Website for review

[Brew]

Hi guys,

I'm a dutch webdesigner based in the city of Leiden (the Netherlands). We recently updated our webdesign for our website. I was wondering what you all think of the design. The text is in dutch, but shouldn't make a difference for the design experience I guess.

Thanks!

 

[Roddy]

The pages load rather slowly and there's a fairly obvious flash of black background in Safari and Chrome just before the content loads.

The social media buttons could be better placed since they cover content at minimum browser width on some pages.

 

[Brew]

The pages load rather slowly and there's a fairly obvious flash of black background in Safari and Chrome just before the content loads.

The social media buttons could be better placed since they cover content at minimum browser width on some pages.

Thanks for the feedback!
We're trying to figure out what the black background flash is about in chrome and safari. The speed issue will be resolved in the near future as we are testing a caching functionality for our websites (varnish). This will (hopefully) resolve our speed issue.

About the social media buttons, we know they cover content at around 960px width. But most people (in our region) don't browse the web on low resolution screens (like the 960) anymore.

 

[webstudent123]

Great site

on the first slide of your homepage the word 'website' gets hard to read due to the background- give it a stroke or dropshadow- It will be one of the first things clients see- not good.

However I am a fan of the site to say the least - well done

 

[ronaldroe]

The site itself isn't bad, in fact it's a pretty slick design, but there are a number of concerns here. First:

About the social media buttons, we know they cover content at around 960px width. But most people (in our region) don't browse the web on low resolution screens (like the 960) anymore.

What your analytics aren't telling you is that the majority of your visitors aren't browsing with the window maximized. In fact, most of them are seeing the buttons floating over the content. I'm not saying you should convert it to a full-on responsive site (though being a web design agency, you should definitely consider it), but you should at least fix that. The point is, the screen resolution on your analytics is the resolution of the monitor they're using, which is not a good indicator of how they're viewing your site.

Second, the site is a mess under the hood.
Exhibit A:

<script type="text/javascript" src="/media/js/jquery-1.4.4.min.js"></script>
		
		 
		
		<script type="text/javascript" src="/media/js/jquery.raptorize.1.0.js"></script>
		<script type="text/javascript" src="/media/js/parallax.js"></script>
		<script type="text/javascript" src="/media/js/cufon-yui.js"></script>
		<script type="text/javascript" src="/media/js/boton-amtw.js"></script>
		<script type="text/javascript" src="/media/js/jquery.scrollTo.js"></script>
		<script type="text/javascript" src="/media/js/jquery.tooltip.min.js"></script>
		<script type="text/javascript" src="/media/js/jquery.cycle.all.2.72.js"></script>
		<script type="text/javascript" src="/media/js/jquery.ui.core.js"></script>
		<script type="text/javascript" src="/media/js/jquery.ui.widget.js"></script>
		<script type="text/javascript" src="/media/js/jquery.ui.mouse.js"></script>
		<script type="text/javascript" src="/media/js/jquery.ui.sortable.js"></script>
		<script type="text/javascript" src="/media/js/jquery.infieldlabel.min.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
		<script type="text/javascript" src="/media/js/jquery.validate.js"></script>
		<script type="text/javascript" src="/media/js/jquery.fancybox-1.3.4.pack.js"></script>
		<script type="text/javascript" src="/media/js/preview.js"></script>
		<script type="text/javascript" src="/media/js/base.js"></script>
	
		
		<link href="/media/css/reset.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
		<link href="/media/css/text.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
		<link href="/media/css/fancybox.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"  media="screen" />
		<link href="/media/css/nieuws.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
		<link href="/media/css/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

That's a lot of JS, a lot of CSS, and a lot of server requests. Try to reconsider just what jQuery plugins you need, get rid of the ones you really don't, and concatenate/minify the rest. Same with the CSS.
Exhibit B:
From lines 295-301 of your source:

</div></form>
					</div>
				</div>
			</div>
			
		</div>
	</div></div>

"Divitis" doesn't quite cover it. This is a full blown div outbreak. In 6 lines of code, you have 7 closing div tags. Cut down on divs you don't need. If you find yourself doing something like <div id="wrapper"> (or the Dutch equivalent), you're probably using too many divs. Try to cut out the ones you don't need and directly style elements instead.

 

[Roddy]

Although I use a 24 inch screen I browse at 980px since I'm always doing something else as well.

I put CSS before JS and use a separate stylesheet for items that appear on only one page such as media, form etc.

I also run files through an optimizer app developed in Holland - Ton Brand.

The pages also jump up and down noticeably when loading in Chrome. Less so in Safari.

Safari crashed at one point when visiting your portfolio page! First time it has happened to me with this version (6.0.1 for Mac) and it may have been due to an impatient user.

 

[wilhorse]

I really like it. I like the font you used, and I like the retro graphics (typewriter/phone). It did load slow. I'm have the same trouble with my new design loading slow.

 

[benjamin.morgan]

I like the design, the red thing on the slideshow makes me want to click it because it looks like a button. Other than the slow loading the page was an excellent design.

 

[AsheSkyler]

I had fun playing with your "request a quote" page.

On the blog's homepage, the title tag isn't filled out.

 

[che09]

I don't have any complaint other than what others are complaining,the loading time. I believe you'd do something to it. I like your design.

 

[leroy30]

I like the design. Just on the performance issue mentioned you could help yourself out a lot by doing a few things...

Creating sprite sheets could save you a good number of requests. This will help a lot.
You have like 20 javascripts; consolodate them down to a single minified file. This will help a lot.
Consolidate and minify your css files.
Put your css files BEFORE javascript files.

Just those few things will make a good difference.