Feedback on new site

Bulktohulk

Hey everyone,

I was just wondering if I could get some feedback on my new website www.glimpsedog.com . It's a games/technology/movies/tv website similar to ign etc... but we're also combining elements of popular blogging sites such as destructoid and joystiq.

Be brutally honest please. :cool:

cgarvey

Can't comment on the content (at all; I'm not the target audience, I'm guessing). However, you need to do something about site speed. I'm 6-9ms away from the server (FastSecureHost), but it's taking 8-15 seconds to load the front page. If that's down to your hosting, move host. It might be down to your vB install. Look at caching options. Look at optimising your JavaScript/CSS as well (too many requests; consider combining them).

It looks well, anyway, on FF3/Linux. It's riddled with xHTML errors, so it might not look as expected on other browsers; be sure to test. The only layout issue I see (without it being completely subjective) is the banner images having distorted aspects. The background pinstripes might be a bit too harsh on the eyes.

Nice and simple layout with clear navigation and a decent amount of content! Good luck with it!

Bulktohulk

cgarvey wrote: »

Can't comment on the content (at all; I'm not the target audience, I'm guessing). However, you need to do something about site speed. I'm 6-9ms away from the server (FastSecureHost), but it's taking 8-15 seconds to load the front page. If that's down to your hosting, move host. It might be down to your vB install. Look at caching options. Look at optimising your JavaScript/CSS as well (too many requests; consider combining them).

It looks well, anyway, on FF3/Linux. It's riddled with xHTML errors, so it might not look as expected on other browsers; be sure to test. The only layout issue I see (without it being completely subjective) is the banner images having distorted aspects. The background pinstripes might be a bit too harsh on the eyes.

Nice and simple layout with clear navigation and a decent amount of content! Good luck with it!

Hi and thanks for the feedback,

I don't think it's the host effecting the speeds. The slowdown only seems to have started since I installed the vbSEO plugin. I'm guessing that's whats causing it, I'll have to have a look at that.

I've tested it in firefox,chrome,safari,IE and it seems to look the same in all of those. I suppose I'll need to test opera and some of the more obscure browsers.

The problem with the banners was that I didn't create them myself, I resized them. So it was difficult to get the required resolution without changing the aspect ratio.

What background would you suggest?

strandroad

Agree about the banners - do a bit better work with them. Especially the "We want you" one is not up to standard. Also change favicon from standard vBulletin one to something more individual

Bulktohulk

mhge wrote: »

Agree about the banners - do a bit better work with them. Especially the "We want you" one is not up to standard. Also change favicon from standard vBulletin one to something more individual

Wow thanks, I can't believe I forgot about the favicon.

cgarvey

Bulktohulk wrote: »

So it was difficult to get the required resolution without changing the aspect ratio.

There are various ways to avoid that; technically, or creatively.

Bulktohulk wrote: »

What background would you suggest?

I'm not your designer, or paid reviewer! I just thought (and still do, on a re-visit) that it's too distracting a background (because of the contrast of the stripes). As I'm reading content, those lines are buzzing away (like some weird optical illusion) to the left and right; and that's a distraction.

The main issue, though, is site speed. It's still unacceptably slow