Your thoughts...

I Would like and appreciate some constructive critism on our company
site. We are currently giving the site a make over and trying to
improve navigation.

Just a few bits of information about the site:

65-85% of our market/customers is women, plus women make up the bulk of
our dealers.

We specialize is indoor and lifestyle products.

We have tried to make the site appealing to men as well.

While the entire site has NOT been changed over to the "new"look, here
are some pages that are reflecting the new design and navaigation.

I would love to hear thoughts on the usability, design and navaigation.

One coment about the navigation. The new nav scheme will work better
once all the pages reflect the new look.

Anyway, you thoughts?

Here's the pages that are reflecting the new look:

http://www.ecoquestintl.com/ (The home page)

http://www.ecoquestintl.com/dlrsuphm.asp (Our dealer Support Page.
This design will reflect the other two sections.Valued Customers and
Business Opportunity which we are currently building)

http://www.ecoquestintl.com/dealer_h...e.asp?Usr=zman (We have
created a web site module for dealers with a complete product guide.
They can choice a "skin" or differnet look. We have provided 6-8
different skins to give the option of looking different. This skin for
this page is an EcoQuest generic skin.)

http://www.ecoquestintl.com/latino/latino_home.htm (Our latino Page
which will soon become a complete Spanish version of the site along
with other international versions.)

http://www.ecoquestintl.com/new_products.htm (Our new products page.
This page reflects new products introductions after each Convention)

http://www.ecoquestintl.com/epc_medi...ucts/index.asp (Our Retail
Site page. This page will detect if you have flash installed or not. so
if you don't have flash you should be taken to this version instead:
http://www.ecoquestintl.com/epc/index.asp Unfortuneatly we do not have
the shopping cart installed yet for this retail site)

Thank you for your time and comments.

--
SJM

"sjmdesigns" <sjmdesignsnospam (AT) charter (DOT) net> wrote in message

I Would like and appreciate some constructive critism on our company
site.

It really is a little slow to load, initially. But I have to assume that
people are finding you and using your site, since you show up with okay
numbers on my Google Page Rank tool.

Anyway, Nice Site. Clean, well thought out.

The one thing that I did see, that you may want to add on the bottom links,
is a link to the start page (your welcoming page). When sites are designed
in a 'drill down' menu method, sometimes the users get a little confused and
they want to start all over again. It is always a good idea to give them a
place, on each page of your site, where they can do this.

Also, your Site Map, is not really a true site map. It does not list all
the pages on your website. Once again, for people who get lost using the
'drill down' menu method, the Site Map can be a useful tool; but only if it
includes ALL pages of the website.

I do computer repair work and tutoring, for mostly senior citizens. I am
often asked about these types of issues when my customers encounter a
website that utilized the 'drill down' method of navigation. I know it is
cleaner to use, but for those who are relatively new to computers and the
web, it is confusing. Give those people a complete site map and a way to
start over.
--
Take Care, Sharon Lane
http://www.rare-cancer.org

sjmdesigns wrote in message ...

I Would like and appreciate some constructive critism on our company
site.

289K of images on your 'Home' page, when it should ideally be 35K or less.
You're driving your customers away on dial-ups (60% approx of all users).

Plus the fact that text as gifs or jpegs isn't searchable by
search-engines.

Then I gave up, because as soon as I clicked on another page it was the
same. To many gifs downloading.

Suggest you start all over again and use text as TEXT not gifs.

65-85% of our market/customers is women, plus women make up the bulk of
our dealers.

I'm surprised they have the patience, to look at your website at least :~(

In article <ac3_b.5321$kp7.48940218 (AT) news-text (DOT) cableinet.net>, Steve R.
<stevie_ritchie(NOSPAM)@hotmail.com> wrote:

sjmdesigns wrote in message ...
I Would like and appreciate some constructive critism on our company
site.

289K of images on your 'Home' page, when it should ideally be 35K or less.
You're driving your customers away on dial-ups (60% approx of all users).

We tried testing on dial-up and the outcome was very positive.

Plus the fact that text as gifs or jpegs isn't searchable by
search-engines.

We are not really interested in search engines. I know they have their
place.

Then I gave up, because as soon as I clicked on another page it was the
same. To many gifs downloading.

Suggest you start all over again and use text as TEXT not gifs.

65-85% of our market/customers is women, plus women make up the bulk of
our dealers.

I'm surprised they have the patience, to look at your website at least :~(

Interesting. We have gotten so many positive responses from our
customers and dealers over the new site look. We were overwhelmed with
email. Out of about 250 responses that were sent our way (there were a
lot more that we did see that were also very positive), we got 2-3 that
were negative and the negatives were not about speed and ease of use.

I really appreciate your comments. There's always room for improvement.

Thanks.

--
SJM

Quoth the raven named sjmdesigns:

I Would like and appreciate some constructive critism on our company
site. We are currently giving the site a make over and trying to
improve navigation.

Get rid of this:

This site is best viewed at 800 x 600 or higher with Internet Explorer

...and then use fluid design. With a large monitor, you page is jammed
into the upper left corner of the browser, and looks silly there.

http://www.allmyfaqs.com/faq.pl?AnySizeDesign

--
-bts
-This space intentionally left blank.

In article <c1alrk$1fp8a8$1 (AT) ID-219472 (DOT) news.uni-berlin.de>, Sharon
<me (AT) privacy (DOT) net> wrote:

"sjmdesigns" <sjmdesignsnospam (AT) charter (DOT) net> wrote in message
I Would like and appreciate some constructive critism on our company
site.

It really is a little slow to load, initially. But I have to assume that
people are finding you and using your site, since you show up with okay
numbers on my Google Page Rank tool.

Anyway, Nice Site. Clean, well thought out.

The one thing that I did see, that you may want to add on the bottom links,
is a link to the start page (your welcoming page).

You're right. This is something that will be addressed when all the
pages "capture" the new look. However, if you click on the EcoQuest
logo on all the new pages that are up now, it should take you back to
the home page. It may not be obvious, but it's there.

When sites are designed
in a 'drill down' menu method, sometimes the users get a little confused and
they want to start all over again. It is always a good idea to give them a
place, on each page of your site, where they can do this.

Also, your Site Map, is not really a true site map. It does not list all
the pages on your website. Once again, for people who get lost using the
'drill down' menu method, the Site Map can be a useful tool; but only if it
includes ALL pages of the website.

Yes, you also correct here. This will be addressed soon. I agree with
you wholeheartedly. This site map is not complete. but it will be. And
the site will be accessable on all pages (except the EPC site).

I do computer repair work and tutoring, for mostly senior citizens. I am
often asked about these types of issues when my customers encounter a
website that utilized the 'drill down' method of navigation. I know it is
cleaner to use, but for those who are relatively new to computers and the
web, it is confusing. Give those people a complete site map and a way to
start over.

One thing to consider that I didn't mention about the site. There are
three main sections. Dealers, Customers, and Our Opportunity section.
Each section is independent of each other. These sections reflect the
different "sides" of our companies.

For instance, Our dealers willprobably ONLY use the dealer section.
Smae with our direct customers.

Thanks for your comments Sharon.

--
Take Care, Sharon Lane
http://www.rare-cancer.org

In article <Jp5_b.80885$%72.9562 (AT) twister (DOT) nyroc.rr.com>, Beauregard T.
Shagnasty <a.nony.mous (AT) example (DOT) invalid> wrote:

Quoth the raven named sjmdesigns:

I Would like and appreciate some constructive critism on our company
site. We are currently giving the site a make over and trying to
improve navigation.

Get rid of this:

This site is best viewed at 800 x 600 or higher with Internet Explorer

Totally agree. It was not my idea to have that there. It will be
removed when our altered page goes up with international links and all.

..and then use fluid design. With a large monitor, you page is jammed
into the upper left corner of the browser, and looks silly there.

http://www.allmyfaqs.com/faq.pl?AnySizeDesign

I know where you going with this. I have done plenty of sites with
expandable site structure. However, I have a large monitor with 1280 x
1040 rez I'm not sure if I want the home/splash page to expand to a
very wide width. However, I have been contemplating having it center on
the page at all times.

Thanks for your comments Beauregard T. Shagnast.

--
SJM

Quoth the raven named sjmdesigns:

http://www.allmyfaqs.com/faq.pl?AnySizeDesign

I know where you going with this. I have done plenty of sites with
expandable site structure. However, I have a large monitor with 1280 x
1040 rez

Then this always begs the question: how many visitors who are at 1280
or greater will browse with a maximized browser window? My guess is
not very many. Since we all know reading lines of text is easier if
they are ~50ems, I will venture that the folks will have a browser
window somewhere in the range of 800-1000 pixels.

Do you yourself really surf with a browser 1280 px wide?

However, if they really /like/ wide windows, we as authors should
accommodate them, yes?

I'm not sure if I want the home/splash page to expand to a
very wide width. However, I have been contemplating having it center on
the page at all times.

That would be a bit better. <g>

Thanks for your comments Beauregard T. Shagnast.

My pleasure.

--
-bts
-This space intentionally left blank.