Please review
http://www.AboutUtila.com

Please rate 1 to 5 for
Speed
Navigation
Content
Relevance
Design/Style

I want to get some feedback before I commit countless more hours to providing more content based upon the current Design/Style.

Speed 5
Navigation 3
Content 1
Relevance 2
Design/Style 2

This site is a great idea. I've never heard of the island, and this should help.

It's not immediately obvious what the site is about, though. The info on the home page is somewhat randomly placed and very close together. I think the value of the site is the directory, but it is displayed off to the side. With no form to the pages, they appear to be hanging on the screen.

I'd also include a small map showing where the island is in the Carribean, and some info on how to get there from various countries. Folks from other places won't know where Honduras is as a point of reference. And, my question was where to catch a flight to the island.

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Your site makes me want to visit. I could use a nice vacation.

When I look at the main page, all of the text appears as Times New Roman, making some of it a bit hard to read.

I'm not an expert on StyleSheets at all, but yours declares "Arial" as the font family for Body Text "only".

I think you need to declare Arial as your text for

and <td> as well, unless you choose another font style in those areas. Else, I think by default it resolves to Times New Roman.

Arial tends to display better, in my opinion, than most other fonts as far as plain text goes.

Someone please correct me if I am wrong on this.

Hey, are ya givin' away any FREE vacation tickets? I'd love to come visit.

Davey

I accept your Content score, but I would appreciate some explanation/rationale for the other scores. It is difficult for me to make improvements without understanding the reasoning behind your scoring.
Thank you in advance.

Thanks.
This is exactly the type of feedback I was hoping for.
You have helped me to prioritize my efforts towards design/layout in advance of adding more content. Could you possibly elaborate on your "no form to the pages" comment. I not sure I exactly understand what you mean by this.
I also recognise the importance of content and appreciate and accept your suggestions in this area.
Thanks again.

I am not sure why, because I'm looking at Accommodation & Lodgings, 80% of which have no descriptions. Inside a listing, there is not even the rating system you use here. Perhaps use such a rating system on the listing page, then explain the reason for the rating on the destination page.

Navigation is okay, but there is little at the end of the navigating.

Design is notable for its lack. Simple is okay, but this design is more like "I don't need to hire a designer."

In all the site seems like the major goal is selling hotels a place in the directory. There is a slight nod to the user, but it seems a passing courtesy. There are probably 500 guide sites built around use, no need to go into the details of surveying competition.

Davey,

Thanks for the feedback, especially the Times Roman comment.
I've tested the web site using Internet Explorer on a few of the different computer systems (different Windows versions, different IE versions) here in Utila and have not encountered this issue.
It is my intention that the default font for the entire web site is Arial. I am no expert in StyleSheets, but I assumed (perhaps in correctly) that by declaring Arial as the Body font, it would become the default font for all other tags unless otherwise specified.
I've made the changes you suggested and specified Arial to the

and <td> tags in the stylesheet. Can you tell me if this has resolved the problem?

Sorry, I've got no cash for free vacation tickets, but if you ever happen to visit here I can show you all the "hot spots" on the island and the muchas chicas bonitas.

Mark

DCrux,
Thanks, now I understand.
It is my intention to create a page for each Accomodation listed, but in order to do so I have to walk around the Island and visit the Hotel Owners, (this takes time - of which I don't have a lot). Nevertheless it is my intention to do so. I am using the current feedback from this Forum to help me decide how to priortise my site development activities.

I accept your rating system idea, but it is not practical for me to do this myself, because I live here on the island and if I make an opinionated judgement about the various merits of the accommodations, I am likely to create enemies and on such a small Island, that is a bad thing. What I do intended to do is create a table ranking the Accomodations by prices and facilities (facts as opposed to opinions), but again it will take time to gather the facts.

I do intended to create some kind of rating system, whereby web site visitors can rate the Accomodations, but again this means yet more work, and I have to prioritise my development work load.

The goal of this web site is not to make money selling advertising. Please re-read the "About Us" page.

Regarding hiring a Designer, please remember this is a small Caribbean island with a population of around 2,500 and part of Honduras, one of the poorest countries in Latin America. I'm building this web site in my spare time and at my own expense. I have neither the time nor the money to hire a professional designer. If I didn't do this, then it wouldn't get done.

I joined this forum in attempt to compensate for my lack of expertise and experience.
Thank you for your time and feedback.

Mark