Critique of site

Karim wrote:

Yes.. it seems I am in the wrong group. If your site has a single html
error, folks here will flog you. Even my request to ignore html issues
and concenrate user experience has no bearing.

I don't understand why you know the website has validation errors, but
you make no attempt to fix them before posting your website for
critique. Why bother looking at the validation results if you're going
to ignore them?

It's bad enough that most people don't bother with validation, but to
actually look at the results and then ignore them seems just... dumb.

Marc

rf wrote:

It's wrong in the sense that it is incomplete. Without a URL certain
browsers will be put into quirk mode.

Sometimes that is desirable.

BTW is it now mandatory that you must use your email address as a handle
when posting from the ever to be damned google groups?

No. You just have to set your name in the preferences.

--
David Dorward <http://blog.dorward.me.uk/> <http://dorward.me.uk/>
Home is where the ~/.bashrc is

"David Dorward" <dorward (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote

rf wrote:

It's wrong in the sense that it is incomplete. Without a URL certain
browsers will be put into quirk mode.

Sometimes that is desirable.

BTW is it now mandatory that you must use your email address as a handle
when posting from the ever to be damned google groups?

No. You just have to set your name in the preferences.

It seems that every post I have seen recently with what looks like an email
address in the from header has come from groups.google.

Cheers
Richard.

Marc wrote:

Karim wrote:
Yes.. it seems I am in the wrong group. If your site has a single html
error, folks here will flog you. Even my request to ignore html issues
and concenrate user experience has no bearing.

I don't understand why you know the website has validation errors, but
you make no attempt to fix them before posting your website for
critique. Why bother looking at the validation results if you're going
to ignore them?

It's bad enough that most people don't bother with validation, but to
actually look at the results and then ignore them seems just... dumb.

It keeps him consistent: he ignores the markup errors *and* the
feedback he gets from the group(s he multiposted to).


--
Blinky Linux Registered User 297263
Killing All Posts from GG: http://blinkynet.net/comp/uip5.html

rf wrote:

No. You just have to set your name in the preferences.

It seems that every post I have seen recently with what looks like an email
address in the from header has come from groups.google.

They don't exactly push you towards entering the detail, and it looks
like it has to be set on a group by group basis (ick), and you have to
subscribe to the group!

Their posting system really does suck.

Karim wrote:

I have redesigned the webpages for this site:
http://www.dotnet-hosting.com. I would like to receive some feedback on the
general look and user experience. If you're a prospective customer, what
aspects of the site you didn't like and what features you didn't find as a
customer for web hosting.

I am *not* looking for list of errors from html or css validators.


This is the old page:
http://www.dotnet-hosting.com/oldpage.gif


Karim,

If you have validation errors, or obsolescent HTML, prospective
customers will get the impression that your technical skills are
questionable. Technical customers WILL look under the covers for these
things, even it the surface looks perfect.

In this case, the surface does NOT look perfect. As others have pointed
out, the site falls apart in various visible ways if the window or text
size is altered. Little things, such as "300M Disk Space" being listed
twice among the bullets on the home page, will make users question how
careful you are with other aspects of your business.

There are numerous errors in English; most are not errors in the
spelling of a single word, but rather errors in phrasing, punctuation,
or capitalization. For example, you offer to move the user's current
site and to change "the dns settings". DNS is an acronym and should be
capitalized.

Other things, in no particular order:
- The home pages states that you provide 300M of disk space, and
invites the user to click on a link for the complete feature list. (By
the way, "feature list" appears well below the other text on the same
line in Netscape 7.1). When you go to the complete feature list, it
says the disk space provided is 100MB. If you hover over the words
"Disk Space", you get a popup help box which states "With 5 megs of disk
space... If you need more than 5 megs, you will need to upgrade." This
gives me the impression that you took an old site (5 megs is not
generous by today's standards) and have updated it, rather sloppily, for
your current needs.
- On the page "Top 10 reasons to Host With dotNet-Hosting.com", there
are only 8 reasons listed.
- Among the 8 reasons is "We do not outsource our customer service."
But if I hover over the "Live Support" link at the bottom of the page, I
see that it will take me to boldcenter.com. Although it may well be
your people whom I would find there, the difference in domain names does
make me wonder.
- You don't list CGI capability. You do talk about ASP.net. I think
that's a MicroSoft proprietary thing. If I could use Perl CGI, I can't
tell that from your site.
- FAQ article #156 says " How can I change my credit card information
with you?
If you're in an autopayment plan, you can make a payment when you
receive an invoice. You will receive an invoice if we couldn't charge
your credit card. Right now there's no method to update the info online.
It will be added to our control panel soon." The article is dated
5/22/2004. What does "soon" mean to you?
- Your home page proclaims "A single all inclusive plan...", but deep
in the FAQ I find that you do not handle domain-name registration at all.
- FAQ article #138 contains the word "whic". I'm wondering exactly
how that got through your spell-checker.
- The dates on all of the FAQs are from mid-2004. Your domain was
created on 04-Sep-2004. This reinforces my belief that the statement
that you have been in business since 1997 (top 10 reasons...) is missing
some detail. WHERE were you in business? Under what name(s)? Why did
you change locations and domain names? [You don't need to tell ME, but
some of your potential clients may be curious.]
- The popup help that I get when I hover over "Microsoft SQL Server
2000" or "MySQL 4 & 5.0.12-beta" refers to "free accounts". I'd like a
dozen of those, please. Wonder why your home page doesn't mention them...
- The help popup for "Snitz Forum" says it can be installed with one
"vlick". I like the sound of 'vlick'. Now all I have to do is write a
definition to go with it.
- The help popup for "Reliable Service" says you've been in business
since 1998. I thought (top 10) it was 1997. No wonder I'm confused.

OK, I think that gives you a general idea.

Oh, and don't forget to validate your HTML and CSS.

Cheers,
Chris Beall

"Chris Beall" <Chris_Beall (AT) prodigy (DOT) net> wrote

Karim wrote:

I have redesigned the webpages for this site:
http://www.dotnet-hosting.com. I would like to receive some feedback on
the
general look and user experience. If you're a prospective customer, what
aspects of the site you didn't like and what features you didn't find as
a
customer for web hosting.

I am *not* looking for list of errors from html or css validators. This
is the old page:
http://www.dotnet-hosting.com/oldpage.gif


Karim,

If you have validation errors, or obsolescent HTML, prospective customers
will get the impression that your technical skills are questionable.
Technical customers WILL look under the covers for these things, even it
the surface looks perfect.

In this case, the surface does NOT look perfect. As others have pointed
out, the site falls apart in various visible ways if the window or text
size is altered. Little things, such as "300M Disk Space" being listed
twice among the bullets on the home page, will make users question how
careful you are with other aspects of your business.

There are numerous errors in English; most are not errors in the spelling
of a single word, but rather errors in phrasing, punctuation, or
capitalization. For example, you offer to move the user's current site
and to change "the dns settings". DNS is an acronym and should be
capitalized.

Other things, in no particular order:
- The home pages states that you provide 300M of disk space, and invites
the user to click on a link for the complete feature list. (By the way,
"feature list" appears well below the other text on the same line in
Netscape 7.1). When you go to the complete feature list, it says the disk
space provided is 100MB. If you hover over the words "Disk Space", you
get a popup help box which states "With 5 megs of disk space... If you
need more than 5 megs, you will need to upgrade." This gives me the
impression that you took an old site (5 megs is not generous by today's
standards) and have updated it, rather sloppily, for your current needs.
- On the page "Top 10 reasons to Host With dotNet-Hosting.com", there are
only 8 reasons listed.
- Among the 8 reasons is "We do not outsource our customer service." But
if I hover over the "Live Support" link at the bottom of the page, I see
that it will take me to boldcenter.com. Although it may well be your
people whom I would find there, the difference in domain names does make
me wonder.
- You don't list CGI capability. You do talk about ASP.net. I think
that's a MicroSoft proprietary thing. If I could use Perl CGI, I can't
tell that from your site.
- FAQ article #156 says " How can I change my credit card information
with you?
If you're in an autopayment plan, you can make a payment when you receive
an invoice. You will receive an invoice if we couldn't charge your credit
card. Right now there's no method to update the info online. It will be
added to our control panel soon." The article is dated 5/22/2004. What
does "soon" mean to you?
- Your home page proclaims "A single all inclusive plan...", but deep in
the FAQ I find that you do not handle domain-name registration at all.
- FAQ article #138 contains the word "whic". I'm wondering exactly how
that got through your spell-checker.
- The dates on all of the FAQs are from mid-2004. Your domain was
created on 04-Sep-2004. This reinforces my belief that the statement that
you have been in business since 1997 (top 10 reasons...) is missing some
detail. WHERE were you in business? Under what name(s)? Why did you
change locations and domain names? [You don't need to tell ME, but some
of your potential clients may be curious.]
- The popup help that I get when I hover over "Microsoft SQL Server 2000"
or "MySQL 4 & 5.0.12-beta" refers to "free accounts". I'd like a dozen of
those, please. Wonder why your home page doesn't mention them...
- The help popup for "Snitz Forum" says it can be installed with one
"vlick". I like the sound of 'vlick'. Now all I have to do is write a
definition to go with it.
- The help popup for "Reliable Service" says you've been in business
since 1998. I thought (top 10) it was 1997. No wonder I'm confused.

OK, I think that gives you a general idea.

Oh, and don't forget to validate your HTML and CSS.

Cheers,
Chris Beall

On some pages (top ten reasons etc) the page shows a massive horizontal
scroll bar

Cheers
Paul