[Ellie]

I'm interested in comments for this site which I have got to a stage of publishing (as the one it was replacing was really just a placeholder), but we want to improve on it still. In particular, the pages of parts probably need reviewing, but I wasn't sure about what stock the shop actually had when choosing categories etc. We've also not finished filling the stock database, so it's a bit sparse in places. There are no online sales (in case anyone wonders). It's for a bicycle repair shop.

Thanks

www.bikemech.co.uk/

[DarenR]

there is to much white where the log is-- looks like it is missing something....

[Ellie]

Hmm, I know what you mean. The logo was pre-existing, and on business cards, invoice templates etc and so we didn't change it. Maybe the background needs something, but at the same time I don't want it to be too busy...

[sbromley]

The site looks good. Its simple, but there is nothing wrong with that. It has the content that someone going to it would be looking for, and that is huge. If feel like a lot of small shop sites just throw stuff up on the web and there is no good content on the site.

Ideas to maybe kick around:
-Fonts: Check out what fonts are out there and see if there is something fits you're application. you'd be surprised at how much of a difference it can make

-With the parts lists, maybe offer different views. Right now it looks like a tile view, offer a choice of a tile view, list view, list view with a preview pane, something like that.

I can't think of much else. Again my compliments on the content and layout.

[Ellie]

Cool, thanks very much. We didn't want to go mad with content for exactly those reasons - it's a bike shop, people just want to know about fixing their bike. Some shops in London are also ridiculously trendy e.g. http://www.tokyofixedgear.com/ but this isn't that kind of place.

Good ideas about the parts. I think we're planning on having some submenus and dividing the categories a bit more too. So I'll probably finish adding the stock, decide definitely on the categories and then work on another view.

I'll also take a look at fonts, but my client is not a fan of tarting up, I was only allowed to keep the gear list icons because other people mentioned liking them! Maybe I can find something subtle.

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.

[no2pencil]

I think that the grey text on the white background is a little difficult to read. Also I always hate the default blue href links.

Everything else looks great! Glad to see you back on the site!

[Ellie]

no2pencil, on 26 October 2011 - 10:23 AM, said:

I think that the grey text on the white background is a little difficult to read. Also I always hate the default blue href links.

Everything else looks great! Glad to see you back on the site!

Do you mean grey on white in the menu when you hover over? Yeah, maybe I should up the contrast on the two colours there.

And thanks

[JacksonD]

I agree with no2pencil, but I love the whole basic theme, TO me its a basic bike shop looking to do well. I suggest adding a tad more styling in the content area, and a bit more images that are more designed, like 3D, Drop shadows and the usual, it just adds a neater effect.
But overall, Good job!

Tested on:
IE7: Windows 7
IE8: Windows 7
IE7: Ubuntu (Wine)
Firefox: Ubuntu
Chronium: Ubuntu
Midori: Ubuntu
Chrome: Windows 7

[DarenR]

JacksonD, on 26 October 2011 - 04:15 AM, said:

I agree with no2pencil, but I love the whole basic theme, TO me its a basic bike shop looking to do well. I suggest adding a tad more styling in the content area, and a bit more images that are more designed, like 3D, Drop shadows and the usual, it just adds a neater effect.
But overall, Good job!

Tested on:
IE7: Windows 7
IE8: Windows 7
IE7: Ubuntu (Wine)
Firefox: Ubuntu
Chronium: Ubuntu
Midori: Ubuntu
Chrome: Windows 7

wait she asked for a critic of the site not an accomendation---
I've always hated drop shadow -- usually makes the wording hard to read

[JacksonD]

Really light drop shadow.

[Ellie]

JacksonD, on 26 October 2011 - 11:15 AM, said:

I agree with no2pencil, but I love the whole basic theme, TO me its a basic bike shop looking to do well. I suggest adding a tad more styling in the content area, and a bit more images that are more designed, like 3D, Drop shadows and the usual, it just adds a neater effect.
But overall, Good job!

Tested on:
IE7: Windows 7
IE8: Windows 7
IE7: Ubuntu (Wine)
Firefox: Ubuntu
Chronium: Ubuntu
Midori: Ubuntu
Chrome: Windows 7

Thanks, I'm not with you on the drop shadows etc, but I do appreciate the testing in other platforms. Does IE currently do something weird with the drop-down menu? I'm just about to change the CSS a bit to address that. Oops. I'm a bit slack at testing on anything other than firefox and chrome.

[DarenR]

IE is gettign worse and worse when it comes to websites.. There have been some that I've seen that totally stretch the website and makes it look horrible. You may have to watch out for that when designing your site. I think I wouold still design it for chrome and firefox though and just hope it works on IE. Maybe try using float in spans? I don't know, I usually don't program for IE because it is to touchy.

[modi123_1]

Why not use a site to view on different platforms and browsers?

http://www.viewlike.us/
https://browsershots.org/

[Ellie]

modi123_1, on 26 October 2011 - 03:09 PM, said:

Why not use a site to view on different platforms and browsers?

http://www.viewlike.us/
https://browsershots.org/

Cool, thanks, I'll do that.

[JacksonD]

Looked a bit weird on IE, But alright none-the-less.