Building a website for a small company...

tacojohntacojohn
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I'm building a site for a small company for my summer job. I'm posting some screen shots of the site I'm working on and info about how it all works. Please post your comments about the site...



The first screen (screen1.jpg) would the be homepage. Basically all the wording on the page is just for show right now- so we have some menu options to choose from. On the top the user has 3 options- Material Handlers, Telehandlers, and Rail Equipment. When they roll their mouse over "Material Handlers" the gray bar under them reviels a second menu with more specific links.









So say the user click on "General Information". The nest page (screen2.jpg) gives a general over view of that product line w/ specific model links. Meanwhile the "Material Handlers" button at the top stays highlighted depending on what type of machine they are looking at. The big "The Cary-Lift" pic can be replaced with anything- like I said I would maybe like to have something that gives an overview of why we call a "Material Handler" a cary-lift and what its basic functions are.







So the user wants more information on the "Super 20". They click on the button and it brings up a page with more model specific information. Maybe lifting capacities, engine specs, etc. The super 20 button stays highlighted letting know that they are in the super 20 information page. If the user clicks on one of the next set of buttons, lets say accessories, a small window would pop up with only a vertical scroll bar and have a simple list of accessories, specifications, etc.







Eventhough the user has gone deep into the site they can still get to almost any place via the top menu. I need figure out where to put more images of the machines and stuff. I was thinking about in screen3 making the box that says "This small text box...." scrollable so we could maybe put more images in there and longer information or something.



Let me know what you think about the navigation aspect and if you think it will work.



Thanks a lot!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    tacojohntacojohn Posts: 980member
    BTW you can visit their old page here



    http://www.pettibone-mi.com



    BTW- its crap and 1/2 of the things don't work.
  • Reply 2 of 6
    ibrowseibrowse Posts: 1,749member
    I like it. The thing about making that text box scrollable is that everything you've done so far has a fairly consistent theme and feel to it, but depending on what OS they're in, the scroll bar would throw it off completely. Like, if you were in OS X and you went there, everything has a flowing/working theme until you see a blue scroll bar. If you had it use one of those JavaScript/Flash scroll bars (or however I see them done) to fit the rest of the layout it'd be tight, but I usually don't like those. What's with their old page, I clicked a link and it asked for password.
  • Reply 3 of 6
    gargoylegargoyle Posts: 660member
    use a navigation system like this one... its one of my favs.



    Linkage
  • Reply 4 of 6
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    I don't dig the masthead or the font for the primary navigation. The masthead is totally dead, and it seems all the action is at the footer. That is rather counter intuitive and definitely doesn't draw me in as a viewer.



    The primary navigation 'buttons' are clean to a fault, and the typeface chosen does not fill the space well at all. I'm not trying to be an ass, you just asked for criticism



    I think you need to reconsider the masthead of the site first and foremost.
  • Reply 5 of 6
    tacojohntacojohn Posts: 980member
    Cool- what font would you use and how would you correct it?



    By Masthead I would assume you are looking at the top nav menu? How could I make this better?



    Thanks
  • Reply 6 of 6
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    Well, I would incorporate the company's logo into the masthead. You can toss it down at the bottom too, but in terms of brand recognition, it's good to have it at the top. it adds some color as well. That's another thing, the yellow is good, but your grays are too.... bland. I know what you're trying to do, perhaps texture those areas instead of using that flat gray? At the least, I would add some depth to the buttons. Drop Shadows and Bevels are a web designer's friend; cheap and easy ways to add depth.



    For the font, I would consider using a thicker sans serif font up on the navigation. I like what you're using for secondary navigation for the different products, and I would like to see something bold like that up in the navigation as well. I would make the type fill the space of the buttons better... it looks a tad empty. So shrink the buttons or change the typeface.



    The Dealer login buttons and what not are at the very bottom, and I guarantee you're going to have people call you up and ask where the hell the login page is because of that. Toss it on the masthead (the top), and I would put it in the upper right, perhaps under the logo. Gray it a little so it doesn't distract the user, but they will still see it.



    Whip up something, post it here, and I'll give you more feedback
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