constructive criticism on my new site?

MadelineBunyan · #1 2010-04-13, 4:54am

ok, So I've been building this new site for about 2 months now, and its finally about done (I say about done cause its a website and they're never 'finished' ay?)

my old site was mrsite, and it was ok, for a starter. but I got fed up with its many limitations and went in search of something better.
www.madelinebunyan.com

I've shown it to the people at the cubecart forums,(the program I built it with) with not much response(is that good or bad? :S ), I've shown it to the frit happens forum, but I think I must have got the wording on my post a bit wrong, cause all I've got is lots of nice people going 'its great!' 'I really like your pictures' and various other nice, but not wonderfully useful comments (except for making me feel good!they've been saying its some of the things I hoped it would be, which is good!)

I know that I need to add more products (always!) but in most respects its done.

these are the sorts of things I'd like to know:
how easy is it to navigate?
how do you find the products description and pictures? useful and informative?
it it easy to find information about payment and shipping etc?
does it look like the sort of site you'd WANT to buy from (I'm not talking about products as such, more about confidence in security and openness of my policies etc)
is there anything you don't like? layout, feature, wording?
galleries?good, bad?
how do you find the search by tags page?
are the images a good size?
is there anything missing?

you are of course allowed to say just nice things if you want!

BarbR · #2 2010-04-24, 7:56am

Hi Madeline,

Nobody has responded to this yet??? Wow. I don't understand why, but I'll bite.

I find your site to be very clean and light-feeling. Upbeat and intuitive.
To better help with your specific questions, I'll copy them here:

these are the sorts of things I'd like to know:
how easy is it to navigate?
Quite. Images and links load quickly and without hesitation.
how do you find the products description and pictures? useful and informative?
The amount of information provided seems good. People can always ask for more. The images seem a little....overexposed, but not enough that I would change them out. This technique allows the background to fade away against the wallpaper of your site leaving one to focus on the bead or jewelry items.
it it easy to find information about payment and shipping etc?
No problem there.
does it look like the sort of site you'd WANT to buy from (I'm not talking about products as such, more about confidence in security and openness of my policies etc)
It does, there's enough element of professionalism mixed with personalization, that one gets the feeling of coming to know you. Your policies are also pretty standard and worded well to give further sense of trustworthiness.
is there anything you don't like? layout, feature, wording?
galleries?good, bad?
The gallery seems cumbersome and clunky. It's really the only part of your site I don't care for after the ease of finding and seeing all the other items.
how do you find the search by tags page?
LOL, it kept giving me the message as I typed, that no matches could be found for the word I wasn't done typing yet - but it did go straight to what I asked for when "search" was clicked on anyway. I'd get rid of that feature if it were my site - just creates confusion.
are the images a good size?
They load quickly, they are clear and bright, and yes a good size. The positioning of the items within the images is good too - we can see plenty of detail.
is there anything missing?
Offhand, I don't think so.

Hope this helps! Good luck with everything!

MadelineBunyan · #3 2010-04-24, 9:00am

Thankyou Barbara, I really appreciate you taking the time to look at my site, and to respond to all of the questions!

maybe other people were scared off by all my questions?...I don't need answers to them all from everyone!

I'll admit, the gallery section isn't the best, its not the easiest feature to find and integrate into a site. what I wanted was for it to load from my flickr, so that it updates when I add new pictures with the same tags, however, this makes it a little slower to load and the simple-viewer gallery is only ok, not great.I'll look into a better gallery at some point.

I can change the message that is given when typing something its not finding, but I really did like the pictures coming up in the suggestive search. the search that the suggestive search uses is a little different to the way the main search searches, if you see what I mean,even though they use the same box, I did point this out to the guy who wrote that mod, he seemed to be under the impression that people who knew what they were looking for would keep typing and well, it is only a suggestive search after all

I think he's had enough of me for now, but maybe I'll bother him with it some other time!he did say he's always updating things...hehehe

Mitosis Glass · #4 2010-04-24, 9:40pm

The site is great Madeline! It is indeed easy to navigate. I'm hopeless with technology and I found it very easy to get around the site.

I liked how the menu stayed put along the side of the site as I clicked around, making it easy for me to get around without having to look for the links or having to click my "Back" button a bunch of times.

I liked the quick loading; some sites are so image-heavy that they cause my computer to freeze. Yours loaded right away.

I liked the short pages without a ton of scrolling.

I also liked that you listed your payment methods along the bottom of the page! This is something very, very few websites do, and I appreciate knowing BEFORE I click the "Proceed to Checkout" button how I'm going to be paying.

I liked the clean look, how you kept a simple background with simple photos.

I also have to say, I adore your hair! Not related to the site as such, but I had to say it. When I looked in the "About" section, there was the most awesome head of hair. I can only wish for such a thing.

MadelineBunyan · #5 2010-04-25, 12:33am

Thanks Angie!

I also like menus that stay put when you're browsing around.

basically the first thing I did when I started this site was find a whole lot of websites with things I didn't like about them,including my own old one, I made a list of all the stuff I DIDN'T want first!

the quick loading is due to all of my pictures being carefully resized to exactly the size you're seeing on screen. the gallery page is a bit slower because its going to an external site (flickr) to get the pictures.

My hair...well what can I say? its not exactly lampwork friendly eh? and I think It might be a bit longer than that now, that was my first year at UNI of a degree I finished last year. Probably should get a new pic...but I like that one!

Lorraine Chandler · #6 2010-04-25, 8:57am

Very Nice. I liked it alot also. The only thing that was a little off for me was the gigantic bead in the upper right corner. It just didn't balance with the rest of the page. I felt my eyes keep getting drawn back to it like it was going to fall down or tip the page.

If it was smaller I think the balance would be perfect.

Beautiful beads and website. I really like the color for the type.

Lorraine

MadelineBunyan · #7 2010-04-25, 9:05am

thanks for your input Lorraine,

no ones really commented on that picture so far,I felt if it was smaller there would be too much white space.

I'll probably change my picture banner form time to time anyway.

Oh, one more little thing, are people viewing this in Internet Explorer, Firefox, safari or what?
cause it looks better in firefox than IE, no matter how hard I try, I cannot get those buttons to behave the same way in IE!

Lorraine Chandler · #8 2010-04-25, 1:50pm

That could be why. Firefox doesn't play nice with my anti virus program. I think changing banners from time to time would be fun.

Lorraine

MadelineBunyan · #9 2010-04-25, 2:20pm

think its only the buttons that are wrong, but it could make other things different too.
thats the only good reason I've heard so far for not using firefox!

dragonfly designs 56 · #10 2010-04-26, 5:24am

Just wanted to let you know, jewelry is spelled wrong in your menu,

MadelineBunyan · #11 2010-04-26, 6:53am

well then its spelled wrong everywhere! but then I'm using the English English
(being in England), not American English!

Mitosis Glass · #12 2010-04-26, 8:45pm

I viewed the page in Firefox on a 3-year-old Mac and it looked great!

I also spell "jewellery" the British way.

MadelineBunyan · #13 2010-04-27, 12:31am

thanks Angie!

I'm thinking I need to put some more new stock on there soon!
working on it!

bshelle · #14 2010-04-27, 10:47am

I checked out your site without reading any comments to get a real good 'first impression' thought, and my eye was drawn to the photo of the stacked beads and how it could use some crisping up a little - kinda fuzzy a bit.

I like the bead in the upper right hand corner.

I found navigation to be really easy and nice.

I like your gallery layout, but I want to know more about the 'Flock' Gallery. What am I looking at exactly, and it all looks awesome whatever it is!

Overall, I think you have a really nice site there.

MadelineBunyan · #15 2010-04-27, 11:26am

Thanks for looking Shelley!

I'll have a look at re-editing that pic.
was

now

fast 1 click edit!I could probably do better if I had more time, but right now, I don't!

there is more info about flock in the 'about' page, I'll stick a link in next to the gallery.I think there was more info also on the flickr page for that set, but again, the link isn't obvious.

It was my degree show piece, and basically represents a years worth of work (an academic year anyway!) and many many torch hours!

ABRCaleb · #16 2010-04-30, 2:00pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lorraine Chandler

Very Nice. I liked it alot also. The only thing that was a little off for me was the gigantic bead in the upper right corner. It just didn't balance with the rest of the page. I felt my eyes keep getting drawn back to it like it was going to fall down or tip the page.

If it was smaller I think the balance would be perfect.

Beautiful beads and website. I really like the color for the type.

Lorraine

I politely disagree, I though the close up was good. the first thing I did when i went to the site was stare at that beautiful piece hanging out in the top corner. Nice site, and awsome product!

MadelineBunyan · #17 2010-04-30, 2:19pm

Thanks!

I've got plans to make more of those beads soon, not that they ever come out the same!
I took 2 of them made up into pendants to a new glass gallery in Bristol yesterday (the gallery is well established, I am new to it!) hopefully they will attract attention there!

maren · #18 2010-05-26, 12:38am

Madeline,

finally got around to checking some of it. Somehow I expected the text (not just in the sidebar) to be links as well. Love your beads, and don't we all always need more inventory.
I never saw the old site but I like this one (you might make more things into links, but that's all for me).

MadelineBunyan · #19 2010-05-26, 1:45am

thanks Maren,

I thought I had put links in where it was appropriate, alot of things do link, almost all the pictures do. there are links in the about pages to relevant things. I guess I could make it even more linkful!

The thing with links is that internet explorer has a habit of making them look really ugly. I'm sick of doing something, looking at it in firefox and going, oh good, that looks nice, then checking it in the hideousness that is IE and finding it looks bluergh!

Maybe I shall tackle it again when I've got a bit more time (and had a bit more time to dull the memory of how hideous it was to do the last time!)trouble is, my memory of how I did it will then be more dull too!

I'm having enough trouble just adding two beads to it at the moment! a whole new category for them and 8 photos or more each!

anyway, I should be making beads into jewellery right now!

KarenBeth · #20 2010-05-27, 3:56am

(ok, im getting a weird message that says my response is too short?? lol.. ummm...

Hope this helps!

these are the sorts of things I'd like to know:
how easy is it to navigate? Very, It looks very professional, pages load nicely, pictures are perfect size to draw me in and click to make them bigger. The icons aren't too small, which is a pet peeve of mine.
how do you find the products description and pictures? useful and informative?I really like them. You explained things perfectly and didn't leave me wondering. I get a professional feel here as well.
it it easy to find information about payment and shipping etc?I liked your information page. Very well thought out.
does it look like the sort of site you'd WANT to buy from (I'm not talking about products as such, more about confidence in security and openness of my policies etc)YES! And I always look for that feeling when I shop online. I do feel secure on your site. I can tell that you've been around awhile and you take pride in your work.
is there anything you don't like? layout, feature, wording? Actually, no. I love the overall feel of your website. It's very business-like.
galleries?good, bad?
how do you find the search by tags page? Oh, I didn't look at this part
are the images a good size? PERFECT
is there anything missing?Not that I can think of

you are of course allowed to say just nice things if you want! I like your banner at the top, with your name and the big bead in the upper corner. Your colors are different and I like this, as well. I viewed it on Firefox and everything looked great.

MadelineBunyan · #21 2010-05-27, 5:27am

KarenBeth, thankyou for taking the time to look and respond!

I took alot from what I don't like about other websites, to keep it out of mine!
I found this to be a very good place to start, its an easier question, what dont I want? rather than 'what do I want?' much more definite answers!

tiny unclear pictures, only one image of an item and unclear menu system, or annoying tiered menu system that flicks around as you hover over it, were some of them.

another thing that annoys me is that alot of people have on their site sold items, but it doesn't still show the price, this always annoys me, what If I want to commission something similar? am I going to email the person to then find out that its way out of my price league? probably not. so mine have the prices left on.
the only disadvantage of this I can see is that say, someone bought something for a gift, then that 2nd person went on my site to see what other goodies I have for sale, they might see how much the other person spent on them, but honestly how often is that going to happen and the people actually care?

suechrist · #22 2010-06-08, 9:02pm

I think your site is very well designed. Your logo is fabulous. The site is clean and simple and uncluttered. It is easy to navigate. Well done!

MadelineBunyan · #23 2010-06-09, 1:15am

thankyou very much!

I keep getting asked by galleries If I will supply them with some work, so everything I make is going out before I get a chance to put it in my own shop on my website!

ah well, cant complain!