SITE REVIEW: www.traceymayer.com + POLL

PLEASE CRITIQUE. Not looking for "attaboys".

http://www.traceymayer.com

New to this forum. I really need some brutally honest advice from as many professionals here as possible. Not afraid of criticism, and I welcome some professional advice. There are a few basic aspects I want to cover at least.

First, if I am doing a full flash site (like I did), what is the web standard now as far as load times? You see I have the site fully loading all content first, before the home page even shows. I have heard of dynamically loading content, for instance, different sections and subsections of the site, to be called on when clicked, as opposed to loading the whole site first. Now are there any benefits to dynamically loading sections as opposed to loading ALL of the content first? What is the pro standard? Is loading sections/subsections/content dynamically something very easy to do, left for a professional, or left for a seasoned professional?

Second, How important is the "title tag" in the html page that I am embedding the flash site in? I recently changed it from "Untitled", was leaving it as "Untitled" a rookie mistake?

Third, I have set up several email addresses for the client, including some web forms, that i used php file to send it to their email when they hit the send button; My question is...in the php file, I have it sending email to the client, and myself. I don't plan on reading their email, but thought I would effectively carbon copy myself, for backup, in case something was wrong with their email, then I would have the all client's emails in case...so is that ethical or legal to do? What would web pro's here do? I don't want to get in trouble, but I don't want to ask the client, because I don't think she will understand my reasoning.

Lastly, if you were an instructor and I was your student that did the site I did as a final project, how would you grade it? Look at is as a critique of the site based on professional web standards and protocol so to speak.

I appreciate your input! Don't be afraid to be brutally honest. Wondering in the poll, what you would charge to do this site, if you had created it? Does it look like a ??? dollar site?

+++Please visit the site and let me know how many seconds and/or minutes it takes to load to the main homepage, and please let me know what kind of connection/speed if possible. I really need to know, as I designed this on an uber fast connections and didn't take other users into account.

Thanks.

It took me about 30-60 seconds to load the page, and my connection (according to speedtest.net) is below ISP Average (1.76 Mb/s Download and .42 Mb/s upload). And that was from a server 30 min drive away from my house. (Overland Park, KS) That was my first load... the other times I loaded (Refreshed the page and went to a different domain and back, it loaded quickly... but if I hard-refresh it takes 30-60 seconds again).

Another thing I would look into is changing the way the sound on the links on the contact us page work (At least the text that says Tracy Mayer's Phone, Fax and email)... you put your mouse over it and it sounds like a machine gun.

The mailing list... I just submitted an unfilled form and it send me to some IP saying "Thank you"... do you not check if the form is filled in properly? And why use an IP if you got a domain?

What about offering a non-flash version of your site for those of us who are without a flash player or with slow connection speeds. It sometimes could seem bad for the user if they have to download something to view the site... I know if I meet something I just go back and not download that something... because I'm lazy

Also, is gonetsolutions.com your domain?

that's 3x shorter than it takes for here in chicago, but then again, its 30 minutes from your house helps! LOL

still that seems too long huh. I know I made it as one big flash file, its actually just over 21MB in size, and I have it load all at once, before the main page hits.

on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the most difficult), how easy would you rate reprogramming, or programming from scratch, so that each section and/or content within loads dynamically, as opposed to now. I don't want to look like a rookie, that's why i kind of put the poll up to see what your impression of the site is, if you were to pay to have a site done, what would be a resonable price you might pay for how i have it as it is NOW??

please answer the poll if you could.

thought about a non-flash version as supplement. perhaps a good idea. or at least a splash page (what do you think)? The biggest problem i think is loading all 21MB before the main page hits.

is it easy enough to script the form to see if it's filled properly? 1-10 (10 being most difficult), how would you rate it? assuming a professional of course, not a 1st year student.

why do you ask about gonetsolutions? is it too gawdy? gonetsolutions is the company i do work with. should the logo go and why or why not?

Rating the reprogramming thing: 7
Rating the form validation thing: 2

Just some things there I could tell you that doesn't really work as a design, but I'm not going to go into that here as it is outside of topic.

actually i wanted to know about the aesthetics/design part. please feel free. i really am open. i didn't want the logo there, but the company wants there presence. I don't know how to make it look professional. so far no complaints about it, except from myself. is it too big? too small? bad location? etc?the company was paid $8,000 to do this website....and me a portion of that, so they need to get their money's worth. I really want it to look like a site that is $8,000.

let me know your opinions please. i need to make it look like worth that much. that is why i want your honest opinion in the poll. i will work to get it there.

The design part I mentioned relates to gonetsolutions, not to traceymayer.

But you really should make it load faster... it will loose some impatient people. The only reason I'm bothering to wait is because you asked for a review on the site.

At home page, how about adding an image there? Possibly of some jewel... maybe a ring, or something that was done by Tracey Mayer.

The design also seems so simple... maybe have a min-width and min-height thing? If a person with a small resolution sees that, the text becomes so small... barely readable.

Am in london and it took me well over a minute for the website to load, and am on 2mbps cable.

Please don't do your whole website in flash.. it's completely pointless and a waste of everyone's time. Also it will be hardly visible to search engines.

thanks for the replies. i know, http://www.gonetsolutions.com is a crappy site, but i thought web people worked on their own sites last and that's why they are always crappy:)

just another question for you all, points to third point in my op.

I have set up several email addresses for the client, including some web forms, that i used php file to send it to their email when they hit the send button; My question is...in the php file, I have it sending email to the client, and myself. I don't plan on reading their email, but thought I would effectively carbon copy myself, for backup, in case something was wrong with their email, then I would have the all client's emails in case...so is that ethical or legal to do? What would web pro's here do? I don't want to get in trouble, but I don't want to ask the client, because I don't think she will understand my reasoning.

Hi,

Its taking hell lot of time to load the site, coz you have included all the images inside the flash movie, try to load possible image dynamically using XML or PHP sample //spam removed

and jewellery is a luxury thing, but i dont see luxry in the design or in layout

Photography of images or not good and you have streched the images inside the flash

Typography is not mainted well on the layout,

Transitions are nice, but its not aligned

It will be nice if it is Full screen

Cheers
Kassim

Other than what's already been stated regarding load times the aesthetic design of the site is appealing and looks good.

I do however find it difficult to read the 'Tracey Mayer (Date)' copyright I'm assuming near the bottom of the page however. I think the font might be too small.

Also, the sound you're using for the rollover navigation images gets a little distracting for a jewelry site (my opinion of course). I would rather hear something less noisy and more subtle.

Other than that I think that the design is well done and looks great. Good work!