Need a quick review of my new site please warriors - Can you spare me 30 seconds? ;)

[Mubarak Waseem]

Hey warriors,

This could have gone in the web design forum, but it is more than just a web design critique that I am looking for.

The Recession Handbook where I am hosting the draft of my new minisite.

It is for my product - "The Recession Handbook", and the theme of the design is an army handbook.

Some critisisms thus far:

The site is too wide,
Some bits are hard to read,

Any other feedback is most appreciated!

Mubarak

[JimtheWriter]

Graphics take way to long to load for me...

[MR.MOE]

Hey Jim I thought that was only my problem but yea it takes a while for the graphic to load. The heading is huge and takes up the whole page. Other than that I give it 2 thumps up.Hope this helps

Thanks
Mr.Moe

[TLTheLiberator]

Nice graphics.

It's taking quite a while to load and that won't be helpful.

TL

[Mubarak Waseem]

Ok thanks guys!

I am optimising it, and I will decrease the header size...

Mubarak

PS other than that is there anything?

[Eric Stanley]

Try loading .gifs and scale the images down in size. Other than image formatting issues, it looks great and looks like its ready to be populated. Perhaps also a video!

[Mubarak Waseem]

Yeah!

Thanks Eric! A video would do wonders...

I'll keep the army/military style in the video in AE!

Mubarak

[Roger Mayne]

Looks great, but yes, slow. I also wonder how the main sales copy will look against that background?? Will need to see if the background will not be too distracting.

Also, although the graphic looks good, what does RH Certified really mean? I know it's recession handbook, but what does that actually mean to anybody? Because of the bold red colour, my eyes were drawn to it.

[Mubarak Waseem]

Perhaps... I just wanted an image of an old hanbook style thing, and then a wax seal....

Is it really not that good to have it on the header?

[chakrur4i]

I like the graphics!! its nice and clean.. can be enhanced a bit though.. nice work over all.

[Mubarak Waseem]

Chakrur,

Please enlighten me! How would you enhance it?

Mubarak

[mikemcmillan]

Yes, the header loaded kind of slow. It is way to big. I would go with the footer you have at the bottom for your header. It's small enough to work and would load much faster. I like the stencil font you've used and the camo background. Once you dump the text into the container I'd like to take another look at it. Good job!

[Mubarak Waseem]

Thanks Mike!

I am gonna shotren the header and optimise the graphics - Just working on the ecover atm!

Mubarak

[Adi E]

Same as everyone else really pal, your graphics take waay too long to load - could deter potential customers, esp the ones with low internet speeds

The fonts you've used are good - but not the easiest to read,

Overall though, nice job

Adi

[LMC]

Mubarak,

I would say the same about the footer as the header.

The main image takes up the above the fold space, and there is no call to action there, so your response will be some what lower,

Use the footer as the header with the same paper body background, this way the first thing there eyes lay on is the headline you have on your page.

[Rus Sells]

I like the military style theme you have chosen. As already posted, I would cut down the header so you can get your offer in the top fold of your page.

Military manuals all come with a FM in front of them which stands for Field Manual.

This is just a suggestion but you could do something like this.

FM-RSM101 - Recession Survival Manual 101 by Murbarak Wassem

Of course you'd put this in a graphic. here's an example of an army FM.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...5/image232.gif

[Mubarak Waseem]

alright nice ideas

Should I keep the camo BG, or go all paper - All other suggestions I will take on board...

Mubarak

[Peter Adamson]

I like it. Just a few remarks:
- what is RH Certified?
- The camouflage doesn't look good with the texture. I would retouch it if i were you

Too wide? not for my screen, but there are probably a few 1024x768 monitors still out there. Look at mainstream sites and verify their with in pixels

[nicholasb]

took a while to load, text a little hard to read, there is a big blank spot in the middle where a video should be, could use an opt in form,

I do like the overall concept though just a few small tweaks should do it

[Christian Sawyer]

Yep, definitely make the header the same size as the footer.

Like LMC said, you are wasting quite a bit of fold space, which could be used for a video or opt in form.

-Christian

[tschlotter]

I waited for several minutes for the page to fully load and nothing ever appeared beneath the first Warren Buffet quote, so I'm assuming that's where you're going to put your sales letter?

And the width is also an issue, on my computer anyway - I have to scroll over about three inches to read it.

So I concur with the other comments, it should probably just be a little smaller. Look forward to seeing it in its final form.

Good luck,

Tina

[Mubarak Waseem]

Thanks Guys!

i am editing everything now, and Will have space for an opt in box!

Mubarak

[Mubarak Waseem]

RH certified is Recession Handbook certified... A bit too cheesy?

Mubarak

[Rus Sells]

Maybe make the background image on the header the cover that your use for your report, them make the page background image a desert blend camo.

Just suggestions, I am no expert!

I was a little confused about the seal and what it was for, as a result i just over looked it entirely.

[Mubarak Waseem]

hmm ok - I am gonna try a result with just the paper

I will attatch it when I am done...

Mubarak

[BeauJustin]

Mubarak,
I just have a few suggestions, no real critiques. I think you have a fantastic start here! Huge headers and graphics are kind of the big "thing" right now. I LOVE big graphics, myself.

That said, I would take it up about 60% of its current size, as mentioned before, which would get you above the fold. I'm on a 24" monitor at near max resolution, and all I see is the logo, and some of the text immediately below it.

What I would do with the header if it were me, is like I said before, shrink the header area down to about 60%, then shrink the logo down to about 30% of its current size, and rearrange the logo to the left, so that you have room immediately to the right of of it for a nice big video right there in the fold. I would let the video take up about 50-60% of the header space.

I would come up with a different tag line for the wax seal than RH certified. It takes too long to figure out what what the RH stands for. And it doesn't really benefit the layout other than looking good. The seal looks great, but maybe try and come up with something other than RH certified.

For the purposes of speed you might try slicing the paper background to a repeating background image where possible. You could make a slice right below where it says "Warren Buffet" just into the very top of the Content area. From there you could make a relatively small repeating background image which you could put into the into the content div. This would save an enormous amount of download time.

All in all you have a very clean, modern look here, and I'm excited to see what the finished product looks like.

[Mubarak Waseem]

There is a small thumbnail of the second version -

Nicer graphics, no camo, smaller header and more space

Less wide, more optimised, now it says TOP SECRET instead of RH certified etc etc

AND, I have changed the name to my pseudonym, Mike Rogers...

Let me know!

Mubarak

[Christian Sawyer]

I would still make the header much smaller...try matching the size of the footer.

The header can still be larger, but yet again, you are still wasting too much fold space IMO.

By the way, I love the page without the green camo.

-Christian

[Mubarak Waseem]

right. Thanks

What else could I put there? Is it advisable to put an opt in form at the top of your page?

Mubarak

[Christian Sawyer]

Not sure what you mean?

I am just suggesting that you make the header much smaller, height wise.

-Christian

[Mubarak Waseem]

alright cool. Thanks man!

Making the changes now!

Mubarak

[Mubarak Waseem]

the new site is UPLOADED!!! (see top post for link!)

The loading times should be faster, and I have got rid of the horrible green bits.

There are a few bits to sort out with the alignment, but it should be fine...

Mubarak

[sbucciarel]

Personally, I really like it. Great graphics. You must have optimized them as it didn't take a long time for me to load.

[Mubarak Waseem]

GREAT!

Thanks! Yeah, i did optimise them. I tried to keep the 1930s miliatary style in their to tie in with the grate depression...

any other comments?

[David Hamer]

Looks great - loads fine on my laptop in Firefox.

Interested to see more about the actual product when it's ready!

Dave

[Mubarak Waseem]

Thanks David!

I'll be sure to hook you up!

[absolutelee]

It took a while to load and I'm on broadband. Also, I'm wondering how difficult the copy will be to read. The colors of the Title and the background were similar.

[Brad Spencer]

Honestly, I like the site. The graphics loaded fine for me. Maybe you've fixed it since the thread was originally posted.

I'd suggest maybe having a strong, well-written headline and then as an introduction use the top Buffett quote.

Since he is my absolute hero (along with Richard Branson and Walt Disney), I know this man well. I was in Omaha for the recent shareholders meeting. A very interesting experience indeed. I suggest you look up the transcripts for more copy ideas. I think you could really use Buffett quotes in a "chain brigade" style of copywriting if you know what I'm talking about.

Outside of that, I think this army theme is pretty cool and definitely original.

Is this a product for sale or is it an opt-in page?

Cheers,

Brad

Originally Posted by Mubarak Waseem

Hey warriors,

This could have gone in the web design forum, but it is more than just a web design critique that I am looking for.

The Recession Handbook where I am hosting the draft of my new minisite.

It is for my product - "The Recession Handbook", and the theme of the design is an army handbook.

Some critisisms thus far:

The site is too wide,
Some bits are hard to read,

Any other feedback is most appreciated!

Mubarak

[Mubarak Waseem]

Originally Posted by Brad Spencer

Honestly, I like the site. The graphics loaded fine for me. Maybe you've fixed it since the thread was originally posted.

I'd suggest maybe having a strong, well-written headline and then as an introduction use the top Buffett quote.

Since he is my absolute hero (along with Richard Branson and Walt Disney), I know this man well. I was in Omaha for the recent shareholders meeting. A very interesting experience indeed. I suggest you look up the transcripts for more copy ideas. I think you could really use Buffett quotes in a "chain brigade" style of copywriting if you know what I'm talking about.

Outside of that, I think this army theme is pretty cool and definitely original.

Is this a product for sale or is it an opt-in page?

Cheers,

Brad

Thanks!

It is for sale, and I am actually looking for a select group of affiliates to promoto it to their list for 50% through Delavo, and a $10 discount for everyone that you refer. Anyone interested?

Also, thanks for the idea. I'll run it by my copywriter!

Cheers,

Mubarak