SITE REVIEW: green businesses

I was just looking at this site again after reading this thread and everything appears to be in place in my version of Opera now.

Hi ,

nice site color combination is very good but loading problem there is taking much time .

Hey there,

Sorry I have not checked this thread in awhile.

I use maxmind's IP location service to retrieve the city, state, latitude, and longitude from the user's IP address. Once I have that, I can do all sorts of neat stuff to make the site seem local to the user.

For example, I just added a new feature - dynamic driving directions.

http://www.green-watch.org/eco-business-profile.cfm?business=Earth%20Class%20Mail&locationID=148
http://www.green-watch.org/eco-business-profile.cfm?business=Organic%20Bouquet,%20Inc.&locationID=127
http://www.green-watch.org/eco-business-profile.cfm?business=JustNatural%20Organic%20Skincare&locationID=155

Since I knew the user's location via the maxmind service and the business's location, I was able to query mapQuest using their API to retrieve driving directions.

What do you guys think?

Sincerely,
Travis Walters

I think it's a great idea for a website with the Green Fever that has swept the Economy and world.

A place for businesses and people to come to find Environmentally friendly businesses is a great idea for a quickly growing community of the Eco Conscious.

Actually the first thing that I saw (other than the Hillsboro, OR front page post - which is where I'm located) was the Green Clock in your flash presentation. To me it looks slightly pixelated as you're moving it from the center to the corner during the screen and IMHO I think that small detail detracts from the site because it is front and center when you load the page.

The products page was quite helpful with different self sustaining home improvement products. Personally I think these will be one of the fastest growing industries in upcoming years and your products page is very detailed and informative with a range of items unlike many of the other green product sites out there.

I was slightly confused at first by your community section. First of all because there weren't photos but also because I didn't understand immediately how the community area worked with the subcategories and main posts. A little explanation or something would be helpful.

Other than those 2 things I think you have a nice color scheme and site layout and it's a great idea.

Keep up the good work!

Hey Merlyn,

Thanks for the nice review.

I do agree that the initial flash image is a bit pixelated. I might do a fade in with my new logo when I get to it.

I am actually currently working on the community section. I purchased a $200 dollar database full of facts about cities, states, counties, and zip codes. I am going to make the area information section very dynamic so it will be a better resource than what I currently have.

I may redesign the green forum section eventually. That is a bit down on my list though.

So much work, so little time

Thanks for the nice review though and good suggestions.

Sincerely,
Travis walters