[thelist] Site Review Please

isaac isaac at lists.evolt.org
Tue Sep 19 11:11:15 CDT 2000


> topproducers-realestate.com

first of all, post your URL with the http:// - that'll make it a link in most
email clients. i would've checked out your site when this email arrived, but i
put it off because i was too lazy to copy-n-paste. it's a convenience thing.
you're asking for people to critique; make it as easy as possible to do so.

> Let me know your thoughts but don't be too harsh - I'm

you'll learn the most from the harshest (but constructive) critiques. trust me,
it's just how it works. i do my best to suggest alternatives to areas i think
could use improvement.

> new at this.  I would like to hear other ideas on what
> you would do differently.

all of it, but that's just me. ;p

ok, here's where i think you may have problems:

italics on screen look like shit. use italics and bold sparingly. keep things
standard otherwise.

your frontdoor has no structure. the centered footer (centered paragraphs don't
look good, btw) doesn't align with the centre of your main image. that throws
everything off. with a squared design, look to create a visual "grid" of sorts
to align things too. vertical and horizontal alignment will add a lot of
strength to your design. with a more circularly-styled design, base your
alignment on the centre lines of circle(s), the edges, and arcs extending from
the circle(s).

you're doubling contact info on the frontdoor. remove one instance at least to
add clarity. you've spelt "are" incorrectly in the tagline.

try to match the two greens used on the frontdoor. other than that, your colour
scheme is pretty decent. good colour scheme = good start.

your frontdoor photo is washed out between a luminosity/desat setting in pshop,
and full colour. you can't sit midway - choose one of the other. in this case,
to make the first impression more bright and vibrant, i'd get a different
picture, or dabble with colouring this one. (in photoshop, image: adjust:
auto-levels, is a good and quick place to start with colour-correcting an
image). if all else fails, you can play around with layers and airbrushing, and
colourise it manually. it *can* work really well.

your site doesn't fit 640x480. your nav at the very least should. if i
fullscreen my browser, the background repeats and looks bad. why not use a flat
colour for the background, and then sit the logo image and photo on top? that
way you avoid the tiling.

if i visit the site with images turned off, it looks very strange without the
logo and background image... see the hint above.


from frontdoor to the about page is too jarring a transition. the font style
changes. the bgcolour changes. the sidebar introduces alot of maroon. it doesn't
tile seamlessly either.

the agents page links to external sites, sub pages, mailto links. what's the
user to expect? be consistent. get the client to provide a brief bio of each
agent. hassle them until they do so.

there are no hot listings.

baycityhomes loads a new site within a frame which is odd. if i click that
baycityhomes link from the hotlistings page, i get a 404.

comments page is a 404.


now, to me, real estate services are very personal. the site should set an
atmosphere of friendliness and trust. agent profiles are a good way to do this.
have a regularly updated page that talks of recent sales records, etc. make it
immediately clear what services the agency provides, why they're good at it, and
how prospective customers can initiate discussion with the company about these
services.

as it stands, i think the site is very impersonal.

here's a site of a company here in south australia that has built a reputation
of quality service, and upper-class homes: http://toop.com.au/ - their site
isn't issue-free, but it might give you ideas.


hope some of this helps,

isaac





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