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Beach15

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Still using the free Geocities site (I know, I know, but it's not a highly trafficed place....), but will probably upgrade it soon to lose ads, increase transfer amounts, etc.



Regardless, thought I'd post the link and see what some of you think about my web work:

DK AutoSpa



Keep in mind that my work is just occasional part-time jobs, mostly the same repeat clients with only a few new ones every now and then. Few of them even look at the site, but the ones that do love seeing their car and have complimented me on it.
 
Hi,

I signed up just to post this - I've been lurking for quite a while though, so it's about time I start posting. Anyway, I'm an amature web designer, so I figured I'd pitch my comments if you don't mind.



First, the edges of your title and buttons (on the right) really look unprofesional. Just feathering out the edges of the buttons, like this, makes it look a lot better (IMHO):



http://www.mortifiedpenguin.com/camaro/grayoval1.gif



The same goes with the title at the top. I know it's just text, but the edges of the font really looks choppy and, well, like a geocities site (no offence).



I would take that lettering into an image program (Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop, etc.) and just recreate it there, and save it as a .gif file - that alone should clean it up. Something like this would look cleaner, if you ask me:



http://www.mortifiedpenguin.com/camaro/grayoval1.gif



Lastly, and you know it's coming... Geocities. It's home of the 12 year old's personal website. Not only does a geocities.com/* URL look very un-pro, but the ads on the right draw attention from your site. They seem to be contextual, meaning they match themselves to the context of the website, so they could possibly show auto detailing websites - sending visitors to your competitors sites (some ad campains do even allow you to target local visitors).



Hosting isn't expensive, so long as you don't use a rip off like Yahoo or something. I use a hosting company that charges $4.95 per month, and is very reliable. Plus, you get a free domain name, so you can be DK-auto-spa.com or something - which makes you look MUCH more profesional. If a guy was going to do my car, and wouldn't spend 5 bucks a month on a website for his business - I'd be very afraid about what corners he might cut when it comes to my car.



Here's a review of the hosting company I use, it pretty much sums up all of the details:

http://www.web-host-reviewing.com/ixwebhosting.html



Other than that, great site man. I love the "My Car's" and "Customer's Cars" - looks really great. Looks like you do some really nice work too! :)



edit: I know, I know, I'm a perfectionist, but hey - this is Autopia after all. ;) Anyway, just noticed the pictures of the cars on the sub pages - yellow M3, silver porsche, etc. that have a white border around them. Some time spent in a graphic editing program with a black pinsel could make those borders look a lot nicer :)
 
Thanks for the very detailed comments! Every area you touched on is something I've been pondering for a while, especially the whole Geocities (again, I know....) thing. Never really noticed the problem with the text that much, however, but know that you mention it, the buttons really do look pretty bad.



Even as is, so few people really look at it, that it's more just a fun little side thing for me to work on, and not have to pay for. If my work really was more of a full-time business, I'd put more into it and be more willing to pay for it.



Anyone else?
 
Just a quick question--if I were to decide to get professional hosting, like the one you linked to, would I have to re-make my pages all over again or transfer them?
 
Beach15 said:
Just a quick question--if I were to decide to get professional hosting, like the one you linked to, would I have to re-make my pages all over again or transfer them?
Click to expand...



You can transfer them, you wouldn't have to remake them. I'm not sure how you made your website, but if you have the files stored locally on your computer, you can just upload them to the new server. If not, you'll have to download each file one-by-one and then reupload to the new host.
 
Okay, thanks. I think each page is actually only saved in my Geocities account right now, but I guess there's a way to save them off of there onto my PC.



Still not sure if I'm even going to bother with switching, but good stuff to know. :bigups
 
I dont mean to seem harse but to be simply the best you have to be the best in all aspects of your buisness including website. Lose the counters and last updated info Its not professional. The Design itself shows it was not made by a pro. What this tells the client is that you do not care to have the "best" or a great site so why should you care about their car or truck? The buttons and images are not properly designed for the site. "My cars"? Its a buisness you dont want to you (me or I). Don't get me wrong the work looks good just the site needs to be made for a Pro you do not want to give off the Highschool webpage attempt look.





Also ditch geocities after loading a few images your bandwidth is gone for some time. Clients do not like having to deal with ads also.
 
godaddy.com has good rates too.



I'd change the button links as well, they look "amatuerish". Solid colors will work better.
 
you won't have to deal with the ads if you save your html files as .txt files... you can just rename them and then change all the links



as for the bandwidth, yeah, you're goign to need dedicated hosting.
 
Mazz said:
I dont mean to seem harse but to be simply the best you have to be the best in all aspects of your buisness including website. Lose the counters and last updated info Its not professional. The Design itself shows it was not made by a pro. What this tells the client is that you do not care to have the "best" or a great site so why should you care about their car or truck? The buttons and images are not properly designed for the site. "My cars"? Its a buisness you dont want to you (me or I). Don't get me wrong the work looks good just the site needs to be made for a Pro you do not want to give off the Highschool webpage attempt look.





Also ditch geocities after loading a few images your bandwidth is gone for some time. Clients do not like having to deal with ads also.
Click to expand...



Thank you for that, I see all your points clearly.



But, yet again, I do maybe 2, 3, or up to 5 cars total a year, and of that, only two have really ever looked at the site and they enjoyed it, so that's all the purpose I meant for it to serve--which it has done well.



Not professional, but I still think it has elements, both content and design, that are quite good for being a free Geocities "12 year old kid" account.
 
Lately I'm SO busy with school (what else would you expect with an EGR major!), so if I EVER get some true free time, I have a list of what to do/change on the site.



Until then, ahh....who cares.... ;)
 
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