www.ezead.com

Please take a look and give me and honest opinion of www.ezead.com

I have taken into account some of the comments below and tried to implement thenm any suggestions appreciated!!

The site is a lot larger than it first appears and my main focus has been on programming(still lots to do there too!!LOL) but now got to clean up the HTML and look - so all feedback would be appreciated!!

Two things to remember:

One my image thumbnailer is not yet installed so page loads are slow!!

Second We are using a lot of background images and are text heavy(this is intentional) for search engine postioning as that is where our hits will be coming from in the begining as a result we rank really well.

It's one of those pages where they load up and unless you know exactly what the site does already, you don't know what the purpose of the page is just in the first split second, which is huge turn off.

There's A LOT of stuff, but it's more like things are thrown everywhere than organized. The labels are small, the graphics aren't nice, and the DHTML doesn't work properly in Firefox.

Well.. that's just an honest opinion..

Yes i agree, there is alot of information there and its looks really messy.
I dont like the turqoises blue youve used it looks childish. Also you have got to dhtml menus exactly the same 1 below another? Also one of them is covering up all the buttons.

Well, just tidy it up really!

Noobish Tendency

Thanks was playing with adding a second DHTML menu last night and was trying to just make sure two would interact together properly and forgot it in there. Funny it didn't show up on my browser and I was trying to figure out why??

I appreciate the comments and keep them coming!!

My only concern is to clean this site up so don't pull any punches - I am not a web designer and know it - you want to demolish a building or do tight excavation work I am your man!!

This site is just a hobby that got a little carried away!!



Regards
Frank

A hobby that got carried away is the "next generation of advertising"?

The site is done a little different in a number of ways:

It will when done be a total advertising portal - where the members have total control over all their content. The content in every section will be very specific with ease of use for the computer illiterate in mind.

We will have things like reverse auctions - where our members post things they are looking for and our merchants that have indicated they sell those items will get an email advising that say a member is looking for say "a big screen television" and they will bid down to sell that item - our members can then choose who they want to buy from for various reasons , whether closer or better warranty but they have the choice and when they click accept that price it becomes binding on that seller.

Same with our reverse services member can post in detail with pictures for say " to paint their house " and our painting contractors will also get an email can bid down to do the job - they will be rated and verified inable to bid.

We will be having a larger financial institution bonding our larger retailers so that they are bonded to higher levels and thus little or no chance of fraud and so on!!

We are also be setting up
www.Ezeauction.com Franchised Auction Houses - Internet Cafes in every city sort of like Ebay Powersellers or Ebay consignment stores but they will also be bonded and have to meet a certain standard. I am working on a system that will actually work in real time so a person can bid on items in their watch list either live or over the internet with the next item selling moving towards the center of the page where it will be highlighted and can be bid on in real time!!

Our classifieds have a number of unique and optional ways and our auctions have a number of unique ideas in them.

Plus the way the site is designed so any item placed on the site displays extremely strong in the major search engines like google within about 3 days and because we have auto relist - once in the search engines it is there till the items sell and because our auto relist maintains the same URL the search engines actually take you directly to the item.

Most of the site will always be totally free!!

The site breaks down so every city in North America and eventually the world has its own site that is part of that states or provinces site that is part of that countries site that is part of the world site - and taking it one step further each merchant in each city will be able to have their own site that is part of that cities site!! So when they post to their site it displays specifically in that city - that state - that country and the world from that one post.

The site will have an in depth fraud gallery where our members can post to and jokes gallery etc etc - it will have its own instant messanger - our own webmail and POP mail - our own chat rooms and forums etc etc.

I am posting this just to give an idea or what is really involved as the site in much deeper and larger than it appears!!

So I really don't feel that the "next generation of advertising" is an outrageous claim !!

I know I have got off the purpose of this thread and post and that is wanting feedback and suggestions - but felt explaining what the site is all about might help get those that are relevant to what we are trying to do!!

Regards
Frank

Site to way busy. Also tables based design, not good.

I agree and that is why I asked for this Critique.

Any suggestions on how to relay all that is important and yet get a cleaner look would be appreciated??

One other thing - the site is designed for 1024 x 768 and larger as that is the way of the future , notice in a program that I have that very few users are using anything smaller!!

Regards
Frank

I have done a lot of clean - up any suggestions please!!

Would be appreciated

Boy... You're trying to do everything for everyone. Not it's a bad thought, it's merely a bad practice. It's hard to tell if your site is a portal or an auction site. I don't know, but please, Choose one, and then make it your primary focus. Otherwise you end up doing things like... well what you've done here.

The list below is only partial because there is a lot that needs fixing. My advice is to read a user interface design book.

front page
You have so many menu bars and things linking off site, it can be confusing. In particular, I love how you've scatter your 'bookmark us', 'set to homepage' and 'web mail' icons indiscriminately.

Your login process doesn't stick out. You have a button in the top-right hand corner which is easy to miss. You have another link in that very top menu, but since all the menu items are intially hidden, you don't know it's there unless you look). the worst offense, however, is that you have your login form at the bottom of the page, which requires users to scroll down to it. Move the login form to the top of the page. Put it next to your registration link.

Ad is spelled with one 'D'. Like advertisement. Letters don't multiply when you truncate. ('Easy Add Creator')

Trust me when I say you really don't need your 'tool' section. I'm not coming to your site to get anti-virus protection.

Things such as currency conversion should be automatically handled when an item is submitted. Users shouldn't be forced to do those type of things.

Your HTML editor is just a text editor that doesn't work.

If lavasoft or dictionary.com isn't paying to you to plug them, don't. It's really not necessary.

You have two listing links: regional listing and all-site listings. The terms "regional" and "all-site" don't really compare the same concept. One is a geographical term, the other is an web site term.

listing page
Your regional listing doesn't list what region the listing is from. Doesn't let me choose a specific region to see.

Your all-site listing doesn't give the same information as the regional listing.

Beyond the ability to see specific categories. There are no sorting options. I can list buy selling, item name, days auction will close, sale price, etc.

Why you put the option to target specific categories on the bottom of the page is beyond me. Move that feature to where I can find it instantly (like close to the top).

If you're going to use little icons (like tags or a sun rising over the horizon), you might want to put tool tips, a legend, or pop-up window, or something that says "this is what this icon means." otherwise, they are meaningless.

I have already moved the catergories to the top of the page - good thought!!

As to what we are doing is we are going to be a advertising portal - sort of a combination Ebay - Buy Sell - Truck Trader, your local newspaper website all in one. When done every city in the world will have its own site that is part of that states site which is part of that countries site which is part
of the world site and taking it one step further every merchant in that city can have their own mini site(will include 7 pages - map, about us, shopping cart etc etc) that is part of the city site - so with one post they are posting to their site - that city - that state - that country and the world!!

Each catergory will also have its own site EG:

http://www.ezead.com/cgi-bin/rvs/u1.pl?action=hi_speed

(this is just a roughly laid out one as I want all my scripts
perfect before make each catergory.

That way they each have their own business directory - own specific ad format that is basically filled out so they just use drop boxes and its take second to list and item. Same with displaying items - also the business directory gives direct links to their running auctions and classifieds!!

That way when done the site will have over 30,000 catergories yet be browseable - as I find people have their own specific interests - you every tried to browse Ebay - forget it - its impossible - this will be a snap!! Also Ever tried to browse Ebay for regional items again forget it!!

A lot of people are still touchy feely and they want to be able to shop locally - thats what this site is all about but at the same time giving national exposure.

As to server power I am capable of 100,000 people online same time and have now incresed my storage to 8 terrabytes that will be mirrored and have my own dual dedicated 100 meg fibre optic line.

That way they each have their own business directory - own specific ad format that is basically filled out so they just use drop boxes and its take second to list an item. Same with displaying it will have total detail on each item.

Telling you this to give a better idea of concept!!

Again thanks I am looking at a some of your suggestions right now!!

Regards
Frank

I just did browse eBay. It's was very easy. Found the category I wanted to browse through in about 5 seconds. I haven't visited eBay in years. Still the interface was intuitive. I took one look at eBay and had a sense that I knew how to do just about anything.

the 'joke break' and 'today's comics' page is cute, but adds nothing to your site.

You can remove the google-search bar. If want to search google, guess what? I'll go to google. What's the point of having people search google while browsing your site.

Your 'Select Country Provinces-State Here' list is a different color than other drop-downs. It makes it seem as though that list is disabled.

When I'm browsing sub-categories at eBay They even have more fine-tuned browsing capabilities such as specifying hard-cover or paperback for books.

You hide your complete Terms and Conditions and put a truncated version up.

Well you obviously are an experienced user - I have take people on about twenty occasions and asked them to find an item that I have on the Ebay site. Out of that twenty without searching only three found the item and that took them 10 minutes - I don't call that easy browsing!!

Same with going to post I took an item that I wanted to post logged in to my account as a seller and asked them to find the approiate catergory of the twenty 1 did - I don't call that easy!!

Thats exactly what I do in my spare time is cruise items in the wrong catergory and most times steal them!!

I also asked these people to fully post and item on ebay from scratch gave them my password and username- most gave up after 5 minutes and the five that managed to get it on took twenty minutes that I do not call easy. And all stated it wasn't worth the hassle!!

So my stradegy is simple go after the 80% of web users that either aren't all that computer literate or don't have credit cards or won't use them on the net!!

I mean the only reason that all these Ebay consignment stores are opening is most people don't have a clue how to use it - because we are computer literate doesn't mean most are!!

As to catergories whe done we will have more catergories than ebay about 50% more and only have to go two catergories deep. one important reason for this is that I found the search engines will not spider more than two catergories deep or if they do it takes weeks to get that!!

Where an item that is put on my site in three days will show up in google in strong positions eg: 1990 Ford F800 5 ton Diesel

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...el+&btnG=Search

Here is a truck I put on last week that ran 1 week and was relisted today!!

Notice two things one is that it is # 1 and 2 in the world on google and the link takes you directly to the item.

And even when it was relisted it kept the same url so the same link.

But for a page that really explains why we blow Ebay away go here:
http://www.ezead.com/cgi-bin/world/...n=the_advantage

I mean all Ebay is - is an auction site with a buy it now big Deal - sure they have traffic but that is the beauty of the web it doesn't take long for people to find out once you start promoting a site hot and heavy!!

As to the Google search bar - not a chance - if you ever posted much or cruised Ebay much like I have I am constantly going there to either research the item or use it to get concepts or info for posting - this way if browsing and you find something your interested in you simply select copy and past the item - scroll down - enter the item it opens in a new window and get what you want close the window and carry on!! That way your not leaving my site - otherwise I find people might or might not open a new window to use google but by the time they are finished hunting seem to lose the page they were on - this way it doesn't happen!!

I do appreciate any and all comment with design but I really have spent a lot of time from my own experience of what I want and require and put that into the site - just got to make it not look so busy!!

Regards
Frank