Opinion Please

Hi,
I am just setting up my first ecommerce website. Please can you guys take a
peek and let me know your thoughts. Please note I am not a qualified web
designer so be gentle!

URL: http://americansweets.co.uk/index.htm

Thanks.
Regards,
AL

"alandem" <alandem@ntlworld.com> wrote in
news:mYQEd.39$V67.21@newsfe2-win.ntli.net:

> Hi,
> I am just setting up my first ecommerce website. Please can you guys
> take a peek and let me know your thoughts. Please note I am not a
> qualified web designer so be gentle!
>
> URL: http://americansweets.co.uk/index.htm

Maybe it's just me, but personally, I find it's overkill on the use of the
stars and stripes. I would rather see the focus on the candy, than the
flags.

You might want to customize your forums a bit - It's a bit of a shock to go
from the site layout and scheme of the main site to the default PHPBB
scheme. You'll also find people a little less hesitant to post if there is
already content in there (I know you just made it, so it's a suggestion,
not a criticism

Your FAQ link points to the About Us page.

Your Contact Us point to the About Us page (Use a contact form, instead)

Put up a sample newsletter or two on the newsletter page. Make old
newsletters available online. Make sure people know the format you are
sending in (HTML or Text) - Ideally, give them a choice if you send HTML
Mail.

Your Mail Order link goes directly to a PDF without warning: Go to an HTML
page with an HTML order form instead and offer the option of a PDF link.

Hope that's helpful, a bit



--
Marc Bissonnette
CGI / Database / Web Management Tools: http://www.internalysis.com
Looking for a new ISP? http://www.canadianisp.com

In article <Xns95DB6235B290Ddragnetinternalysisc@207.35.177.1 35>,
dragnet@internalysis.com says...
> "alandem" <alandem@ntlworld.com> wrote in
> news:mYQEd.39$V67.21@newsfe2-win.ntli.net:
>
> > Hi,
> > I am just setting up my first ecommerce website. Please can you guys
> > take a peek and let me know your thoughts. Please note I am not a
> > qualified web designer so be gentle!
> >
> > URL: http://americansweets.co.uk/index.htm
>
> Maybe it's just me, but personally, I find it's overkill on the use of the
> stars and stripes. I would rather see the focus on the candy, than the
> flags.
>
> You might want to customize your forums a bit - It's a bit of a shock to go
> from the site layout and scheme of the main site to the default PHPBB
> scheme. You'll also find people a little less hesitant to post if there is
> already content in there (I know you just made it, so it's a suggestion,
> not a criticism
>
> Your FAQ link points to the About Us page.
>
> Your Contact Us point to the About Us page (Use a contact form, instead)
>
> Put up a sample newsletter or two on the newsletter page. Make old
> newsletters available online. Make sure people know the format you are
> sending in (HTML or Text) - Ideally, give them a choice if you send HTML
> Mail.
>
> Your Mail Order link goes directly to a PDF without warning: Go to an HTML
> page with an HTML order form instead and offer the option of a PDF link.
>
> Hope that's helpful, a bit

I second the flags part - way too many stars. It's very distracting.

In article <mYQEd.39$V67.21@newsfe2-win.ntli.net>, alandem says...
> Hi,
> I am just setting up my first ecommerce website. Please can you guys take a
> peek and let me know your thoughts. Please note I am not a qualified web
> designer so be gentle!
>
> URL: http://americansweets.co.uk/index.htm

It just fits on my screen if I have Firefox maximized, and my resolution
is 1280x1024. If you're going for fixed size, you really should try to
make it fit 800x600.

Your internal pages seem to be fine - it's just that index page.

It would be worth getting it to validate, but fix that huge index page
first.

http://validator.w3.org/

You'll have a new customer if you start distributing Pop-tarts.

--
Daniel Ruscoe
daniel.ruscoe@gmail.com
http://www.danruscoe.com/

Once upon a time, far far away, the king summoned "alandem"
<alandem@ntlworld.com> who replied:

>Hi,
>I am just setting up my first ecommerce website. Please can you guys take a
>peek and let me know your thoughts. Please note I am not a qualified web
>designer so be gentle!
>
>URL: http://americansweets.co.uk/index.htm
>
>Thanks.
>Regards,
>AL

Oh dear, where to begin?

How about this: "Welcome to the homepage for the Stateside Candy Co,
Distributors of American Candy products in the UK" which is simply too
long, try "Stateside Candy Co, Distributors of American Candy products
in the UK" instead.

The home page is far too wide, it scrolls even in a maximised 1024
width window!

You have neglected to declare a background colour? So parts of the
display appear (to me) grey, which just looks awful.

I always feel "PayPal" to appear unprofessional, I'd rather see a
proper merchant account.

Your "Search" facility is very obviously unfinished.

Matt

--
Free, high quality content for web sites. See
http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/xcont.htm

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 1919 GMT, alandem wrote:

> Ok thank for comments. Im using Paypal as im starting up with a reaaly low
> budget and dont want to blow £450 for set up charges for a merchant account.
> But am keeping an open mind to that for the not to distant future. Figured
> that Paypal is at least trusted by the majority, especially my Ebay
> customers.


Paypal should be fine as a start. Many people trust it. It's even more
secure than credit cards because you don't have to give in your credit card
info.



Karim
--
http://www.cheapesthosting.com - Innovative Web Hosting since 1998
Spam and Virus protected email - Online calendars with email notification
Camera phone photos automatic transfers to your photo album (RSS Enabled)

Wow, you are wasted a web designer, you should be a poet!

"Saint Firk" <rupert.murdoch@sky.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1c4e3d238795896c989e1c@news.individual.ne t...
> Way down deep in the middle of the congo, alandem and a hippo took an
apricot a
> guava and a mango. Stuck it with the others and he danced a dainty
tango...
>
> > Hi,
> > I am just setting up my first ecommerce website. Please can you guys
take a
> > peek and let me know your thoughts. Please note I am not a qualified web
> > designer so be gentle!
> >
> > URL: http://americansweets.co.uk/index.htm
>
> American chocolate?
>
> *gags*
>
> I'd rather eat my own *****.
>
> --
> stereo: Cat Power - Wonderwall (live)
> www.oxygenkiosk.net