GrassBlade site critique wanted

[Vincent Puglia]

Hi amber & etal,

OK...I'll give you people some work for a change :)
What do you hate about my site's homepage/navigation/colors/overall look? I need something like: "If it were my site, I would change..."
Bear in mind, though, that I do wish to continue supporting aol-type newbies. Of course, this doesn't mean I'll follow any of the suggestions (I may not even comment on them), but I will listen to/read them.

I'll even start it off:
What's with that worksite thingy? (it's coming down)
You've got too many **** buttons; I don't know where to go.
It's ugly in netscape!!


Vinny

[Edited by Vincent Puglia on 06-30-2000 at 06:57 PM]

[amberbot]

Hi Vinny,

Sorry I didn't reply sooner I was out shopping(and girls shop all day) I went to your site, everything looks great, and here is a suggestion on the drop down menus you have on your first page...you might want to tell your visitors a little description of what you will find in those pages right above the menus instead of below the page. Other than that the site is great and easy to navigate and load time is good. Don't worry, my site will be up pretty soon and you'll have a chance to get even!

Amberbot

[Edited by amberbot on 06-30-2000 at 08:12 PM]

[Arielladog]

Here's the conversation I had with myself when I went to yoursite (being truthful)

me: Boy, this is ugly...do I really have to stay here adn review this?

me: Does the last update have to be at the top?

me: The logo isn't that bad...could use some work, though.

me: What's this site called...Grass Blad SOFTWARE

me: I was looking for cut a paste JavaScripts. Where can I find those?

me: Do I need to have your worksites being shown to me?

me: Do I really care about your resume...I'm here for cut & paste scripts

me: maybe the resume wouldn't look too bad at the bottom...

me: What's the point of this site again?

me: What the hell is "The Learning Curve"

me: Why's the navigation surrounded by the main image...I think the top image should be on top and navigation should be in one place (after thought, it isn't that bad...)

me: wait..is that really the navigation..what's down here with these drop down boxes.

me: What's the learning curve...it seems to be important (first link in navigation and also listed in drop down...), but I don't understand....

me: (after finally moving my mouse over the learning curve button at the top, I learn that it is cut a paste scripts.)aghhh...so that's where I go. Boy that was hard to find!!

me: What's "l, Objects" what's rolodex versions 1-3??

me: DO I care where you are moderator..all I want is cut and paste scripts...I actually found them atleast!

me: boy, this first page keeps going on and on...and for what real point?

me: Vinny's such a smart man...why such a crappy webpage (he's so good at coding, but he creates this monstrocity (spelling...even that goes through my feeble mind))

me: I definately dont' want to know with what browsers this page works with...it should work with them all...right?

me: Is there Navigator 7?

me: What's with the JavaScript world button again...boy that was confusing

me: Hmmm...If I click on someone else's site, I know I will be leaving yours...definately don't need that paragraph!

me: Boy, now I can annoy Vinny even more...I got his AOL Instant Messanger Name *evil laugh*

me: Didn't I see that stupid last update thing at the top, too?

me: Definately should use other fonts!

me: the background is ok, but I think you should use colors and tables or something neater than a normal page with a background..WOOHOO (hope you understand the woohoo was being sarcastic)

me: Alright, I clicked on learning curve adn IE thought for a long while, then, tried to take me to the page.

me: For this page, I think you should use a tree menu or a good dHTML menu like Microsoft's...the way it is now, it's just not very organized.

me: DOes it really need an explanation of view-source? Atleast at the top right?

me: She has stuff on the top (not all too important) (I think the stuff at the top should go, but anyways that's not the point of this thought in my brain...) but not only does the stuff take up the top, it takes up the whole left and right. Perhaps taking up the whole left wouldn't be that bad if it were a real navigation menu

me: shwew...my brain is done thinking right now (www.getsometaste.com)

me: Oh well, I hope I wasn't too harsh...

Alright, there's my conversation..now some notes.

Ditch the whole first page...go straight to Cut & Paste Scripts (not the learning curve...also don't call it grass blad software...that confused me)

Get a real menu on the learning curve like Microsoft DHTML menu...that would make it look nice.

Get a real color scheme...what you have is not a color scheme...lol. I guess your idea of color is coloring those form buttons and having them as navigation (not a good idea, either)

I don't plan on visiting back there in a while. Vinny's vey smart adn awesome at JavaScript, but the way the site was designed is not the best...I migth try going back in a month or so to see if it has gotten any better.


Those are my thoughts, and I hope I wasn't too harsh. I do hope that you get your site looking better, though.

[Vincent Puglia]

Hi Amber,

Gee, are you easy to please. :) (Must have been some good sale.) I was actually hoping for something a bit more stark, heavy-handed & explicit. Don't worry I'm not gonna bite. Speaking of which :)

Hi Arielladog,

I agree with most of what you say :) Don't know about M$'s type of menu, though -- unless you meant the kind that comes up in windows applications -- across the top (file, edit, etc but with different categories) at least that's what I'm leaning toward.
I agree the section titles may be confusing. The Learning Curve (btw) will eventually lead to coding tutorials (not necessarily language specific stuff -- you know loops, arrays, data/function separation. I, Object deals with user-defined objects so not much I can do with that.
Yes, I will be gathering my resume & other assorted stuff & tucking them away somewhere that is a bit less obvious. I'm also getting rid of the other site's links and putting them a page by themselves.
Color, fonts -- I'm very open to suggestions.

Anybody else out there with a heavy hand? I can't make it better on my own -- as Arielladog implied, I'm better at coding than appearances.

Vinny

[amberbot]

Vinny,
Remember now, your page is quiet effective and not everyone has the same taste on appearance. The way you designed your website has "your" personality and shouldn't be bothered with what others may think. :-)

[Vincent Puglia]

Hi amber,

actually, my personality is a bit more chaotic :) and I never worry what people think or say (too old to care anymore), but I do wonder why.... It's how I learn

Vinny

[Arielladog]

yes, that is true, amberbot, but we can critique adn say how we like adn vinny can get an idea of what he could change. He doesn't have to change it or anything, but he has more ideas of what to change and how. If he listened to all my ideas, his website would be awesome...hehe ;) , but Vinny ultimately decides what or what not to do...we just voice our opinion...there's nothing wrong with that..(it's america where I live)

[gzazJim]

Vincent,

I have found your page to be a plethora of information and very helpful on many levels - beginner, intermediate (which I consider myself) and advanced. The code snippets are very well documented and easy to understand - something that has become all too rare on "code-snippets" pages.

A few comments... While the drop-down lists are straight-forward in terms of use, perhaps a header above each "section" would make deciding where to begin a bit easier (I'm a huge fan of labels and "Click HERE" style navigation - LCD-type stuff...). And yes, I do know that there's a whole list/explanation RIGHT BELOW the boxes, et al, but - you know how some people are - if it doesn't smack them in the head immediately, they'll just get frustrated and go elsewhere.

One final comment - I think I'm one of the FEW people who actively DISLIKE "hit counters" - I truly believe that the acronym for HITS = "How Idiots Tally Success"... But, that's just me.

Anyway, that's enough harping - Your page is thoughtful, concise and generally easy to use/navigate and furthermore, it keeps your interest.

Thanks for the opportunity to critique an already-good page,

Jim

[Vincent Puglia]

Thanks Jim :)

Especially like the HITS comment :) (gotta remember, though, this is my first site and I wanted/needed a visual applause ticker -- it will come down, though, in the site's future incarnation (at least visually)
Regarding the other comment, both you and amber are right -- it is not exactly smack in the head obvious. I'll probably end up having some sort of mouseover 'tooltip'.
I've also been toying with the idea of breaking the dropdowns into even more categories: selection lists, forms, validations, etc.

Vinny

[randy53]

i looked at your page and here is my two cents worth. the logo needs some work. it looks like you just pasted some clipart together which i guess you did. what i'm saying is it doesn't look pro. the only other thing i don't like, and this is just personal, but i hate pulldown menus. mainly because i'll stay in one and then mean to scroll the page with my scroll button and instead scroll the pulldown and go somewhere i don't want to go. hey, that's just me. i just found this forum and enjoy it. thanks. randy

[Arielladog]

Randy brought up a good point. Pulldown menus are ok, but when there are so many options for a pull down menu, they are tedious and stupid. If you can keep pulldown menus to a minimum, they are a great tool, but over 12 things in a menu is getting to be too much.

[randy53]

as i looked as this site again something arielladog brought up about the background bothers me too. i don't think i have seen a background made up of a texture that i like. the vast majority are very distracting. a table of two might be very helpful. would help organize mainly which i believe is the fatal flaw.