Printer website crit
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- tesmith
We are printers, not designers. Our intention is to convey what we do. Our customers are designers, just an informational site. What do you think?
- ian000
fouty?
- dropdown0
needs more link.
- tesmith0
Damn it!
http://smlsolutions.ca/test/
- monospaced0
Needs pricing, maybe. Some examples you're proud of? Don't try to justify your column text. I'll be back.
- TheBlueOne0
Why the image for the address and phone number? You going to replace that with some html text?
- doesnotexist0
a little too graphic-designy.
- acescence0
re-do without flash
- nicole_marie0
typo under file manipulation
- mayo0
Half of your text is force justified and half is not.
- Scotch_Roman0
Agree with monospaced. I also recommend an upload tool, or easily located ftp instructions.
From a UI perspective, the layout is nice but I'd like to be able to select text for copying/pasting, especially contact and ftp info. You can do this in Flash all while maintaining the appearance as is.
I noticed a number of typos throughout.
For your lists over on the far right, I'd remove the line space between header and subject. For example, you'd take out the line space after Features, before 8 Colour – Inkjet.
- My last recommendation will help legibility.Scotch_Roman
- d_rek0
I like it, says what you do in a straightforward manner. Illustrations are nice. Only real gripe is the terrible full-justified text. I would just drop it and make it left-justified.
- Scotch_Roman0
But ukit, if they want control over typography, it either needs to be image-based (slow and clunky) or Flash-based. I agree a bit of subtle animation would be great, but I also understand the desire to not be forced into Georgia, Arial, Times, Verdana, etc.
I still think they need to make all text selectable though.
- Nairn0
the flash then nothing roll over state feels a bit odd - what's the thinking behind that?
The right-aligned navigation is hard to read, i feel like I'm struggling to discern a path forward, rather than being led ... proactively (*shudder*).
If I'd done this, I'd not have had it centred, rather growing rightwards from the lefthand margin, filling the vertical space entirely. I'd also not regiment the different sections to the same width because, tbh, the leaflet metaphor I assume you're going for is a bit lost on me. It just feels like you're not making the most of my browser space.
- ukit0
^ Shouldn't a major objective be to pop up in the search engines when someone types in Toronto printer? Ultimately an HTML site will be far more useful in actually getting them customers.
In terms of controlling typography, OK point taken, but that's a trade off that 99.999% of the web has already made for greater accessibility/ findability.
- tesmith0
Thanks everyone, I didn't create it but will point out your input. Please explain further your concerns with justification and selectable text. I presume the justification is aesthetic and selectable is usability? Does it properly portray what we do? Typo's have been yet to be dealt with. Thanks again.
- acescence0
it's also about 30 pixels too wide for a 1024 monitor without horizontal scrollbars
- Scotch_Roman0
—Justification: Justified text is the paragraph setting used in your third from right column. It forces text into an uneven flow of internal spacing, which hampers legibility unless thoroughly worked over and tweaked. In other words, left aligned/ragged right text will yield optimum legibility in this setting.
—Selectability: In Flash, it's possible to make text selectable so people can easily select, copy, and paste it. Your developer can turn this feature on while still maintaining appearance of type.
—You can also embed meta tags to optimize searchability. The lack of this function was the bane of Flash for many years, but is now pretty much moot depending on how the page is set up. For example, you can have different site sections set up as different HTML pages, and with selectable text it now becomes searchable via Google, etc.
- acrossthesea0
First impression is that it feels like an old-school flash site. If you're going to go flash... introduce elegant transitions so it's not so "gotoAndStop"
- ukit0
If you keep the site mostly as is, one tweak that could make a big difference IMO would be to add some kind of background (could just be a subtle background color). It looks kind of strange on my big monitor just floating on an empty white background.