Please review my client's newly revised pool maintenance website

[mikes4222]

I made this for the Pool Maintenance company I hired in trade for their services/parts. The Owner has seen it, and is impressed, but I would like to know if it needs some polishing. It would have been transferred by now, but the original hosting company refuses to release the EPP code.
They sound more like a parasite than a host, IMHO.
Mike

 

[essellar]

Not horrible, certainly, but there are a few issues you might want to consider.

The first is using a condensed sans-serif typeface for the body copy. Now, it may give you more "bang for the buck" in terms of boldness and prominence, but it really does a number on readability. As the designer (or the owner) of the site, you already know what the message is, so it's easy to convince yourself that it reads just fine and that the blackness just gives the message some extra "heft". Trust me, somebody who is approaching the site for the first time will have more than a little difficulty seeing the forest (the message) for the trees (the letters). That's why reviews are always a good idea (and why at least some of the reviews should be coming from everyday folk who have no particular expertise and no stake in the project). Leave the condensed type to headings and footers and such; the main body copy should be a normal-weight regular typeface. Even if you have to sacrifice a couple of points of x-height to fit the content into the available width comfortably, the copy will read much better.

The second is really nit-picky, but I think it's worth mentioning: the light grey border at the left of the blue "Pool Solutions, LLC of Tucson, AZ" title banner gets lost due to contrast and makes it look like there's an alignment problem. I'd use a margin-left of -1px to scootch the banner over and cover the border. Again, that's being picky, but it's that kind of pickiness that makes the difference between "good enough" and really polished.

The last thing I can see right off the bat is that the photography needs to be redone in a couple of cases. That's likely out of your purview, but there are some pictures that look like they came from a ten-year-old pocket point-n-shoot, and have all of the impressiveness of a badly-cleaned-up scan from a trade magazine (I'm thinking particularly of the pic with the two red chaises longues here, but it's not the only one that could stand an upgrade). If you can persuade the client to get some new pics (and almost any camera made in the past 2-3 years can do a much better job), the overall air of professionalism will go up several notches.

 

[mikes4222]

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it. As for the font, it came pre-installed in the theme, and I am going to change it before this goes dot.com, I agree it's too scruched up to properly read, so a more natural font package is in the works. And yes, I did have a time with some of the pix, and the client has provided me with oodles more, so I will cull the best from them for the sliders. Pretty much most of the pix were taken by crew members on the work sites, and some are before/during/after, which I intend to use, as their message is louder than the aesthetics.
As for the grey border you mentioned, I looked at this with various browsers, and am hard pressed to find what you mentioned. Maybe it's my eyes, eh. If the client mentions it, I'll get a magnifier and do some editing, but right now I have bigger fish to fry, like SEO issues, EPP code problem, and some supporting software and security.
Thanks again for the critique-it was my first wordpress effort, and I threw in a cool pool background and custom logo for him.
Mike

 

[essellar]

Like I said, it's nit-picky and it is only one pixel. It only stands out like the proverbial sore thumb to me because I was specifically looking for things like that. My client contacts have usually been art directors and brand managers, and little things like that can open the door to a week's worth of even pickier (and often nonsense) fixes

 

[bruloir]

Hi
Congratulation for your first wordpress website

But before starting to modify the theme and everything, maybe you should consider one of the free theme that can be downloaded directly through wordpress and that will look a lot more professionnal.
I'm thinking about some of these theme

Custom Community
or
Responsive
or
Weaver II

And many others (for free)

These theme will allow you to modify nearly everything and it'll be easier, there is good support and updates are frequent...

Tell me what you think

 

[taxi52bo]

Not bad, one area of improvement that I noticed was on the left hand side it says: G+, Tweets, Pinterest, etc. It looks nice but it blocks part of the contact details.

 

[anamik.maju44]

Great site!! You have created a site which have appropriate design and arrangements. Everything is working just fine. Keep it up!!