[bea78tles]

I have made a couple of websites, but they always seem to be just lacking something: style? clarity?
I don't know. When you look at this what would you do to make it look different?
Thanks for taking any time at all to look at this.

http://www.rusticofurniture.com

I made it for two friends who are just trying to make a go of a small business.

Thanks 1,000,000
Greg
Marquette, MI

[Advertisements]

Dude, this is only my personal opinion (and it may not amount to much), but I think your site is a bit too plain, you know? It has a plain white background, and that very, VERY rarely works (only pros can pull that off, from what I've seen). Maybe you could get a template for the site or make your own? Then that could liven the site up a bit, I guess... That's about it, I can't really think of anything else to add.

Oh, and there's a typo at the bottom

© Rusctico Furniture

Isn't it supposed to read "RustiCo"? I dunno, that's supposed to be the name, if you get the spelling of the name wrong, dude...

[The Infinite]

Dude, this is only my personal opinion (and it may not amount to much), but I think your site is a bit too plain, you know? It has a plain white background, and that very, VERY rarely works (only pros can pull that off, from what I've seen). Maybe you could get a template for the site or make your own? Then that could liven the site up a bit, I guess... That's about it, I can't really think of anything else to add.

Oh, and there's a typo at the bottom

© Rusctico Furniture

Isn't it supposed to read "RustiCo"? I dunno, that's supposed to be the name, if you get the spelling of the name wrong, dude...

[bea78tles]

Thanks for the comments.
Whew. Maybe I'll try and get rid of the white and work with color. Too plain. That's one thing I needed to hear. I don't know how to work with those template things. Are they fairly easy or difficult?
Thanks for writing man. I appreciate it.
Greg

So I got the name wrong on the bottom, huh? I'm almost afraid to go to the site and look.
Hmmm...it's only a name...can't I just leave it?

[Tyger]

I'm with The Infinite here, the white background doesn't work with your site. Change all the logos and buttons to transparent .gifs so they take on the background color. You may need to start with the original bitmaps to edit them, because the .jpegs will have contaminated colors.

Then find a good background or background color. If the site has several pages use a cascading style sheet to set the style of the pages.

[Allsortgroup]

Again toooo plain!

What software did you use?

And i think that...

Splash more images into it!!!
Change the logo!!!
Make the navigation buttons rollovers?

[Neil Jones]

1) Top left. Is that the company logo? Looks ugly.

2) The colour of the page changes on the other pages from the front page. Pick a colour and use it throughout.

3) The navigation of little benches is nice but also missing from all the other pages.

4) Front page in general is too plain. It needs something else to be added. And why are you linking to what I presume is the competition on the front page? Isn't the point of a small business having a website to keep them there and hopefully sell them something?

5) An email address in the form of somebody at rusticofurniture.com would look good, plus AOL often decide to block huge chunks of email from various web providers for no good reason and then deny ever having done such a thing.

6) Looking down the source code I see things like this:

<p><FONT color=#660000><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif"><font color="#000000"><font size="+1">W</font>elcome to rusticofurniture.com...

All those font elements can be put into one font tag; alternatively HTML 4, which you've designed for, recommend stylesheets for this sort of work, the obvious benefit being that you can change the look across the site with one file.

7) Put the shop's opening hours on it as well as a phone number.

[lil_cat_luver]

I suggest you make a nice header image with the logo on it and put that at the top. Make everything (including the header) the same width as the navigation - from the left edge of "indoors" to the right edge of "tables".

Put the address, email, phone number, etc on the bottom of the page, and/or add a contact page to the navigation.

Keep all the page in the same structure and design. Personally I like the little chairs for navigation, the red and black, navigation down at the bottom pages don't work for me.

Lastly, I don't agree about your index page being too plain, other than the fact it needs a header. I'm strongly in favour of leaving the background white. Adding a patterned background or even a different colour can make the page look like a 10-year-old designed it. A business site shouldn't have a lot of "play-around", simple is better.

[FuM]

first of all we must change that background to match with yuor style like say your selling furniture lets make it a nice light brown color then we can add a wood border around the site and make the links a wood type of style then we gatta get you a nice header to match all this just my thoughts of anyone else agrees post "I Do" btw if this was a different type of business i coulda made you a nice template cuase im pretty good when it comes to business

Edited by FuM, 23 October 2005 - 10:22 PM.

[bea78tles]

First of all I wrote a long reply to you people who are trying to help me get this site to be a lot better.
Then the reply wouldn't go through and I lost it and it sucked.
So anyway.
I just don;t know how to thank you for this help so far.
But thank you.
This is too cool of you to take the time and not only say what needs to be said, but the advice is professional and will help me.
Just thanks man.
Greg
The one thing I may be screwed on is how to make a logo.
That bench is just something I scanned from their business card.
They really are two nice people who just want to make a meager living here in the U.P.
That's why I'm bummin about the amateurish site that I concocted.
Greg btw dreamweaver mx

[bea78tles]

Neil. The bikefurniture on the front page is their buddy who does that stuff. They let him use their shop. He make furniture from bike parts. I guess he is a kind of competition though in a way. Never thought of that.
Greg

[gerryf]

you really need to maintain the index on each page so that you can get to other sections without hitting the back button.

If I want Tables and chairs, I cannot get to the chairs section without backing up to the front again.

Navigation is the first rule of web site usability.

As for the white...I like the white....just me I guess. (I'm going through a white phase)

[ianfeather]

I think you should keep it plain but with a slightly brown bground to add to the wooden theme.

The main problem with the front page is the structure. The text isn't laid out in a way that makes it easy for the reader. The front page is the gateway to the business and it has to give a good first impression.

Consistency is key as well, all the pages should have the same structure