Site In process

[Mushin]

Ok... My site is now officiallyin design. Please let me know what you think thus far. The site still has quite a bit of place holders that will be filled in with content and there ARE broken links.

What is you first impression?
What do you like?
What don't you like?

www.sitetechservice.com

[Iconic]

Just out of curiosity but are your icons/buttons rough on purpose. They apear rather pixelated and kind of detract from the overall site itself. I am refering to the circle button style icons you have under Free Diagnostics, Initial Backup, The Complete Repair etc...

[Mushin]

Just out of curiosity but are your icons/buttons rough on purpose. They apear rather pixelated and kind of detract from the overall site itself. I am refering to the circle button style icons you have under Free Diagnostics, Initial Backup, The Complete Repair etc...

No... They should not be pixelated or rough in any way. What browser/version are you using and what is your screen resolution?

Thanks for the input.

[Iconic]

Currently in IE with res 1280x768. They look the same in Firefox as well.

[Mushin]

Currently in IE with res 1280x768. They look the same in Firefox as well.

I will have to look into this.. On the three computer I have next to me they all look good. I even changed resolution to match yours...

[edgepcs]

Very nice site. Although I am having the same issue with the round images. They look like GIFs transparency is fully on at the transparent parts rather than fading.

[PCSupportGlasgow]

i get the pixelated icons around the edges aswell.

Overall pretty clean and not info overload.

Personally i would change the phase and the header around. Also just personal preferrence but i dont like phase it just reminds me of trekkie type geeks. Maybe something along the lines of the 6 steps to computer happiness as the theme..... step 1 free estimate, step 2 initial backup, etc, etc.

[Mushin]

Currently in IE with res 1280x768. They look the same in Firefox as well.

Wow.... Saw the screen shot and I must say I was just on site setting up a 4 pc wireless network and tested my site on each of the computers there had the problem either.... I am so confused because this screen shot I can see the problem clear as day.

Hmm any idea why it would not look the same for all of you?

[Mushin]

Hmm

I noticed that each of you are outside of the US. Could this have anything to do with the problem. I have tried a total of 8 computers now. Four of these have never been to my website. The other 4 have been there at varrious times but not since these changes.

[ComputerClinic]

I'm in the USA and its the same way for me. I'm using FF 3.5.5 with a resolution of 1680*1050. I like the color scheme and background a lot. I especially like the hover effect on the menu up top.

[Methical]

Database Error: Unable to connect to the database:Could not connect to MySQL

[Mushin]

Database Error: Unable to connect to the database:Could not connect to MySQL

Yea that is a temp thing... updates are being done. Try again.. It is off and on right now.

[OfficerLahey]

I'm liking the site design thus far, good contrast, and pretty well laid out. personally i'd make hte blue h eadings a little bit lighter so they aren't so garish on the dark background.

regarding the image issue, i'm having the same...

according to my firefox the image is:
335px × 359px (scaled to 75px × 80px)
which would explain the pixelation. if it's downscaled from its original size. you'd be better off resizing the image, as this would make for a smaller file size also.

for example. your laptop icon original image is here: http://www.sitetechservice.com/images/stories/LaptopIcon.png

you can clearly see the scaling difference, as the original looks clean and polished.

[MobileTechie]

Looks like you're going to up the SEO on the urls as they are not SEO friendly at the mo.

In my browser (Firefox) the main intro text bleeds out of it's box and under the example news box

[Mushin]

I'm liking the site design thus far, good contrast, and pretty well laid out. personally i'd make hte blue h eadings a little bit lighter so they aren't so garish on the dark background.

regarding the image issue, i'm having the same...

according to my firefox the image is:
335px × 359px (scaled to 75px × 80px)
which would explain the pixelation. if it's downscaled from its original size. you'd be better off resizing the image, as this would make for a smaller file size also.

for example. your laptop icon original image is here: http://www.sitetechservice.com/images/stories/LaptopIcon.png

you can clearly see the scaling difference, as the original looks clean and polished.

Very good advice... Thanks.

[Mushin]

Firefox Issues...

From what everyone is saying the icon problem is happening in Fire Fox.... I have tested on IE... and the problems are not apparent. As much as most of you probably hate IE... is anyone having the same problem there?

[DanF]

It's fine here on FF. However I would reduce the amount of words, at least in the home page. It doesn't make me stay, really. I'm scared of too many words in the main page, and many people are like me :p Simply hit the nail on its had in the main page and link to other pages for detailed information.

I like the design :)

[OfficerLahey]

Heres how it looks to me in IE8/FireFox and IE Tab inside FireFox.

FireFox (http://www.imgshack.info/images/07h99jvsuslxxpd0z1e.jpg)
IE 8 (http://imgshack.info/images/khrp5eig2fciroxmczpf.jpg)
IE Tab(Inside Firefox, i think its meant to render as ie7.. not positive though) (http://imgshack.info/images/suq21l1wxberkhvxyo3.jpg)

[ProTech Support]

Firefox Issues...

From what everyone is saying the icon problem is happening in Fire Fox.... I have tested on IE... and the problems are not apparent. As much as most of you probably hate IE... is anyone having the same problem there?

It does not matter what browser you are using, the fact is that you are taking a large image and scaling it down. It is going to create some sort of distortion either way. On top of that it is also going to affect the loading times because even though you have it scaled down, the original image is so big.

Your best bet is to take those icons (the originals) and downsize them via Photoshop or whatever program you would want to use.

[Mushin]

It does not matter what browser you are using, the fact is that you are taking a large image and scaling it down. It is going to create some sort of distortion either way. On top of that it is also going to affect the loading times because even though you have it scaled down, the original image is so big.

Your best bet is to take those icons (the originals) and downsize them via Photoshop or whatever program you would want to use.

I will scale them in Photoshop but I still can't seem to understand why they look good on every computer I use... LOL.

[OfficerLahey]

They do look alot cleaner, and less jagged/pixelated in IE8 than they do in firefox.

no idea why, at a guess i'd say its the way it's handling transparancy, but eithier way you DEFINATELY. want to scale them down.

not only will everything then look fine, but as has been mentioned. it'll drastically help improve your sites loading time. which is a big plus imo.

[Bloogen]

Use this to sort out your image optimization:
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/site-management/cache/6427

You'll thank me when you try it. It will automatically optimize your images for you across all pages including reducing file size / quality (adjustable) and auto resizing. I use it on my own site with good results.

[frostbyte5014]

Web server or site seems very slow to load.

[Mushin]

Use this to sort out your image optimization:
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/site-management/cache/6427

You'll thank me when you try it. It will automatically optimize your images for you across all pages including reducing file size / quality (adjustable) and auto resizing. I use it on my own site with good results.

This is installed now.. but it only works on content and not modules. Much of this site is using modules right now so it looks like I will have to use the old fasioned way.

[NickCat11]

I like it. Nice clean design. Site was a little slow to load but nothing major. Nice job so far.

[Mushin]

Thanks to everyone that mentioned the messed up icons on the site. Just an FYI I installed Firefox on my dev computer so I can see these things on my own.

Aparrently IE does a better job on images that have be resized the the HTML.

Moving on the the cont3ect again.

[tminer]

The site is definetly slow, this will proably start to account for search engine rankings...see article here:Site Speed, Google’s Next Ranking Factor (http://searchengineland.com/site-speed-googles-next-ranking-factor-29793)

Also, your seo efforts will be hampered with all the variables in the query string. You probably dont have alot of control over that since its a premade cms or something but without good search engine rankings....good luck.

[tminer]

Also, for seo, you originally listed the site at www.sitetechservice.com (http://www.sitetechservice.com) with the www, most of the links on your site seem to be fine (excluding the long variables) except the logo at the top of the page when you click it it takes you to sitetechservice.com (http://sitetechservice.com/) (without the www). all your pages should be with the subdomain www since google and possibly others treat links to these domains/subdomains differently. You want to make it all uniform.

I would also suggest signing up with google webmaster tools and submit a sitemap (once your closer to having the site complete, of course).

[TechForce]

agree'd with the above, you need to do a 301 redirect in your .htaccess file, so it forwards all traffic from sitetechservice.com to www.sitetechservice.com.

are you using joomla?.. in the settings you can turn on SEO friendly urls. which will strip all the variables and give you for e.g. www.sitetechservice.com/on-site-repair/, much better for your SEO than using it as it is now.

[Tweak]

Using Opera I see no icon issues and the page loads in maybe 3 seconds...so it is either fixed or fine from what I see, I like the blue/black look to I'll add.

[Mushin]

The Icon issue has been fixed. Thank everyone for the assistance and input on this.. I will be working on SEO Latter and will be switching to friendly URLS very soon.

Right now I am trying to get contect up ASAP so you will see a flurry of new stuff.

I am happy that everyone seems to like the Blue and Black design. I was very worried about that since I thought it might be a bit dark.

Other then the Main page my first real contect page is the Diagnositcs page under the services drop down.

[Mushin]

agree'd with the above, you need to do a 301 redirect in your .htaccess file, so it forwards all traffic from sitetechservice.com to www.sitetechservice.com.

are you using joomla?.. in the settings you can turn on SEO friendly urls. which will strip all the variables and give you for e.g. www.sitetechservice.com/on-site-repair/, much better for your SEO than using it as it is now.

So I tried to turn on Friendly URL's in Joomla and it breaks the site. All the content bleeds together....

Any Ideas on this?

[TechForce]

try enabling the second option under friendly urls (apache_mod_rewrite)..

then log into your host and rename htaccess.txt to .htaccess

then give it another go.

[MobileTechie]

try enabling the second option under friendly urls (apache_mod_rewrite)..

then log into your host and rename htaccess.txt to .htaccess

then give it another go.

Yes this worked for me - see my test site in development http://test2.mobiletechy.co.uk

Setting the page titles is in an odd place, in the menus setup in parameters for some reason. You can set your page titles to include keywords there to.

BTW I'd appreciate any comments on my test site - I started another thread in this subforum if you care to comment.

[Xtreme]

Yeah I didnt notice anything about the images and I am using the latest version of Opera.

As far as the overall site Im not a big fan of dark sites for this type of business. It's just that dark sites have a different affect on people versus a light colored site.

Although it is a well designed site and the only thing I have a problem with is that I didnt know where to look first. I know the multicolor text is meant to match your logo but it kind seems like my eyes bounce around a lot to try and figure out where I need to start reading. On the home page I would prolly try to lighten that middle area up and that could help give a better focus point.

It kind of looks like a pre-made template (which I have no arguments with that) but I think the overall apperance might be a little to high tech. I just see this design being used for a high tech manufacturing/distribution site, IDK, it just dont seem to fit for computer repair.

Dont mean to sound too critical, just giving my input that might help you.

[Mushin]

Also, for seo, you originally listed the site at www.sitetechservice.com (http://www.sitetechservice.com) with the www, most of the links on your site seem to be fine (excluding the long variables) except the logo at the top of the page when you click it it takes you to sitetechservice.com (http://sitetechservice.com/) (without the www). all your pages should be with the subdomain www since google and possibly others treat links to these domains/subdomains differently. You want to make it all uniform.

I would also suggest signing up with google webmaster tools and submit a sitemap (once your closer to having the site complete, of course).

So I have started on the SEO and although it is not perfect it is much better. Now I have to wait for the site to be updated in Google and Bing and the others.

[Karmtanty]

yeah- your link did not help me umm mr. booty
i just got this page that said GOOGLE
doesnt look like a site at all

And why did you say especailly for us Zen userrs?
we ar a vey samrt bunches of peeps you now

[Mushin]

yeah- your link did not help me umm mr. booty
i just got this page that said GOOGLE
doesnt look like a site at all

And why did you say especailly for us Zen userrs?
we ar a vey samrt bunches of peeps you now

Ok so why are you replying to a post about a month old?