Website revisions

[jkdbjj]

I noticed this line, and it should read; "Our customers know..."
Also, *successful

As most of our customers know, we go out of our way to make their projects succesful.

Makes sense.

 

[jkdbjj]

IMO too many previews on the home page. Keep it to 3 or 4 max on one line for example

Banners Signs Vehicles Trade Shows or Installs.

how we have it coloradosigns.com

I agree. Under the ad banner area I have been contemplating what to put there. I am working on a couple ideas now. One idea is to make it three columns, one column for recent project, another column for case studies, and a third column for I dunno yet.

Or I could do it like yours, yours is nice and clean.

 

[jkdbjj]

I'd say scrap it and start new. not that its terrible or anything, just doesn't have any personality. Try sketching out a story board on graph paper, or at least make a mockup in illustrator that way it is really easy to go through the options available. dont try and design your website based on your limitations in dreamweaver (or whatever youre using), design it how you want it, and then make it work in dreamweaver.

Wow, not sure I am into it that much to work from utter scratch. I suppose that is one way to do it.
I actually did customize the site to how I like it, so I am happy with most of it. My biggest hang up right now is the content of the home page under the ad banner, and the other hang up is breaking up the linear feel to the whole thing.

What you are suggesting is simply beyond my skill set.

What I am using right now is Illustrator, Photoshop and a CMS system with custom CSS.

 

[ucmj22]

Wow, not sure I am into it that much to work from utter scratch. I suppose that is one way to do it.
I actually did customize the site to how I like it, so I am happy with most of it. My biggest hang up right now is the content of the home page under the ad banner, and the other hang up is breaking up the linear feel to the whole thing.

What you are suggesting is simply beyond my skill set.

What I am using right now is Illustrator, Photoshop and a CMS system with custom CSS.

I didnt mean to suggest that anything was beyond your ability, so I'm sorry. It just seemed that you might be trying to design your website in a coding program which usually brings about very linear and structured websites. Apparently this was an incorrect assumption on my part. so my suggestion was to design it in another program that you might be more familiar with or is at least better suited to design.

 

[J Hill Designs]

I see, yeah I will need to swap that text out and save it as a higher quality jpeg. Thanks.

use anti-aliasing when exporting

 

[jkdbjj]

use anti-aliasing when exporting

Not sure that is an option when saving jpg in photoshop. I'll check. I think what I did though, is when saving it I lowered the quality to 5 or something like that instead of leaving it at 9 through 12.

 

[ucmj22]

Not sure that is an option when saving jpg in photoshop. I'll check. I think what I did though, is when saving it I lowered the quality to 5 or something like that instead of leaving it at 9 through 12.

when saving on mac in photoshop, press cmd+alt+shft+S and select jpg. you will get a small file size with great quality.

 

[jkdbjj]

when saving on mac in photoshop, press cmd+alt+shft+S and select jpg. you will get a small file size with great quality.

Wow, any idea what that is in PC?

 

[J Hill Designs]

prolly just change cmd to ctrl

 

[jkdbjj]

Honest Opinion: In the age of templates, its the most standard of templates. Our website started that way... I immediately took it down and we are in the process of having a company build our site, We are supposed to be a creative business in a creative industry and an off the shelf look doesn't cut it for me.

But I feel it gets the point across and has lots of info.

Btw, when the company is done with your site, I hope you share it.
Good luck with it. I think the absolute hardest part is copy, and where to place it.

 

[Craig Sjoquist]

Basiclly ....I like it knowing very well I'm un-able to do such a good job, so the template thing makes no difference.

I did notice that it loaded fast, and when I went to pages, stopping at wraps the main picture might be better as a slide show of your work.

 

[jkdbjj]

Basiclly ....I like it knowing very well I'm un-able to do such a good job, so the template thing makes no difference.

I did notice that it loaded fast, and when I went to pages, stopping at wraps the main picture might be better as a slide show of your work.

Interesting idea about the page header graphic being a small slide.

Thanks.

 

[Kentucky Wraps]

That's the problem with canned template sites or those that look that way. One reason I decided to create my own, with my own specific vision. I wanted something that made a statement about my passion for quality design. It's done extremely well for me. If it generated anymore work, I would not be able to keep up with the workload.

www.skywatchsigns.com

Though it's not a template...it Looks like a "Nice" template website. My dba business is nicholasvillesigns.com done by signshopwebsites.com is who did my dba site..and it IS a template. Template websites usually look obvious but mine doesn't. I don't know if I'm allowed to say who did my website because it might be a "plug" for them, but it is relevant to the thread. I just need to make my gallery updated...big time. I like your color scheme too...it's clean feeling.

 

[jkdbjj]

So I put a grunge look to it, hoping to shake the template feel a bit. I realize the grunge is a bit dated, but I just like that style I guess.
Does it hurt or help?

 

[WCSign]

Looks good to me, i own a few wordpress based sites..

I didnt browse, just looked at homepage, fyi

 

[jkdbjj]

Looks good to me, i own a few wordpress based sites..

I didnt browse, just looked at homepage, fyi

I've tried wordpress a few times, I do like it bit I don't think I could get the look I wanted due to lack of understanding how to customize within the system.

The CMS I am using for this site is called livesite and has been perfect for my skill level, which is simply novice.

 

[WCSign]

gotcha.. yeah its all css in tricky places.. fun and easy once you pick it up

Just looked a bit more... from a consumer standpoint (which a lot of design folks cant see) I dont see anything wrong with it.. it looks clean and stylish, I could browse and find what I wanted to easily, examples of work were there, contact info was accessible etc.

from a consistency standpoint, Id add a pic to the company info page and finalize that URL.. also when naming and putting titles on pages, its not so much what you want to say thats important, but moreso what people are searching for

ie; I would never search for "signs, banners and more"

but I would search for "sign company charlotte NC"

which I see you are paying for ads for, in a very very diluted market.. but lets not forget things like "banners, road signs, stickers, car wraps, vehicle graphics, little league banners, etc etc" all with Charlotte NC of course

you can smartly get very good rankings with those without paying a dime..

hope that helps

 

[jkdbjj]

gotcha.. yeah its all css in tricky places.. fun and easy once you pick it up

Just looked a bit more... from a consumer standpoint (which a lot of design folks cant see) I dont see anything wrong with it.. it looks clean and stylish, I could browse and find what I wanted to easily, examples of work were there, contact info was accessible etc.

from a consistency standpoint, Id add a pic to the company info page and finalize that URL.. also when naming and putting titles on pages, its not so much what you want to say thats important, but moreso what people are searching for

ie; I would never search for "signs, banners and more"

but I would search for "sign company charlotte NC"

which I see you are paying for ads for, in a very very diluted market.. but lets not forget things like "banners, road signs, stickers, car wraps, vehicle graphics, little league banners, etc etc" all with Charlotte NC of course

you can smartly get very good rankings with those without paying a dime..

hope that helps

That makes pretty logical sense about the titles, I'll give it a try. Thanks for taking the time.

 

[WCSign]

no worries man.. you are doing great in my opinion!

 

[jkdbjj]

So what is the verdict so far. Is it less templately looking? I am tired of messing with it for now. Gotten some good feedback from strangers, customers and friends. Think I am on the right track.

Thanks all.