Need a site critique

[Julie]

So I have a new business venture. It's a Psychology referral company (brought to you by the djweb.net network)

I would like to know what you all think, and what I need to do to improve it.

Oh, and I know that there will be nothing in the data base, because my sweetie Del hasn't done the needed tweeks on the script yet.

So anyway, http://www.PsychFind.com

Thanks!
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Julie

http://www.splitangels.org

[Tom]

Nice look.[nbsp][nbsp]Additions:

Tell us what a therapist is, as opposed to other psych-related professionals.[nbsp][nbsp]Tell us what to ask and what to look for in selecting one; what to expect and what not to expect...[nbsp][nbsp]Are their board certifications that we should be aware of?[nbsp][nbsp]Explain and link to them.

Consider having some articles on the process of either finding, or working with, written by some of those people.

JMHO,
[nbsp]Tom

[Julie]

Thanks Tom, I never even thought about that!!

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
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Julie
http://www.PsychFind.com
http://www.djweb.com
http://www.splitangels.org
[This message has been edited by Julie (edited 05-16-99)]

[LeafWind]

Very elegant look![nbsp][nbsp]

However, the text on the mouseover button for "Disclamer" is not in quite the same place as the mouseoff (blue) button.[nbsp][nbsp]The text doesn't move on the other buttons (although the "Search" button itself seems to shift a bit on mouseover).[nbsp][nbsp]Have you tried using anti-aliasing on the text on the buttons, to give it a smoother look? I think that might go better with the soft look of the graphics sets.

Though I love the soft look, I wonder how the low-contrast colours would look on an older monitor -- since some who use this resource may be accessing the internet from libraries and other public places.[nbsp][nbsp]You might want to find one that's only 600 pixels wide and 256 colors, and test it to make sure everything is still legible.[nbsp][nbsp]FWIW, quite a few of the computers in the labs at the university here are still using those old monitors, so they are definately still out there. :(

More on accessing from public places: though some would say you need more "branding" -- a title banner or some such to make sure people know where they are and remember your site's name -- I think it is actually better *not* to have a big banner that people passing by might see, because of the sensitive nature of searching for a therapist.[nbsp][nbsp]This might help folks without their own computers feel more comfortable accessing your site.

Finally, I would really encourage you to limit your area that you'll be serving, and *state that clearly*.[nbsp][nbsp]You'll be a more effective resource if you can target therapists in a specific area to get them to be listed, and then market yourselves to potential clients in that area.[nbsp][nbsp]Maybe focus on your own state or group of neighbouring states, and allow room to grow later.[nbsp][nbsp]Then perhaps offer links to other resources for those out of your state-area or out of country.[nbsp][nbsp]Many times I've found it frustrating to search through any kind of internet resource like this only to discover that the resource doesn't list businesses or services in Canada, and doesn't offer any links that might be helpful to Canadians.

Overall, I'm impressed![nbsp][nbsp]I'd like to see it when you get the whole site up and running.

Best of luck with it!

Bekariso

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www.LeafWind.com (http://www.LeafWind.com)
Growing web sites that thrive in the winds of change.

[Julie]

Thanks Bekariso!!!

Youre right about those stupid buttons. I'll see what I can do about it.


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Julie
http://www.PsychFind.com
http://www.djweb.com
http://www.splitangels.org

[Julie]

Tom, Bekariso, OK I fixed the buttons and added a FAQ page.

What do you think?

http://www.PsychFind.com
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Julie
http://www.PsychFind.com
http://www.djweb.com
http://www.splitangels.org

[Justin]

As much as I normally hate frames, when done right one can achieve a really nice effect - and I think you have done a great job with them :)[nbsp][nbsp]I like the layout, and it works at all resolutions (one of the main problems with frames usually).

All in all, I like it :D

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Justin Nelson
FutureQuest Support

[Julie]

Thanks Justin!!!

:)
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Julie
http://www.PsychFind.com
http://www.djweb.com
http://www.splitangels.org

[Armand]

Looks great Julie.[nbsp][nbsp]Checked it out a couple days ago and then just now.[nbsp][nbsp]The only thing that still bothers me is the alignment on the welcome page between the balls and the text.[nbsp][nbsp]Of course just may be a "just me" thing as always.

Overall it's great even though there's no therapists listed at all for my state yet (not that I'm looking since there's none sane enough to cure me...lol http://www.arcanumcafe.com/ubb/evilgrin.gif.[nbsp][nbsp]Oops time to switch to decaf again.

[LeafWind]

Great improvement on the buttons!

Something I noticed this time that I didn't before, is that you have your default background colours set to #ffffff (white), even for the main area![nbsp][nbsp]For the main (content) frame, you are using a rather large image tile of only one color.[nbsp][nbsp]You would improve loadtime and smooth loading by using

<body bgcolor=&quot;#456C8D&quot; ...>

instead of

<body background=&quot;main.jpg&quot; bgcolor=&quot;#ffffff&quot; ...>

... and that way, people who surf with their image and/or background images turned off will still see the same thing.

You'd probably want to set the bgcolor the same for the other frames too, though I didn't check them, just noticed that they seemed to load with white backgrounds first.

The only other thing I noticed for improvement was on your FAQ page, when you use italics for the subtitles/questions, the lack of contrast between the background color and the text color made the text rather difficult to read.[nbsp][nbsp]Maybe turn bold on as well as italic, or use a large font size, or even a higher-contrast font color.

Again, overall, it looks great![nbsp][nbsp]I'm very impressed, and I hope it's a great success for you.

Bekariso

[Julie]

Bekariso,

That helped a lot. Thanks :-)

Armand, I decided to toss those bullets for now.
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Julie
http://www.PsychFind.com
http://www.djweb.com
http://www.splitangels.org