Okay....hello everyone from a 'new to the game' person, I've set up on my own in IT Office solutions and hope that my site, which incidentally I designed by hand written code will offer the information needed, I'm not a web designer and it tells, but I'd like some honest opinion about wether it works for you guys out there, and I know I'm probably in totally the wrong place here.....I'm still learning ok! So have a look and let me know what you all think?
Many thanks all
Powow


<Mod edit to comply with Site Review Rule #1 - Syren>

The site entrance is confusing, and takes on the look of a splash page. It usually serves the same purpose as an opening paragraph, pawing the ground in preparation to say something -- you can remove this first page. This will leave the rest of the site navigation, which is acceptable, and content which is not.

The content is generic and considers IT Office Solution skills in the most rudimentary way. Most people are looking for new skills that get them hired or promoted. ...Powerpoint presentations which address the several criticisms of Powerpoint (and powerpoint on the Web). ...Word processing skills which lift the user above the mediocre. ...And database skills which allow businesses to generate more sales.

Your site addresses these topics for the user population of fifteen years ago. The user base has moved on. Solutions (meaning viable business solutions) mean much more in order to merely consider yourself computer literate, let alone competitive. And you have to assume if the people haven't mastered these most basic of skills, they probably can't get anywhere on the internet yet. You are better served with a physical mail campaign. ...That is if you are selling anything -- which wasn't clear.

Perhaps you are better served by studying the competition for some ideas about what people are looking for.

I'm so dizzy I scare myself sometimes :\ www.itofficesolution.co.uk thanks ;)

You hid the way into the site. I'm not sure if I would even have the splash page much less I have guest try and figure out how to get in.
But after I got in a just saw a long blank page.

__________________
Custom Website Design | Search Engine Optimization | Web Design Templates

Many thanks for the feedback....erm i was a little confused by the having to guess how to get into the site, i would have thought the 'click here to enter site' then the 'come in and look at my pages' gif would have given a little clue, haven't a clue why there was a blank page, everyone else can see it, have just double checked on a friend's pc and it's all there! As I say I am very new to this, I am not selling anything but services to businesses who don't wish to hire secretaries or don't have a clue how to set up databases for their secretaries to use, I am indeed quite highly qualified in this field but lack the confidence of a person going 'out alone' for the first time, I'm sure anyone who has been there knows the feeling well....but! I am one determined young woman and I guess with alot of support and the right attitude I will go a long way with what I do..thanks again

Hi powow,

I think you should re-consider the use of some of your graphics and animations. For example, your next button does not have the word "next" on it, and the pounding fist on the keyboard does not exactly portray professionalism.

I would suggest removing the border around your images on the navigation, and removing the 20+ line breaks that just make the user scroll for no apparent reason.

The navigation buttons are also very hard to make out -- I would suggest a different font, and look for more professional graphics.

I would also suggest that you proofread your content and re-word your sentences to show that you are a serious company, and to make people want to use your service.

This is your "tagline," so to speak. It tells surfers what the site is about. You can make this into something a little more distinctive, but it gets the point across as is.

Think about navigation like "Enter The Site" as redundant. If they gotten to any page of the site, they have in fact entered it. "Confusing" is an opinion, but informed by observation of many users (at times in batches of dozens in a classroom setting) informs that opinion.

And you will soon find what seems perfectly clear to you isn't always clear to everyone What looks fine on one or two PC's may not look that way when your consider a larger sample size of different kinds (and ages) of computers.

[quote="Premier Businesses"]Hi powow,

I think you should re-consider the use of some of your graphics and animations. For example, your next button does not have the word "next" on it,
Well...I did think about this, but, does the fact that it points towards the next page not signify the fact that that's where it'll take you?

and the pounding fist on the keyboard does not exactly portray professionalism.Point totally taken, it's supposed to signify the frustration caused! But I can see why you feel it show's perhaps an aggressiveness?

I would suggest removing the border around your images on the navigation,I wish I knew how, I'm not a web designer, I only learnt the very very basics on a short course but hope to move on into a deeper understanding.
and removing the 20+ line breaks that just make the user scroll for no apparent reason.I thought that anyone browsing the site would scroll down and 'drop off' the page! Is this not the case? I know I have loads to learn here and this is all gratefully appreciated.

The navigation buttons are also very hard to make out -- I would suggest a different font, and look for more professional graphics. Yes this has been pointed out by a friend who is a proffessional web designer, it actually looks totally clear on the blueprint, but once it was uploaded to the net I realized you can't read a couple of them, will re-do them.Lots of things look different once uploaded.

I would also suggest that you proofread your content and re-word your sentences to show that you are a serious company, and to make people want to use your service. Again agreed, I take it you're talking of the way the words are coming out with spacing in them, for example offic e? It's taken care of, a simple HTML code mistake by me! But sorted, just need to re upload the improved version, thanks again for your comments, please do keep an eye on it and watch as it grows along with my understanding (If I ever get to understand Html source code lol) :)[/b]

So are you saying that what I am trying to say may come over as something to different to everyone who reads it and that I need to make it that clear that it'll make sense to whoever, wherever? I'm finding this quite hard, but I know I'm learning all the time and won't give up on it

Once you make yourself clear to a large enough sample, you get to a point of diminishing returns. That is, you improve site structure and content so most people can see and understand what you are offering. It is up to the designer to figure out (through persperation, innovation, and information) where that point should be.

I would suggest you try your best to make the site suitable to those likely to be best customers, then likely propective customers, and so on. You are never going to get everybody, but you decide what percentages you can get.

I would suggest you try your best to make the site suitable to those likely to be best customers, then likely propective customers, and so on. You are never going to get everybody, but you decide what percentages you can get.[/quote]


Ah yes I see, so it's a case of changing the site as I get to know what people want from me?

Hi powow,

Here's some free HTML tips for you...

To remove your borders around the images:
Add border="0" to your <img> tag:
[img]come_in.gif[/img]

You do not need all of the
tags in your code. You will notice that since you are in a table, as soon as you end the <td> tag with a closing </td> tag, your right navigation column will appear. If you want to have a little space from the bottom of your table to the bottom of the page then use another table row (<tr height="50"><td colspan="2"></td></tr>). The code in the () will add a 50 pixel high space spanning the 2 columns in your table.

To make your images not appear scrunched:
You are coding your images for 100x20 pixels when in fact your images are 128x25 pixels. When you code an image to be smaller than it really is without shrinking the actual pixel size of the image, it will distort the image altogether. Remove the width="100" and height="20" from your <img> tag and replace it with width="128" height="25". For example, your communications image code will look like this:
[img]coollogo_com_95241726.gif[/img]
Add the border="0" to remove the border.

Hope this gets you started!

Yes I think I get all that! I am trying to familiarise myself more with HTML,but I think Dreamweaver has to be the easiest option as I'm finding it more and more difficult the further I go into it...style sheets are the next project, hmmm....this could be interesting! Thanks for the advice, will use it and upload the new version once I get round to it (several changes made since joining already!)

Can anyone give me some feedback on this one?
I am not trained as a web designer I kinda figured out what I have done so far by myself...so I have decided to start using dreamweaver as I wanted to learn about style sheets etc, and looking at my site plus taking all the advice given to me so far I have decided it's crap basically.
I'm having a little trouble understanding Dreamweaver's ways at the moment as I only know a little about hand written HTML which is how the site was designed, but see this as an opportunity to develop something more proffesional looking with all the mta tag etc business that comes with it (Lord help me)..is this a good idea? I've got everything there is to learn about it but as I say, untrained I feel a little dropped in at the deep end! Although saying that I have kept up with all the latest gossip and tried really hard to find out what it all means! A friend of mine who is actually a very good web designer swears by it...what do you all think? Will this help my understanding of the never ending codes, tags, style sheets and presentations, or is it the lazy way out? I'd be interested in how many of you actually use it?