looking for comments!

[Jacob Stetser]

Well, I'm fast approaching my self-imposed launch date for www.icongarden.com, my business's new site - on Jan. 31, 1999.

I'm hoping to make it.. I'm the type that could fiddle endlessly and never feel completely complete.

Well, I want some of you to visit and let me know if you find any errors, stuff like that, what you think of the design, the content, if everything was easy to find.

(The reason I need people to critique the navigation is because we're in information design, and it would look bad if I can't even make my sight intuitive. But I know sometimes developers get too close to their own design and need a reality check.)

So if you like it, dislike it, have any suggestions, please let me know. There's a contact page you can use to email me, or icongarden@icongarden.com will work too http://www.aota.net/ubb/smile.gif

www.icongarden.com (http://www.icongarden.com)

Jake

p.s. Yes, I know portfolio doesn't go anywhere yet, and neither does manifesto... http://www.aota.net/ubb/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by Jacob Stetser (edited 01-29-99).]

[Justin]

Really nice layout. I like it a lot. However, on welcome.shtml, on the left, the graphics don't quite line up right in the table. I think that the side graphics are smaller than the height of the text. There's a gap at the top and bottom.

I think that this is partly due to the fact that Mac's and PC's have slightly different default font sizes. I would make the side images taller (personally, I'd just stretch them, change the height property). Of course, on a Mac, you would have some blank space inside the table, but as long as the cell's bgcolor=000000 then it should look great.

Otherwise, the site looks great! Nice, not too complex, and not too simple, either.

My two cents http://www.aota.net/ubb/biggrin.gif

Justin

[Rich]

Very nice site design--it reflects well on what you do. The only problem I had was with trying to navigate to your home page. Many pages don't have any way to get to the home page at all (examples: the contact page and the "10 reasons" page). On the "non-cookie" introduction page there is a small footnote at the bottom that cookies will take them directly to the home page next time, however, there is no clear way to get to the home page *this* time. A link to the home page located in a more prominent position on the page would help. Adding "home" or "index" to the navigation bar at the bottom of each page would help, too.

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Rich

"What time is it in _____?"
www.timezoneconverter.com (http://www.timezoneconverter.com)

[Jacob Stetser]

Rich, Justin-

Thanks http://www.aota.net/ubb/smile.gif See, I've been consulting regarding usability/information design for several years as part of my former web design company (actually, we're the same people, just refocused on something we feel is very important), but I still miss things sometimes.

When you're too close to the code, you can sometimes miss the stuff that's important to you. That's why I missed the all important HOME link.. I began putting it under the pages' copy, but I think it would be better to move it to the "navigation bar" as you suggested. Thanks http://www.aota.net/ubb/smile.gif

The other thing, the link to the home page from the splash page, is something I'm wrestling with. I'd ideally like people to go through the "tunnel" of questions and answers I set up, but I don't want them to have to go through it every time.

That's why the link to the home page isn't that prominent, it does exist in that cookie text but nowhere else.

So, I think what I'll do is find some place to put it that is accessible and visible, but not too prominent.

Thanks again for your critiques. Justin, I'm going to make that table a little longer. If only the IMG tag supported HEIGHT=100%...

(It doesn't, I checked)

by the way, I'd be happy to give any of your sites the once over as well. I appreciate your help.

Jake

[Jacob Stetser]

Rich, Justin-

Thanks http://www.aota.net/ubb/smile.gif See, I've been consulting regarding usability/information design for several years as part of my former web design company (actually, we're the same people, just refocused on something we feel is very important), but I still miss things sometimes.

When you're too close to the code, you can sometimes miss the stuff that's important to you. That's why I missed the all important HOME link.. I began putting it under the pages' copy, but I think it would be better to move it to the "navigation bar" as you suggested. Thanks http://www.aota.net/ubb/smile.gif

The other thing, the link to the home page from the splash page, is something I'm wrestling with. I'd ideally like people to go through the "tunnel" of questions and answers I set up, but I don't want them to have to go through it every time.

That's why the link to the home page isn't that prominent, it does exist in that cookie text but nowhere else.

So, I think what I'll do is find some place to put it that is accessible and visible, but not too prominent.

Thanks again for your critiques. Justin, I'm going to make that table a little longer. If only the IMG tag supported HEIGHT=100%...

(It doesn't, I checked)

by the way, I'd be happy to give any of your sites the once over as well. I appreciate your help.

Jake

[Armand]

Jacob,

Wow like the graphics and overall layout!

Noticed most the same things as others. The only other things I notice is that on the contact page the third question I can't make out due to overlapping with the radio buttons.

Oh the other thing that kind of messed with my head a bit (it's just probably me though) is the change of direction in >> and << arrows on the site. Sometimes << is used even though the direction would seem to be going deeper into the site. Like I said probably just me and the lack of sleep.

And the search page seemed a little redundant since the navigation box has a search box in it already. Is there a difference really between the two? Plus there's no bottom navigation on that page. Sorry I'm probably getting picky now.

You should see my site, it's really a big mess so I shouldn't be picky when critiquing other's sites.

Anyways later! And good luck!

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Armand (aka Joe)
joe@arcanumcafe.com
www.arcanumcafe.com (http://www.arcanumcafe.com)

"you can dance if you want to"
Safety Dance-- stuck in my brain thanks to DEL

[Del]

Jacob,

Here is the URL to a screenshot of your welcome page. http://www.downinit.com/images/icongarden.jpg Now, in real life viewing, it's nowhere near that fuzzy. I had to compress the image by 25% to get it under 100k http://www.aota.net/ubb/smile.gif However, it should still give you an idea of what it'll look like on a 2 year old, 14" sony trinitron monitor (for the life of me I can't remember what resolution tho, prolly 800-ish x 600-ish)

I really like the layout you've got, very nice. My only question is about the 'quick links' box, IMHO it looks like the search form is too wide, thus pushing the right side of the box too far off. If you intended that, then it looks wonderful (I do like the stepped look). If you didn't intend it to look like that, well then, now you know http://www.aota.net/ubb/smile.gif


Armand,

What can I say but "Misery loves company" *EG*



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Del
www.downinit.com (http://www.downinit.com)

da da da

[Jacob Stetser]

Ok- thanks for all your comments.. I think I fixed the stuff, and incorporated a few changes.

So I've gone live and from now on, fixes will have to be made on the sly http://www.aota.net/ubb/smile.gif

Thanks again!