www.cocktailstars.com

cocktailstars · #1 (**permalink**) 11-04-2004, 03:46 PM

Hi All
I was hoping you would be able to review my site www.cocktailstars.com

It has recently been redesigned by Seb Eynott at www.aottoa.com. We are very pleased with the look etc.

This is a commercial site as we are a premium mobile cocktail bar service.
The site is very important to us to gain new business and therefore am interested in several aspects of its usability:

1. Do you think it is easy to navigate and find information.
2. Is it clear what we do - content wise?
3. Against the advice of Seb I have insisted that the video be embedded directly into the pages - so that visitors have to view the video. This is because the videos are the best way to show people what we do (we have some of the world's best flair (bottle-throwing Tom Cruise style). We have chosen to use Quicktime videos. Some people do not have quicktime installed - do you think there will be any usability problems with the current arrangement?
4. We are aiming at the premium events market, large/prestigious corporate events, celebrity & VIP private parties - do you think the design /feel of the site reflects this?

Any other comments are of course welcome!
Thanks
Kate

corporateface · #2 (**permalink**) 11-04-2004, 07:35 PM

I have 5 suggestions.

Good site, by the way.

1. Have Seb clean up the graphic that is at the top of the page (In my opinion)

2. The sounds on the mouseovers are a bit much. I used to like them myself earlier on, but when you hear bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bubububububububump... It can be a little much. Maybe use some club music embeded or in flash. The bump, bump ... also says to me "Hey we found this really cool template on the web and hired a guy to modify it for us. So don't expect the work we do for you to be custom either :o)" Not that that is you, but that is just the impression that templates give. (I have commentary about templates on my website) It may not be from a template, but the bump bump as you thump thump the menu kindof says that it could be. Of course it is fun to run the mouse over the menu buttons real fast :o)

3. I agree with your idea of the embedded video, but you might handle it 1 of 2 ways maybe.

1. Use a screen shot of the video (in a player so it is obviously a video) as a link. When I pulled up the site I got a message about upgrading Quicktime. Remember that a lot of surfers may not be as savvy as you and I about what your site is asking them to do.

If the video is real important then you should bring it up on the page.

4. Replace "Welcome to cocktailstars.com" with
We bring the party to you! or something like that.

5. The lightred on dark red is ok, but have Seb try some variances like with color "whitesmoke" or "white" etc.

Good luck
Keith Barnett

CableGuy · #3 (**permalink**) 11-04-2004, 07:51 PM

Hi Kate,
The site overall looks great. It was easy enough to navigate. Couple of thoughts

The glass graphic seems a bit fuzzy.
The site map expanded seems a bit redundent. Is there a reason you do not use a link to the map?

I could not get the video to run.

If I was making plans for a party, I would want to speak to some one or instant message someone for details. This might be a good feature to add to your site. I bought some shelves from the site below and when I was shopping I thought it was great that I could put in my phone number and have them call me right back. I hate calling most internet business because most do not pick up the phone. Check this site for the example I am speaking about.

http://www.chdist.com/ecommerce/eComm;jsessionid=1e3061f2783e$E8$F2$0?template=ind ex&cust_no=&user_id=&ship_no=-1

Good Luck

Pete

davebarnes · #4 (**permalink**) 11-04-2004, 11:23 PM

I hate sound on a website that I did not request.

It causes me to leave the website immediately.

bebarrett · #5 (**permalink**) 11-05-2004, 12:46 AM

If you're goin to have the video play upon loading, you should really have it higher on the page. Maybe think of redubbing music onto it, so the audio quality is better, or removing the audio entirely.

The top image seems crammed in to the right corner, the logo is kind of small the the left, while the center is an uninformative field of red.

The navigation across the top could use to be clearer -- maybe worded in bold.

I would have chosen different image order. (for instance, in my opinion,

is more interesting than the martini glass)

Paul B · #6 (**permalink**) 11-05-2004, 05:53 AM

Seb is right! Kill that video and sound on the home page. Let the visitor decide.

The site map is to provide accessibilty for those without Flashplayer.

I would suggest using a non anti-aliased font for the Flash menus - they are very fuzzy, top and especially side.

What area do you cover? You're a Surrey UK based .com. This should be stated for (visitors and search engines). Can I dial the phone number at the top? I'm in Switzerland by the way.

Great site otherwise...

esiegel · #7 (**permalink**) 11-05-2004, 12:18 PM

I agree that the video should be higher on the page...and you should, at least, be able to kill the sound.

You might want to think about bringing the video into flash...more users have that player installed.