Hi

My first posting on this forum please be gentle with me!lol

Long story, but i am very new to designing websites, normally i designed magazine adverts so i have had to learn many new tools. The main area i have been working on is JOOMLA, this open source software is perfect for those of us who do not have a programmers mind! No Offence.

Anyway heres my first site, still tweaking firstgardendesign.co.uk - Home

I would like feedback on 3 areas

1) functionality and navigation
2) general design
3) what else could be added to give it the edge

Thanks for looking and please comment, and i will comment back especially if you are negative!

pete

I just don't like templates as they look like templates.

1. Very boring. Garden design should have photos of gardens that have been designed, planted and nurtured. Custom photos of actual work.

2. You have the strangest favicon. I don't understand how it goes with your logo.

3. Too much "under construction" debris.

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Dave Barnes
+1.303.744.9024
http://www.marketingtactics.com
sitting in my basement with my iMac

On my resolution (1280x1024), it looks really bad.

Header needs to be changed, looks like it has been made in MS Paint.

You should use more colors, it's a garden site

Generally bad design.

You should also remove that Joomla flv icon

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Want to know what? I like the website. As you said, it is your first website, its a helluva lot better than my first one. (and better than some lousy things I keep up!)

Nevertheless, the one thing that I would recommend doing is to get pictures of gardens up to 'eye' level, meaning when somebody clicks into the home page, they see a garden WITHOUT having to scroll down.

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I agree with the first and the third awnser .. I personally dont like template websites but for your first time you did a good job with what you had to work with. Def need garden pictures .. and a bit more color ..
Anthony

RE:First Garden Design

I liked your effort and think that once you have a chance to learn more about design and programming code, things will improve. I know that there are photos in the site but they need to be more prominent. I was surprised to see that some of your links went to website design companies and not more garden organizations like BBC gardening.
Ramona

Hi Guys

Thanks for your comments!

Like i said this is my first site, I agree not everyone likes templates but you have to start somewhere. Under construction debris i do not understand dave

Logo is still being sorted with customer.
Image rotator, pics coming very soon, wanted some movement but i agree need pictures of gardens designed.
There are pictures in portfolio yes i agree need to be more prominent

links, rss feeds, blog are all being put together.
I am very new to this, still learning as is the customer coming to terms with gathering the information required.

Will post again once have made someheadway into these points.

I like it, as does the customer, but agree need a few changes.

regards pete

debris:

Example FAQ Item 1

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Dave Barnes
+1.303.744.9024
http://www.marketingtactics.com
sitting in my basement with my iMac

Hi dave

FAQ's only went on yesterday, i have been adding extras, FAQs, news items, popular these are all new and i am waiting for the content from customer so i can upload. Will be adding some RSS feeds to garden related sites.

What do you think of pictures, i have changed a little added one to home page, although i need some different ons from client as that one was used in portfolio.

Will be working on banner tonight

regards Pete

Getting better.
The main photo is a good addition.
I still don't care for the white box of a logo sitting on a gray gradient.
The logo image needs to be reworked. Make it a GIF with a transparent background.

__________________
Dave Barnes
+1.303.744.9024
http://www.marketingtactics.com
sitting in my basement with my iMac

Hi Totally agree logo is CR** it was chucked on there too have something.

I always seem to be waiting for dccisions, text, photos etc.

I am happy with SEO so far though NUmber 7 on google out of 499,000 sites so slowly coming together

regards Pete

Hi dave and others who have commented.

What do you think Now, i put this together tonight, hope the customer likes it, I have moved position too, all i need to learn NOW is to somehow centralise the banner as it is left justified.

Am i heading in the right direction?

regards Pete

Much improved.

I still don't understand what http://firstgardendesign.co.uk/images/favicon.ico has to do with First Garden.

Why the 1.5 cm of vertical gray at the top? A waste of valuable "above the fold" real estate.

The use of photos has greatly enhanced this site. I hope the owner understands that new custom photos need to be continuously added.

__________________
Dave Barnes
+1.303.744.9024
http://www.marketingtactics.com
sitting in my basement with my iMac

HI DAVE

Yes the grey is a waste of space but there is a module position there called top, banner was there but you still got that 1.5cm of grey between menu and banner. I thik i need to lok into the htnl of the template?

Do you meen this little favicon on the URL that shows the joomla logo?? or am i missing something. If so i now know how to change so will be doing later

I have said i have only been doing web design 5 weeks, i used to jsut sell advertising on a website that was built for me in coldfusion. I got fed up paying to have it updated and it still looks CR**. I will be rebuilding very soon. So this is a very fast learning curve. The garden site is on 1 st page of google already so customer is very happy.

regards Pete

Hi
My first impression is I really like the colors. I think you did a great job for your first design.

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Hi Maemae

Thanks for the nice comments!
Can i ask what browser are you using ?as the top menu in the dark blue bar at top
is supposed to read home profile design process our portfolio

i have been told in IE all you get is Home

??

regards Pete

I wasn't sure why I should be at the site. To look at a huge navigational menu or take a poll.

What should be your fucus of attention(the nice "Inspiratin" slide show) is tucked away in the lower corner and is way too small.

The portfolio. If youaare going to ccall it a portfolio then the subjet matter should encompass at least 50% of the screen area. Image is everything.

Loose the rss syndication. A waste of space for this type of site.

Sometimes simpler is better. You could use a little more focus.

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I think the site looks nice but the first thing i saw was the joomla favicon
Design a favicon for your site and get rid of joomlas...
Otherwise it's loking Great

I agree with mtheory.

When going to a site about garden design, I expect a home page to be filled with lovely photos of the work the company has done. Had to read all the text first to even confirm that I was looking at the site of a company that designs gardens. The photos at the top are way too small and appear blurred. There's way too much text and that doesn't grab my attention as a gardener who is interested in garden design. The home page gave me no desire to delve any deeper into the site.

Hi guys and gals

Thanks for al your comments, i have shown these to my client and we are about to re-design the whole site and upgrade to the next version of Joomla.

MY design I hope is getting better will post the new link as client is changing the domain name also.

Will keep you posted.

One of my own sites here will post a new thread also asking for comments.

http://big-buzz.co.uk

kind regards Pete