I've been lurking around here for helpful hints and was wondering if
anyone here would evaluate my website. Keep in mind, i sell mattresses
(retail) for a living and i have no training regarding website
designing. I put it together a while ago, then re-designed the entire
site from start to finish last week.
http://www.wallys-speed-shop.com
It does have a flash intro that can be avoided (but i really like that
part!) at the index page (above).
Let me have it, i can take it. I welcome any suggestions.
thanks,
Wally

ALSO...., There are NO POP UPS!!
thanks,
Wall

wallster on 17/10/2005 6:13 pm wrote:

http://www.wallys-speed-shop.com/wallys_about.html: It's legible. I tried a
few links and generally the site is consistent, which I think is important.
However the "various fascinating projects" link takes me to a page that
doesn't seem to follow the overall red on black feel and I think you could
consider changing that to fit in... unless of course you're trying to give
that section a different feel.

I like that it's not fussy and doesn't have an impossible background. Text
is legible [red in the main text is a little illegible, you might want to
keep all that text white], links are all in the right place.

I thought you said you sold mattresses, I was expecting a site about beds
not bikes.

Negative stuff: Can you clarify something for me. Are you going for a
"Hell's Angel" feel or a 50's whimsical Americana feel with the site? I
mean, what's that smoking skull giffy thing all about? And how does that
work with the intro? Whenever I see dice I remember those eighties awful
fluffy dice that used to hang pointlessly from the rear view mirror in
Vauxhall Vivas [etc]... you might be overdoing it with repeating the logo
twice on the header, and by repeating those rotating dicey giffy things too.

From a personal viewpoint. I don't like animated giffy things much. And
flash intros are fine as long as we can skip them. I'm afraid I generally
skip them. I did watch yours all the way through to the end but I can't
remember much about it.

amgine wrote:
That was the "old" style, I will change them asap, good call!

with a lot of LCD flat screens out there, it may be too dark, i agree.
I'll look into changing that as well.

I was pointing out that i am not a tech guy... just a simple mattress
salesman. (no other reason relating to the site)

smoking skull will be removed, i'm trying to go with a retro-ish look.
No "big-bad-biker" look. The dice were big in the 50's and look good on
car-cycle related items like shirts and apparel, i'll play with the
header a little, and losing some gif's isn't a bad idea.

I like flash intro's, dont know why. I just think they're creative.
Thanks Amgine, i REALLY appreciate your time and comments.

Wall

It's 12:09am, just finished the changes and made sure everything is
working. I'll change the old style links in a few days. Let me know
what everyone thinks of the updated "50's Retro" look.
thanks,

http://www.wallys-speed-shop.com

Wally

Actually the site is better that quite a few out there where folks have paid
$$$ for! Good job, the "best viewed at whatever" should be ditched. Get a
copy of "Web Sites That Suck", yours does not, and it will show you all the
bad stuff to avoid! Good Luck, great job!

"wallster" <weldingwalt@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1129572832.964721.235740@g43g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...

wallster wrote:
Why is the navigation panel done in Flash?

None of the features unique to flash are used. Yet its use puts users at
a disadvantage. No context menu, no keyboard navigation, no navigation
for PocketIE, and the list goes on.

IMHO, you should either make the use of Flash on the navigation panel
essential (and offer an alternative) or drop it entirely (preferred).

--
Ben M.

wallster on 18/10/2005 4:11 am wrote:

I think that's better. But I find the typeface for the menu not so easy to
read, even though it seems to be an appropriate style. Also, even though I
said the red was a bit difficult to read in the original, I only meant in
the main body copy not the menu itself. You can afford to shove in a little
colour... You might find inspiration for this highlight colour from the
bikes you love.

Ben Measures wrote:
I used flash because it gave me a crisper look and the font i am using
doesn't come standard with windows (the font is important to me because
it looks like a 1950's typeface, a little tough to read, but retro) If
I used jpg's or gif's and hypertexted them to link the sites they would
actually take longer to load. I tried to load the current flash menued
"about" page with a 50.6 kbps dial up connection and the entire page
was loaded in 4.5 seconds.
I realize alot of designer type people frown upon flash but from my
perspective, most people buy a computer loaded with windows (xp for
now) and just go surfing. All the tools used to open my site are
installed (or prompted to install)and chances are, they're going to
find more flash items in they're searches. (Even firefox worked well
once i installed macromedia <sp?>) I want the site to look a certain
way, but work for the MAJORITY of the internet users. I realize their
is only one way to make it work perfect for everybody and that would be
one bland looking site.

I could add hypertexted links in small letters across the bottom, that
might help. As far as keyboard navigation, i am working on improving
that. I downloaded swishmax (trial) a week ago and am still working on
learning it before i buy it (which i will, it seems like a nice,
inexpensive tool)
I'm unaware of the endless list you're referring to because of my own
self admitted ignorance.(but i'm slowly absorbing as much as possible)

Thank you Ben, your comments may seem scathing to some, but I DO take
them in to consideration as an important reference to understanding and
learning as much as possible regarding website designing. Your time has
been appreciated, thanks again.

wally

amgine wrote:
I'm really hooked on that typeface, it's screams 1950's... although a
bit tough to read, essential look for me.
I rethought my objective on this site and really wanted the retro
theme. That being said, the grey tones look more authentic. Perhaps a
few splashes of red thrown in would brighten up the space.
Thanks again Amgine, taking time to evaluate my site means a lot to me.

wally

wallster wrote:
A few seconds load is not worth the disadvantages formerly listed.

There are other less compromising ways of reducing load time, the most
effective of which would be to switch from the table-in-table layout to
a CSS-based layout.

Hth,
--
Ben M.

Hi Wally,

I visited your site before your last changes and I didn't like it. The last
changes you did, really improve it.

I really like your website now! I think you can stick with the Flash menu
because there are plenty of browsers out there with the Flash plugin
installed .

Anyway it would be better to supply the users with an altrnative way to
navigate through your site - e.g. a simple row of links placed at the footer
will be sufficient and very helpful for the users who don't have the plug-in
installed in their browsers.

Keep in mind that users can navigate through the web with different agents
and devices. Think about text-only browsers, handheld devices, mobile
phones, browser readers for impaired users and the like.

Just some thoughts:
I think that your site could benefit from focusing more on your logo. Try to
scale it up into your intro page only - the one in which the user can either
view or skip the Flash intro.

The Tshirt with the Wally's logo is nice. Why don't let a beautiful babe
dress it and take some really nice shots of her? :-) Jokes apart, I think it
will give much more appeal to the product. For me, motor bikes as much as
racing cars are akin to pretty and wild women.

Mini Choppers and Card Holders sections could benefit from improved photo
shots. These photos need a more professional treatment.

IMHO you did a very good job that needs only some little improvements but
I'm sure you will have the time to think about them, without being pressed,
in the future.
Those are just my humble thoughts.

Good luck with your website.

:-)

--
Davide


"wallster" <weldingwalt@hotmail.com> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:1129572832.964721.235740@g43g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...

Davide Montellanico wrote:

Thanks for the suggestions Davide, they're all very good ideas. I'll
re-shoot a bunch of pics and add the navigation tags on the bottom of
the page. The logo enlargement sounds like an idea to try as well.
The hot-girl donning a snug shirt is a fine as well. This might be a
tough sell for the Mrs. ("gee honey, I NEEDED to take pictures of
Brittany in that tight shirt because Davide told me to!! REALLY!")Oh
well, I learned a long time ago that it's much easier to get
forgiveness than permission... time to call up Brittany. : )
Thanks again,

wally

"wallster" <weldingwalt@hotmail.com> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:1129655255.208470.259120@f14g2000cwb.googlegr oups.com...
Ok, call Brittany but don't alienate the female audience from your website.
:-)
Why don't you take a photo of yourself wearing the Tshirt? Or at least, if
you don't want to show yourself in photo over the web, you can ask one of
your friends to pose for some commercial shots.

This is called 'par condicio' ;-)

--
Davide

Davide Montellanico wrote:
YOUR plan is already in motion Davide, don't get cold feet now!
I telephoned a buddy who's wife is a major hottie, she's going to do it
for a free shirt... the photo should be done and posted within the next
few days. See, this gives us something to look forward to now!!!

wally

OK, i bookmarked his page to watch the progress, i can see this site being
on /. soon...........................................

"wallster" <weldingwalt@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1129572832.964721.235740@g43g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...

"wallster" <weldingwalt@hotmail.com> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:1129697155.820413.321810@o13g2000cwo.googlegr oups.com...
I'm really impatient to see the photos. I will look forward.

ah!...nice background, I like it!

;-)

--
Davide

In article <1129572832.964721.235740@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups .com>,
"wallster" <weldingwalt@hotmail.com> wrote:

The latest version is much better, IMO, than the original. Getting rid
of the skull was a brilliant move. Personally, I wouldn't have the title
in Flash on all the pages--only the home page--but that's just me--I'd
at least have it in a smaller version. I would also delete the
apostrophe on the "Kevin's Custom Cruiser's link." Should be Cruisers,
not Cruiser's. I guess you're just copying it from Kevin's site--Kevin
needs to delete it from his, too!

nosredna wrote:
Holy Mackeral, You ARE observant!... I changed the "'s", thanks.

wally

In article <1129754914.197166.57450@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups. com>,
"wallster" <weldingwalt@hotmail.com> wrote:

For some reason, I clicked on "About Wally" and found something else
(they just pop out at me!!!). Add an apostrophe at the end of the word
"customers":
I wouldn't build machines based on customers' requests ...

I didn't peruse anything else, so the rest is up to you (or other
proofreaders here)!