Site critique

Hi everyone,

I would like for you to take a look at my site and critique it so I can correct any problems you may notice

Thanks in advance

http://www.genuineminds.com

The menu is interesting, but it should remain throughout the site... changing the navigation structure in the 'portfolio' section is a mistake.

Regarding the menu, once I've made a selection w/in a parent menu, the child selections for that menu should stay visible. For instance, if I click on 'About Us', I get 4 sub sections to choose from - Who We Are, Testimonials, etc. If I select "Who We Are', then I'm now in a sub-section of 'About Us' - to keep the navigation more clear, I shouldn't have to re-click on 'About Us' to see those sub-sections again, they should be visible as long as I'm in the 'About Us' section.

Also, the CSS you're using for the menu is confusing. If I've visited a section, the link becomes underlined - however, by underlining only 1 or so links, the remaining links don't look like they are links anymore, they look like plain text. Better navigation would be to underline *all* of the subsections, and change the color very slightly for sections I've visited.

If 'Overview' has only one selection (INTRODUCTION), why make users click again? Why not just take them directly to that page? Also, why is introduction in all caps, but other sub-menu selections not?

Also, the text in the overview | introduction section needs to be formatted in a way that the parent topics (strategy, design, etc) do not blend w/ the text - simply making these bold would suffice.

Clicking on the logo of the site should bring me back to the homepage... the 'home' link at the bottom in red stands out from the rest of the layout, and probably isn't necessary if the logo takes me back to the homepage.

There are a number of typos in your copy that distract from your message - be sure to use a spellchecker before posting copy.


Anything under 'Services' should have examples of your work for each section. If I were a standard user, I would want to see examples of Logos you'd created in the Logo subsection - not a bunch of copy, which I probably wouldn't read.


Theres more, but I'll leave it at that for now.

I'm not sure if you would like a general overview, or an in depth one, so I'm going to give you both (just ignore the one you won't need).

General: The site has a nice look and feel abt it, and it's easy to navigate. No problems there.

In depth:
1) Run a spell check on all your pages, quite a lot of spelling mistakes. This is really very important on websites.

2) When you enter the site you get an error message: (error on line 15, return statement outstide of function). I viewed your source, and the error message is quite correct

3) The about us links turns blue when you move over it, while the other doesn't. Just a small consistancy prob.

4) When you click on one of the submenus (to go to a new page), they dissapear, meaning that you first have to click on the parent menu again, and then on the next submenu. Users are lazy.

5) In the web-design section (this might be in other places as well), the buttons that send you to the top: don't reload the page, just have a position indicator on the top as well, and send them there. It's rather annyoing if you click to go to the top of the page, and you see the entire page reloading.

6) For the parent menus: It makes sense (to me) to have the overview on the top, not on the bottom. It's just the natural order of stuff.

7) Guess you are still working on the content 4 the testimonials

8) The red home link doesn't look nice.

9) When you click on web-sites (portfolio) a new group of menu appears. I think it might be better to keep the old menu's and just have an index in the details page.

10) In sending feedback, you have: rather make it
Also when you click on the form, it might be nice if you have a "Other" or "General" selection in your dropdown box 4 people with general remarks.

11) Some of the children links are underlined, some of them are only underlined when you move your mouse over them. Once again consistancy.

12) When you move your mouse over the menus, a little information box shows saying "Menu1", "Menu2", etc.

Since the site is still under construction, might of my observations would probaby have been sorted out, without me saying anything. So sorry.

Looking forward 2 see the final version of the site.

The 'MINDS' is split halfway and shunted to the right a bit and looks very dodgy (would attach screen pic but no image editor on here).

This is using IE6 / XP Pro.

drgroove and Silian:

Thanks a lot for your remarks. My site is still under construction and of course will take into consideration all your useful comments. Yes, i know there are amny issues I have to resolve, and like i said it still is under construction

thanks again

mfelix

I knew that... hey, I said that... Why am I saying this. Actually I'm just posting a reply to get my posts up a bit, and become a senior member but don't tell that to computer, he might ban me.

Anyway, let us know when the site is almost complete (not that it's not almost complete now, just when it's more almost complete) and we'll (I'm speaking for myself off course) be happy to check it out again. (If you feel as if you havn't had enough critique )

whats this? spamming?

Yes, mfelix, computer is correct. Posting thank you notes just to get your posts up is... wrong. Very wrong. If I EVER see you do that again, I'll see it as my duty to report you.

Silian, you are a funny guy but interesting

I would add on extra thing to the critique besides that which has already been offered.

If you go into the site without javascript enabled, then you can't access anything. You might want to add a few extra pages that will act as submenu navigation for those who don't use javascript. It is important (especially for those who do webdesign) to cover angles like this IMHO.

I resent that. Silian, according to me, is a nice girly name (must say, I can’t really remember where the name came from, it’s my fanfic name (although I don’t write anymore. Spend all my time at something I can actually (sort of) do), and it’s very difficult over there to get a name that hasn’t been chosen yet. I can’t even remember what my nick used 2 be before Silian).

Luckily for you, I don’t have a clue how to report someone to an administrator (I’m a developer, not a user), and I would really like to see what your site looks like when everything is completed. If I get you banned, there is no way I will ever learn that.

So, on the one hand I have a spammer who calls me a guy , and on the other ignorance and no website. It’s an all lose situation

Hey Silian sorry about that. See I use 2 have a friend named Silia and thought you could be a guy just with an "n" in your name. Anyway, as far as myself you can tell whether I am a man or woman. Nothing that you would care but I am a man and m is for my first name and the rest is my last.
You called me a spammer and ignorant
-----------------
So, on the one hand I have a spammer who calls me a guy , and on the other ignorance and no website. It’s an all lose situation --------------------
well, I am not a spammer for sure and as of your claim of ignorance, I could but again that is personal.
You said u r a developer so show me someting I can see...
Still i think u r funny GIRL

No she didn't. She said that if she got you banned for spamming (which was a joke anyway) she'd be ignorant of what your site would look like when it's finished. No need to take it to heart.

Sorry, I'm confused, but that's probably bcs I confused you So we have two very confused bunnies typing weirder and weirder messages to each other every day But I started it, so I can't complain

p.s. Sorry, that one came out completely wrong (now that I re-read it). What I meant was that I am ignorant (not you). (see I can be serious when it's required )