Originally Posted By: Chris Morrell
This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Jeff,
Sorry it took me so long to reply.
I generally agree with the comments above. The image in the main design doesn't sit quite right for me, as well, but I feel like the design immediately conveys the image of an established and professional company. Here are some additional comments:
The angle of the navigation bar looks a little funny with the fixed-width buttons. Perhaps you could either straighten the navbar's background, or adjust the size of the upper buttons appropriately.
Also, the point where the navbar meets the header of the page doesn't blend quite right.
The rollover images for the navbar buttons load a bit slow. You might want to optimize them for the web. The bottom buttons also show the wrong rollover image (When you put your mouse over "Links" you see the "Inspection Prices" rollover image).
I'd recommend naming your pages something meaningful, rather than "page2.html" -- this will help you with search engines as well as let people know where they are on your page.
The blue/underlined headings on your "Why JPI" page look like links. Why not use a h1 or h2 tag?
Put a link to your contact info within your prices page. Where it says "Call for quote" -- why don't you put "Call (661) 212-0738 for a quote." Also, you might want to add "sq. feet" after your figures. Most people won't read that opening paragraph, and though we know what you're talking about, some clients won't.
The Java counter is a pain. If someone makes me load sun's Java Console to run their site, it has to be for a good reason. There are plenty of other counters out there -- why don't you try one that's image based?
Generally a site is built such that you're guiding your user to where you want them to go. Go through each page and ask yourself, "where should they go from here?" Once you've decided the natural progression of the site (typically, welcome >> about us/why choose us >> prices >> contact info), add links to each page that help your users go where you want them to go.
Add more links within each page. "JPI and the Matrix reporting system exceed all current standards" can have a link to your "inspection reports" page, and "Graduate of Inspection Training Associates" can have a link to the ITA in it. Try to make the links that point away from your page open in a new window. That way you don't lose your client to another site.
I see nothing wrong with keeping the links to the education sites, but let your users know why they're there. Add a short description of each link and why it's relevant to your site.
Code-wise I would would recommend trimming the rollover javascript. It's much longer than it has to be. What software did you use to create this page? You can trim a lot of your code down by using CSS rather than FONT tags and tables. The code for your links page could be half the size it is if you removed the font tags and cleaned up the javascript.
Overall it's a pretty good job, considering you're just beginning. Play around with it a little more and you could have quite a nice website.
--
Chris Morrell
Director of Information Technology
http://www.nachi.org/
The suspense is killing me 
