My company portfolio website.

[jgetner]

Hello Community,
This is my company development portfolio and overall business website. This is my first attempt at starting a company as i have had some time working in a few development shops and i found them all to be lack luster and unrealistic... So my idea is to do it 100% oppisite and offer high quility work for and even better price...

http://rosecitydevelopment.com/jgetner/RCD/index.html this is beta version before we finish it off and go live.

[barricades]

Hey there, As the page first loaded I though, ok, this looks a like a good'un but then after the page didn't change for a wee second I realised it had all loaded.

I think it's missing something, the bit where the small text is where it says 'we have the experience' etc... in the big black banner, I was expecting that to turn into something. To me the small text looked like loading text. Perhaps you could put some samples of your work in there. It's nice to have the tag-line, but on it's own in that big black banner seems wasteful. Stick a bit of colour in there!

The style of it is nice and the logo looks professional. The text area says all the right things so the only thing missing is some colour and samples of work I reckon. Although maybe the text is a little small, to me small text is something your type of site used to do but I think people favor 14 now-a-days.

I clicked on the portfolio page and I found the boxes with different colours a bit confusing. I've no idea what NAHAC or FPSGN means and even the text that pops up doesn't tell me much more. Should they not be screen shots of your work? And if I were you I'd change the acronyms (is that what they are?) to the full names of the businesses you did the work for.

That all aside the site looks like a serious site. Decent job but not finnished yet

I'm looking some reviews myself so if you've got a second or two I'd appreciate your opinion http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/show...reviews-wanted

[jgetner]

Thanks for much for your comments. I feel the same as you do as there is just not alot going on visually but the biggest problem is i'm not a graphic designer and the stuff i can do graphic is fairly basic. ('as you can tell') I more have a specialism on the coding and programming side of things but can do fairly basic websites witch i found works for clients for some odd reason. This is still a work in progress textually and still have a few pages to go but i wanted to make sure i was not wasting my time on a portfolio that is not attractive to clients.

[bryantcanzoneri]

For not being a graphic designer, I think the site is a great start--and that's coming from a professional designer. Very professional feel overall--nice, clean, and refined looking, which seems to be rare for a non-designers.

A few points:
-Typos on the intro slide: it should be "experience" and "today's"
-Also on the slides, the red text and small text are difficult to read. A slightly (but not too much!) heavier type weight would probably be helpful, even for the white text.
-The table under "Our Solutions" seems clunky. Another format would probably work better: maybe just a nicely styled list in a different text color?
-If you have multiple client testimonials, make that title in the footer plural and have a scrolling display of your good reviews
-I agree with "barricades": get some screenshots in the boxes under the "Work" section. And in a couple spots on the descriptions, "there" should be "their"
-Contact Page: Using tab key to navigate between fields works great until you get to "Message." The cursor goes to the space after "message," making it necessary to backspace and delete the word before you can start typing. In all the other words, the placeholder word is highlighted and immediately disappears when you start typing.

I like the "Are you human" verification method--I've never seen that before. Keep up the good work!

[PunctRo]

The website doesn't look bad.

But :

- I think you should use some other font and size for the top links
- the black area at the top doesn't seem to make sense. You have just a small phrase there with plenty of unused space.
- the bottom buttons from this page don't look very professional, still some work there


Good luck!

[m3ckon]

Hi there,

When I first clicked your site, it took me a little while to work out what it was for? I like the black on red look and I use that color scheme in some of my ownsites (and I'll be asking your opinions of one of them soon)
If you're going to be using this site to generate business, I think you need more visual content and not just text.

When I'm looking for a web designer or developer, I want to see their portfolio first and then some testimonials. I strongly suggest adding some images to your site so that it's not just text and reducing the amount of large paragraphs to read. Put some screens shots in the portfolio and have some more pictures in there.

Hope that helps...

[Red Star Web Dev]

Going through this site, I keep expecting it to do more. For instance, on the "Our Work" page, I assumed that clicking on one of the links would put me through to that particular portfolio piece of case study, but it did nothing. The "Solutions" page has a matrix of what appear to be buttons with different services, but clicking does nothing.

I'm not sure if these areas are still in development, but I would think they would confuse end users.

[WebMonkeyOttawa]

Initial impression:

• too dark - hard to read the slideshow text when viewing my LCD monitors from the wrong angle;
• could use some photos and icons to communicate instead of all that text;
• menu text is too small (difficult to read);
• leading text block is too long - shouldn't be going over 480px wide with text;
• might want to just go with white text on the logo, without the gradient, so it's clearer;
• should indicate an address under phone number so we know what time zone you're in, if the call is long distance, etc;
• link the contact us in the footer to your contact form;
• your portfolio doesn't have any screenshots, it doesn't have enough data. In the current state, it won't be effective at making a sale;

[XanderStudios]

Hi there

I`ve been looking at your website and here are my two cents in it:

1. the text in the slider is to tiny and a bit to blurry
2. the text paragraphs in my opinions should be justified.
3. there are no meta tags like keywords, description, etc.
4. the text in links, logo and slider loses a lot because of the gradient use.
5. the content needs proofreading there are typos in it.
6. the page uses a bit to much dark colors
7. on the solutions page i would expect to be able to read more about your services and to find out why should i work with you, real things arguments backed up by a strong potrofolio. rather than buzz words.
8. on the "our work" page i was expecting to see a working portfolio with showcase and case studies.
9. maybe instead of "about us" which in my experience (starting with 1997) almost no one reads it you might consider to add facts as client reviews, interesting news and events that shows indirectly who you are and why they have to entrust you with undertaking their projects.

my humble opinion.
cheers Daniel

[devilthemes]

site is nice enough but I feel some thing missing in design . I hope lack of image. but overally I would like to give 6 out of 10

[Robocox]

I love the smooth design of it, and if that's what you are going for then GJ. Just have someone proof-read everything you ever type on it.

[Invicta]

Hi,

I think you are on the right track. I think the website is clear, modern and well layed out. On the negative side however I think for a web development company that you are starting you need to make more of an impact. The website looks a little bare to me and maybe needs an addition of clipart or graphics and photography etc to bring it to life. Also the top navigation I would make a little bigger, the red home sign also seems to be a little hard to read (I caught myself squinting a bit). Also the text that changes at the top in the header doesn't look all that impressive I would get rid of it and change it to something else.

I dont mean to be harsh or anything I think you are on the right track and with some tweeks you will have a very good website. I would rate your website at 6/10 at the moment - above average but with a few small improvements can be really good.

[Robocox]

I have an idea that might help, on the banner that scrolls through statements, you could possibly put a slider in there on the sides? just to fill in the empty space from the left and right black area's. and on the bottom right of your footer, you could through some RSS/FACEBOOK/TWITTER logo's to fill out that area with links to your respective site of course)

[piosyd]

Hi,
Not bad, not bad at all.
The problem with new web-developers and web-designers is that they are trying to do too much. I like you page very much, simple and informative.
I would use a little bit more graphic. You do not have to be a pro graphic designer to put couple of good quality images to your slider and services page.
I do not think that your page should be a graphical and technical show off... save your time and money for more important paid projects.
Pros:
Clean simple layout
Good colours and background patterns
Simple navigation

Cons:
Too plain - need some icons (even simple one) and artwork (pictures) not too much or too colour-full
Navigation - maybe slightly bigger
No social media channels - web design, marketing businesses would have well build and though social marketing media (need some icons)

In general this is very ....very nice looking project. Many serious businesses looking for simple, quality build web solutions with integrated blog.
I like your style and it shows that you should have future in this industry.

Regards
Peter

[phillipturner]

Hello jgetner,
I have few words for your website-
1. Try to make your homepage url just - .com
2. You can add few reviews of your clients, what they say about you, It matters a lot for your business.
3. The appearance is good but the colour you have selected is not comfortable for eyes.
4. You can enlarge a bit your text size.
But over all it looks sound.

[GiorgosK]

- Top navigation too dark of a shadow - I can't easily see the anchor text of the menu links
- slideshow too big of a space for small letter messages (I would change the ratio)

[lgrube3]

Ive always said that minimalism is the way to go. I think it is effectively used here. Well done. I also like the hover animations used on the "Our Work" page.

[Hitherandyon]

Nice layout, but totally agree that you need to put a better graphic or something with some color into the top center area...My initial impression was the same as this post "Hey there, As the page first loaded I though, ok, this looks a like a good'un but then after the page didn't change for a wee second I realised it had all loaded. I think it's missing something, the bit where the small text is where it says 'we have the experience' etc... in the big black banner, I was expecting that to turn into something. " .... Good Luck!

[aryo_s]

i like how you design the layout and the color is eyecatching, would be good if you add more pictures to motivates people reading & learning more about your services.. well done..

[htmlslicemate]

Hello there..

Your website looks good on a design perspective, but i will not grade high on a business perspective.

It is better to have a some kind of conversion form on the home page for leads to get reach you positively.

Second thing, it is an age of Social Networking and more integration to them would really help to build a reputation.

Networking and conversion is the key to any successful online business and for sure needs better ways to improve it.

Regarding the design, my personal opinion is the site is too dark for the text to be read out and also font size is way too small.

I hope you take these suggestions positively and looking forward to see a much better website.

[john james]

Your Design is not good as for web development project. If you want to more client optimize and change your deign. ad some HTML CSS and PHP Mono gramme that show your project and and impact on the customer. your design show your quality work if you don't present better then you don't get high prices product that relevant of your business. Here show your previous project that you don.

[tatar]

Hi there, The overall design looks great, nice use of textures. Some things I thought when I opened up your website:

• Definately needs more imagery, right now it's just plain text and it is boring (no offense)
• You can play with the font-size a bit, they look too small right now.
• The line lenght on the "Welcome to RoseCityDevelopment" paragraph is reaally long. Add an illustration there keep your line-length around 45-75-100 characters per line. The first studies show that 45-75 range is much better than anything else, but it's simply not possible all the time. I've seen that 100 might work just as well, maybe you can afford to use more as well but it's just too long right now.
• Type treatment on the header oved-used, and it is really weakening the logo. Also, header text can afford to be much bigger than it is right now. Footer looks much, much better than the header.
• How about adding a current page marker on your navigation.

[molona]

hello i reviewed your site,it has ok looking not so much good and not bad.

Not so much good and not bad? What this exactly mean? It would be great if you could expand in your review. A review should be useful to the person that's asking for advice. Short sentences like this, furthermore when they're so mysterious, are not of much help.

What's not good and why? And what is good and why is it good?

[Wolflin Media]

Good start, develop your unique selling advantage. Concept is smooth, kudos

[dojo]

Overall elegant and clean. Not bad at all. You do need IMAGES on the site, it's so barren without them. I'd tone down the gradient in the menus, the grey is a bit too dark and the letters look weird. I'd also increase main font size a little. the header 'slider' needs bigger fonts and some images too. You have achieved elegance and simplicity, which is great, but you need to put something there to attract more attention (such as some nice images ).