wannascoobydoo

Any web designer ? I Have just got a site for my daughter selling Crystals. I have just payed £60 to get the home page and cart sorted out for me, and i would like some opinions please.
This Aint advertising its a genuine question.

Here is the site

dynamix

iTrader: (3)

sorry to say but it does look like you got what you paid for... sorry if that offends

the crystals look great but need a less fussy and more stylish design to make them stand out and not the design.

carl

Looks sh*te IMHO. I wouldn't buy anything from a site that looks like that. But IANAWD, just a potential customer.

Actually the cart bits aren't too bad, but the homepage is terrible (at least it is on my browser: Firefox 1.5). Although on the cart pages it seems to load up the full-size images then scale them into the thumbnails, which makes it pretty slow.

Lee247

I quite like it

GaryK

Yes as above sorry it looks very very poor design wise.

Scooby Soon!

one of the worst I have seen, for £60 you CAN get a good site regardless of what many web designers will tell you

Unfortunatly web designers belong to a similar class of people such as alarm engineers (not all but a large majority) who insist on sucking in a large amount of air when you ask them to do anything and think that there time is valued at £100+ per hour!

HankScorpio

If someone charged you for that, you need to get your money back I'm afraid.

Homepage doesn't scale well, isn't aligned properly, has the wrong repeat on the wallpaper, graphics are very poor.

In the store you shouldn't see things like "You may want to add some instructions for using the shopping cart here. (defined in includes/languages/english/shopping_cart.php)" Looks very amateur, especially with the adds.

There are many ISPs who provide pre built stores and great templates for very little cost. Check out these or some examples:
http://order.1and1.co.uk/xml/order/EshopsBus

Sorry but I wouldn' buy from a site that looked like that.

wayne9t9

I thought ot looked ok. Personally would have prefered the categories on each page instead of having to hit the "back" button.
"These blocks are shaped to perfection and captures the image inside." For 60 quid I`d like correct grammar aswell.

Scooby Soon!

[quote]Phone: 07851519912

Email: info@crystalglassfantastic.co.uk

We are a private business so our address will not be disclosed on the website.
[\quote]

I think you will find that legally you have to display your address, mobile number will definetly put people off

Heres a site being run with the same software and layout.

http://www.dvdloon.com/

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

sorry mate, but I have to echo what all of the above have said..
absolutley terrible, amatuerish at best, downright dismal and horrible at worst.
the text flows over to the right, the fonts used, although fast loading,are rubbish, the whole template is a pigs dinner and there are so many faults, that i am undecided where to start.
like everyone has said, £60 should bring better results in the hands of someone with a tiny bit of skill.
suggest you get your money back and spend it on either using it yourself designing a site from the tons of templates out there, or paying a little bit more to get the job done properly.

Apparition

Have to agree with Wayne. Thought the grammar was abysmal. Also, I expected to be able to click on the appropriate icon on the lead page which would take me to the right section instead of just having to use the buttons. T'other half builds websites and he could do better. This said, I'm no website expert but looking from a layman's point of view, I honestly wouldn't pay for that as it stands.
Sorry
Yve

apples24

iTrader: (1)

i have to admit as soon as i logged onto that site i thought looked c rap, would never buy from there, but i liked the look of the pics, products look nice, pay penuts get monkeys, i could design one better than that in next to no time

sorry

brumdaisy

I think the overall 'look and feel' ie the graphics and colours will appeal to your target audience. You have to get the opinions of the people who buy your type of product, not the people who wont - I wouldnt but Im a marketeer so Im being objective!

In terms of build and functionality I agree with most of the above. But dont be disheartened, its fine for a first stab. No one gets their website perfect straight away, so just bear in mind that you need to get the basics right at the beginning and invest in development in the near future.

brumdaisy

sounds like a good offer to me

apples24

iTrader: (1)

**** it pay me a ton and i will, atleast id get the alignments right etc lol


on a serious note dont, save your money or find someone who knows what there doing a little better and can do you mates rates etc

wannascoobydoo

Thanks for the replys and i appreciate everyone of them ,A few have said dont be offended or words to that affect, Im not offended in any way i asked for opinions and thats what i got now at least i know where i stand
Like you honesty guys
Thanks again

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

also is the checkout procedure secure?

wannascoobydoo

YEAH I THINK I HAVE GOT THAT RITE M8

Lee247

Truthfully, as I said before, I quite liked it. If I am going to buy something, the quality of the site will not persuade me to go with the better one

wannascoobydoo

Thanks m8 i appreciate that.
I am no expert on this sort of thing, This is why i thought i would ask the scoobie lads /gals for there opinions

HankScorpio

I'm the complete opposite to that, the homepage of a shop is basically the shopfront and it's mostly about first impressions. If I'm walking down the high street and the sign is wonky and difficult to read and the interior looks like a dogs breakfast, I won't go in no matter what it's trying to sell. The nicely presented one three doors down will get my business every time even if prices are slightly higher.

As a consumer, I like to see the shopkeeper has made an effort, presented things nicely and is making it easy for me to buy things, it gives me more confidence in the product or service on offer.

I think on a web shop, the layout, colours, load times, graphics will be something you don't really even notice if they are effective and a pleasant, easy experience.

All IMHO obviously

dynamix

iTrader: (3)

totally agree and from experience with our e-shop it helps to build confidence in you and the products. Price is important but not the only reason why someone will buy from you the first time. Service is what makes them come back though.

Paul3446

The worst part is the bit on the home page (Blocks, spheres, keyrings, pyramids) that is all over the place, apart from that, with a few tweaks it's ok, the colours are pretty good. I agree the wording could be tidied up a bit and a mobile number is a bit off putting.

paulr

Agree.Colour scheme and graphics are okay,but it needs simplyfying. To enter do you click on the left menu or the top menu and do they both take you to the same place.....confusing. That needs sorting out, a few tweeks and it could be a decent home page.

RichB

Oh dear, oh dear oh dear.

"you got what you paid for" is bang on !

And to Scoobysoon - "for £60 you CAN get a good site regardless of what many web designers will tell you" that is the funniest thing I've seen on Scoobynet for ages.... (and this place is full of shyte these days )

Webdesigners dont charge £100 per hour, they might charge £20-£50 per hour but good, suitable design doesn't just appear from nowhere.

Plus good designers don't always make good 'websites' in the same way good programmers (or HTML/CSS builders) don't make good designers.

The store is ok cos its a off the shelf/GNU package some of the colours still suck though.

Maybe if you start selling enough stuff you'd consider redoing again in the future. Good luck with it and don't forget to check out the directory of Scoobynetters who can do it cheaper/better/quicker until you actually want them to at which point they all strangely disappear

dynamix

iTrader: (3)

well said RichB

£60 invested => £minimal income if any
£2-3000 invested in website & SEo work => £ a return on investment

anyone can put a website together but to get one that will work (ie sell) takes a bit more skill and time and neither are cheap.

If you were opening a "proper business" you would invest more than £60 - why do it different online?

bren.wright

Your talking ****, £60 from anybody that actually knows how to design a website would get you one page! There are too many wannabe web designers out there. Everybody who owns a computer and has access to the internet thinks they are a web designer, as such everybody expects to pay pitence for a well designed and coded website.

As said already and applies to everything in life, you get what you pay for!

The website above is very poor and exactly what you would expect for £60, throw around £400-£500 at it and you will have a professional looking site that will sell!

dynamix

iTrader: (3)

well said bren

The Zohan

I tend to agree, anyone can call themsleves a web designer and pretend to be just that, design can be taught to a certian extent but you do have to have a feel and an eye for it in the first place. Often 'so called' web designers are people who have learned to programe the software but have no or very little grasp of basic design. This is a point in question by the looks of things

The design (if you can call it that) of this site in question is poor imho. justification of the top banners is wrong and the text is difficult to read and that is just for a start. It dos not look or feel designed to me.

I would alway ask to see examples of other sites before commissioning someone to produce for me.

I suppose you get what you pay for however 60.00 seems high for something that looks like a school project or my first website.

Thare ya go, its my opinion and you are entitled to it

Ray_li

I taught myself Dreamweaver in under 2 days