Web site (please critique)

If this is the wrong place to put this please whip me good and I'll not make the same mistake twice. I really am looking for critiques to make this site better. All comments will be appreciated.

http://home.comcast.net/~hartleyck/index.html

Moderator please move to lathe area I got this in the wrong place. Sorry everyone.
Hi Christopher :wave:,
It is good having you here at Familywoodworking. As time goes on, your familiarity with the site will allow you to be in the right place at the right time. :rofl:
I visited your site and enjoyed what I saw. Very nice work!
Only comment other than Kudos for beautiful work is .... shrink the width of your pages. All browsers need to see the whole page width without having to scroll left to right or vice versa to get the information you want out there.
Good for you!
Shaz :) 290/1960 :D
 
I do some web sites and just did a quick glance at the layout. Not the content.

I agree with Robert about the width. Some people are like me and don't maximize their browser windows. Even though I use a larger (or is it smaller??) resolution and dual monitors. I rarely fill one screen with my browser.

My neighbor due to eye site uses a 17" monitor and sets is to 800x600 resolution. Now when I do a web site I limit the width to 750 pixels. That will fit just about anyones computer screen.

Otherwise I didn't see anything to complain about. :D

OH YEA! One other thing I suggest. I would remove that mail to on your web site. Your going to get a LOT of junk mail because of it. There are a lot of ways to have an email link and make it hard to harvest. You can do some Googling an find web articles about it. I have started just putting up a form or my email address as an image. The mail bots can't harvest that easy.
 
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I like the overall look, Chris. Some folks might have a bit of trouble seeing the light yellow body text, though. I'm running a high enough resolution on my monitors that I'm not having horizontal scrolling problems, but I second the suggestion to have your pages auto-size set the minimum page width at 800 pixels. That way it should look good for the vast majority of folks.

Overall, a good, solid start. :thumb:
 
Chris,

It's a cool site. What's your goal, though? Is it to sell your pieces? If that's the case, I'd rewrite the 'disease and death' stuff. Bit of a downer really, though I know what you mean. Also, not sure I'd link out to SMC... people might be tempted to click around there instead of ordering. It's advertizing for your competition... ;) And why post something for sale when you don't have a picture of it? Seems odd...

Now for the hardest thing. *We* care that you have a robust. Have I mentioned that you suck? ;) But I'm not sure your customers do. The more your shop looks like an ancient carpenter's studio, and the less it looks like a modern factory (or, heaven forfend, a garage... ;) the more quaint your customers will think it, and the more they'll be charmed into buying... ;)

Just a few quick thoughts, late at night...

Thanks,

Bill
 
I like it.
I would however like to see the dimensions of your bowls, and other items, for sale.

great start! something I should get around to doing... :D:wave:
 
Looks pretty nice. Here's some of my feedback. Take it for what it's worth :)

You need to watch your apostrophes. There's no apostrophe in "The Forests of Texas", "Masons on Main St." or most other places you don't want to denote ownership or omitted letters. Good grammar will go a long way towards making your site look more professional.

"Items for your pleasure" doesn't make much sense by itself. Maybe "Items for your Viewing Pleasure"? Either way it comes off as a bit pretentious.

Why is there a crossword puzzle in the tutorials section?

Is the log cutting tutorial just a starter? It really doesn't say much at all about cutting blanks.

I might merge the Tutorial and Tips & Tricks sections.

And please don't take this as an insult, but did you really mean to price the spalted pecan bowls at $400? It's hard to tell their scale from the pictures, so maybe they're gigantic and I can't tell.

Hope those help,

-Joe
 
I want to thank all of you for your help. and I have been making and will continue to make most of the recommended changes. For those who may wonder, the crossword is a tutorial primarily for new people. I also wanted it to be fun. The slide-show is just a starter and I probably should have waited to put it in but I was having coding issues to work out so I left it. It will be finished soon I hope. I don't claim to be anything but a novice at web design:type: and turning :bonkers:so I see it as all a part of the journey and certainly not a destination. Thanks again for your help.:)
 
Chris, I took a look at the website and like what I saw. I have to echo Joe and say that there are no apostrophes in plurals. In other words, it's "words", not word's", it's "Forests" not "Forest's", etc. Unless you can say "word is" for "word's", the apostrophe shouldn't be there. Good grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure are musts for a website. Your public and your customers will base you abilities and your attention to detail on first impressions, and the best way to make a good first impression is for your written communication to be perfect in every way.

That lesson was drummed into me by my 11th grade office practices teacher---45 years ago!!

Otherwise, great site.

Nancy (21 days)
 
Let's see if I can do this without creating issues...I have two people saying one thing and a writer editor saying the direct opposite. I have a Publicized and Official business name that has the apostrophe so it is not my place to change it. While in English class(too many years ago to count) I was not the sharpest Gouge in the rack; however, I do believe it can't be both ways, so on this one anyway I'm ready to let folks think whatever they will. After all, there are a lot worse errors out there than this. I still really appreciate the help but I will await some consensus between the two camps of thought to change it.:D:wave:
 
Chris - I presume that you are referring to the "Forests" word.

Tell your writer editor that PLURALS NEVER TAKE APOSTROPHES. If you are talking about the Forest family, and you say "the Forests", there is no apostrophe. If you are talking about the house that belongs to the Forest family, you say "the Forests' house" - as the house belongs to the plural Forest family. The only time I can see the usage of "Forest's" would be in the situation of "John Forest's daughter" or something similar.

Its the same with the fight between the proponents of As and A's, 1980s and 1980's. but plurals just don't take apostrophes. Possessives do.

Nancy (21 days)
 
Hi Christopher.

I may have read the business name incorrectly - "Mason's on Main Street" is not necessarily incorrect. If it refers to a person's name - Mr. or Mrs. Mason - then that is correct. You're denoting ownership of the shop.

I notice on two pages you have "To Discover Natures Magnificence" and "To Discover Nature's Magnificence". The latter is correct, the former is not.

It's not really a matter of opinions :) Just ask the folks over at the Apostrope Protection Society! They take this sort of thing very seriously.

-Joe
 
I'm with Nancy and Joe on the apostrophe thing. On the page size issue brought up earlier - one of my pet peeves are sites that insist you have your whole browser window dedicated to viewing their page. When doing your page sizing and layout, turn the Favorites pane on so that the left hand side of the screen isn't available for use. Then size the pages to still not require the use of horizontal scroll bars. Bill Pentz site, Woodpecker's email sales flyers, and Bridge City Tools flyers always bug the snot out of me by forcing me to shut off the Favorites pane to see the whole page.
 
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