Site Check

[griffen]

I created a site and I have a sneaky feeling that users aren't getting past the initial front screen.

the url is www.reidfurniture.com (http://www.reidfurniture.com)

I read somewhere that the SWF extension has got to be included in the apache conf file. Is this true?

Testing on machines without the Flash mx plugin have been slow to react to the not having the plugin and redirecting the user to the macromedia page.
Any ideas?

Thanks.

[bluegel]

looks like an average shop site - which isn't a bad thing. would be good to have highlighted rollover links at the top of the screen though.

:)

[subquark]

for some reason, the URL listed goes to yahoo.com?!?!

anyway, forget the redirect thing from Macromedia, way too slow. Use something like Colin Moock's flash player inspector. It really works well and very quickly.

[thpii]

The link brought me to yahoo.com as well...

[griffen]

Try www.reidfurniture.co.uk.

I'll have to get that fixed.

[everlite]

very nice, clean and bold. simple and effective.

though that sale rain thing! ... thats that should be classed as illegal advertising, all hypnotic and tripping!

i feeeeel sleeeeepeee . . . . !

Z Z Z z z zz ...

[griffen]

That's www.reidfurniture.com fixed. Do you have any ideas on how I could improve it?

[Mortimer Jazz]

Shame it's not all in Flash.
It's really simple and really effective.

I always gauge business websites by how quickly and easily I can find the information I want, and from that point of view it comes out tops. The pastel colours also made me feel warm and fuzzy, the site loads quickly and is pleasant on the eye.

One thing that's started bugging me now I've noticed it (and is nothing to do with your design) - the logo looks like it says Reid Furwiture. What's all that about ? ;)

[griffen]

I'm currently working on the flash version. I've got a problem that I'm trying to correct on the present site.

Would it be easier to have direct links to the galleries using a drop down menu from sofa, or always make visitors go through the sofa link where a side menu would appear?

[Mortimer Jazz]

Theres the school that says "less clicks are better", but as long as they're are only a coupe of clicks to get to what you want, and everything is well organised and quick to load (...and in this case they are) I don't see a problem with making them choose sofas and then link from there,

Also, if you're going to have lots of flash tweens going on (like you do at the moment), an animated drop down on top of that would certainly stop things from being fluid on machines with less processing power.

The other reason is that the sofa page presents opportunities to present the user with enticing pictures, special offers and additional info. I'd be tempted to keep it how it is.

[griffen]

Do you think that you should always include a link back to the preceding page. For example the top menu contains a link to sofa. If the user goes into the gallery section presently the only link back to the style sofa page is through the top menu. Would it be advisable to include a link back to the preceding page on top of the link in the top menu or just rely on users making use of hte top menu link?