Re vamped actinic web site

[richard.a]

Hi All

I have just started to revamp my actinic site. I would appreciate any feedback from all you actinic gurus! Dodgy links/page design etc. Any constructive comments would be appreciated.


Web link: http://www.music-man.co.uk

Thanks

PS thanks to Norman for the NorTree Menu, its the best !! - http://www.drillpine.biz

[george]

I like the look and design of this site a lot.My first impressions were maybe the light blue didn't fit, but no, its fine. I'd give this 'site a seriously high mark.

I'd make the header logo `clickable`, but thats a minor suggestion.



Do you get a special rubbish bin/incarnator thingy for Ibiza clubby music btw?

[chris ashdown]

Good looking site but not sure of the menu being at the top of the logo, at first look I could not find it, maybe needs highlighting in some manner

Home page is great apart from that

Pictures not very good quality and very small, I would want to see what all the buttons and leavers do on the disco operators box, maybe click through to get larger picture of products

[NormanRouxel]

You have a link to the Site Map from your front page - good for search engines - but that Site Map is centered which makes the page look very ugly.

Really neat use of NorMenu. It's nice to see it so well integrated.

[richard.a]

Changed Items

Thanks for the comments

1. Fixed Site Map - Now Aligned Left
2. Increased visiblity of top menu

There are larger pictures in the 'more info' button next to the product maybe this should be re-worded.

[chris ashdown]

Menu looks much better

Ref Images I think you need better resolution and zoomed in closer, show as much detail as you can. Before i would spend £275 on a CDM-500 I would want to see more details to help determin quality etc, also an indication of size weight

[russell king]

Overall a good site in my opinion.

My only real gripe would be the over-use, and some mis-use of colour.

The blues are the main culprits - on your home page you have too many different shades of blue. The 'brighter' blue used on your 'latest news' header, 'add to cart' buttons, etc is out of sorts with the other blues.

Change it to the same blue used on the left hand bar, or another shade you are already using, and see how that looks. Also using brighter colours, or too many colours does tend to 'cheapen' websites and make them what I call 'home-spun'. Toned down shades work a lot better (this forum is a great example!)

Genral rule of thumb with colours, less is more. Pick 2 complimenting colours, then use 2-4 close shade variations of each. Also white, grey and black in addition if needed.

Take a look at
http://www.visibone.com/colorlab/
Is a neat tool for helping select matching shades of same colour. Simply pick 2 to 4 colours, but ensure they are all touching (ie in a row or a block) that way you can't go too far wrong...

Apart from that I think the site is pretty cool, nice job....

Regards

Russell

[pinbrook]

I find the use of colour also confusing, the bright blue does not work.

The logo area makes good use of green, grey, black etc this effect is ruined buy the introduction of to many shades of clashing blues.

Russell makes a good point - less is more

[Legends]

Hi

Like the site - easy to use and great use of Nortree.

One thing you need to watch for is the line of hidden text above your logo - if google spots it, they will penalize your site.

If i was you I would either remove it or make it visible.

Cheers

[george]

One thing I'd do I think is replace the bright blue background in the left hand sidebar boxes with white.

Just a thought

[Duncan Rounding]

In addition to what's been mentioned I would make the logo clickable to homepage and, seeing as Jonty hasn't mentioned it, you don't have alt text on your logo.

[richard.a]

thanks for your comments

does anyone know how to hyperlink a background image in a table ? The header logo / pic is such an item.

Good point about colours, am going through templates, some of which are old ones.


Ta

[Duncan Rounding]

You could remodel your table and make your logo an image in the table instead - if you don't wish to do that then maybe you could create a 1 pixel transparent gif and stretch that to fill the inside of one of the table cells and add a link to that.

[richard.a]

Found this, it adds a block in the table to cover the area of the image you want to hyperlink.

<a href="/" style="width: 80px; height: 89px; padding: 0; margin: 0; display: block;"> </a>

Maybe useful