Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

http://www.whyspyder.wiscichlidforum.com/

I am looking for some feedback from everyone about how my site is looking.

I built this site myself with little knowledge of web design on Fireworks MX by Macromedia.

Spyder`s Cichlids is a concept that my wife and I came up with through a username that I use online in many forums; why_spyder or whyspyder (if _`s aren`t allowed).  We felt it was a unique name - but I`ve been questioning whether or not its easy to remember.

This site is to be used as a form of advertising - not so much a place to order directly from.  I wanted to make a site that was easy to navigate, easy to read,  and quick to load up - as I, myself, can get impatient waiting for a screen to fully appear.

I plan to get my own domain name as I get more serious - just using this space right now as a "test site" (and it was given to me for free - I couldn`t pass it up).

I have had compliments from various people online (other hobbyists) but would like some constructive criticism from a business point-of-view.

Let me know how bad it is.  Thanks.

Brian

I worked with this site for a long time: Michiganreefers.com they started as a little forum and kept growing. I think the site like nikole said is a bit dark, what is the goal here, to inform visitors of that type of fish? If so, I`d rather have a community that helps answer all those questions instead of you doing all of them. It takes alot of the burden off your shoulders and will allow you to grow the site.

Thanks for all the feedback so far.  Greatly appreciated.

The goal for the site is to be more of a "brochure" - here`s what I got to offer.  Not meant to be an actual place to purchase directly off of without any contact directly.

I wouldn`t mind having some type of forum/community - but I don`t really want to "compete" with the other forums out there that are doing so well as it is.  Should I maybe cut out the FAQ area?

I chose the dark background as it is different, and does sort of set the mood for the type of fish that I have - aggressive yet loving .  I definitely will try a lighter background - or use boxes as CraigL mentioned.  The site is meant to be aesthetic - so if it means rethinking what I`ve done, I`m willing to give it a go.

I do want my site to be aimed at more experienced fishkeepers, not so much beginners.

I have to work on the Photo Gallery, not everything is done to it.

To be honest, there`s a few things here I`m not comprehending that I think is just a sign how little I know about webdesign

"As a compromise, we`re using exactly the same JPG for the background on all the pages. That way, the browser only has to cache it one time, and it should load the other pages more quickly. On your site, it seems every page is scrolling downward though."

First off, does this mean to use a JPG version of the background image instead of .PNG?  If so, I know how to do that.

"I see you`re using a lot of "spacer.gif" images, and other nothing images. Why? Oh....wait...I see you`re putting in your text as a graphic! That`s definitely a no-no! The search engines can`t crawl it. So instead, use the table cell background colors or image, and put your actual text into each cell."

I don`t know how to do this.  I know what the `spacer.gif` is, but not sure how to modify it, if that`s what you mean.  It may be something that I`ll end up having to have a designer fix or just have a designer build this site all-together.

I do believe I understand what you mean now.  I have a basic knowledge of HTML but am trying to learn some Basic CSS still.  I have Macromedia Dreamweaver and I believe it has tutorials on CSS that I could learn from.

Thanks for the clarification.