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Please critique my new website/concept

 
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IdeaTagger

posts: 12

Jan 20, 2007 6:18 PM ET    Quote  Report Abuse
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Hi there

I would be very grateful if you would review and provide some feedback on my website. I won`t say anything about what it is about, as one of the things I want to know is whether or not the site does a good enough job of explaining itself.

I am also keen to know if you would be interested in using the site and if you would recommend it to others - indeed I invite you to do both.

Many thanks.

stonesledge

posts: 1093

Jan 20, 2007 8:25 PM ET    Quote  Report Abuse
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Hi! i am looking at it. not sure what to do. Looks like fun. Explain how it works. It looks clean and crisp.

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Our Goal Is Your Success!
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IdeaTagger

posts: 12

Jan 20, 2007 8:44 PM ET    Quote  Report Abuse
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Hi Stonesledge - I have sent you a message on SUN.

stonesledge

posts: 1093

Jan 20, 2007 9:30 PM ET    Quote  Report Abuse
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Thank You Louis! I revisted your site and now"get it". I have pneomonia and am on cold medicine .....maybe a litle foggy on my end. :)

We sure have some innovative forward thinkers here at SUN. What a great Idea Louis. It was fun to comment and then to read others comments. Like you said,different perspectives, for different people.

Other SUN members will have to check it out.

Erin



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Our Goal Is Your Success!
Founder Girls with Goals
beautifulpetunia

posts: 327

Jan 21, 2007 1:44 AM ET    Quote  Report Abuse
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Hello Louis!

Welcome to the SUN!

I have admit I am not very helpful in the techincal arena but I LOVE your concept! What an awesome idea   EVERYONE should check this out!

I will say this:

it is clean, easy to understand,easy to use so far...

will try posting a new "riddle" and get back to you!

Best of luck with this fun new venture!

CampSteve

posts: 1216

Jan 21, 2007 3:39 PM ET    Quote  Report Abuse
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I do like the concept and I will come back to explore it later. However,
the site is a little confusing. Often a new concept is not easily understood
by a lot of people. I found myself struggling to understand what you are
offering.

I think you could be clearer in explaining it, though I love the line of it
being a tool, game and blog. The copy needs to be tightened up. I think
you need to write as if you were speaking directly to the user telling them
exactly how to use the site, rather than saying things like "myself and
users" or "our clues..." Take yourself out of the explainations. Make it
about the user!

This holds true for the `about` section as well. I skipped down to "how
does it work?" right away and the sentence starts with "if you have one..."
One what? I figured it out but this is the kind of writing all over the site
that makes it all confusing. Some places you explain with phrases, some
in drawn out explainations. Tighten up the copy!

You also have a lot of repetitive links. All over the site I see links to
"recent posts", two on the home page alone, not to mention that the
homepage already has the recent posts! That`s just one example of
the clutter of repetition that I see. Clean it up a bit and make it simpler to
use!

Red is a great splash color for grabbing attention here or there. In my
opinion you have too much of it! I am an artist and color theory in web
design is something that I have put much thought into. Add another
color or two but don`t go overboard. Think of color thematically. Red for
the content. Blue for explanation of the site. Green for certain links or
comments or something like that. Digg has great color theory. Think
about how to group your content by color. The pages will be easier to
look at!
IdeaTagger

posts: 12

Jan 21, 2007 4:07 PM ET    Quote  Report Abuse
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Thank you to Stonesledge, Beautifulpetunia  and CampSteve for your comments - they are encouraging and constructive, and I take them all on board.

I invite more reviews from others - thanks.

CraigL

posts: 9051

Jan 22, 2007 1:26 AM ET    Quote  Report Abuse
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Is this site designed to make money? Or is it for fun? 
IdeaTagger

posts: 12

Jan 22, 2007 9:35 AM ET    Quote  Report Abuse
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Short answer is a bit of both. Slightly longer answer is that I have developed the site for the following reasons - in decreasing order of importance:
 
1. To do something with some of the very many ideas that I generate and can`t pursue for various reasons.
 
2. To learn the basics of web design and website promotion. This is my first website. It is based on a Wordpress template, so it is debatable how much I have actually learnt. Still, I do feel I am learning as I go. The comments I am getting here at SUN are helpful too, so thanks again to everyone who has replied so far.
 
3. To make some money from advertising if the site generates enough traffic to do so.
CraigL

posts: 9051

Jan 23, 2007 12:49 AM ET    Quote  Report Abuse
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Okay, so this is more a learning site. In that case, blow off the Wordpress template (when you get to that point), and develop an actual site using something Nvu (free) or some other expensive editor like DreamWeaver. There are some really terrific online HTML tutorial sites, Web Monkeys comes to mind, as there are for other more advanced languages.

Get your local hard drive set up with the same folder structure as your domain site, then build the site on your own hard drive. When you`re happy with it, you can publish it up to the site and in one step, overwrite what you`ve had to deal with on the template.

I`d focus on the fundamental or "core" concept of what it is you`re trying to do. You have lots of business ideas, not the time to implement or develop them, and you`d like to put them out into the world for those who are looking for ideas. That`s a good idea, but you could use a better description. Not only for the site itself, to explain to visitors why it exists, but also for search engine location.

I think you`ll want to put a basic home page together explaining that this is an idea site. Given the huge number of people who are terrified of even summarizing their own idea, for fear of it being stolen, you`ll want to say that "these ideas are here for anyone to use." Then have a disclaimer that you don`t intend to pursue them, and have no financial interest in any of the results. You`re writing them out because they literally "seemed like a good idea at the time."

Then I`d suggest studying various online software that can categorize and search information thoroughly. Take a look at something like Wikipedia, where searching is simple. You may want to use a content manager. I`ve heard of Joomlah and Mambo, but I think Web developers here on SuN likely have a lot of ideas. (In fact, I think I`ll start a post on it...come to think of it!). :-D
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