Content Review

[ichwar]

Hello everyone
I'm looking for review for my site. Before I give you the url, let me give you an idea of what I'm looking for.

I'm looking ways in which I can improve my site. Let me know which parts of my site that aren't clear: ie. not easily understandable.
So let me know what's there that you don't think should be there.
Let me know what's not on my site that should be. This site is not quite one month old yet, so there aren't a lot of pages right now, so I'm also looking for critisism on my site graphics, ie. the header image, the buttons style, just the overall theme of my site. Let me know if some colors clash, or if something looks out of proportion, odd, or just plain old doesn't look right to you.
Also, I'm looking for some of the more mundane things too, like: broken links, typos, or even a left out sentence. Just anything that doesn't seem right to you, let me know!

Whew, so that is what I WANT.
Here's what I DON'T WANT:
I don't want something like: "I'd rank your site 2/5" That does not help me at all. I don't want: "Why don't you pick a more interesting theme for a website" I totally understand if this doesn't interest you, please don't feel hurt or anything like that, but it's too late for my to go and make my site about something else...
I also don't really want: "Looks fine to me" because that doesn't help me much either.

Basicly: I need ideas of what on my site I need to change. I don't need to know what not to change. Just tell me what is not good on my site.
And I promise, I won't take anything personally, and you won't hurt my feelings if you say something awful:biggrin:

All suggestions, awful or other wise are fully appreciated and I thank you for them in advance!
Edit:
Oops, I just realized after I posted the thread, that I forgot to link to my site. lol
Ok, so here's my site: http://www.anyone-can-origami.com/
Have fun!

 

[sourfacedcyclop]

I think it looks good, I don't think the colors clash much and the header and buttons look pretty good. I read the first part and I do think that you stated that origami is easy to many times. "You're here today because you're interested in easy origami. Origami is indeed very interesting and it is very easy. In fact, origami couldn't be easier. What's more, hard origami doesn't exist" I don't know maybe its just me, but it seems overstated. Hope this helps.

 

[vol7ron]

using the square/sharp edges is a plus, which goes with your theme since it sort of portrays the paperesque feel. the one main criticism is that you have a lot of whitespace, so you might want to consider a three column layout. possibly put those links you have at the bottom of the home page in the right column.

 

[freecrm]

Colour scheme is good and css fairly well thought out.

I have noticed that the header width is narrower then the main content width - or is this the photo width being too wide?

You also might like to change the background-image css for your headings <h1> or <h2> - they just look a little bland at present and do not break up the page enough.

One last thing... and you'll probably hate me for this. Your .gif based vertical menu looks good, but search engines have a harder time resolving links from images... Most have easier access to standard <ul> list links. You could probably achieve a very similar look (and it will be a bit sharper too).

On the whole - very good first impression.

 

[ichwar]

I think it looks good, I don't think the colors clash much and the header and buttons look pretty good. I read the first part and I do think that you stated that origami is easy to many times. "You're here today because you're interested in easy origami. Origami is indeed very interesting and it is very easy. In fact, origami couldn't be easier. What's more, hard origami doesn't exist" I don't know maybe its just me, but it seems overstated. Hope this helps.

OK thanks, maybe I will take some of that out. You're right, it does seem a bit overstated. THanks!
Edit:

using the square/sharp edges is a plus, which goes with your theme since it sort of portrays the paperesque feel. the one main criticism is that you have a lot of whitespace, so you might want to consider a three column layout. possibly put those links you have at the bottom of the home page in the right column.

Yes, I was thinking that too, but I'm not sure how to go about that, because that would break up the whole template on smaller screens like mine.
Edit:

I have noticed that the header width is narrower then the main content width - or is this the photo width being too wide?

You're right, the header is wider than the main content, but it is that the photo is way too wide. I'll definately fix that! Thanks for pointing that out!

You also might like to change the background-image css for your headings <h1> or <h2> - they just look a little bland at present and do not break up the page enough.

I'm not sure that I really want to do that just because things might start to look a little to wild on the page. You know, with a whole bunch of different designs all over the place, it might just be too distracting. I can try and make them larger though, so that it breaks up the page more clearly.

One last thing... and you'll probably hate me for this. Your .gif based vertical menu looks good, but search engines have a harder time resolving links from images... Most have easier access to standard <ul> list links. You could probably achieve a very similar look (and it will be a bit sharper too).

Search engines still have that problem? I was told that that was a thing of the past.
I'll consider that though. Thanks! and no, I don't hate you for it.:biggrin:
Edit:

I read the first part and I do think that you stated that origami is easy to many times. "You're here today because you're interested in easy origami. Origami is indeed very interesting and it is very easy. In fact, origami couldn't be easier. What's more, hard origami doesn't exist" I don't know maybe its just me, but it seems overstated.

Alright, fixed that, let me know if it sounds better! For easy reference, the page is http://anyone-can-origami.com/
Edit:

I have noticed that the header width is narrower then the main content width - or is this the photo width being too wide?

Alright, I fixed that too. How does it look? Here's the page url: http://anyone-can-origami.com/basic-origami.html

 

[sourfacedcyclop]

I only read the first two paragraphs because I'm lazy, but I would change a couple things, these are only suggestions though, its up to you.

What you have:
You're here today because you're interested in easy origami. Origami is very interesting, and, contrary to popular opinion, it is not hard at all. Of course, everyone needs practice folding simpler creations before they can create a more complex design, but once these skills are mastered, the most intricate creases, become a piece of cake.
On this site, you will learn how to origami on several different levels. If you know nothing at all about origami, never fear, you'll find out how easy origami really is. Like many worthwhile endeavors, it looks hard at first, but once you fold your first piece of origami, you'll find a whole new world of paper creations opened up to you, a world that is only limited by your imagination and knowledge. That's what this site is for: to make sure you aren't limited in your origami knowledge.

What I would write
You're here today because you're interested in easy origami. Origami is very interesting and contrary to popular opinion, not hard at all. Of course, everyone needs practice folding simpler creations before they can create a more complex design, but once these skills are mastered, even the most intricate creases, become a piece of cake.
On this site, you will learn how to create origami on several different levels. If you know nothing at all about origami, never fear, you'll will soon find out how simple origami really is. Like with many worthwhile endeavors, it may seem difficult at first, but once you fold your first piece, you'll find a whole new world of paper creations opened up to you, a world that is only limited by your imagination and knowledge. That's what this site is for; to make sure you are no longer limited in your origami knowledge.


Hope this helps and you are free to use what I wrote if you like.

 

[amolpatil2k]

I think that your site has a weakness in usability issues. We all get just a few seconds to captivate the reader. You need to provide at least 3-4 images (about 400px wide) and a big one line definition with a link to Wikipedia for further details.

Make the homepage look like a splash page for the most part. Something like:

Welcome to Anyone Can Origami!

Origami (from oru meaning "folding", and kami meaning "paper") is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding. The goal of this art is to create a representation of an object using geometric folds and crease patterns preferably without the use of gluing or cutting the paper, and using only one piece of paper. Click here to Learn More (wikipedia link)

Image 1
Traditional Japanese paper crane

Image 2
A more intricate design

Image 3
Design not using paper

Image 4
Highly complicated and beautiful design

Origami may look difficult but it is easy. Trust me...

Learn Origami the Fun and Easy Way
Want to learn Origami? Here are 4 simple steps to becoming an Origami guru. Click here...

Want to delve deeper into this art? Click here... (link to resources page)

Now stop, don't confuse the reader with more choices. Because the home page must link to all pages, keep the menu intact. Also the right side is very bare and the fixed width doesn't help either. One way out would be to put external links to Origami resources on the right side. Of course some SEO guys would warn against diluting the link juice (whatever that means) but don't worry because an equal number of SEO guys would ask you to have such links. Besides you can negotiate for reciprocal links.

One of the best techniques of white hat SEO is blogging. Instead of What's new, have a blog section.

Also don't say "free instructions". It sounds a bit insulting. Just "instructions" would be fine.

One major issue I have is with the overall logic. You are saying Origami is easy and anyone can do it. First of all I need a section on testimonials where various people say things like I never thought I would be doing Origami, now I can't live without it.

The other angle is about the benefits. What therapeutic, aesthetic and even monetary benefits can be derived from doing Origami. You need to sell this benefits to prospective readers for them to get all worked up and then show them that it is easy to get started and become good at this art.

Another section must be about you. Who are you, when did Origami hit you, why did it appeal to you, what have you done till now, how have you benefitted till now, what is your motive behind setting up this site, what do you want from this site, what are your plans for the future, what do you look like, are you a native spreading his culture or are you an outsider who got hooked and so on.

I'll also try to rework the menu. Most of the items are various aspects of getting to know Origami at a deeper level. In a sense all this matter can be put on one page - the resources page. This page would then get a high page rank. And from where other links would get visited.

In general increase the image to text ratio from 10:90 to as much as 50:50. You have to visually appeal to the reader. Have a heavy resources pages on Origami to get you page rank and generate traffic for other pages. Start blogging about Origami. In fact, you could use WordPress pages for static content and WordPress posts for dynamic content. WordPress.com is Google optimized. If you are into hosting backups etc then maybe you would like to go for hosted WordPress (and the SEO plugins) otherwise just point your URL to a WordPress.com blog.

 

[ichwar]

I only read the first two paragraphs because I'm lazy, but I would change a couple things, these are only suggestions though, its up to you.

What you have:
You're here today because you're interested in easy origami. Origami is very interesting, and, contrary to popular opinion, it is not hard at all. Of course, everyone needs practice folding simpler creations before they can create a more complex design, but once these skills are mastered, the most intricate creases, become a piece of cake.
On this site, you will learn how to origami on several different levels. If you know nothing at all about origami, never fear, you'll find out how easy origami really is. Like many worthwhile endeavors, it looks hard at first, but once you fold your first piece of origami, you'll find a whole new world of paper creations opened up to you, a world that is only limited by your imagination and knowledge. That's what this site is for: to make sure you aren't limited in your origami knowledge.

What I would write
You're here today because you're interested in easy origami. Origami is very interesting and contrary to popular opinion, not hard at all. Of course, everyone needs practice folding simpler creations before they can create a more complex design, but once these skills are mastered, even the most intricate creases, become a piece of cake.
On this site, you will learn how to create origami on several different levels. If you know nothing at all about origami, never fear, you'll will soon find out how simple origami really is. Like with many worthwhile endeavors, it may seem difficult at first, but once you fold your first piece, you'll find a whole new world of paper creations opened up to you, a world that is only limited by your imagination and knowledge. That's what this site is for; to make sure you are no longer limited in your origami knowledge.


Hope this helps and you are free to use what I wrote if you like.

Thanks, I'll think about it!
Edit:

I think that your site has a weakness in usability issues. We all get just a few seconds to captivate the reader. You need to provide at least 3-4 images (about 400px wide) and a big one line definition with a link to Wikipedia for further details.

Make the homepage look like a splash page for the most part. Something like:

Welcome to Anyone Can Origami!

Origami (from oru meaning "folding", and kami meaning "paper") is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding. The goal of this art is to create a representation of an object using geometric folds and crease patterns preferably without the use of gluing or cutting the paper, and using only one piece of paper. Click here to Learn More (wikipedia link)

Image 1
Traditional Japanese paper crane

Image 2
A more intricate design

Image 3
Design not using paper

Image 4
Highly complicated and beautiful design

Origami may look difficult but it is easy. Trust me...

Learn Origami the Fun and Easy Way
Want to learn Origami? Here are 4 simple steps to becoming an Origami guru. Click here...

Want to delve deeper into this art? Click here... (link to resources page)

Now stop, don't confuse the reader with more choices. Because the home page must link to all pages, keep the menu intact. Also the right side is very bare and the fixed width doesn't help either. One way out would be to put external links to Origami resources on the right side. Of course some SEO guys would warn against diluting the link juice (whatever that means) but don't worry because an equal number of SEO guys would ask you to have such links. Besides you can negotiate for reciprocal links.

One of the best techniques of white hat SEO is blogging. Instead of What's new, have a blog section.

Also don't say "free instructions". It sounds a bit insulting. Just "instructions" would be fine.

One major issue I have is with the overall logic. You are saying Origami is easy and anyone can do it. First of all I need a section on testimonials where various people say things like I never thought I would be doing Origami, now I can't live without it.

The other angle is about the benefits. What therapeutic, aesthetic and even monetary benefits can be derived from doing Origami. You need to sell this benefits to prospective readers for them to get all worked up and then show them that it is easy to get started and become good at this art.

Another section must be about you. Who are you, when did Origami hit you, why did it appeal to you, what have you done till now, how have you benefitted till now, what is your motive behind setting up this site, what do you want from this site, what are your plans for the future, what do you look like, are you a native spreading his culture or are you an outsider who got hooked and so on.

I'll also try to rework the menu. Most of the items are various aspects of getting to know Origami at a deeper level. In a sense all this matter can be put on one page - the resources page. This page would then get a high page rank. And from where other links would get visited.

In general increase the image to text ratio from 10:90 to as much as 50:50. You have to visually appeal to the reader. Have a heavy resources pages on Origami to get you page rank and generate traffic for other pages. Start blogging about Origami. In fact, you could use WordPress pages for static content and WordPress posts for dynamic content. WordPress.com is Google optimized. If you are into hosting backups etc then maybe you would like to go for hosted WordPress (and the SEO plugins) otherwise just point your URL to a WordPress.com blog.

Yes, I'm still working on the pictures, I'm going to try and add 2 pictures to my home page. Not too many though, because it could get too distracting.

About putting links to other sites, I do not want to do that on my home page, as that would send too many people away from my site that might otherwise go on to another page. For the same reason, I don't want to put a link to wikipedia on my home page either.
I will later on put links to other sites on my tier 2 and 3 pages. But first I need enough traffic to make it worthwhile.

Don't worry about what all the SEO guys say, in this site, I am purposely doing a break away as the search engines are getting smarter, everything that the SEOs say is becoming not true anymore.

Concerning reworking the menu, I am just putting up all the pages that I write on the menu. Once I get too many to put on the menu, then I start using some of them as tier 3 pages.

About all the sections that you recommend, I'm working on many of those, I just don't have them up yet as they are not high profitablity keywords.

Lastly, I don't really want to start mixing up my site with wordpress or SEOs. As mentioned above, I'm purposely trying to break away from all that and build a site that is unique.

Thanks for the help! Keep it coming!

 

[ichwar]

Anyone else?

 

[mujtaba91]

wow i liked it...the sites design is ok but the content is really useful

 

[freecrm]

After my first post, this is a good improvement.

Something just not quite right.....

Got it - the fact that the whole page is left justified... The fact that the majority of graphic elements are on the left and the content wrapper is left justified makes it all left-heavy.

Only a suggestion, but what about putting the whole page into a wrapper with a thin border, center it and changing the body color.

body{
background-colour: #ccc; (or whatever)
}

#wrapper{
border-left: 1px solid #000;
border-right: 1px solid #000;
background-color: #fff;
}

 

[cursedpsp]

What I would write
You're here today because you're interested in easy origami. Origami is very interesting and contrary to popular opinion, not hard at all. Of course, everyone needs practice folding simpler creations before they can create a more complex design, but once these skills are mastered, even the most intricate creases, become a piece of cake.
On this site, you will learn how to create origami on several different levels. If you know nothing at all about origami, never fear, you'll will soon find out how simple origami really is. Like with many worthwhile endeavors, it may seem difficult at first, but once you fold your first piece, you'll find a whole new world of paper creations opened up to you, a world that is only limited by your imagination and knowledge. That's what this site is for; to make sure you are no longer limited in your origami knowledge

I dont know what you changed in that, but i found that what you did change was wrong .

Very good site!

Colours dont clash, and im not usually a fan of image navigations, because it feels really old tech. But in this occasion i think it goes nicely ^_^

 

[XxionxX24]

The first thing that jumps out at me is the is the large white space on the right of the website. I think that there needs to be an image to break it up or some sort of elegant logo. The white space makes me feel like I'm falling off that edge of the page. I also ran your web page trough a validation service and there were 17 errors. This isn't a big deal but it can mess up your web page in people's browsers so that it looks differently than you intended. When I got to the origami instruction page I only saw one design. I don't know if you have any more content yet but when I looked at the page I thought that I just couldn't find the more advanced designs. I don't like how the home button disappears when I click on it, but that is just my preference. I want to have an anchored menu so that I don't feel lost. Your main page introduction is just to lengthy. I read the first two lines and moved on to the rest of your site because it didn't look like that there was anything worth reading. Here are three links on website readability to give you and idea of what I am talking about 1st 2nd 3rd. The first and second links are explanations on readability and the third link is also on readability but should more of a model on how to break up your content. I hope I wasn't to harsh! I like your website and its color scheme, keep up the good work. If you have any questions drop me a line, and if I have time I will try and help.

 

[ichwar]

After my first post, this is a good improvement.

Something just not quite right.....

Got it - the fact that the whole page is left justified... The fact that the majority of graphic elements are on the left and the content wrapper is left justified makes it all left-heavy.

Only a suggestion, but what about putting the whole page into a wrapper with a thin border, center it and changing the body color.

body{
background-colour: #ccc; (or whatever)
}

#wrapper{
border-left: 1px solid #000;
border-right: 1px solid #000;
background-color: #fff;
}

changing th body color will make the text too hard to read. All the really professional sites have white backgrounds.
Putting a wrapper around the site is kind of hard since I don't have easy acess to the source code. I'm using a service on my host where it provides the page code, and I just create the graphics: ie, the header, buttons side bar, etc. My host then customizes the code to use the graphics, and voila! I never have to touch the code.

I will consider centering the page though.
Thanks!
Edit:

I dont know what you changed in that, but i found that what you did change was wrong .

Very good site!

Colours dont clash, and im not usually a fan of image navigations, because it feels really old tech. But in this occasion i think it goes nicely ^_^

Thanks for catching that. I'll fix that prompto.:thefinger

 

[leafypiggy]

Use x10 then.

Don't use a site builder. Create your own site!

Looks good otherwise.

 

[ichwar]

The first thing that jumps out at me is the is the large white space on the right of the website. I think that there needs to be an image to break it up or some sort of elegant logo. The white space makes me feel like I'm falling off that edge of the page. I also ran your web page trough a validation service and there were 17 errors. This isn't a big deal but it can mess up your web page in people's browsers so that it looks differently than you intended. When I got to the origami instruction page I only saw one design. I don't know if you have any more content yet but when I looked at the page I thought that I just couldn't find the more advanced designs. I don't like how the home button disappears when I click on it, but that is just my preference. I want to have an anchored menu so that I don't feel lost. Your main page introduction is just to lengthy. I read the first two lines and moved on to the rest of your site because it didn't look like that there was anything worth reading. Here are three links on website readability to give you and idea of what I am talking about 1st 2nd 3rd. The first and second links are explanations on readability and the third link is also on readability but should more of a model on how to break up your content. I hope I wasn't to harsh! I like your website and its color scheme, keep up the good work. If you have any questions drop me a line, and if I have time I will try and help.

As I explained above, I don't really want to mess with the code right now, I've tested my site in all the main browsers and it displays fine.

About the big white space to the side, I don't want my site to take up the whole browser window since first, many people still have small screens (like 1024x768) and those who do have larger screens usually don't have their browser open to the full size of the screen.
Also, once I can get more pages up and get more visitors per day, I'll be putting some ads in that space.

Yes, I currently have only 1 instructions page. But I'll be putting up more soon. I've just started this site and I'm working on another page right now.

Thanks for the advice! Keep it coming!
Edit:

Use x10 then.

Don't use a site builder. Create your own site!

Looks good otherwise.

No way, lol. (I don't intend to imply anything bad against x10) but the service I use has too many other great services for me to stop using it. Besides, it's too late now.

 

[ichwar]

Anything else?