Launching a new website :-)

lora01fl

New Member
Messages
146
Location
St. Petersburg, FL
Looking for some constructive criticism on the website my son has been working on. The animals on the "available" page are placeholders for now, that is why he did not price them.

Pictures for the available page will be shot like the first one with the dark background. Look good, or no? Suggestions are welcome.

He is trying for a clean, easy to navigate site to market this years projects. Not sure what they are just yet though.

The website is: chaoticgeckos.com

Back story is that he is 14, with a rare sleep disorder that has prevented him from doing "normal" kid things for the last few years. Hence the "chaos".

He is homeschooled and this is in a large part therapy, part grade. He is working toward a improving his stock and exploring genetics. He is breeding geckos purchased only from reputable breeders, has done the research and is in his second year of breeding leos and his fourth year of breeding crested geckos with my help. Neither of us know it all and will be asking questions as we go.

Thank you in advance for checking the site out and for any suggestions you may have.
 

leezard

New Member
Messages
167
Location
Battle Ground, Wa
The pages look very nice and clean. The links on the upper left look rather out of place they (to me) look like they were placed there as an afterthought. I think they need a bit more definition (hopefully that makes sense). Otherwise it is very nice.
 

lora01fl

New Member
Messages
146
Location
St. Petersburg, FL
The pages look very nice and clean. The links on the upper left look rather out of place they (to me) look like they were placed there as an afterthought. I think they need a bit more definition (hopefully that makes sense). Otherwise it is very nice.

Thank you!

I agree, but he cannot figure out how to move them. the website builder stuck them there as he added pages. I am no help at all but we'll do some searching and see if we can get those into a better place.
 

leezard

New Member
Messages
167
Location
Battle Ground, Wa
I think they are fine there, they just need some definition. Highlight them, change the font, add some color or something to make them show a bit more. They don't need to overpower the page but a little something to make them a bit more polished.
 

Ghostoftangerine17

ヒョウモントカゲモドキ
Messages
335
Location
Tokyo, Japan
Hmm, not sure what the website builder looks like, but this is a pretty simple website.

I'd encourage your son to learn HTML and CSS so that he can design basic websites without the use of a 'builder'. I know I started 11 years ago when I was 12 and knowing how to code things for the web has come in handy on many occasions. There are many websites which offer HTML tutorials for people who are starting from scratch, such as W3 Schools.

I do like the pictures with the dark backgrounds :)
 

lora01fl

New Member
Messages
146
Location
St. Petersburg, FL
Hmm, not sure what the website builder looks like, but this is a pretty simple website.

I'd encourage your son to learn HTML and CSS so that he can design basic websites without the use of a 'builder'. I know I started 11 years ago when I was 12 and knowing how to code things for the web has come in handy on many occasions. There are many websites which offer HTML tutorials for people who are starting from scratch, such as W3 Schools.

I do like the pictures with the dark backgrounds :)

Thank you, we'll look into that. He is just starting so there is still a lot to learn and change :)
 

Enigmatic_Reptiles

Quality is Everything
Messages
6,779
Location
Corona, CA
I agree with Ghost but with it being a first attempt and just getting the hang of things the only thing I would say would be to try and "clean" up the text format and layout. For me personally, when I see big bolds and underlines it doesn't seem as professional. Also with the available I would certainly post prices. I will not ever contact a breeder about pricing on an animal (unless it is of excessive value or new species/morph in which no market price has been "set").

Just some food for thought. I am by no means a web site creating guru or anything but I made mine myself using Dreamweaver, Photoshop (for resizing and watermarking) and a $60 template. This was my 3rd attempt at a site in 5 years but I think it came out decent and with very minimal costs. If possible get a program and play around with making a site...if you plan on having one for long then it would certainly be a great ability to have.

Last critique...if your going to use a slogan then I would suggest putting it on top or somewhere so I don't have to scroll to see it. You want me to remember Chaotic Geckos...not what page I am on. Logo placement and utilization is key to ensuring people can/will remember you by name...not products.
 

lora01fl

New Member
Messages
146
Location
St. Petersburg, FL
I agree with Ghost but with it being a first attempt and just getting the hang of things the only thing I would say would be to try and "clean" up the text format and layout. For me personally, when I see big bolds and underlines it doesn't seem as professional. Also with the available I would certainly post prices. I will not ever contact a breeder about pricing on an animal (unless it is of excessive value or new species/morph in which no market price has been "set").

Just some food for thought. I am by no means a web site creating guru or anything but I made mine myself using Dreamweaver, Photoshop (for resizing and watermarking) and a $60 template. This was my 3rd attempt at a site in 5 years but I think it came out decent and with very minimal costs. If possible get a program and play around with making a site...if you plan on having one for long then it would certainly be a great ability to have.

Last critique...if your going to use a slogan then I would suggest putting it on top or somewhere so I don't have to scroll to see it. You want me to remember Chaotic Geckos...not what page I am on. Logo placement and utilization is key to ensuring people can/will remember you by name...not products.

Thank you!

He will try to rework it today using these suggestions.

I agree on the putting in the price, he just has those geckos in as placeholders that is why they aren't priced.

He bought a year of web hosting at godaddy so he has to use what they give us for now, but I think he can make it work.

Thanks again for checking out the site, we both appreciate all of the feedback and he will work to make it better.
 

lora01fl

New Member
Messages
146
Location
St. Petersburg, FL
How's the web work going? :)

Nothing has changed since you last looked. Trevor is in one of the hypersomnia stages where he is only up to eat and use the restroom. Amounts to about one hour up, 23 asleep so hasn't been able to work on the site. These stages can last up to a month. Luckily I don't mind taking care of his geckos (in fact rather enjoy them a lot!).

He got a lot of help from Travis at Enigmatic Reptiles and has a couple more changes to make. I'm really proud of what he was able to do and hope that he is able to see some results from it.

Thanks for checking in on him.
 

Visit our friends

Top