[SPAM] [thelist] Site check / critique...

Rosalie Sennett rsennett at brainlink.com
Sun Dec 19 15:19:55 CST 2004


David, 

The sight is visually pleasing... and although I'm more of a code nerd than
a designer (and you're the designer) I agree with the comments regarding the
coldness of the colors. I might suggest patterning the colors off those warm
inviting food colors in the burger photo on the menu page.

Home Page:

The pizza photo is a little washed out and not as appetizing as the others.
They may want to re-shoot that one or you could warm it up in PhotoShop.

To fit with the other foods, it should be 'decadent' or 'luscious' or
'delicious' desserts... "Sweet" would only work if they were "meaty burgers"
and "Cheesy Pizzas"

The owners may want to reconsider the "fine Italian food" branding. They've
got Hummos and Buffalo wings for goodness sake!  This is Italian American
food... or really Zagats would probably consider it American
International...

You many want to choose a stronger font, or bold the arial in the int1 and
int2 headings.

Look at the code for your text... it is a little messy and some inadvertent
<p> tags are messing with the spacing. Better to remove all <p> tags and use
padding on the div's that the text is contained in. You'll have better
control over the flow and it will be more consistent if someone has fonts
overriding or a different resolution than you anticipate.

The "our mission" stuff really belongs on the "About Us" page.

That home page real estate should be for specials and offers... or things
that they want to promote at any given time. Also a good place for
testimonials and review quotes.


The font size for "Fine Italian Cuisine" is beautiful, but too small to
really read. The size you're using for the adjectives works very well, but
any smaller and it's smooshed.


MENU PAGE:

You need to use the Oscar's logo here. (even if the real menu doesn't have
it) just for consistency.

If you are in love with the horizontal scrolling, I have a few ideas that
will assist with the aforementioned flaws. These suggestions are based on
the fact that a) with high resolution, the first two selections don't
scroll, and for a minute I didn't know what was going on...(the scroll par
is so far down the page I just didn't notice it... ) b) the navigation is
kind of bouncie, since you've only got the "back to front" (which is awkward
wording too) to jump you around.

Consider this:  The heigt of the menu frame is overly long. Tighten that up,
Consider putting a thin stationary frame below it with the menu sections
spread across... that way, when you click on a navigation link, the menu
jumps and there is no back and forth. I think that'll solve whatever
problems  you were trying to avoid by using horizontal scrolling.

"Download a PDF menu" is going to go over certain people's heads. PDF is
Printable... so I'd say "Download a Printable version" with the PDF icon.
But you've got to also have that little "Get Adobe Acrobat Reader" line
below it... my mother would not figure that out. ;-)

The absolute last thing I read just now were the instructions... if you're
not going to change how the page works.... then emphasize that block somehow
and give it a heading like "ORDER AHEAD BY PHONE" or something... it'll make
me read that first... 

ABOUT US:

Again... you've got a cheese burger sitting on the about us page when we're
supposed to be getting "Fine Italian Cuisine"...

The employee photos are washed out... and those guys are not wearing
gloves... yuck.

COUPONS:
When you click on the 'print' link... it opens Acrobat in the same window
and you lose the site... open it in a named window (even though that'll
cause pop up issues). You don't need to javascript it... just put a target
on the link... that's good enough...

All in all, it really is a lovely site. Good show!

Rose Sennett


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> -----Original Message-----
> From: thelist-bounces at lists.evolt.org [mailto:thelist-
> bounces at lists.evolt.org] On Behalf Of D Ross
> Sent: Sunday, December 19, 2004 12:58 AM
> To: thelist at lists.evolt.org
> Subject: [SPAM] [thelist] Site check / critique...
> 
> Hi all,
> I was referred to this list for help and opinions.
> 
> I'm fairly new to web design but have been a graphic designer for a few
> years. Graduated with a degree in design about 2 years ago.
> So, I am venturing into web design and have began getting some web
> design freelance jobs.
> 
> I've been working on a website for a restaurant:
> http://www.davidrossdesign.us/oscars/
> 
> I received some really good ideas from the css-d list but thought I'd
> come here for any other ideas.
> 
> First, I know the css could be a LOT better...I havent figured out
> relative positioning yet, so I use almost all absolute right now.
> I realize that if the user enlarges the fonts that there will be some
> problems but for now absolute will have to do.
> I use Dreamweaver mx 04 by the way for most of the coding..I know a
> little by hand and learn more every day.
> I'm going to be playing around with relative tomorrow and learning it.
> 
> So, go ahead and tear up my site if you like...I could do a better job
> but for what I'm getting paid I dont have hours upon hours to make this
> site perfect.
> Although, I have spent a TON of time on it already.
> 
> You'll notice the menu page scrolls horizontally...I've heard it could
> be confusing to the end user but I dont think it will take a brain
> surgeon to figure it out.
> I wanted the page to be more like a real menu and I like to take chances.
> 
> Thanks for any ideas/info...
> 
> -David
> 
> --
> 
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