Site Review for http://www.thegiftconnection.com

[rdrunna]

Hi Everyone!

Your input would be greatly appreciated. Please let me know what I can do to make my site better. If anyone knows how I can use e-mals shopping cart and move away from ecbuilder, this would be even better. I want to just add product offline or even live, without worrying about loosing content on other pages.

Of course if you are not familiar with Multiactive ecBuilder 6.0, then you may not understand my above comment.
HELP!!!!
Thank you in advance
Lillian

[carbonize]

I can't help you with the shopping cart problem except suggesting looking at Miva. But as for your web page I looked at the index page and it seems erratic. One thing I may suggest is changing the <div class=Section1 style="width: 1059; height: 1075"> tag as this adds horizontal scroll to even 1024x768 browsers. Change it to <div class=Section1 style="width: 1020; height: 1075"> would be my guess to lose the scroll on 1024x768.

[GregCSotD]

I love the color in your logos. Very appealing and soothing. The site is not bad, but there are some design issues to consider that, once you get the hang of, will make the site work better on the whole.

My machine is set at 1024x728 and there is still a scrollbar at bottom. Make the elements of the page movable so everything still fits for folks with smaller monitors. If I came to a site where I had to scroll left and right to view the content, I might last 2 or 3 seconds.

Decrease the size of your main font. There is way too much white space on the page. Using a smaller font will tighten things up a lot.

On your interior pages (http://www.thegiftconnection.com/catalog.htm) you are using HTML tags to resize images, like the angel image. This is a big no-no as not only do the images look fuzzy, but you are paying the same load time for a larger image when it is actually smaller on the site. Shrinking it down in a graphics application will not only make it look a lot cleaner, but it will decrease your load time. Do this throughout your whole site. While it may save time to specify a smaller size in the HTML tag initially, in the long run, it is not worth it. And if this is an aspect of the software you used to build the site that you cannot get around, I suggest trying a different program as that is a basic you don't want to ignore.

Choose a color scheme for your site and stick to it. The link color and font for the navigation bar on your home page is different from your interior pages. Choosing one color scheme and sticking to it will make navigation easier and increase your site's sense of brand.

There are some categories where you have nothing listed, like http://www.thegiftconnection.com/cat9_1.htm - do not list them unless you have something to sell in them. It is going to be very frustrating for potential customers to click over to a page only to find there is nothing on the page for them to browse.

Put a "buy" link and a "more info" link right under the items on your category pages, such as http://www.thegiftconnection.com/cat44_1.htm - some folks might want to purchase the item right there and it should be very easy for them to give into their impulses, especially since there is not a whole lot more info on the individual item page than the category page.

Best of luck!!

[AlanMCSD]

Your address on the top right is making your page way to wide, also the font is a little inconsistent. Set your display setting at 800x600 and have a look see.
I would reconsider the italic font in the center of your pages, it makes it a little harder to read.

Also I would change the width of you center table so it is narrower, use a % based size so it will scale to different browser sizes.

Some of the content would benefit by third party proof reading and editing.

As a first crack at web design it is OK, but if your business grows I would consider getting a prof. on board at least to give you a decent framework.

What ever tool you are using for design your pages you should junk it. The HTML is really bad, if you actually had to go in there and edit you would be in BIG trouble.

Email, shopping cart, not a problem.
What are you hosting on and do you have a merchant account set up.

We could help you with your fixing this puppy up and since we are new and constantly seeking clients we could do it for a reasonable fee.

Thanks for reviewing my site.
Alan
EnterpriseSolutionsNetwork.com
http://www.EnterpriseSolutionsNetwork.com
Alan@EnterpriseSolutionsNetwork.com

[KarenH]

Mod Edit (Syren) - Post content deleted - self-promotional.

See Site Review Rules #3 and #5.

[RicInACloak]

Hey this looks great
Comments:
I agree with the review above re italics, they are harder to read.
Im still looking for a way to show ads without them spoiling the site design, and i see the same problem here, your site looks way better than the ads.
I like your logo.
Links:
I clicked the exactseek logo and moved away from your site, i know some people prefer this, but i prefer to see links like these open in a new window. As i see it the risk is that the user does not like the site they go to, then closes the window, and then can not remember their way back to your site. add a target="_blank" attribute to the a-href tag.

[SyrenSong]

KarenH -

You have previously been asked not to make any self-promotional posts to the forums.

I deleted your post because you said absolutely nothing to help rdrunna with a review of her site.

Please remember that the purpose of posting a reply in WebProWorld's Site Review forums is to help other members. It is not a forum for advertising your own company for personal gain.

Syren
Moderator - Submit Your Site For Review

[SyrenSong]

I agree with several of the comments made by others above.

Basically, you've got some good colors, and your layout's not bad either.

But I would definitely remove the italics and shrink your main font size. It looks like all your text is fighting for attention, which means nothing wins. There's nowhere for the eye to focus.

Try reserving the italics for important statements where you really want to catch the attention of your visitors. And the same is true of the font size. Shrink it down a little and save the big stuff for sales and site specials.

HTH!

[rdrunna]

I thank everyone for helping me with this. I am making some changes and hope the changes will help my site. And thank you for pointing out the forum rules. I'm new at this and I am glad to know that this is not for self advertisement, so therefore it makes me feel better about receiving this information.

[Amus]

Mod Edit (Syren) - Post content deleted - self-promotional.

See Site Review Rules #3 and #5 (http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=47).

[SyrenSong]

KarenH -

Self-promotional posts are still against Forum Rules (http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=47) - even if you attempt to do so using an alias such as "Amus".

Use of an alias does not free you from following forum rules regarding spamming the forums.

I have notified Brittany, the Forum Administrator, of your actions.

Syren
Moderator - Submit Your Site For Review