Constructive Criticism required

[ABEO]

Hey everyone.

I have set up a website to re-sell webhosting for a good price.

I would like everyone to chip in and tell me what is wrong with the site and how I can make it better

Be sensible please

The url is www.planetabeo.com

Thanks

[matrix0978]

Its a little to boring and dull.

[prathapml]

Boring and dull ? Most of the customers would prefer that.

You'd mostly see colorful schemes in sites that appeal to kids, or game sites.

ABEO, I think these two things are what I could criticise:

1.

£2 p/month

This is in the right-most pane, and the format of its quote would be a little confusing. It looks like Pounds 2 pence per month, and you might even get complaints if you refuse to give that scheme for 2 pence.... I guess

£2 /month 

-- or --

2 pounds Sterling /month

might look more appropriate.

2. Also, that image of a desktop PC at the top left corner feels odd. Something that is more sophisticated, or a powerful server's picture would give a good feel.

This is all for now, since I just saw the home-page alone. I might get back again and take a look around the rest of the site.

Lets hope your site is a great success!

[SiMoNsAyS]

for me it looks really proffesional

if i'm going to correct something i would only select the computer at the top that looks like a bit grey and pixelated, anyway nice look

[amigafan]

Try to avoid repetition in a sentence, eg:

"If you do find a better deal elsewhere let us know and we will try our best to provide you with a better deal! "

may look better as

"If you do find a better deal elsewhere let us know and we will try to beat it."

I'm no professor of English, but I'm not sure the exclamation mark is really needed. Other than the usual rules of speeling (deliberate mistoke ;-)) and grammar I think the site is nicely layed out and clear, although I think a horizontal orientation would mean viewers didn't need to scroll down to read the last sentence on the page. Also, the "offer ends" text is in a very small font in my browser and should be made more obvious. Small print should always be very prominent.

[ABEO]

Ok thanks for all the help so far guys, I have changed everything suggested up to no

As for the pic, I took the photo of my own PC so as to not go against any copyrights unknowingly, I do have an old server that was used in a school a few years ago, but it looks a bit... crap... tbh.

If anyone has a suggestion as to what I could do to make the current photo, or a photo of the server I have look better please speak up. Also if anyone has a picture of a personal server that looks big and powerful and could give me it and permission to use it as I like I would also be greatful

Anything else?

[XPerties]

Something you should keep in mind...

[1] You should never use frames on your website. Some browsers have issues with them and it's not very professional coding.

[2] Always have a very easy to find "Terms of Service" or "Acceptable usage Policy" so your client can review it before they sign up.

Also the background, dark blue to light blue to lighter blue. I would think it be better if you took dark blue and faded into the last light blue instead of 3 solid blocks of colors.

The bottom of each page just cuts off. You should code a closing more curved bottom (referring to where the copyright 2004 is). Your space in the package box on the left...Place some right padding and left padding in your CSS so the text isn't directly on the edges.

It would seem you are going to use cPanel. For beginners I highly suggest http://www.whmautopilot.com for a billing/client management system. It also has a support desk built in which you can use.

[ABEO]

Thanks for all the advice XPerties.

I never use frames anyway, they annoy me

And at the moment I have lots of 'absolute' positionoing, so I am going to get rid of that, and center everything using padding and margins.

As for the background it was supposed to create a cool effect but I see what you mean I'll sort that when I get home.

I don't really know what to put into a terms of use or a disclaimer type thing tbh

And as for whmautopilot do you mean customers would pay using it?

[XPerties]

When I spoke about frames I was referring to this page:

http://www.planetabeo.com/packages.php

WHM.Autopilot is a billing system. It allows your client to sign up for hosting packages, installs their accounts on your server, sends out a welcome e-mail that has all their login details. It also generates invoices and bills your clients each month. It works with real merchant accounts and paypal.

Not having a terms of services is the most dangerous thing not to have. You should have a TOS, AUP and SLA. If you don't you are only asking for trouble.

Good luck.

[ABEO]

There aren't any frames on that page to my knowledge.,. A massive table... but not frames.

WHM Autopilot sounds good I'll try it if this ever hits it off.

Thanks for the help XPerties!

[zprog]

In addition, I am really against the type of layouts that make you scroll across and half the screen is empty space (I have a big screen).

The theme is fine, if only I wouldn't have to scroll. You figure that people wanting a web host are competent in computers and more often than not will have large resolutions. Try to use %'s in your layout, and although you can limit the horizontal width of the content, never, never, never limit the vertical width of the content. If only you didn't limit the vertical width of the content to get your copyright message across, I would have no criticism of the layout.

Also, your page is not XHTML valid.

[ABEO]

In addition, I am really against the type of layouts that make you scroll across and half the screen is empty space (I have a big screen).

The theme is fine, if only I wouldn't have to scroll. You figure that people wanting a web host are competent in computers and more often than not will have large resolutions. Try to use %'s in your layout, and although you can limit the horizontal width of the content, never, never, never limit the vertical width of the content. If only you didn't limit the vertical width of the content to get your copyright message across, I would have no criticism of the layout.

Are you saying its too high? The width should be fine for people with anything above an 800x600 res, the height should be fine for anything over a 1024x768 res.

Do you mean when scrolling the content in the main box?

Using percentages would requite multiple different pictures and a lot of work wouldn't it... what do you think is the best way to go about that?

Also, your page is not XHTML valid.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have just checked and they all are... which pages aren't?

[5to9]

Well, first, congrats on building the site - taint easy I know, to get a whole thing up and runnin

I quite liked the site though I did have a few quibbles

1st is, can't you center the content so that those with a larger screen don't have everything bunched up in the left hand side of the screen, or couldn't you use percentages as previously suggested, it really wouldn't be that difficul, you'd need to be relarively creative when it came to sorting out which cells to have as the ones that fill what is left of the screen

you wouldn't have to do much jiggery pokery, but you would need to use a few nested tables and declare the size of those cells that you want to be expanded to fill the screen

You could keep the panels the size they are now and simply have the main panel (the one with the content) as the cell that expanded to fill the screen size

that probably sounds like tosh, ach well I'm tired

2nd is, the light blue you have behind your 'titles' like home and navigation etc seems to clash to me with the grey - I think a navy would work really well though and give it a professional edge

3rd and final is something that has already been mentioned which is the way the page seems to abruptly end for some reason

All your other panels and such are neatly and nicely tied off with a bottom section to em, but the one with the copyright line really needs the same treatment

I really like the effect of the 3 colour block backgrounds

Last piece of advice is this, don't listen to us all, they're only opinions and a lot of it is personal taste and you can't please everyone

anyway,

good stuff

hope the venture is successful

[ABEO]

5to9, thanks for all your suggestions! I'm a bit busy atm, but I will try and implement some of your suggestions soon

One thing though, when you say about centering the page and using tables to do so, are tables valid XHTML 1.0 Strict? If not, what would be the best way to center it?

[ABEO]

Ok 5to9's points sorted, what does everyone think now?

Anything else that could be better?

Also I'd like a few tips on all the documents(TOS etc) that Xperties said I need, anyone able to help me out, or give me some that I can just edit?

Thanks