I didn't see the first iteration, so can't compare. I'm looking at it with
NC4.05/NT4.

1. First impression: looks a bit sparse (although this is a nice change
from the usual over-stuffed pages where you have to search for the
search!). However it lacks some necessary components such as a "help"
link.

2. Not sure about the grey. I would try a lighter grey with a touch of
blue. The penguins could be a little clearer - I'm not sure that they are
actually penguins.

3. With an obscure name like Freezersearch, an explanation might be a good
idea!

4. The white of the top left corner is not quite white and shows up
against the white of the page bg.

5. The white margin on the left is much narrower than the one on the
right, if you have the browser window at a size that just accomodates the
grey box. 

6. The options may be a little obscure for newer users. It's obvious to me
that "all" is all words and that "results" is results per page, but it may
not be for everyone.

7. Actually using the search: it took longer than I expected to bring back
a results page. Longer than Hotbot for example.

8. The results page is made about 200 pixels wider than necessary by the
positiioning of the logo, forcing 640x480 users to scroll sideways.

9. The number of results would be more useful at the top of the page.

10. Individual results should be numbered.

11. The URL below the page extract is not clickable?!?

12. The "related book" is not related at all!

13. No link back to the home page if you want to change your search
options.

14. On my second search the results page was twice as wide as my
(maximised) browser window, at 1152x864! This is a definite problem!

15. Again, the "related book" had nothing to do with my search topic. It's
starting to look like a 

16. The search results didn't exactly meet my criteria, which were
"cooking beetroot salmon" - all the words. I checked the first 10 results:

The first was for some kind of kitchenware site - no beetroot or salmon.
Numbers 5, 6, 8 and 10 were cooking sites, again no reference to beetroot
or salmon.

This means that 50% of the results did not conform to the search criteria.
(Unfortunately the other 50% were not very useful either: the 2nd, 3rd,
7th, 9th were for the "rec.food.cooking FAQ and conversion file" which
referred to all 3 items, but then again it refers to every possible food
item... The 4th was the bookmark list of one Lynn Salmon, which happened
to include beetroot recipes!)

17. I tried the same search again but added "without: onion parsley", and
got much the same results. The 1st, 3rd and 4th results were the
"rec.food.cooking FAQ and conversion file" which contains all 5 items (in
both the include and exclude lists). #2 was the same kitchenware site. #5
was a new cooking site which did not contain any of the keywords (except
cooking).

18. I would switch the link and vlink colours. Firstly the vlink colour
you've chosen is the default link colour, which will confuse many people.
2ndly, that colour stands out more and attracts the eye - the more
prominent colour IMO should always be used for link, not vlink.

I think you need to work on both the functionality and the design of the
site. Don't be disheartened though, you're 80% of the way there!

HTH

Lynnsey

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 2000-01-13, at 9:02 PM, Aaron Phillips wrote: 

>Thanks to all who critiqued www.freezersearch.com. I have fixed most of
what
>you said needed fixing and am working on some other stuff. If anyone else
>would look at www.freezersearch.com also, it would be greatly
appreciated.
>
>Thanks again
>Aaron

l y n n s e y   s k l i r o s
                      m o b i l e   t e l e p h o n e   n e t w o r k s

O senseless man, who cannot possibly make a worm and yet
will make Gods by the dozen! -- Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)

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