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Aug 27, 2008 2:06 AM ET    Quote  Report Abuse
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Hello everyone thanks for your time. I started selling model rockets on the internet about 3 years ago. I have flown model rockets for 20 years. I started my company because while I was just flying I had to keep going to many different company`s to get several different rockets, so I cam up with the idea of providing a lot of the different rocketry on one site. I have been pleasantly surprised on how the site has been doing, but there is no such thing as inprovment, so thats why I welcome any opinions anyone may have on my website. I have done all the work myself the website is over 500 pages, so it took me forever to build no really probably 2 months off and on to build. I build the site to try to educate any new comers to rocketry as well as hold the attention of the advance rocketry as well. Because of this I have rocketry information, rocketry videos, how to get started, and much more. I also design the site to sell model rockets and parts with ease. So once again thanks for your time on my site and I really look forward to all of your opinions.


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Fly`em High Rockets
www.flyemhighrockets.com
Office: 678-382-1366
Email: flyemhighrockets@aol.com
CraigL

posts: 9051

Aug 27, 2008 3:21 AM ET    Quote  Report Abuse
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Hi there :-) Very cool idea!

I first viewed the site in FireFox 1.x, and there was a never-ending flicker up at the top as some sort of script didn`t work correctly. I then viewed in IE 6.x, and it worked fine. I know I`m way behind the curve in FF, but check your compatibility, and we`ll also see if someone using a later FF version has no problems.

The biggest complaint I have is lack of consolidation in your left-side navigation menu. What I`d like to see would be only about 8 or so actual first-level buttons. They could then expand outward, if you`re strong on development, or they could take the visitor to a page that then expands the topics (currently, sub-buttons).

So for example, I see you have a lot of Estes rockets. You`ve got new 2008 models, a starter set, then many buttons for skill levels. ALL of that could be subsumed under "Products."

The "Products" button would then have sub-headings: "Estes," "Quest," "Aerotech," and "Custom." You either could have a fly-out sub menu, or simply take people to a page for all Estes products, Quest, and so forth.

With that many buttons on the home page, it just gets tiresome. Few people really want to read all that and figure out each individual item under each particular brand, see?

I`d also suggest that you use tabs along the top instead of crawling text, which is just annoying. The tabs would handle "site" navigation for topics related to the entire business. So you`d have "Home," "About us," "Contact," "Order," or whatever---they`d be tasks someone would do no matter which brand area they were in.

Then along the left, just have options specific to rockets---brands, browsing, catalog, and that sort of thing.

I clicked one of the thumbnails, for the Red Max, and was further bothered. A new window opened, which still had a banner at the top, and your entire navigation scheme. None of that`s useful or interesting when all I want is to know the details of the Red Max. Take me to a page, or a pop-up window that ONLY talks about and shows pictures of the Red Max.

All in all, though, a pretty nifty site and definitely something unusual. ;-)
vwebworld

posts: 1237

Aug 27, 2008 9:23 AM ET    Quote  Report Abuse
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The menu text is a little hard to read (small text). Changing the font to Ariel might help... a more plain font.
 
I would be better not to open a new browser window for the products.
 
While the security info is good to show, I would move it from the top of the page (above your products) to the side below the menu or bottom of the page.
 
The images are ok, some of the product images are rather small when looking at the product pages.
 
I agree, you should reorganize your menu to list fewer items.
 
~Roland


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Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter
Aug 27, 2008 12:47 PM ET    Quote  Report Abuse
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Thanks guys for your time on reviewing my site and thanks for the great ideas. The godaddy website tonight limits me from doing allot of things thats mention. I really liked the idea about the scroll over button to show the products and then the buttons would show sub menus. Thats a great idea. Also I want to have the security button on the navigation bar also but website tonight will not let me do this as well as put tabs on the top of the website. I want to change to a regular hosting so I can build the website on my desktop then I can use these great ideas I was given but because the website is so many pages i have not had time to start over again. Thanks once again I will use these great ideas one way or another. Please keep them communing.

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Fly`em High Rockets
www.flyemhighrockets.com
Office: 678-382-1366
Email: flyemhighrockets@aol.com
Videography

posts: 672

Aug 27, 2008 12:59 PM ET    Quote  Report Abuse
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In addition to my much more experienced friends who already helped....

I hate crawling text.  It looks quite amateurish and adds nothing to the page.  The same goes for the visitor counter.  Get rid of it and use something like Googles free site analytics to gather data on your visitors.

I agree that your thumbnail images suck.  It looks like you took the otherwise good resolution images that you used in the product details and shrunk the hell out of it, then enlarged it in the browser.  Lots of pixellation. 

Finally, I picked one paragraph at random:

They are made of thick 22 gauge wire for maxim power. The clips are copper with flat ends for better grip onto the igniters wires they can be clean with fine grit sandpaper. The clips are clamped and soldered with no lead solider for better connections and maxim power. The two contact ends that leads to the launch controller are solder to prevent loose stands and loss of power for the launch controller to the engines. All leads wire are solder and joined together and heat shrink wrapped to keep out dust and water to keep the cluster whips lasting a long time.The Leeds wire are then solder into two wire for better handling and easier control when hooking up to the launch controller. All cluster whips are check for continuity and breakage in circuit before being shipped. They measure 20 in. long from copper clip to joint is 10 in.

This is so full of spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors that if it is typical of the rest of the site, then you seriously need a proofreader.


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Steve Mann
Internet Videographer
MannMade Digital Video
My Email


Aug 27, 2008 1:26 PM ET    Quote  Report Abuse
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Thanks for taking the time to review the site I will use the proofread idea and lose the scrolling text. Thanks once again for your time and your imput.

-------------------------

Fly`em High Rockets
www.flyemhighrockets.com
Office: 678-382-1366
Email: flyemhighrockets@aol.com
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