I've got a new website.

[HillBill]

Hi guys.

Due to the extortionate fees my ex web developer was trying to charge me, i've been forced into building my own website. Its just gone live and was hoping you could have a look through and see if its all ok, give suggestions as to the layout etc. I've never done this before, but at least i can make my own changes and things like that now.

Took me about 12 hours to do, long day yesterday on a computer.

I probably need to resize my images on there, as it seems to be running a bit slow, could be because its just gone live though. Tell me how it is for you guys please
http://www.markhillknives.com/

 

[Kepis]

I like it, one thing you might want to look at in the future though, on a smaller screen (1024x768) the right hand side of the site is off the screen, on wider screens it looks fine and dandy, images all load up quickly (for me), good luck with it.

 

[Badger74]

Just had a look.

Looks fine to me. Easy on the eyes and every link worked; even on my steam powered laptop.

 

[Perrari]

Looks good & works well for me. You will have much more flexibility with it by making your own as well as cost saving.
Your links in the contact section don't work when you click on them, but maybe you are aware of this ?

 

[HillBill]

I like it, one thing you might want to look at in the future though, on a smaller screen (1024x768) the right hand side of the site is off the screen, on wider screens it looks fine and dandy, images all load up quickly (for me), good luck with it.

I'l look into it mate, thanks

Just had a look.

Looks fine to me. Easy on the eyes and every link worked; even on my steam powered laptop.

Glad to hear its working on older systems, cheers

Looks good & works well for me. You will have much more flexibility with it by making your own as well as cost saving.
Your links in the contact section don't work when you click on them, but maybe you are aware of this ?

Thanks mate. Yeah i've noticed the links aint working.... i'll figure it out

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

I think its great Mark. love the background

 

[dwardo]

Looks very nice to me.
Only thing I would change is to reduce the size and look of the top buttons a little. Seem very bulky and not sure if the font is the best.
Being very critical here mate.

 

[sandbender]

Looks good, simple and to the point!

However you don't have enough reviews, you should send me a free sample so that I can review it for you.

 

[Man of Tanith]

Looks good to me mark.
But far too many wants on there...

 

[resnikov]

Looks nice, I like the clean simple lines of it.
I would say 640Kb for one image is a little on the large side. That is on the about me page. Ok yes I'm looking at this via a 3G dongle but I haven't seen an image load in lines since I was on dial up.

The rest of the site is nice and fast. You could put a favicon on the site, I think this can make sites stand out well from the rest.

 

[suburban bushwacker]

Good to see the 'light box' sized to the screen that's really very slick.
I did notice that the 'Available Knives' section seems to be empty?

 

[HillBill]

I think its great Mark. love the background

Thanks Paul

Looks very nice to me.
Only thing I would change is to reduce the size and look of the top buttons a little. Seem very bulky and not sure if the font is the best.
Being very critical here mate.

Cheers Leon, i'll look into it. I'll be tweaking things anyway, i just had to get it online this morning as my subscription on my other site runs out today.

Looks good, simple and to the point!

However you don't have enough reviews, you should send me a free sample so that I can review it for you.

haha I'll add more reviews from this folk have posted on the forums in the past. Need to ask permissions first though

Looks good to me mark.
But far too many wants on there...

Cheers Sam.

Looks nice, I like the clean simple lines of it.
I would say 640Kb for one image is a little on the large side. That is on the about me page. Ok yes I'm looking at this via a 3G dongle but I haven't seen an image load in lines since I was on dial up.

The rest of the site is nice and fast. You could put a favicon on the site, I think this can make sites stand out well from the rest.

Still figuring things out mate. Thanks .
Favicon? The site editor has the option for one of those, what is it though?

 

[HillBill]

Thanks
Yeah its empty atm because i'm not getting time just to make stuff. Everything i am doing atm is commission work, at least for the next 3 weeks anyway

Good to see the 'light box' sized to the screen that's really very slick.
I did notice that the 'Available Knives' section seems to be empty?

 

[boatman]

May I put in a word for website designers? Obviously I do not know what fees you were being asked but a designer is entitled to earn a fair return from their work. Some might say that hand-made knives are very expensive but they of course represent one hopes a fair return for the work involved and for the accumulated expertise of the maker, same as for a website designer.

 

[HillBill]

I earn minimum wage for my knives at best when all the work/expenses are taken into account. He was wanting £50 a time to add or remove a knife from the available now section which as i now know is 5 minutes work at most. Slight difference. If it requires expertise to do that, then i've just made myself an expert in 12 hours

I do know i have just saved myself a hell of a lot of money, and got a website with unlimited bandwidth for half the price of the one i had with a 5gb limit

May I put in a word for website designers? Obviously I do not know what fees you were being asked but a designer is entitled to earn a fair return from their work. Some might say that hand-made knives are very expensive but they of course represent one hopes a fair return for the work involved and for the accumulated expertise of the maker, same as for a website designer.

 

[dwardo]

Thanks
Yeah its empty atm because i'm not getting time just to make stuff. Everything i am doing atm is commission work, at least for the next 3 weeks anyway

Great news that.

 

[Elen Sentier]

Yay, looks good to me (on my Win8 hi-speed laptop ), everything seems to work fine. The review vid is grand.

Suggestions ...
- I see you have nothing immediately available, it might be good to have some pix of past knives there, maybe with a wee story or something about them, the otherwise blank page with just the message is a little sort of "intimidating".
- the materials and care page; as you can (I do know about time!) it would be nice to have pix of each of the woods, including the burls. The beginners amongst us may not know what they look like. Similarly for the steels and grinds.
- on the leatherwork page you say "[FONT='Open Sans', sans-serif]Please contact me through the contact section for any queries you may have"[/FONT], it feels weird to use the word "contact" twice, so close . You might change it to "Please contact me HERE" with link on the word HERE.

Nice pic of you - is that Malham ???

Have added you to my Bushcraft Links ...

 

[boatman]

I earn minimum wage for my knives at best when all the work/expenses are taken into account. He was wanting £50 a time to add or remove a knife from the available now section which as i now know is 5 minutes work at most. Slight difference. If it requires expertise to do that, then i've just made myself an expert in 12 hours

I do know i have just saved myself a hell of a lot of money, and got a website with unlimited bandwidth for half the price of the one i had with a 5gb limit

Of course, your business and your money. I would have thought that a decent designer would make provision for the client to add content themselves. But then as with buying knives, web services or anything else, caveat emptor.

 

[Goatboy]

Hello Mark,

Just been through the whole website, and added it in my favourites. Nice to look at, simple to navigate, logically laid out, my only concern is that it made me want to spend cash I plainly don't have at the moment. Good luck with the new site and I hope it increases sales for you.

ATB,
GB.

 

[resnikov]

Still figuring things out mate. Thanks .
Favicon? The site editor has the option for one of those, what is it though?

Its the little symbol you get when you bookmark a website or see in the address bar. If you go to google they have a white G in a blue box.

They are easy to make and loads of websites out there generate them http://www.favicon.co.uk/