Please review my site

The website looks basic (ish) but the information there is good and readable (I like that).

I think that the advertising is neatly placed; which is always a plus and that with some work it will look even better

~ Mike

A quick reaction:

- Looks sparse with JavaScript off (I use the popular "NoScript" Firefox add-on)
- The measure (line length) is a bit large. Adding some lead might help make it more readable
- I clicked the "Web Design" link expecting to go to another page... ???
- The retro look may attract some, but may put off those seeking a modern design[1]
- Your footer overflows its height on the slightest increase in text size
- You'd be better off using an HTML DOCTYPE, since your code is HTML, not XHTML[2]
- You also need to specify the character encoding of your pages - ATM browsers have to guess
- At 12px the font size is very small on a laptop - especially if you don't have Verdana[3]
- Don't emphasize words using all caps - it's considered rude. Use the <strong> tag for that.
- Don't use <strong> just to make text bold!
- Choose one or two font sizes and stick to them. Too many sizes make pages look messy.

Your content is well written and to the point. (But I noticed some misspellings.) I think a bit more imagination with the design would pay dividends.

[1] Centered text and animated GIFs are so 1998
[2] Not too important - all browsers treat your code as HTML anyway
[3] Most computers show "medium" text at 16px which is optimum for many. Verdana is a large font, so your fall-back, Arial, will look miniscule.
FWIW my old IBM has a hi-def screen. Because the pixels are so small, "medium" font-size is 20px...

Hi Sarah,

Welcome to the forums! A few suggestions for your site:

• It looks like I'm missing a header or something here. There's just a grey box at the top. Not sure what's goig on there. It shows up on the computer services & secretarial services pages but not the web design page.
• For a business site this is very heavy on the ads. The purpose of this site is to get people to hire you - it's not appropriate to have advertising. If you were providing free content or some other service, it would be a different story
• The layout is not bad for a start. Try playing with more complex colour schemes. Try some of the tools suggested in this thread to find different colour schemes. The blue you've chosen here looks okay but it's a very safe and common colour. Try to experiment with something a bit more unique. Even combining blue with a contrasting colour like orange or green would give it a lot more life.
• The effect on the navigation text is probably the best thing about this design. Try to play with those ideas a bit more. The mouseover on the secretarial link isn't working.
• Keep the text effects simple. Usually plain black text on a white background is good for paragraph text. Avoid centering and changing sizing a lot. This article might help you.

I hope that helps!

Hi Sara -
It looks a little wordy for me. Try adding a few catch eye items like graphics or table boxes to highlight your main selling point. What separates you from the other millions of sites like yours? Why are you different?

There seems to be a blank grey header at the top of your page is well. Maybe your logo should go there?

Hoped this helped.

Blake

You should try adding an example of a site that was made by Sarah's PC Solutions.

The ads on the side are distracting.

On web design the top of the page does not show Sarah's PC Solution it is just gray.

hey sarah,

your site seems to be missing a thing called something a visitor sees in his first second of visiting any site ( the banner / header )! put a logo or somthing like that.
The sites got too much text the google ads you put you should and have used image ads instead to bring the page to life, the button on the top right corner Secretarial Services is missing its hover .

Your Site is very basic , you should use more colors and make it fun for the user to read .

sarah,

Not sure if the ads on your front page may put some off. Are you trying to make money from your own business or from the ads?

Also, from my own experience, you'd get more people visiting if you had three sites (with an appropriate url for each) one for each business you are trying to promote. There's no real connection between computer repairs, secretarial services, and translation services.

Hope this helps.

Your site look simple and very basic design. It is good if you put one good banner or eye caching logo on you header part of your website. It's not look professional with google ads. Try to put some small google ads.

Hi everyone, thank you for your constructive critisim. I think I have gained a lot of information from your comments and will take heed. Back to the Dreamweaver and Fireworks.

Sarah

Your site looks all right for a starter but it would do much more with care and good use of design and usability. Your ads are a little distracting and could do with less of it.

Otherwise, you're on the right path - keep working on it. Look around the web for inspiration and keep tweaking it until its much more up to standard.

Your website design looks good. It has a clean and easy to use interface.

I have now updated and modernised the site. I lost the ads as suggest and went for a clean, simple and contemporary modern design this time around. Thanks for the comments, they really helped.