SITE REVIEW: dpmcusa.com

URI:
http://dpmcusa.com

Would appreciate feedback on this site.

Background:
This was my first commercially designed site. Over 2 years ago when I first designed it, neither my client nor I knew a great deal about what we were doing. After my client submitted a significant amount of content revisions, I also decided that it was time to upgrade the HTML code to a more contemporary standard. I am submitting this because both my client and I are interested in the feedback of other designers.

What I did:
~Revised the client's content.
~Upgraded from HTML 4.0 to XHTML 1.0 and spruced up the style sheet a bit. Both validate on every page.
~Added Flash banners that link to information he will be using beginning July to sell his book.
~Added some discreet color to the site. As this site is content rich, the original design was mostly a lot of "boring" black and white text. I added some color to enrich that a bit and capture the eye to some of the more important content.
~Added hover to all links
~changed the design from an absolute size on the tables to a percentage (i.e. went from 770 pixels to 100% on the tables) so the page would fill the viewer's screen regardless of monitor size and resolution)

What I know already:
~I am aware that NS 4.x, NS 6.0, Mozilla 1.3 and Opera 5.2 do not display the Flash ad banners. This is an issue I've speant 2 weeks trying to resolve. It is predicated upon the fact that XHTML does not recognize the <embed> tag as valid. I have found a solution, but that solution negates the ability for MSIE 5.0 browsers to view the Flash. As less than 5% of the client's viewers use the above Netscape (Mozilla-based) browsers, and close to 50% of the viewers use MSIE 5.0, the current solution is acceptable to the client and myself.
~I am aware that Opera 5.2 jumbles some of the text on the home page -- but I can't see why. Would appreciate some feedback from users of more current Opera users if the pages display as intended.
~It's not typical to see the validation graphics on a commercial website, but my client likes them there, and we agreed that for his buisiness it shows appreciation for high standards and a high degree of professionalism.
~I am aware that NS 4.x does not support hover.

Feedback I would appreciate:
~Home page - the "Welcome to DPMCUSA" Flash in the middle of the page. Do you view that as distracting, or does it look OK?
~Overall general effect. Is the site pleasing enough in design to read the detailed content. Is it easy enough to navigate?
~I tried origianlly and also with this redo to keep the page load quick and efficient. I use very few graphics and use a preload script for rollover graphics). I am aware that the Flash banners add some file size. The pages load instantly for me on broadband. I no longer have access to dial-up. I would like to know if the load time is acceptable to dial-up users.
~I use a 1.0 Ghz processor on one machine and a 150 Mhz processor on another to test with. I am aware the Flash is sluggish on the slower processor.
~I do not have access to AOL or MSN browsers and would appreciate feedback from those viewers as to how the site displays in those browsers.


Any other feedback beyond the above would be much appreciated. I can take criticism very well -- I look at it as something I need to learn. So don't be afraid to point out things that are really bad. My feelings don't get hurt on stuff like this.

One last note. I do have my client's interest and permission to post this. I did check with Bigwebmaster first before I posted it. It seemed to be acceptable to do so.

Much thanks.

I viewed the site on AOL 8's internal version of IE and an external version of IE 6.0 and it looked exactly the same to me. I have a 56K dial-up connection and when loading the first page the blue background loads and then there is a 10-15 second pause during which only the blue background is seen. After that the rest of the page loads with the Flash running and I am able to navigate to the other pages without any noticeable delay. Presumably the delay is caused by the downloading of the Flash content since it only happens once when loading the first page.

I'm not too well-versed on Flash, but perhaps there is a way to get the rest of the page content to load first and then wait for the Flash to show up?

I too found the location of the home link a little disorienting even though I had read bigwebmaster's comment before viewing it. I automatically went to the top left looking for it before I remembered.

Upon further review, I just noticed that if I come into the site to one of the subpages first I get different behavior on my slow dial-up.

On the Consulting Services page with only one Flash banner, the content loads as I would expect with the page content loading immediately and the expected delay for the Flash to show up. In other words there wasn't a long delay with nothing but a blue screen.

Perhaps you might consider going with just the one Flash animation at the top. The top Flash banner is rather handsome, but I don't know that the other two add much to the site and I found the multiple animations with moving text to be a bit distracting.

I just got home and am going to bed. I'll try to absorb your comments tomorrow.

Really appreciate the info, tips and thoughts. I'll make sure my client reads them and we'll make some decisions on what to do. Thanks again.

i think that you'll better change table color i mean this flashing red to a scalable grey the link with a Css attached file with specified color
V:link A:link ....

set a new table with 2/2 case the two first one for the logo
for the second two case the one on the left set link & contact the right on annimation , i suppose that will be greatest than this sight in general that's a bit basic but still nice job good luck Atno

Looks like some things have been fixed and some haven't.
I dont like the background images and borders
the logo needs some more finesse - I'd even settle for it matching the rest of the site

Sky, that site and this post is over 5 years old. Other than revising some content, the design hasn't been touched in that long. Actually he's been talking to me about redoing it and making it more contemporary which I very well may do. For the record even as "old" looking as it is, he gets a ton of traffic and business from it and a lot of compliments on the simpleness and informative nature of the site.

Hi there,

Design-wise, its not good looking site, but its has very stright talking of the subject.