Our new website

[Matt R.]

Hello All,

I am looking for some feedback on our new website

http://dev.webhostingbuzz.com/__next_gen/

It is due to be launched this coming week. There are a few elements on the home page to tie up (featured client, specials) but other than that, please cast your expert eyes over our new site.

Reviews/opinions/feedback all welcomed. I look forward to reading your constructive criticism!

[Alan B]

Overall reaction: I like it! It looks clean and professional. The headings and subtle use of colour are elegant, and the gradients add visual interest.

I'm not sure about the large photo in the header area of the hardware switch (bg-h1-business). While it has a nice graphic element to it, it doesn't really "say" anything. Perhaps something more focused on your customers might be better, say some photos of people? You might consider using a different photo on each page, to add interest and make it clearer that the user has moved to a new content page.

And, you know I'm going to comment on this: why does your designer insist on continuing with archaic fixed-font-size and fixed width layouts? They are easier to design, but they do not adapt to each visitor's settings. On a large high-res screen of a middle-aged visitor, that visitor will have your site's content sitting in the centre of a lot of wasted screen real estate, and may be unable to read the text without zooming.

[Matt R.]

Alan: I hate people photos

I am on a high res setup and it looks OK. The code base is structure the way it is mostly for SEO purposes.

[Alan B]

Matt, you are young with excellent vision. You cannot predict the range of resolutions and, more significantly, browser text sizes selected by users to make reading comfortable. Someone who selects Large or Larger text in order to have web site text readable will be unable to read your site. That is bad practice as it breaks accessibility standards.

Adaptable, accessible sites are in no way incompatible with SEO.

As for the photo, people was just an example. I'm just making the point that using a variety of images might make for a more interesting site and some differentiation between pages.

[Matt R.]

Alan,

I had a discussion with our designers today after your comments. We've decided to stick with the fixed width for now in order to get the site launched quickly. We'll look at doing a variable width once launched although this may take more time as we'll have to redo some graphics, etc.

Matt

[Alan B]

Sounds good. And suggest that they get rid of the fixed font sizes. Fixed font sizes are an even greater impediment to accessibility than are fixed width layouts.