[thelist] site crit: www.dittodesign.co.uk

[dn at dittodesign.co.uk]

Thanks Tara for the crit.

I've just posted a reply to Kristina. I've decided
to remove the rollover red square to make things
even cleaner and a little less confusing.

> It took me several minutes (I just woke up though...) to find the little
> close music window. I was expecting it to be on the page, not in a little
> pop-up. And that music (although I like it to listen to) is very
difficult
> to read and listen to at the same time, so I had to turn it off to read
your
> site. Oh, and when I clicked back to the front page it turned on again
and I
> had to turn it off again. Is there any way you could code it so it would
> stay off?

I would prefer to have the music play from the main
site myself, in the background through page changes.
But I don't think there's anyway to do it without using frames
which I want to avoid. I can set the pop up to appear the once.
I may rethink the music or edit it further to make it less
of a distraction when reading.

As for the copy reading, wow.
I can cross copyrighting of my list of services. LOL
I'll amend the text as appropriate cheers.

Thanks again for taking the time.
If I can return the favour any time please mail me.

Darren




----- Original Message -----
From: "Tara Cleveland" <tara at taracleveland.com>
To: <thelist at lists.evolt.org>
Sent: Monday, April 08, 2002 3:44 PM
Subject: Re: [thelist] site crit: www.dittodesign.co.uk


> Hi Darren
>
> Overall, I really liked the layout and look of the site. Nice and clean.
> There were a couple of points I had:
>
> I agree with Kristina about the menu staying red when you are on that
page.
> I didn't realize I was on the "who" page until I clicked onto another
page
> and then clicked back again. When you're naming your menu items in a
> non-standard way, give your users as many other clues as you can so that
> they can figure it out.
>
> It took me several minutes (I just woke up though...) to find the little
> close music window. I was expecting it to be on the page, not in a little
> pop-up. And that music (although I like it to listen to) is very
difficult
> to read and listen to at the same time, so I had to turn it off to read
your
> site. Oh, and when I clicked back to the front page it turned on again
and I
> had to turn it off again. Is there any way you could code it so it would
> stay off?
>
> Okay copy... I'm not a copy editor, so I won't have caught everything
but...
>
> The first couple of sentences on the news page are awkward. There are
> several sentence fragments - you might be doing that knowingly, but it
makes
> it harder to read. I'd suggest you change the paragraph to something like
> this:
>
> "Our biggest news at the moment is this new site. As it stands, we've
laid
> the foundations on which to develop it further. We will be adding
features,
> redesigning sections and utilising anything that piques our interest.
Among
> future additions are a special web design deal for small businesses,
flash
> screensavers, desktop wallpaper and downloadable Flash Fla's."
>
> I'd say that "delectation" is a bit wordy (on the links page). Also, the
> graphics on the left side butt up against the text - I'd put in a gutter
> (I'm on IE5 Mac).
>
> What we offer page:
>
> "ditto offer internet solutions grounded in today's and tomorrows
> technologies." - add an s to offer and an apostrophe to tomorrows
>
> "We taylor our designs to your business needs and aspirations, after all
you
> know your business and market far better than we do."
> -should be-
> "We tailor our designs to your business needs and aspirations.  After
all,
> you know your business and market far better than we do."
>
>
> "This is why we take the time to develop your sites structure..."
> -should be-
> "This is why we take the time to develop your site's structure..."
>
> "Once the site is complete and approved, we open it up on the web and
> register it with the major search engine."
> -should be-
> "Once the site is complete and approved, we open it up on the web and
> register it with the major search engines." - unless you believe that
there
> is only one search engine worth submitting to ;) Oh yah, decide whether
you
> want Search Engine to be capitalized or not and stick to that throughout
the
> site.
>
>
> on the Where page:
> "All communication welcome good bad or indifferent."
> -should be-
> "All communication is welcome - good, bad or indifferent."
>
> on the when page:
> You might consider using business person instead of businessman (it
should
> be business man anyway) as in:
> "Any serious businessman cannot afford to ignore the possibilities."
> (but a business woman could afford to ignore it... ;) )
>
> "Does your site fulfil it's potential?"
> -should be-
> "Does your site fulfil its potential?"
>
> Okay, I have to stop now and go grocery shopping - but nice site - could
use
> a good proof-read though - preferably by an English major ;).
>
> Regards,
>
> Tara
>
> --
> Tara Cleveland
> Web Design and Consulting
> http://www.taracleveland.com
>
> --
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