Hit me with your best shot!!

Paula Brown · #1 (**permalink**) 02-18-2008, 04:14 PM

Ok guys, help me with this site! Let me know the good, the bad, and the ugly......of course you could be nice to a young babe at this and say something nice too!!!!! www.mynvites.com

Paula

DotComBot · #2 (**permalink**) 02-18-2008, 04:41 PM

Hi Paula,

That is a good looking site! The colors flow well which is difficult to pull off with shades of pink (IMO). Very well thought out, though.

The two things I noticed were the vertical flash menu on the left side of the page sits a little low (in my browser, firefox) and almost touches or does touch the text below it. And your contact form. You have used a mailto: tag for the function which opens up the viewers mail program and makes them send it to you like that. I would set it up like your guest list and order form pages and have it sent that way. You can always include your regular email, but setting it up with the php/xml function (like your order form) lets the user write it and click a button, much more user-friendly.

Excellent integration of html and Flash! Nice balance.

As Always: The above opinions belong entirely to the idiot who wrote them and in no way reflect the opinions of anyone else - which is usually the case.

Paula Brown · #3 (**permalink**) 02-18-2008, 07:20 PM

Hi DotComBot,

Thanks for the viewing and tips!! I do need to fix the navigation for firefox, for some reason alot of things don't function as I would like with this browser.
Oh well, Back to the Drawing Board!

Paula

DotComBot · #4 (**permalink**) 02-18-2008, 07:44 PM

Hey Paula,

Don't get discouraged, it's a real easy fix, in fact, you've already fixed it, you just don't know it.

You have two different index pages. The one that everyone initially sees when they go to your site and a separate one to which your "home" button points to. Is this correct? The second is probably in the folder with the rest of the pages and the first was needed to have the initial index file. The second one looks fine. Just copy the second (the one your navigation points to) and overwrite the first or save it as the first, etc. Basically what you want to do is duplicate the second index so they are both identical.
That's it.
Of course that may not be the case at all.

If you only have one copy of your index, let me know and we can figure it out from there.
If you don't know how to do the email, let me know that, too. It's really pretty simple.

ppcFanatic · #5 (**permalink**) 02-18-2008, 08:23 PM

Can I say I normally HATE pink but I really like your site. Very well done and that says a lot for a pink hater. LOL Your header seems a little overpowering to me though. It's almost like the height could be reduced by about 30-40 pixels. JMO.

Paula Brown · #6 (**permalink**) 02-18-2008, 08:35 PM

Hey DotComBot,

I checked my site in firefox and the main page and the index page looks the same. I checked the links in Dreamweaver, and they are the same too. OK, now I'm really confused!

Yeah, the whole email thing is a blur!

Did you mean create a contact "form"?

Yes, I confess I'm a newbie. Can you smell the Similac??

Paula!

Paula Brown · #7 (**permalink**) 02-18-2008, 08:42 PM

Hi ppcFanatic!

What can I say, I'm a girly girl living in a pink world! I thought the chocolate color would tone down the pink though!
Hey, I tried the tip on the heading size. Looked too small to me. It just made alot more empty space, and I really don't have anything else to say for content. Maybe it's because I have a 21in. screen. I don't know if screen size matters.

Thanks for the viewing and advice!
Paula

DotComBot · #8 (**permalink**) 02-18-2008, 08:49 PM

Hey Paula,

I just looked again and they both look the same. Sorry, probably something I ran through my browser. I tend to do crazy stuff with it.

Sorry, I really didn't mean to confuse you (I'm good at that).

I did mean a contact form, yes, I just find that I get more email from potential clients if it is simply a "fill out the form and click a button" type of thing. Not imperative at all, just what I would do.

It appears that your guest lists and order forms are run by an xml file. One of these can be redone and turned into a mail form relatively easily and it will then fit seamlessly into your layout. Let me know if this is something you would like to do and I can walk you through it sometime.

Paula Brown · #9 (**permalink**) 02-18-2008, 09:10 PM

Hey DotComBot,

Yeah, I can create another email form. Just thought it would be easy to do an email link.

Thanks alot!!
Paula

ydx · #10 (**permalink**) 02-18-2008, 11:03 PM

I like the concept. You site's purpose is well explain and readily available on the front page. My favorite part is the bubble border. Although I also like pink, yet the pink text against your background makes the pink text hard to read. Or perhaps my eyes are failing me. lol

Paula Brown · #11 (**permalink**) 02-19-2008, 08:43 AM

Hi ydx!
Thanks for viewing my site!!

I'm glad the pink works. It's one of those colors that has to be mixed just right!

Paula

alpha7 · #12 (**permalink**) 02-21-2008, 03:46 PM

Hi Paula

I loved the colors myself. You are right, the chocolate color won me over. Great site and concept.

About your 21 inch monitor. I have a 17 inch and I had to scroll to the right to see the rest of the page. When I started designing, the industry standard for resolution was 800 x 600. I'm sure that has changed a little, but your viewers should not have to scroll side to side.

Does anyone know the new standard?

Paula Brown · #13 (**permalink**) 02-21-2008, 11:16 PM

Alpha7,

I'm having trouble adjusting the resolution size in Dreamweaver. When I click to change resolution size, the sizes are all "grayed out". What's up with that?!

Paula

MentalClinic · #14 (**permalink**) 02-21-2008, 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alpha7

When I started designing, the industry standard for resolution was 800 x 600. I'm sure that has changed a little, but your viewers should not have to scroll side to side.

Does anyone know the new standard?

Standard is still 800x600. I mean.. if you want to make a page, better make it comfortable to navigate and read for everyone, there still are a lot of 8x6ers.

About the page. Where you got the idea? I don't want to say that site like this couldn't work, but I'm not sure about the prizes. There are sites out there that could generate similar e-Card for free and it get's ready instantly.

Maybe if you can you could to a e-Card generator, a series of these. And make price really cheap like 1$ or 5$ or whatever. The page would take some more time to prepare, but it would save you time later on.

Either way, good luck with your site!

alpha7 · #15 (**permalink**) 02-22-2008, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paula Brown

Alpha7,

I'm having trouble adjusting the resolution size in Dreamweaver. When I click to change resolution size, the sizes are all "grayed out". What's up with that?!

Paula

I'm not sure how to "easily" change the resolution without moving all of the content around. I mean, it doesn't bother me that much to scroll to the right, but I am not ALL of you viewers.

I'm just trying to give good feed back.

As far as the prices go, you may get a few clients that don't know about the cheaper or free services out there, but if you want some repeat long term customers, I think you will have to cut the prices. Those prices are more in the range of print copies. That may not be a bad idea to incorporate print into your services for family members who don't have the internet.

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