Re: Critique Request

Hi there..

I feel obliged to give your site a go because you contribute so much here,
you deserve feedback and lots of attention when you make a request yourself.

So here goes..

Overall impression is clean and professional, I like the rounded-corner text
box framed by a neutral color.
The buttons don't bother me in themselves, but they seem like six little
boxes, set too far apart to look like they belong together.  I think they
should be either set closer together, have a more subtle transition to the
background, or have another design element to bring them together.

As I thought about the content, it seems that this company works pretty much
only in their local area?  If that's the case, it would be helpful to put
the region of interest more prominently ont he front page.  I had to search
the text to find out what state they're in.

Color scheme:  nice..  i like the way the subtle greens and golden browns
work together.

Rollovers.  I do like the green boxes that come up on the rollovers, but it
is distracting that their position is related to the mouse position.  (also
the box for 'information' comes up much closer to the mouse cursor than the
box for the other buttons.)  And I don't think there should be links in the
text in the boxes as people will chase the links.  I believe that
informational rollovers work best when there is one place that the user can
expect the explanatory text to come up.

I don't have a problem with download speed myself, but am on a cable modem.

'About' page - I think the 'appraisers come in all shapes and sizes' gif is
a hoot, but what's the point?  For a commercial site I don't think the humor
belongs.  After all, is this company going to send out a midget-giant duo to
do the appraising and you just want to warn people up front?  I don't think
it's necessary to tell potential customers that their appraiser might be any
shape or size..  at best it's unnecessary, at worst, unprofessional.

The title of the "Room Service" paragraph was underlined, making me think I
could click on it.  But I got no response.

'Appraisers Page' - Simple and clear..  but after the animation on the
'about' page I wanted to see what these folks looked like.  Are they really
that unusual?  Looks good, but I might add pictures if you have some
professional, yet friendly-looking ones around.  Oh, and I do like the way
the title flies in..  it is flashy but doesn't interfere with legibility, at
least on my system, where things happen pretty quickly.

"Links'  I assume that the site is geared towards people in your local area
who need an appraiser?  If so, then I think the links page is superfluous.
Most people just want to sell their home, or buy one, not investigate all
the professional societies for the people they are about to hire.

'Information'  Of course the calculators are very cool,  but is there any
way you could make that page integrate better with the rest of the site?  It
is obviously a very different style in a totally different color scheme and
is obviously hosted elsewhere.  And I miss that rounded corner 'sweet spot'
that you used to put the info on the other pages.  And I had trouble getting
back to the home page from there. I guess the navigation will work when it's
in its final spot.

I guess that's plenty..
Just my opinion, of course.

Obviously you have some sophisticated effects here, some good, clear
content, and a cohesive design theme, but I do think it needs a bit of
'tightening up' and ruthless paring of some of the fun but unnecessary
stuff.


Kim


====================================================
   Kimberley Mitchell                           (732) 750-1941
   Member: HTML Writers Guild        kim(at)mighty-sites.com
   Mighty Sites Web Design               http://www.mighty-sites.com
====================================================
----- Original Message -----
From: Katsuey(at)katsuey.com <katsuey(at)katsuey.com>
To: <hwg-critique(at)hwg.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 18, 1999 1:17 PM
Subject: Critique Request


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