Question: Could you take a look at my web site, PellaCAD, and make your two strongest suggestions (more if you have time)I’d sure appreciate your professional opinion!
– Pete Naschke
Jamie’s Answer: Sure, I’m happy to give you some suggestions. My two strongest pieces of advice are to get focused and to develop some consistency. I’ll cover those two issue separately:
1. Focus
When I first visited your main page, I didn’t have a clue where to look. There are text and images everywhere in random order. Nothing lines up, and nothing is connected to anything else. There is no place on the page that is clearly the focal point. You need to structure your page so that visitors are clear on where they should look first. Figure out what action you want visitors to take on the main page and organize the page around that goal. Make it clear what you want them to do.
In order to get focused, you’ll need to get rid of some of the miscellaneous elements scattered around the page. For example, get rid of the Microsoft banner and the link above it, and don’t include so many assorted photos. Since the photos are placed so randomly, they make the page look very disconnected. Also, get rid of the whole table with the border around it in the middle of the page. It’s disorganized and confusing.
I appreciate what you’re attempting to do with the spiritual message at the bottom of your home page. However, although it is a good message, that’s not the place to include it. You do not want your site to look like a garage sale with all kinds of odds and ends. This site is about CAD, and you need to focus on CAD.
2. Be consistent
Since you don’t have any consistent design standards, your site lacks a well-defined image. There is no consistent header, no consistent navigation, no consistent background, etc. You need to decide on a particular design for your site instead of just including elements on your pages in whatever order they come to mind.
One more bonus suggestion: Make sure your pages work in 800×600. Right now, they fit in larger resolutions, but the right part of the page is cut off in 800×600.
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