOFT two months before my time was up at my previous host.

I believe the above are not only compelling reasons not to go for Geocities as your host, but also compelling reasons to go with ICDSOFT.  Does GeocitiesPlus even come with CGI, MySQL, and SSI?  Yet more reasons not to go with it, and to go with ICDSOFT instead!


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