Seeking web design input

[jdubbz]

Greetings all, I have been a lurker for several months, and am getting ready to begin my for fun side project.

But A little about my web skills. I learned Dreamweaver a couple of semesters ago and have been working with that, pretty much CSS and XTML. I have like zero knowledge on how to script and use php. 10 years ago I got a degree in graphic design, and web design classes were minimal at the college I attended. So basically I stick with Adobe CS4 software right now.

What I want to create is a video game site like peopleofwalmart.com or textfromlastnight.com. I am not really sure how these examples are coded, so that's why I am posting and if I can create them with with Dreamweaver. Basically I want a site that anyone can post images or vids onto, I guess kinda like a blog. Perhaps a template?

2nd I am a small business owner, my site is www.tsmengraving.com. I am currently looking at which ways are best most cost effective ways to promote my site (it's a about 3 months old). I was contemplating Google ads, but not having them show up on the site. Also perhaps adding some sort of photo page to upload our work.

Also we are wanting to move into online sales in the next few months, but it may have to be a little bit more complex cart system. Clients may have to upload logos for badges, lots of text per sign and of course a w x h size calculator would be great. What would be some good templates to work on a cart system with?

Any advice is greatly appreciated, and I appreciate anyone of you masters even taking the time to read my post

John

 

[d a v e]

not sure whether you would like some advice on the web your web site looks and functions but maybe i feel i should offer it anyway as i think it needs some improvement before you start marketing it or thinking of adding a cart or anything

Graphics:
*******
the 'logo' is more of a header than a logo - it uses far too many effects, bevels drop

shadows and noise/textures and it's waaaay too big - i would start with redesigning that.

your navigation is too small and narrow. text is all bold (why?)

1-3 *good* examples on your homepage of products and then a photo gallery of others would be nice - the collages of images you have at the moment are a little confusing and too small to see properly anyway and would be far better represented

each in their own photo. lose those horrible backgrounds (those kind of psychedelic swirly patterned things )

don't forget your alt text

nothing really lines up with anything, text needs more line-height and padding, the colour scheme doesn't really say laser engraving to me (could be more high-tech looking?)

favicon



Code :
*****

tables are for data. not for layout, use appropriate tags - <p> for paragraphs not
<br />
<br />

lots of other coding errors


content:
******

bullet point 3-5 things that you can offer the customer (rather than welcoming them to your site) and then go on to detail more of what you can do with clear headings, and succinct paragraphs.

I understand you're new to web design but this looks like a Frontpage site from 10 years ago, and not a very effective one at that

 

[jdubbz]

Dave, thank you for your critique. Would you have any suggestions of templates or references I can use to make the web design process faster? I mean really business is picking up for this 2 person team so any references are wonderful.

The Logo is meant to be a header showcasing some of the various materials we engrave on. Originally the idea was to show case each page header have that particular page subjects engraving on it. IE rubber would resemble rubber. But that was scratched due to time constraints.

We went with a K.I.S.S. approach to the website, as if you look at some other engraving sites in the area, you will see a much more muddled approach.

I was more so seeking advice on the 2 things i mentioned in the original post I had though more so than a critique.

 

[d a v e]

this is a good resource
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/

 

[Pheno]

I agree with all the points Dave made. Also, you seem to have rogue tables in the layout of some pages, which is why the page jumps up and down as you navigate.

On the SEO front, the site isn't too bad. But I assume you are mainly targeting a local client base? In that case, you should have the region you are targeting in the H1 tag and meta title on the homepage.

You might want to take a look at this and see if you can fix these errors: http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=h...(detect+automatically)&doctype=Inline&group=0

I would look at a better way to display your products. Small images are fine, but you should be able to zoom in to get a better look. Google jquery lightbox for ways to do this.

By a coincidence, I just finished building an Engraving e-commerce website this morning which you might be interested in taking a look at: http://www.martindareengraving.co.uk/

 

[jumpingspider]

I believe Dave pointed out the necessary 'issues' that needs to be work on. Thus,what Pheno said is additional point where it really does matter.

I also would add,to improve your BG color,or put some BG images if necessary!

 

[anna]

Congrats to learning those skills I am learning html, css, and php as well.
I found a website builder that allows me to use there system and tools along with incorporating what I have learned within the source. It's called Webpaper it really is useful.

I smell a spammer...

 

[web_critic]

Good job learning and all but you need to step up your design skills. This looks horrible. I suggest Net tuts to learn some good techniques.