Hey everyone,

 

I've recently been developing a website design company which I hope to bring into success over the next few months. Thought I would just post the link on here because i'd love to hear a professional opinion on the design. Please note that the site is still in development so some of the pages are not linked properly or do not exist.

 

Hope you can give me some friendly critism to help me improve the overall design of the website.

 

Link: Webinim.co.cc

 

Thanks,

 

Tim.

It's clean but, honestly, it just looks like you've gotten a cheap template from ThemeForest and slapped some content in there. If I were you, I'd go back to the drawing board a little and try and feel out exactly what your company is looking to do; that might then go on to inform the design a little more.

Website Design At It's Best

 

/o\

It's clean but, honestly, it just looks like you've gotten a cheap template from ThemeForest and slapped some content in there. If I were you, I'd go back to the drawing board a little and try and feel out exactly what your company is looking to do; that might then go on to inform the design a little more.

 

Thanks for the fast response. I can assure you that the design isn't a cheap template grabbed off another website, it's legitimate and my own. You can verify this by looking at the pages, all of the php content is coded by me along with the design. I will consider changing things in terms of the design such as colour scheme and the overall look and feel to paragraph and heading design's.

 

Thanks again for the response,

 

Tim.

/o\

 

Well if I was to say 'Website design at it's worst' then I don't think I would get any custom. Look, you started off somewhere, it's not going to be perfect because im still at an early stage. I am only 16 years old, doing the company because I need the money for university fees when it comes to it.

start off with some grammar and spelling. Its not It's. No excuse for that at any age.

If you're still learning and this is a project to make some money for uni fees then I suggest changing your approach. Make it your website and not this company's because a customer expects a professional company to offer a certain level of experience and expertise, you don't the former and the latter will be lacking at your age. So why not make it a site advertising your freelance services but don't give it the whole sales pitch with the "fast, secure.." stuff just explain exactly who you are and what you can offer and the client will understand what they can expect and you'll be in a position where you're not expected and pressured to produce industry quality stuff just yet.

 

The design isn't bad by the way, the content just says all the wrong things to me and wouldn't give me confidence as a client. I think a freelance approach would work better.

Edited July 25, 201214 yr by jtuds

Thanks for the fast response. I can assure you that the design isn't a cheap template grabbed off another website, it's legitimate and my own. You can verify this by looking at the pages, all of the php content is coded by me along with the design. I will consider changing things in terms of the design such as colour scheme and the overall look and feel to paragraph and heading design's.

 

Thanks again for the response,

 

Tim.

How can we see the PHP as when PHP is coded, its served as HTML client side...

Also, i would like to see a roll-over state on the menus etc, only a couple lines of css would do the trick. Its clean, but it is boring.

start off with some grammar and spelling. Its not It's. No excuse for that at any age.

 

Hey moderator, is there any possible way to -1 on useless posts? Thanks.

 

 

 

To the OP:

The site doesn't look bad, it does look like a template. If you're not using one, it looks like you've created one. It looks like this because the site is very neutral, no prominent branding or identity, it's plain and can't be completely associated with anything therefore good as a template, anyone can use it for anything. Visually you can't tell what the site is for without reading the content. It looks like you've tried to cram in everything 'above the fold'. I'd redesign it and plan it more. I'm going to assume one of your main goals of this site is to showcase a portfolio and to gain work, so your homepage should address this objective, right now the small portfolio images you have aren't doing much, you need to make it bigger and the text area describing the company isn't doing much to draw in attention and isn't advertising the site very well.

 

It's not a bad site though, it looks nice and with a bit of character, contrast and graphics it could look alot better.

Hey moderator, is there any possible way to -1 on useless posts? Thanks.

While perhaps delivered a little brusquely, Zed's comment was spot on. If someone selling professional-level services doesn't have the attention to detail to fix spelling and grammar errors on the website that serves as their first impression to potential clients, they are already on the losing end of an uphill battle.

While perhaps delivered a little brusquely, Zed's comment was spot on. If someone selling professional-level services doesn't have the attention to detail to fix spelling and grammar errors on the website that serves as their first impression to potential clients, they are already on the losing end of an uphill battle.

 

 

It's almost like the site is unfinished. I mean, I tried clicking on a link and it didn't even go anywhere...

 

Moderator you set the path for us with your ingenious methods, thank you. I shall now commence feedback in your manner...

 

Example:

 

Here at Webinim we have a list of FIVE strict rules that all staff have to abide by. These rules are listed below:

 

1. Fast - We believe supplying a service fast means less hassle for us and the customer.

2. Secure - Another Contributing factor is making our work secure. In order to sustain a successful website, it needs to be secure.

3. Stylish - This is an important factor when designing, we believe the most stylish sites bring in the mass audience.

4. Cost Efficient - Our belief is that a design must be cost efficient helping new businesses along the way.

/o\

Hey moderator, is there any possible way to -1 on useless posts? Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

Whoosh,hit by a handbag. Content is king, not just for SEO. Poor spelling screams volumes.

If you're still learning and this is a project to make some money for uni fees then I suggest changing your approach. Make it your website and not this company's because a customer expects a professional company to offer a certain level of experience and expertise, you don't the former and the latter will be lacking at your age. So why not make it a site advertising your freelance services but don't give it the whole sales pitch with the "fast, secure.." stuff just explain exactly who you are and what you can offer and the client will understand what they can expect and you'll be in a position where you're not expected and pressured to produce industry quality stuff just yet.

 

The design isn't bad by the way, the content just says all the wrong things to me and wouldn't give me confidence as a client. I think a freelance approach would work better.

 

Thank you for your constructive criticism. I appreciate the fact that maybe running a company is out of my depth and not achievable with my qualifications so a personal freelance site maybe better. I shall look into tweaking if not completely changing the design to something that is more personal and reflects my designs until I build up a small portfolio.

 

Thanks again for the friendly advice,

 

Tim.

Hey moderator, is there any possible way to -1 on useless posts? Thanks.

 

 

 

To the OP:

The site doesn't look bad, it does look like a template. If you're not using one, it looks like you've created one. It looks like this because the site is very neutral, no prominent branding or identity, it's plain and can't be completely associated with anything therefore good as a template, anyone can use it for anything. Visually you can't tell what the site is for without reading the content. It looks like you've tried to cram in everything 'above the fold'. I'd redesign it and plan it more. I'm going to assume one of your main goals of this site is to showcase a portfolio and to gain work, so your homepage should address this objective, right now the small portfolio images you have aren't doing much, you need to make it bigger and the text area describing the company isn't doing much to draw in attention and isn't advertising the site very well.

 

It's not a bad site though, it looks nice and with a bit of character, contrast and graphics it could look alot better.

 

Thanks for your friendly criticism. I appreciate it may look like a template but I guess I was going for the professional feel to the design. I didn't want to make it too bold and in your face as well because of screen resolution differences, I always find optimising my sites for different resolutions difficult. I am going to look into redesigning the website as I said in a previous reply. This time I'm going all out, being big and bold to attract user attention as soon as they visit the site. Hopefully this strategy will work better for me.

 

Thanks again for your advice,

 

Tim.

How can we see the PHP as when PHP is coded, its served as HTML client side...

 

If you go onto the help.php page and explore the first category/topic you will see that for one the file name is .php. The page also has some get methods when visiting a topic such as help.php?category=1&topic=1. I'm pretty sure an industry standard website would include neater URL's for SEO, including websites that are downloaded as templates.

 

I can't really thank you for the post because there is no resourceful information for me to take in account,

 

Tim.

If you go onto the help.php page and explore the first category/topic you will see that for one the file name is .php. The page also has some get methods when visiting a topic such as help.php?category=1&topic=1. I'm pretty sure an industry standard website would include neater URL's for SEO, including websites that are downloaded as templates.

 

I can't really thank you for the post because there is no resourceful information for me to take in account,

 

Tim.

I was just questioning how could we look at you PHP code when it is HTML client side.

To all people criticising my grammar and content on the site all I can say is I thought I'd quickly write something up that filled the space and was somewhat related to what I am trying to advertise. I suppose filling it with some resourceful content is better than slapping in lorem ipsum text that doesn't make any sense.

 

Please read the post carefully, I did quote the following in my description of the site:

 

Please note that the site is still in development so some of the pages are not linked properly or do not exist.

 

Thanks,

 

Tim.

I was just questioning how could we look at you PHP code when it is HTML client side.

 

Fair enough.

I think it's alright, fair play for having the get up and go to get off COD and do it. One thing I will say is the domain name is rubbish, screams spam to me, go grab a .co.uk domain.

 

And if this is to just earn some money for Uni and your not just saying it now because you got shot down, don't bother with a services site, set up a few niche blogs using wordpress as you know how to code and earn some adsense cash or affiliate commission - you can earn £300 - £400 a month doing this stuff and there is a lot less time involved giving time to study and get smashed down the pub.

Tim,

 

I think putting you site up for analysis is a brave and commendable thing to do. Especially at your age. They don't pull their punches on here. And that can be a good thing. It can give you a real reality check. I think your site is good. Especially if you're just starting out.

 

I'd agree with the person who said you should have hover elements on your nav bar. I'd extend this further by adding that making your site interactive is appealing to users. Even if it's just a underline on a hyperlink or even more ubiquitous - a carousel slider. One thing I think you should look into is the logo design. There is a lot of room for improvement there. And going on into the future, developing your own style and branding that sets you apart from the others. There's also looking into who exactly your target demographic is, but I think the more you'll go along the more you'll learn about what kind of sites you want to design and who you want to design for.

 

But if I was a young kid right now I'd go and learn responsive and mobile design. That's the future.

 

Good luck.

Edited July 26, 201214 yr by Jejune

I think it's alright, fair play for having the get up and go to get off COD and do it. One thing I will say is the domain name is rubbish, screams spam to me, go grab a .co.uk domain.

 

And if this is to just earn some money for Uni and your not just saying it now because you got shot down, don't bother with a services site, set up a few niche blogs using wordpress as you know how to code and earn some adsense cash or affiliate commission - you can earn £300 - £400 a month doing this stuff and there is a lot less time involved giving time to study and get smashed down the pub.

 

Thanks you for your friendly advice. I was not just saying about uni because I got shot down, I am going to start college in September and whilst in college doing a levels it will be hard to sustain a website design company especially with the work load I have heard that a level presents. I do like the idea of the blog websites and earning money off Adsense, especially if it doesn't require as much attention which that of a website design company would.

I will also consider changing the domain name once I have a bit of money in.

 

Thanks again for your advice and constructive criticism,

 

Tim.

Tim,

 

I think putting you site up for analysis is a brave and commendable thing to do. Especially at your age. They don't pull their punches on here. And that can be a good thing. It can give you a real reality check. I think your site is good. Especially if you're just starting out.

 

I'd agree with the person who said you should have hover elements on your nav bar. I'd extend this further by adding that making your site interactive is appealing to users. Even if it's just a underline on a hyperlink or even more ubiquitous - a carousel slider. One thing I think you should look into is the logo design. There is a lot of room for improvement there. And going on into the future, developing your own style and branding that sets you apart from the others. There's also looking into who exactly your target demographic is, but I think the more you'll go along the more you'll learn about what kind of sites you want to design and who you want to design for.

 

But if I was a young kid right now I'd go and learn responsive and mobile design. That's the future.

 

Good luck.

 

Thank you for all of your advice on how I can improve my website design, all of it will be taken in consideration when I go back to the drawing board and look at how I can improve the design.

I can see what you mean when you say about the logo of the website, I have to admit it is a bit plain and boring. When I do look at redesigning I will try and redo the logo design to make it so that potential uses will remember it as my companies or personal site's logo. I can also see what you mean when you mention the hyperlinks, admIttedly they are pretty unnoticeable to a new user visiting the website.

I am flexible in terms of what I learn. At the moment I'm loving website design and coding as a whole so learning new things is just a bonus. I shall look into responsive and mobile design in the future.

 

Thanks again for all of your constructive criticism and advice,

 

Tim.

What's the email and password form for (top of page)? Needs some sort of heading to say what it does...

What's the email and password form for (top of page)? Needs some sort of heading to say what it does...

 

Thank you for the advice. When redesigning I will take this point into consideration and include headings to say what certain elements are used for.

 

Thanks again,

 

Tim.

Hi Tim,

 

few pointers.

 

Email/password login at top: Bit odd having this here. Reserve this space for a call to action or similar. If you're insistent on having that their, then at least label it so people know what it is.

 

Navigation: Not sure about this being that far down the page. Items should go in order of importance and being able to navigate is pretty important.

 

Bullets on lists: Not sure about the size of these.

 

Hovers: As mentioned above, but for every where, get some 'hover' styles on the go.

Currently nothing i hover over gives any indication that i'm doing it!

People are like dumb animals, they need positive reassurance all the time, give it to them.

 

It also appears you're being a little defensive about the spelling and grammar.

You did come on here asking for feedback and that is what you got. If you disagree with some of it, then fair enough, but do remember that is exactly what you asked for.

Hey moderator, is there any possible way to -1 on useless posts? Thanks.

 

Yes there is a way to remove useless posts completely.

 

Click the PM icon under a moderators name and PM us with the subject 'delete my account' and voila! No more useless posts

 

 

p.s. this is intended as a joke

Yes there is a way to remove useless posts completely.

 

Click the PM icon under a moderators name and PM us with the subject 'delete my account' and voila! No more useless posts

 

 

p.s. this is intended as a joke

 

 

Hmm, that would only cure me of seeing useless posts though, what about all the other poor souls?

 

Why is that person even a moderator when that is the kind of stuff he has to bring to the table? Just one spelling correction on a site that isn't even finished. I'm pretty sure you guys are supposed to set some kind of standard on here, so according to this standard everyone should just correct spelling mistakes. Welldone, great job!

 

Actually, can you delete my account please? I'm not going to learn anything from here with people like that. The moderators on here are some of the most I've ever seen. On the one thread a moderator changed options on a poll to very insulting (to the OP) options. It was probably you or the other guy actually. Psychologically it says alot about you guys, how you take advantage of the little power you have on a forum.

 

Goodbye.

Hmm, that would only cure me of seeing useless posts though, what about all the other poor souls?

 

Why is that person even a moderator when that is the kind of stuff he has to bring to the table? Just one spelling correction on a site that isn't even finished. I'm pretty sure you guys are supposed to set some kind of standard on here, so according to this standard everyone should just correct spelling mistakes. Welldone, great job!

 

Actually, can you delete my account please? I'm not going to learn anything from here with people like that. The moderators on here are some of the most I've ever seen. On the one thread a moderator changed options on a poll to very insulting (to the OP) options. It was probably you or the other guy actually. Psychologically it says alot about you guys, how you take advantage of the little power you have on a forum.

 

Goodbye.

 

That 'guy' is one of the reasons why spam is so low here.

If it wasn't for 'that guy' you wouldn't be able to read anything here at all.

 

The OP asked for constructive criticism, which he was given, spelling and grammar is very important on any site and if he expects to get work then it needs to be noted.

 

I've every faith that the OP has taken this on board and will deal with it. I don't recall the OP asking for any one to fight his corner, which is something you have chosen to do.

 

I was actually responsible for that moderator becoming a mod and i stand by that decision.

Also, personally attacking the moderators and saying 'it says a lot about us' is unacceptable. I doubt you know any of us personally so you have no right to make such judgement calls.

The majority of people who use this forum are happy with our work and adult enough to make personal attacks if they disagree with us. Seems forums aren't the place for you.

 

Moderators can't actually close accounts, however i can mark you as a spammer which will ban your account and block the IP address. Do you want me to do this?

Edited July 26, 201214 yr by MikeChipshop

Actually, can you delete my account please? I'm not going to learn anything from here with people like that. The moderators on here are some of the most I've ever seen. On the one thread a moderator changed options on a poll to very insulting (to the OP) options. It was probably you or the other guy actually. Psychologically it says alot about you guys, how you take advantage of the little power you have on a forum.

 

I believe the poll you're referring to was this one?

 

Strike 1: offers web design on a site created from a template.

Strike 2: offers a site created from a template for design review - essentially, taking credit for someone else's work. Not cool.

Strike 3: offers SEO services while using techniques (eg, hidden text) guaranteed to get a site dropped by Google.

 

If that unscrupulous, incompetent individual gives up on the idea of web design based on what we said, we've saved some naive clients a lot of heartache and some money.

 

As to the stuff in this thread, it's all harsh but fair - that's what the reviews are there for; nobody learns or improves if they're wrapped in cotton wool. A harsh criticism of a design is not a criticism of the designer, please don't mistake the two.

A harsh criticism of a design is not a criticism of the designer, please don't mistake the two.

QFT.

 

Any competetant designer seeks out critism. Its what makes em better

Edited July 26, 201214 yr by jamesosix

I believe the poll you're referring to was this one?

 

 

Holy crap i don;t even remember that thread but it sure shows how this forum feels about spammers haha.

 

Well done chaps! *thumbs up em*