Google Answers Logo
View Question
 
Q: Tanee.com site check (part II) ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars,   3 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Tanee.com site check (part II)
Category: Business and Money > eCommerce
Asked by: needresearch-ga
List Price: $10.00
Posted: 27 Aug 2002 11:19 PDT
Expires: 26 Sep 2002 11:19 PDT
Question ID: 59138
Hi could you please check out my new site, tell me what you think?
http://www.tanee.com

This is my first venture.

Family and friends are to nice and don't give honest opinions, but I
do know you experts can give me some blunt honesty.

This is the second question so I can receive more opinions.

Thanks
Answer  
Subject: Re: Tanee.com site check (part II)
Answered By: wengland-ga on 27 Aug 2002 11:58 PDT
Rated:5 out of 5 stars
 
Greetings!

I checked out the site - good job overall!  I've broken my comments
into three sections, 'Questionable' bits, 'Good' bits, and a site
walkthrough.  First, the 'Questionable' parts of the website:

Questionable:

'affordable vs discount' in tagline - pick one and stay with it. 
Also, add the tagline to your <title> tag, it'll help with being
indexed in search engines.  Google especially considers the title tag
in ranking searches.

Not quite sure of the reason for this link - why the Google re-direct?
<a href="://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.tanee.com">

'about us' on every page is overkill.  Create about us page, linked
from a short paragraph about how cool you are.

dead periwinkle borders - at full screen browsing, most of the page is
periwinkle.  Odd.  Not bad, just odd.

Fixed width tables - hard on smaller screens, requires side-scrolling.
 Some folks still run less than 800x600 resolution.  Make sure the
site is easily viewable at 640x480.

Use of the 'font' tag - consider defining a Style Sheet for your page
and using default styles for paragraphs, headings, and so on.  Easier
to maintain.

No 'alt' tags for the images.  Alt tags make it easier for search
engines to index the page.

No Character Encoding detected!  To assure correct validation,
processing, and display, it is important that the character encoding
is properly labeled.
http://www.w3.org/International/O-charset.html

You should make the first line of your HTML document a DOCTYPE
declaration, for example, for a typical HTML 4.01 document:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>

Even after adding the character set and HTML DOCTYPE, it still does
not validate as HTML 4.01 Transitional.  This is going to make it hard
to index by search engines, and will cause the rendering to vary on
different browsers.
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tanee.com%2F&charset=us-ascii+%28basic+English%29&doctype=HTML+4.01+Transitional

Now, for the good parts of the website (most of it, really):

Good:

Consistent style (Excellent, actually)
Consistent navigation (well done)
Good clean layout - not a lot of fluff.  Easy to find what I'm looking
for.
Clear text and images

Walkthru:

I open the site, and the first thing that strikes my eye is the large
black area above the logo.  Draws the eye to the top, not the bottom
where the content is.  Ok, found the content - lets see what you have
to say.

Labor Day promotion doesn't offer me anything - no free shipping, no
guaranteed delivery if ordered by such and so date...

Scrolling down - Wow!  Look at all those shades.  I'm going to click
on a couple of em...

Nice image there - big, clear.  Maybe you might want to have a second
image showing a different view of the shades.  Good ad copy on the
right.

Ok - back to the home page.  Say, whats this?  More info at the
bottom?  Man, I almost missed this.  Hey - that's good info on history
and fitting of sunglasses.  Sure wish that was linked up near the top,
so I could have found it easier.  Maybe if you moved, shrunk or
removed the Flash animation and put up a right-side menu of separate
pages detailing the history and fitting of sunglasses, it'd be more
clear.  Content is king, after all.

Ok - now I'm at the bottom of the page.  Looks like this footer is a
link...

<click>

Hmm.  The logo was the same as the one at the top, but now I'm at a
different page.  Where'd all the info go?  It just says 'Showcase'. 
Well, there's the shades, and that's what  I'm looking for.

Ordering is quite straight forward, as you'd expect with a Yahoo!
store.

Overall, a good effort.  Definitely 'Beta' quality.  A bit more
polishing and a fine tooth comb thru the ad copy, and you'll be ready
for your '1.0' release of the site.  Nice work.


Further Resources:

Useit.com - Usability and WebDesign:
http://www.useit.com/

Particularly, Alert Box May 2002:
Top Ten Guidelines for Homepage Usability
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20020512.html

and

Ten Good Deeds in Web Design (you're already doing many of them!)
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/991003.html
needresearch-ga rated this answer:5 out of 5 stars
I never would have thought of the points you mentioned. Thank you very much.

Comments  
Subject: Re: Tanee.com site check (part II)
From: pinkfreud-ga on 27 Aug 2002 12:50 PDT
 
A few observations from an incorrigible English Major:

You might want to consider running all of your text through a
spellchecker to catch typographical errors such as "ubran" instead of
"urban" and "reconized" instead of "recognized." You have several
errors in punctuation, also, such as "lets go shopping" instead of
"let's go shopping."

"Safe online shopping of affordable sunglasses" sounds odd to me. I
suggest "for" rather than "of."
Subject: Re: Tanee.com site check (part II)
From: needresearch-ga on 27 Aug 2002 13:04 PDT
 
Yes, your right about the spelling. 

I will be up late tonight proofing. Your comment was very important,
as it made me aware of the important areas to work on when I have so
much to do.

Thank you for taking the time to make a comment.

Best!

needresearch
Subject: Re: Tanee.com site check (part II)
From: pinkfreud-ga on 27 Aug 2002 13:57 PDT
 
Good luck with your new business!

~pinkfreud

Important Disclaimer: Answers and comments provided on Google Answers are general information, and are not intended to substitute for informed professional medical, psychiatric, psychological, tax, legal, investment, accounting, or other professional advice. Google does not endorse, and expressly disclaims liability for any product, manufacturer, distributor, service or service provider mentioned or any opinion expressed in answers or comments. Please read carefully the Google Answers Terms of Service.

If you feel that you have found inappropriate content, please let us know by emailing us at answers-support@google.com with the question ID listed above. Thank you.
Search Google Answers for
Google Answers  


Google Home - Answers FAQ - Terms of Service - Privacy Policy