Registered: Jun 2002
Location: By the toilet.
Posts: 174

Please review this site

http://www.visitorsguide.com.my


No, I didn't build it. However, I want your opinions & first impression on it. If you're a webmaster, I want your professional opinons on it.

Honest opinions please.

I'll tell you why I brought this up after i get some response. Thanks.

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I'm just a dreamer..

Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 832

it sucks on Mozilla on OS X, it put a little sidebar thing up that i couldn't expand. I also hate sites with intro screens that are not the site menu, I used to suffer through those on dialup.

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Out of my skull, back in five minutes
Posts: 1435

I'm using IE on Mac OS 9.
I spent about 30 seconds there, and I'd had enough.

Complaints:
1) it has an "enter" screen. The web is not a magazine; your site does not need a cover.
2) clicking "enter" brings up one of those awful popup sub-windows, so I have to go and turn all the bars back on so I can do anything, and I can't resize it.
3) the subwindow is all flash. Flash is for animation. Flash can spice up your site. It should not be your site, because your site is then very slow, very tedious, and very non-functional for anyone using a text-based browser. (yes, they exist.) Being extremely graphics intensive on the web is to information accessibility what braille is to an ATM machine.
4) this site is using so much Flash it took most of those 30 seconds to load, and I'm on high-speed DSL. I'm impatient, as are most users.
5) who gives a crack about Malaysia, anyway? (y'that's a joke, son.)

Positives:
well, there wasn't any advertising. (except that it appeared to be advertising in and of itself, which is another problem, but anyway).

I am a pseduo-web professional ... meaning I ought to be a web professional, but try finding a job in that field these days ...

Incidentally, I'm using "your" not to refer to Digisane but to people in general.
Also, yes negative, but you did want an honest opinion.

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Registered: Jun 2002
Location: Osnabrueck, Germany
Posts: 4

partially, I have to agree with Yorick. But I understand that Flash was used to enhance the site. Brochures aren't printed on regular newspaper paper either.

What I could'nt stand, though, was the flashy main screen. I felt like looking at one of those japanese anime that make you twitch when you look at them for too long. Everything is moving and shaking, even the pictures (or was it the frames around them?)

Also, if there is already a kickoff page where you have to enter the Flash page it might be an idea to include a Non-Flash link...

anderas

Registered: Apr 2001
Location: 'braska
Posts: 211

I hate it when sites have enter screens and then "pop" a new, unsizable window.

The Flash nearly crashed Mozilla/win2k. I t is way too big and probably a bad use of Flash. A lot of what I saw there was raster based graphics - Flaah has never excelled at dispplaying this type of data. I let the Flash load, then spent the next couple of minutes trying to get the brower window back under control so I could shut it down.

When I clicked "quit'" in the Flash application, it took me to a URL that returned a 404 error.

quote:

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treopolis said:
Also, if there is already a kickoff page where you have to enter the Flash page it might be an idea to include a Non-Flash link...

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www.jphillips66.org

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Nebraska- the Good life
Posts: 695

(I am using IE5, and a high-speed connection. I am NOT a Web Designer, but I am trained in graphic arts.)

Opening Screen: Not bad, but why?

Main Screen: Wow- this takes FOREVER to load! WAY too much animation- the jiggling is annoying and there is so much movement on the screen that my attention is dragged all over the place rather than focused where the designer wants it.

Pictures are flashing too rapidly and are very pixillated.

"Visitor's Guide to Maylasia" font looks dirty- more appopriate to something like mud-wrestling or other 'down and dirty' activities.

There is a definate lack of an overall 'tone' to the art and fonts- great cartoons for lodging and travel, combined with the high-art lower bar, combined with the... It looks very pieced together.

Following Links: Get RID of the crummy moving lines! Gads, they are already driving me crazy and it is only the second screen! This screen took a long time to open as well. I doubt I would wait for it if I was using a slower connection.

Lower Navigation Bar: Having the word highlight is enough. The slider bit is over-kill.

It is a pretty and active site- great technical knowledge is shown, but as a graphic designer, I think you muddied your message too much with the showy stuff. Remember Ian's line in Jurassic Park? Something about being so wrapped up in what you COULD do that you did not ask if you SHOULD do it.

Now- it looks pretty obvious that this is going to be packaged as a CD, which would minimize some of the technical browser-based concerns, but I would put a little more effort on trying to achieve a coordinated over-all look.

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Do what you can, with what you have, where you are at!

Registered: Jun 2002
Location: By the toilet.
Posts: 174

Re: Please review this site

Thanks for all your time to check this one out.

Sorry to hear the the site almost crashed/cause problems on some of your systems.

You may now stop replying to this thread now. I would like to stress again I did not design this site or have anything to do with it. I originally posted this thread to see if anyone had the same opinons as me. It seemed that all of you do. I thought at least one with a DSL or quicker connection would think nothing of it.

I thought myself that the site was badly done. However, some one thought that it looked cool and wanted to get listed on it. (About US$220 to get listed in it for one year) I warned him against it, and to be sure that's why I posted here to get some opinions from you sensible people to get an idea of how 'other' people like it - while at the same time I can show him this thread of other's opinions.

Again, thanks for all your time.

Oh, btw, it was packaged as a CD too....

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I'm just a dreamer..