Please review my Computer Repairs Services website

[0ldfart]

Im on revision 5 of my service's website, and finally feel like Ive got the beginnings of something worthwhile.

The main purpose of the site is to attract customers to the service, so its primarily about effectively marketing computer repairs to its visitors.

I would be very interested to hear input on its capacity to do this, but would also be interested to hear any views about the layout, navigation, copy, or any other issues.

Thanks very much for taking the time to have a look.

Jim

http://adelaidepcrepairs.com.au

[The Space Goat]

I would recommend specifying the image dimensions on the following images:

* http://adelaidepcrepairs.com.au/wp-c...s/facebook.png (Dimensions: 22 x 20)
* http://adelaidepcrepairs.com.au/wp-c...s/linkedin.png (Dimensions: 22 x 20)
* http://adelaidepcrepairs.com.au/wp-c...images/rss.png (Dimensions: 22 x 20)
* http://adelaidepcrepairs.com.au/wp-c...es/twitter.png (Dimensions: 22 x 20)
* http://adelaidepcrepairs.com.au/wp-c...WSCR_LOGO2.png (Dimensions: 306 x 74)
* http://adelaidepcrepairs.com.au/wp-c.../01/fixing.png (Dimensions: 900 x 300)
* http://adelaidepcrepairs.com.au/wp-c...1/helpdesk.png (Dimensions: 280 x 110)
* http://adelaidepcrepairs.com.au/wp-c.../01/laptop.png (Dimensions: 280 x 110)
* http://adelaidepcrepairs.com.au/wp-c...01/laptop1.png (Dimensions: 900 x 300)
* http://adelaidepcrepairs.com.au/wp-c...01/laptop2.png (Dimensions: 900 x 300)
* http://adelaidepcrepairs.com.au/wp-c...1/training.png (Dimensions: 900 x 300)
* http://adelaidepcrepairs.com.au/wp-c...at-desktop.png (Dimensions: 280 x 110)
* http://adelaidepcrepairs.com.au/wp-c...011/01/yay.png (Dimensions: 900 x 300)

You would also benefit from combining/minifying your css/javascript using something like: http://code.google.com/p/minify/

I just got through implementing it on my site and it is very very well done.

As far as design goes, I'm not a huge fan of giant image rotators, but I think it actually works here, so I can live with it. The images are a little lame (like, obviously stock images), but there's not often much one can do about that (I do it too).

The HTML and CSS have very little errors (unless you count the ones caused by proprietary use of -moz and -webkit properties, which I don't). So nice job on that!

Nice work, dude.

[federalpardons]

Kind of slow load time on the front page off a rogers (Canadian) cable connection mainly due to the huge image right at the top there.. A lot of external file linking right at the top of your code there especially some of those javascipt files might be something to consider condensing a little im finding it takes a while of scrolling to get down to your content in the source code.

I couldnt really find a html sitemap even though your xml one is there might be something you want to add I dont know maybe just a very minor useability issue.

Other than that everything looks great your code is pretty well written I cant see many errors at all, the design is also quite neat looks to be very user friendly I think if I was in Adelaide searching the net for a computer repair service I would find your website very easy to navigate all the sections I would assume should be there are there..

Good work.

[maartenvr]

I am assuming you are just providing the service locally in your town. How many technicians are there? Or is it just one person?

I think you are making it look like this massive corporation, but there are no "calls to action". I think you need to have more of a hometown look to it, unless you have technicians all over the country. Gain some local trust with the visitors.

[0ldfart]

I think you are making it look like this massive corporation, but there are no "calls to action".

Could you possibly go into some more detail about what particular aspects of the site effected that impression when you saw it?

I think you need to have more of a hometown look to it, unless you have technicians all over the country. Gain some local trust with the visitors.

Ok. Im interested in what youre saying. Just wondering, if this was your business, how would you co about achieving that? What would you add or change in the site?

[0ldfart]

Kind of slow load time on the front page off a rogers (Canadian) cable connection mainly due to the huge image right at the top there.. A lot of external file linking right at the top of your code there especially some of those javascipt files might be something to consider condensing a little im finding it takes a while of scrolling to get down to your content in the source code.

I couldnt really find a html sitemap even though your xml one is there might be something you want to add I dont know maybe just a very minor useability issue.

Other than that everything looks great your code is pretty well written I cant see many errors at all, the design is also quite neat looks to be very user friendly I think if I was in Adelaide searching the net for a computer repair service I would find your website very easy to navigate all the sections I would assume should be there are there..

Good work.

Its a WP site so no coding my end. The site uses a cache for speed. There are other ways of speeding it up but unfortunately they break other aspects.

Thanks for your input. This has been noted by quite a few other visitors also, so I will continue looking into ways of getting better speed optimization. At this stage its a bit of a catch 22

[RichKorea]

Hi OldFart,

Thinking that the most important thing for your type is site is for people to find it, I did a Google search for Adelaide pc repair, and while your site (adelaidepcrepairs) came up on the second page, what turns out to be your old site, wscr, shows up on the first page, and while it’s not at the top, the five gold stars and 20 reviews are pretty eye catching, so I’m not sure why you’re changing to a new address. Maybe there would be a way to get Google to replace wscr with the new address, but still keep the reviews. One problem with that, at least for me, is not having the name on the page (Western Suburbs Computer Repairs) match the address (Adelaide PC Repair) would make me wonder if I was connected to the intended site, and I might leave.

There’s nothing on the top of the page that indicates that your service is for the Adelaide area. If the locals know the area by the Western Suburbs, then the line Western Suburbs Computer Repairs will let people know your coverage area, although the font size is a little hard to read. Maybe you could increase the size of the font (you might have to drop the Nivo image slider down a little).

As Space Goat has already pointed out, the images are a little lame (they look like they’re from an image source). I do like the first two images, so if you could make two more like that, and then add maybe a famous view of Adelaide, it might be better. The title for first and fourth images is running into the button for the first image, so you might want to shorten the titles slightly.

With such a long drop-down menu under services, maybe an indicator (e.g. a down arrow) to indicate there’s more there would be helpful. Also, tool-tips (i.e. titles) for the links would be nice.

The gray text is a little difficult to read (and not WCAG 2 AA Compliant). Going from a body text color of #777777 to #575757 would be WCAG compliant (although you would have to create a new class for the footer to keep that text at #777777).

As FederalPardons pointed out, the page does take a while to load. Adding width and height attributes will make it possible for the browser to allocate space for the images while it’s setting up the page, rather than having to wait for the image to load. Most of your images are in PNG format, which I like for graphic images, I find there’s no value added for the image quality for using PNG over JPG, and JPG can significantly reduce the file size (and loading time). Cache only helps the second time someone visits the site, which is why reducing the file sizes and number of files will improve the load time. Your home page currently has 82 objects, which require 82 separate HTTP requests (and generally only two or three requests are active at a time) to load the page. Eliminating or combining items will help. For example, there are a bunch of script files (20) and they’re big (391K). I didn’t examine them in detail, but do you need them all?

Some of the older blog entries seem to be missing their entry. Did you move the blog from another package or something?

I do like the overall look of the site (professional, corporate looking), which comes in part from the stock photos, so the three smaller images on the home page are good, but I would suggest more repair images, along with a local image, to give the site a local feel.

You might want to add a CONTACT button on the top menu (although that might make it too wide) or add a big contact button somewhere prominent on the page, as that’s the number one thing (a.k.a. the Call to Action) people need.

Hope this helps.
Rich

[imediazone]

You site is looking very well, but the first problem that i noticed is that is loading very hard, noticed that you are using jquery 1.43, try to update to the latest, i think is 1.5, second, now regarding the slider, when i click on the first picture, the bottom writing is going right through the bullet, and i cannot see the last word, i think it is "available". And third try to loose this kind of background with interuption, i suggest putting the grey background instead of the white space, and where the content is situated let it white, also don't forget to change the copyright. My overall score is 4 stars out of 5.

[0ldfart]

slow speed, you should make some change, click here, /snip

Thanks for bumping my thread spam-bunny.

Still looking for input if anyone would like to contribute?

[wanderer89]

The website looks good. I like WP CMS,because it is easy in use and in website creation. I like your black and orange color combination. I like white background , it looks quite good with bright design elements. Sorry, but I agree with other guys that load speed is too slow

[Njones]

Looks good. My only criticism would be loading time on the main page,.. some of the images could be compressed a bit to speed it up.

[Invicta]

Hi,

I love it, if I was a client and you had designed this for me then I would be very pleased.

The colour scheme seems to work, the fonts have been well chosen everything looks very professional.

My only nitpick would be is there anyway of aligning the bottoms of the find out more links on the first page? Doing this may make it look a little neater and in order. That is all that seems to bother me.

Cheers,
Invicta

[nath5678]

Hey OldFart,

Viewing the site on 09/10/12.

I think the site looks fine - the only two things that i would change is the layout to the footer of the page and the small image of your premisus at the bottom of your 'contact page' apart from that i think its a nice simple site with good layout and easy to navagate.

Thanks

Nath5678