Stuck with site layout. Comments please

O-Dog · 20 Mar 2006 at 13:30

Hi, im stuck with getting the content looking nice on a site i am designing. The site is www.campingleparadis.fr.

Comments on what ppl dont like, what i could do to improve the flow, and how i could effectively include pictures and images to pad the site out much appreciated.

One note, the floats on the index page are screwing with ie6, it works in firefox and i will fix the ie6 shortly with the ie7 rendering engine from sourceforge... unless anyone can tell me why ie6 doesnt work!

TIA

Chris

blade007 · 20 Mar 2006 at 17:27

looks good, except I think the grass image is too big. Seems a pretty boring image also. sorry.

ju my opinion

Mr_L · 20 Mar 2006 at 17:50

On validating the index page I found that you haven't specified the alt attribute for either of the two caravan pictures, which is producing validation errors.

The layout doesn't fit into 800x600 and I have to scroll horizontally to see any content that's chopped off.

When I hover over the main navigation the background colour becomes lighter and the text becomes white. This makes it hard to read the links.

You might also want to put something meaningful into the title tag of each page, as that's quite important for SEO.

Other than that it looks good to me and everything seems to work except for that small float problem you know about in IE.

MNuTz · 20 Mar 2006 at 17:56

yeah the grass image is rather dominant, my eyes keep getting pulled towards it. Nice image but could be about 1/3 as high as it is.

Location tab could do with a map.

Why would a campsite need a forum?

Prices tab is very well set out and easy to read.

The attractions tab is very busy, you need a line break between each attraction to make it easier to read.

The amenities tab is easy to read but could i suggest that you put them in order of importance and group them. I would say that

All mobiles fully equip

is more important than

football

Also, should that be equipped and do they just have the one football or is it a football pitch

Other than the little bits above i think its a really nice website, good choice of colours and very easy to navigate!

Jake 2.0 · 20 Mar 2006 at 18:15

the hover on the links make the text unreadable..

blade007 · 20 Mar 2006 at 18:44

you have no title too

MNuTz · 20 Mar 2006 at 18:47

also, how about some info on the weather throughout the year. Average temp, average rainfall etc.

O-Dog · 21 Mar 2006 at 08:50

thanks for the replies guys. yeah the grass image isnt the best... i want to try and get a grassy feel but would like a nicer picture. looked on stock http://www.sxc.hu/ but couldnt find any better... anyone got any better ones? any good free stock photography other than stock.xchang?

Points taken and plz dont apolagise the more brutal the comments the more i will learn. i will sort the image height (hopefully get a nicer image), page titles, menu hover, basially everything ya'll said.

regarding the forums... well thats what i was asked to do!

The layout doesn't fit into 800x600 and I have to scroll horizontally to see any content that's chopped off.

Plz excuse me ignorance but is 800x600 a size which is validated against?

Thanks again guys,

Chris

Nate · 21 Mar 2006 at 09:03

I normally make sites max 775px wide this then compensates for users running 800x600 resolution

Shoseki · 21 Mar 2006 at 09:24

Everything looks ok for the main layout of the page, but when it comes to the "brochure" layout, or the content of the main panel, its a little bit cramped, and because the pictures are a bit dominating, the text kinda gets broken up and "hidden away".

Why not stack those two photos, either on the left or the right within the main piece, and then put the text in its own invisible panel to the side of it?

Another thing, the mouseover effect is unreadable, white text on a light bacckground doesn't really work, not enough contrast.

Mr_L · 21 Mar 2006 at 10:02

O-Dog said:
Plz excuse me ignorance but is 800x600 a size which is validated against?

The size of your website is not validated but in terms of accessibility, it is a good idea to make sure you are not alienating any potential customers. If you look at the browser statistics at W3 Schools…

2006 January
Higher 17%
1024x768 57%
800x600 20%
640x480 0%
Unknown 6%

you can see that 20% of users still use 800x600 as their screen resolution. That’s 20% of your potential customers who have to scroll horizontally.

blade007 · 21 Mar 2006 at 10:37

Mr_L said:
The size of your website is not validated but in terms of accessibility, it is a good idea to make sure you are not alienating any potential customers. If you look at the browser statistics at W3 Schools…

2006 January
Higher 17%
1024x768 57%
800x600 20%
640x480 0%
Unknown 6%

you can see that 20% of users still use 800x600 as their screen resolution. That’s 20% of your potential customers who have to scroll horizontally.

useful info. I think a lot of offices still use 800x600.

why not have a picture, rather than the grass, like some lovely luscious green vista. and you could get that in panorama to fit the box.

blade007 · 21 Mar 2006 at 10:40

just checked in one of our offices

on 800x600 most of the screen (about 2/3) is taken up by your logo and the grass.

Need to change that, chief.

O-Dog · 21 Mar 2006 at 11:13

hehe okie! laptop i develop on has res of 1920x1600, ill drop down to 800x600 as suggested

hehe erm sorry for being silly but what is a luscious green vista?!

plan to put a live weather update in the right hand coloumn, along with customer comments.