[thelist] Site crit needed

[James Aylard]

Jasen,

> http://www.westindiesshipping.com

    Basically, you've got a good thing going. For the most part, the site is
clean with adequate amounts of white-space to provide visual balance. The
color combinations are fine.
    My criticisms:

* The satin/water images at the top of the screen separate as I expand my
browser, which looks very bad. I suggest reworking this as a simple
background image.

* Blinking and scrolling text - almost every page has some, and it is
annoying and difficult to read. I suggest getting rid of the blinking and
scrolling -- all of it.

* Underlined text that is not hyperlinked. On the Web, underlining has *no*
place except for hyperlinked text. Period. Others may disagree, but I will
stand firm. Users will always assume that underlined text is clickable; you
only frustrate them by underlining text that is not clickable.

* The text "Welcome to West Indies Shiping & Trading Co. Ltd" remains in the
status bar even when I mouseover most links. I suggest getting rid of this
message so that users can see the destination of each link.

* The horizontal navigation across the top is too understated. It seems that
you could combine the left and top navigation schemes into one.

* The rollovers on the Services page are unnecessary and a little quirky. I
suggest putting all of this text straight out on the page where it is always
visible.

* The "What's New" link leads to a blank page.

hth,
James Aylard