v8 Showcase / Example Sites

[Andrew]

I like to feel of the site. And navigation good.

How did you do the Mailing List section in the left column by the way?

[peterdowns]

Hi folks

Our first V8 design is here www.greatwebshop.co.uk

Your comments and constructive critisisms are very welcome

cheers

[fleetwood]

Hi Peter

Haven't got much further than the front page and a couple of products, and have to be honest - the colour scheme is way off IMO.

Its very hard to read the both the red and the oranegy-yellow against the black background.
Sorry to be so down, and not meaning to be as rude as it sounds, but the whole colour combo made me feel a little unwell, if truth be told!

The green on yellow buttons are not really readable.

It is visually incorrect to have a solid dark colour in a form field such as the search box - I had to check twice that you could actually type there.

The pictures are also of not a high enough definition, even when using the pop up enlargements.

See what others think, but I would suggest a bit of a rethink over the colour scheme, before going much further.

[leehack]

I'd have to agree with Martin i'm afraid. I took a look and thought i would be well advised not to comment on this one. I quite like doing site reviews, i find it interesting to see other peoples ideas, however when i do one, i always talk in a straight manner and to the point.

I cannot find one thing i like about the site, it is a standard actinic theme with an awful colour scheme. It can be hard taking on criticism when you ask for a site review, most people ignore the comments and put the "destined to fail" website live as it is. Most people asking for a review are (in my experience) just wanting a pat on the back for their great work, i urge you to listen to comments and take them on board, you will end up with a far more successful business.

For starters, have a white background and work from there IMO.

Sorry, but it's better to find out now, than it is in 12 months time when it's expected success falls well short. All in my opinion of course.

[fergusw]

Hi Peter,
I have to agree with Martin here.
I counted 6 different colours in the design elements of your site (discounting product images etc)
Red, Green, Yellow, Black, White and grey.

For good, clear websites you should try and only choose 2 or 3 main colours which combine well and compliment each other.
Your colour selection is jarring to the eye and distracts the mind from the main reason for being there..... the products.

Also, IMO black backgrounds with white text are much more difficult to read than the reverse.

-----------------------------
Here are some general guidelines

* Look to nature to find examples of good colour combinations.
* Don't use too many different colors as this can make your pages look confusing; two or three main colours are enough.
* Avoid colours that lead to insufficient contrast between text and background.
* Large areas of bright pure colour can be tiring; use bright colours sparingly, to contrast with duller background colours. In particular, using bright colors for both text and background will make text tiring to read.

(courtesy of Guild of Accessible Web designers - www.gawds.org)
--------------------------------

[Duncan Rounding]

Were these colours of your choosing or your clients?

It is a simple procedure to change the background to white and use shades of green in keeping with the B&M shop. Also batch sharpening the images would be a quick fix to sort out most of the images.

Otherwise the store itself is ok.

[dscontroller]

Hi folks

www.greatwebshop.co.ukYour comments and constructive critisisms are very welcome cheers

Hi Peter,

Unfortunately, I also have to agree to the colours being too strong. I found that I couldn't look at them for more than a few seconds. Black can and does work in some circumstances, but not often! I have only ever built one site with a black background and probably never will again. White space usually looks good and keeps a website crisp.

The graphics do need sharpening somewhat!

Sorry to be a harbinger of gloom, or similar!!

Regards,
David

[pinbrook]

i didn't object to the black (although I wouldn't design a site with one, unless my client absolutely insisted) The site was very fast, I liked this, my main comment is the images, they are small and not crisp with no larger image to get a better idea of the product.

[peterdowns]

Were these colours of your choosing or your clients?

The colours were of the client's choice - however I do appreciate ALL of your feedback - I am happy to take on board any views you all have - I wouldn't have asked for your opinions if I didn't value them.

Cheers

[LooseDrumSticks]

Green is a tricky colour ... but I think with a few tweeks (and the advice already given) the site could be changed easily.

Start with the attached suggestion:

Oh ... and I've seen worse!

[buspassjohn]

Hi Everyone,

finally got our new V8.5 version working, on our new UK dedicated server, on our new .com domain.

Lots of changes, lots of sleepless nights but it works at last (I Think!!!), please take a look and let me know all the things I need to correct! before I get a professional to go over it and really give me a hard time.

Thanks in advance, by the way we had to take off the Actinic forum discount code as it was being abused but as you can see from the site, our new membership registration will now get you 10% discount on all orders.

[leehack]

Hover states on the right hand side make the text disappear and there are no hover states on the left hand menu. With a list this long, you want to be helping a user to know where there are in the menu, especially those with minimal dexterity.

Looks a little too busy to me eyes, there is a lot of information to take in and no white space defining areas of interest. I would slim the 2 side bars down in width and give the width to the main area, allowing some breathing space in between elements.

Gifts for him and Gifts for her are distinct areas that a user will click on, make them stand out so easy to find.

The line of links across the very top of the page are all skewed and inconsistent, the affiliates link especially.

Define the telephone number easier, the lighter blue the login link uses would be ideal to define this area.

Print page just takes you to the top of the page and is an anchor not a print function.

The text centered on the delivery info page looks a mess. Give each area a defined space and either left align or justify the text.

Apart from that looks ok, although i'm sure some professionals will be able to help more.

[pinbrook]

Sadly for me - I just hate the tone of purple used, I find the whole colour palette far to garish. I've noticed alot of gift stores use purple and I don't know why. Its probably just me, so I wouldn't take to much notice.

This comment comes on the back of the other posts talking about the greatwebshop where I said although i wouldn't use black as a bg i didn't find the site that bad.

[buspassjohn]

Lee, Thanks for that, I knew I had lots of work to do but its taken so long to get to this stage it will take a lot longer to sort!

Jo, We've used this colour for a many years, I guess other gift sites must think its a good colour for this sector as they all now seem to use it, it might be time to change!

Keep the comments coming, they're all useful even if you hate the site.

[buspassjohn]

Print page just takes you to the top of the page and is an anchor not a print function.

Lee, it works for me in Firefox, just checked in IE7 and it does what you say, wierd! Thats what you get when you try to avoid Microshite!

More work I guess