Please visit my site to let me know what you think of it, by answering the following questions and adding your own comments.
(PLEASE NOTE) that this is a Members Only site, so the index and linked pages are FREE to view. The inner Members Only Site requires a login name and password to PROTECT our "paying" members, and make them feel as if joining has advantages and that not just anyone can access club privileges.
http://www.ihgc.net
1- Are the pages fast enough?
2- Are the photos easy to see, yet compressed enough for fast loading?
3- Is the page appealing enough to make someone want to join?
4- What is the overall FEEL of the site's FrontPage?
5- Are we clear enough on what we offer and who we are?
6- Other?
Reply below or email me. digitaldiva@ihgc.net "NO Spam or Bulk email accepted, I DO NOT open attachments from anyone I do not know or that my security software notes as a suspect email that might contain a virus or other."

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

OK, well there are a lot of qustions you have listed and I will try my best to cover most of them, but I tend to write as I think so it may be a "ramble"...

The initial impression of the home page was definately garden oriented so your topic matter is clear, but I found the page unclear in other ways ways.

The layout could do with more structure IMO. By setting up a solid structure for your page it is easier for the visitor to be lead from what is most important to what is least important. At present nothing is more prominent than anything else and so the viewer doesn't know where to look first.

If anything, the logo in the top left corner is overshadowed by the photos in the middle (which I feel are compressed a bit too much). The "welcome to" section would not appear at all on an 800 x 600 screen, yet there is a "space" above your photos with a splash of blue sky which I personally would remove and bring the content up a bit.

A clear page header and navigation system would be beneficial. Also I would suggest possible splitting the page into smaller pages. Things like "Company Profile" could be put on its own page, or perhaps you could also set up a standard layout for the subsections on your main page set image size heading & layout to make them easier to negotiate.

I know I haven't answered all your questions, but I hope it helps.

Tania

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Howdy. :)

(It seems my reviews just seem to follow Masterpeace's, go figger *wink*)

Anyways, here goes!

1- Are the pages fast enough?
The page loaded decently, but I am using cable. I don't think it would respond well for people on regular ol' dial up.

2- Are the photos easy to see, yet compressed enough for fast loading?
Yup. I would suggest more structure to it, though... It kinda surprises me, you lay out exactly what you want us to review and how you want us to review, then your site doesn't fit your personality. You want your website to be like your garden. (I'm assuming you garden). You need it to be in rows of carrets, tomatoes, etc. You don't want the pumpkin to get out of control and take over the entire thing. Lol, ok, you get the point. :)

3- Is the page appealing enough to make someone want to join?
In all honesty, not.. really..
4- What is the overall FEEL of the site's FrontPage?
It feels like a garden website. :)

5- Are we clear enough on what we offer and who we are?
yup!

6- Other?
I mentioned any 'others' in the past questions, I think.

1- Are the pages fast enough?
On a cable connection, yes.... dialup? different story. - almost 30sec.
2- Are the photos easy to see, yet compressed enough for fast loading?
Yes, well... except for the ones you have to scroll to see
3- Is the page appealing enough to make someone want to join?
Nope
It's a big jumbled mess. There's no structure, no feel to the site. Making visitors scroll down 8 pages, is like force-feeding a child broccoli... doesn't leave a pleasant after-taste.

4- What is the overall FEEL of the site's FrontPage?
Feel? I felt like leaving. Not quite sure why you need to stuff as much information as is humanly possible into the frontpage?
Most of your pages open in a new window... it's a little annoying.
5- Are we clear enough on what we offer and who we are?
Nope
There's so much going on... had difficulty focussing on anything. I wouldn't have stayed long enough to find out.
6- Other?
Having, essentially a one-page website isn't lending you any credibility. Why should I cough up my hard-earned dollar for a service that doesn't convince me?

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I'm kind of going to echo those above, but also let you know that when you have no background colour specified, users like I who dont have white as our default background, see a very much more jumbled site. Because it is a patchwork of white edged images on the page.

Always set a background colour, especially with cluttered layouts.

And that text runs too far down the screen. Rule of thumb, no more than 4 clicks on scroll bar to reach end of page.

But keep trying...good luck :-)


Cindy

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Ok. I've thought of some more stuff. =D

First off, you need to clarify what is your menu. As is, you have to kind of look for it. Look at a site like WebProWorld, the menu is clear, you can see it and can expect where it is / should be. It makes sense. Now look at yours. It seems to be just kinda thrown there and isn't all that logically arranged. My suggestion would be to have a horizontal menu on the left side and make a clear, overall header for all the pages.

Also, as it has been said above numerous times, break down the pages into small bites! If you were putting a garden together, you wouldn't gather all the seeds into your hand and throw them in, now would you? You would take your time and divvy it off by section.

Ok, gotta go. Hope this helps. :)

A gardening organization must be such a fun web project to tackle! You got a decent start, and here are the answers to your specific questions:

1. Are the pages fast enough? - Yes

2. Photos easy... They came across a little fuzzy on my system... The logo is also fuzzy.

3. Page appealing?... No.
It appears you were going for a 3-column setup, but objects in the columns weren't uniform enough to create a well organized site. You missed opportunities to use theme-appropriate color (such as at http://www.garden.org ). Other sites that used good color and better organization (perhaps you can use to get ideas): http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/index.asp and http://www.icangarden.com.

4. The site's front page... Too many things going on, without logical arrangement of information. The "benefits" of membership are found isolated on the page (some in the too-long middle column... some in the right margin...) There are too many font sytles and color changes (a good resource on typography should help for this). Some text is centered, some is left-justified, and there's no real logic in those sudden changes. The sky header seems very out of place. Something like the tree of life at the VERY bottom of the page might offer a header re-design idea.

5. Clear enough on who we are and what we offer... Not exactly. You have to sift through dis-jointed information and poor organization to get a decent picture. I only stayed to do a review. You site does not have the feel of a site others would want to stay and visit.

6. Other - The member guidelines page does not make good use of whitespace and has lines that are much too wide for ease of reading on a monitor.

Your navigation structure does not allow me to return to the homepage from an "inside" page.

Good luck on your project. I hope these comments (and web links) were helpful.

Keita Rae

1- Are the pages fast enough? No. At 28.8 they take over 70 seconds to load. This is mostly caused by your file size which is 170Kb (40Kb is recommended)

2- Are the photos easy to see, yet compressed enough for fast loading? Too compressed. The logo in the upperleft looks blurry around the edges. Can barely read 'est. 2000' at 1024 x 768. The clouds at the top are so washed out that they do not really add anything to the site. The pictures do not seem to have a real theme to them. Just kind of thrown together.

3- Is the page appealing enough to make someone want to join? No. There is way too much scrolling and no real organization. I had to scroll almost halfway down trying to see what the club could do for me. If you want people to join, then you need to start out with the "why" right at the top. People only care about what they are going to get.

4- What is the overall FEEL of the site's FrontPage? Like I was reading off a scroll of toilet paper. Before you get offended, let me explain. The site is just a long, narrow strip of text in the center. It really needs to be laid out differently. Would you read a magazine that looked like your front page? Alot of the text seems to be bold. It makes it look very harsh. I associate gardening with soft and peaceful. that is not what I get from your site.

5- Are we clear enough on what we offer and who we are? I do not know. I really did not want to take the time to sort through the page to see what you did offer.

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1- Are the pages fast enough?
Yes it loaded quick enough for me.

2- Are the photos easy to see, yet compressed enough for fast loading?
I agree with kingman on this, some of the images could be better.

3- Is the page appealing enough to make someone want to join?
Personally, no it's not enticing enough to make me what to join straight away. I think you have to release a bit more information to lure ppl into membership.

4- What is the overall FEEL of the site's FrontPage?
As you've been told before the front page is too long, maybe you should split it up into a non-members area and use that to entice ppl in.

5- Are we clear enough on what we offer and who we are?
From what I can see on 800x600 there is no visible strapline to indicate what the site is about.

As all the others have already said the site needs to be structured a lot better.

Good luck with it ;)

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