Our site is http://japanesehomesandgardens.org
This is a new site about Japanese style design, homes, and gardens. We are not so great at site design yet,...thanks so much..
mike

Mike,

Its easy to see that a lot of work went into the site. Here are a few things that might make it even better:

You could add a link like this:
<Add This Page To Your Favorites

That would automatically add your page to favorites.

I'd put a VERY brief version of the About Us copy on the home page. When I first arrived at the home page, I wasn't sure what the site was for. Retail? Informational? Its good if you can give the visitor an idea of the objective of the site when they first arrive.

I'd put the links that are on the home page on a separate links page and set them up to open in a new window. The way it is now, if a visitor follows a link on the home page first thing, they may never return to your page at all!

Also, check out the link to Brightening a Grey Landscape. It moved.

The thing I noticed looking at the photo galleries (which are quite nice, by the way) is that for a lot of them, you have to scroll down to see the photo, then scroll back up to go to the next photo. I'd try putting the thumbnails vertically beside the photos since it didn't seem that the photos took up the full screen. Then, you could go from one photo to another without scrolling.

Fix the typo on restaurant, also. :-)

The color scheme didn't seem to hang together to me. I like the header, but I'd make the letters have more contrast to the background. To me, the beige background on the page makes it look washed out, and doesn't fit with the warmer colors of the header. I'd also find a different color combination for the menu buttons and background. Its just my taste, but the various colors don't seem to go together as well as they could.

I'm sure all the reviewers here will keep in mind that you are new to web design, and won't be too aggressive in their suggestions.

You've got a great start. Hope this helps.

Kathleen

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