# I have two websites - both need a peer review



## wallmaxx (Jun 18, 2007)

I am no web guru. Let's just get that out there.

I built my first website at a repository for images of all my work. Great as a technical scrap book - not so hot as a marketing tool. 

*<UPDATE> I have since crashed this site...by knowing just enough to be dangerous.*

I am three days into this new iMac and Apple has some pretty cool software for website development.

Here is my next website...in all it's unpolished glory. I will be tweaking it accordingly based on the good suggestions that I am sure to receive here.

Thanks for your time.

Mike


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

wallmaxx said:


> I am no web guru. Let's just get that out there.
> 
> I built my first website at a repository for images of all my work. Great as a technical scrap book - not so hot as a marketing tool.


Thumbnails would be a HUGE improvement.



wallmaxx said:


> I am three days into this new iMac and Apple has some pretty cool software for website development.
> 
> Here is my next website...in all it's unpolished glory. I will be tweaking it accordingly based on the good suggestions that I am sure to receive here.
> 
> ...


Much better, but put your header on the top of each page.


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## WarriorWithWood (Jun 30, 2007)

I like the colors of your old site better, black backgrounds are old IMO. I really like the way you made your slogan interactive.:thumbsup:


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## rbsremodeling (Nov 12, 2007)

So far so good. 

I do not like the picture on the main page. All the cool sh!t I have seen you post you have to have a better picture in your arsenal. The photo to me has too much happening in it. It needs to show case your talent but be easily identifiable to the eye/visitor. 

Besides that good start. keep it simple and informative as your doing. 

You just have to lay the ground work and go back and add to and revise it over time. I takes about a year to really get the look and feel finalized on your site


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## SLSTech (Sep 13, 2008)

For the first one - try to get your pictures all to be the same size & have your banner / header go to the end of the image

I would also look into adding controls to go back to the index, next pic, previous pic

Based off the work you do & your approach, I think it works out perfectly

The second web site, loads slow - try compressing the pictures you load on start up

Personally I like the first one better, the second one is... Sorry, I don't know how to describe it


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## RCPainting (Jan 29, 2006)

Looks great, I love Iweb!
If you want to remove the "made on a mac" symbol, go to insert/button/ and uncheck.
SEO and Google Analytics are a little tougher in Iweb, I have some great links to help with that if you are interested. 
You may also want to to publish to different host, like GoDaddy, at least to do a redirect so your url will be your domain, if you have a domain name.

The online photo gallery is very nice also. 

Have you checked out Pages yet?


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## Darwin (Apr 7, 2009)

wallmaxx said:


> I am no web guru. Let's just get that out there.
> 
> I built my first website at a repository for images of all my work. Great as a technical scrap book - not so hot as a marketing tool.
> 
> ...


I like the 2nd website. You broke away from the traditional "home, about us, etc.", which is very refreshing. It works for me. Simple yet str8 to the point...:thumbsup:


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## karunnt (Aug 27, 2008)

- dark backgrounds don't work for me.

- photogalleries - I can understand if you are photographer or artist you would want a gallery to show your work. But I cannot understand that for a contractor to put a random selection of photo from a job site without an explanation of why you want us to look at them.

- Cryptic menu - Why make the job more difficult for the user to understand what you do? On the home page you should tell exactly what you do very clearly. I really don't understand exactly what you do.

- too many clicks to locate information. The Boeing 747 cockpit has every dial, knob and meter out in the open see. You don't have to move things around to location information. Your galleries are deep in your site.

- information is not tailored to your customer. It's focuses on you instead. I doubt if they know or care if you use Autocad, Solidbuilder etc. Start from all the questions a customer has and have answers for them. Much easier to link to a site that has answers people need.

- Mac logo has no use.


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## Winchester (Jun 29, 2008)

Honestly, I am a huge fan of dark background (see my site), but a lot of people don't like them. I try to make my sites the way _I_ like them but try to accomodate a broader taste by making the text on a little bit of a lighter background. Try and find a balance that most people can find pleasing and I think a dark background can work.

I haven't really had any complaints yet about the colours on my site. So if you want to use a dark background you need to try and balance it out a bit, I think.

All-in-all, so far, so good. I think it is _very_ good for an initial launch on a DiY site design.

My company colours are BLACK and orange, so I can see we have some similarities. Yours must be black and yellow? Is there a lighter kind of neutral colour that looks good with yellow you can use to fill in some space?


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## willworkforbeer (Mar 7, 2009)

Looks like the house is under water on the main page. (second site)


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## BreyerConstruct (May 22, 2006)

Big improvement.

Consider some slightly adjusted fonts... right now it looks a bit "boxy"- the logo is great as a crisp font, but maybe some tweaked format of info layout?


~Matt


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## WestCoastVinyl (Jun 5, 2009)

Should concentrate on *the message* of the service that you provide for your clients. If the clients are getting the message or how compelling your service is they will contact you. little secret, this is your keyword phrases!


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## peterkalliney (Aug 21, 2008)

I'm having trouble viewing it.


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## Mobuilder (May 4, 2009)

I am too, the first one goes to a 404 not found page and the second to an iWeb not found page.


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## Project_Pat (Jul 13, 2008)

Always enjoy your posts....Especially liked that turret you framed..Also getting the 404 message.


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## RCPainting (Jan 29, 2006)

Looks like he may have moved it to a hosting company and now needs to redirect it.


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## wallmaxx (Jun 18, 2007)

I have been round and round with tech support. My original site is gone...my new one is up and running minus the www

so try this


wallmaxx.com (with no www infront of it)


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## Winchester (Jun 29, 2008)

wallmaxx said:


> I have been round and round with tech support. My original site is gone...my new one is up and running minus the www
> 
> so try this
> 
> ...


If you've got ftp access you can just upload a .htaccess file with a redirect. It is one of the things google recommends as well.


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## RCPainting (Jan 29, 2006)

The site looks great. I really like the "Maxx blog" and Maxxcast"!:thumbsup:
Nice way to add personality to your website.
Are you using FTP to a hosting company or publishing thru MobileMe?


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## wallmaxx (Jun 18, 2007)

Winchester said:


> If you've got ftp access you can just upload a *.htaccess file* with a redirect. It is one of the things google recommends as well.


Okay...I need to be schooled. I have no idea what that is or does.


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## wallmaxx (Jun 18, 2007)

RCPainting said:


> The site looks great. I really like the "Maxx blog" and Maxxcast"!:thumbsup:
> Nice way to add personality to your website.
> Are you using FTP to a hosting company or publishing thru MobileMe?


When I first tried to use the iMac to create and upload a new site to my existing server service...I wrecked the original website on their servers.

Then it was a breeze to put it up on mobile me...but it had that wierd mobile me URL and to redirect my domain service to mobile me was a bit of a pain.

So after a long and very good conversation with a tech support guy in Hungary or Czechoslovakia, he fixed the access problem I was having.

Now I just have to tell folks NO www (unless Winchester has a work around):notworthy

I am creating it with iWeb...then uploading it ftp with Filezilla


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## karunnt (Aug 27, 2008)

Winchester said:


> Honestly, I am a huge fan of dark background (see my site), but a lot of people don't like them.


I see what you mean. It really makes the photos stand out. This is test I did recently.


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