New Revamped Webpage

[addvalue]

Just revamped our website using Flash/PHP.

www.addvaluehost.com - please choose
Flash.

Would like some comments/suggestion.
Will be working on the PHP website if the
Flash website looks ok. Will need to work
on two as not all viewers will have Flash
Player installed.



:banana:

[allan]

I like it, although I am not sure why it was necessary to force me to use flash :D.

One suggestion -- the plans listed on the front of the page should probably link directly to a signup, or a more detailed description of the plans.

[addvalue]

Got it! It was a mistake done by my designer which she misinterpreted my message.

What I conveyed to her is, if the Flash format looks fine to the viewers, we will stick to it and change the existing PHP format website to the same layout as in Flash format. :p:

Well, we will not forced viewers using it. Otherwise, we will not have the choice in the introduction page. I am easy and so should the viewers. We hope that we could even offer them more choice.

Thanks for the suggestion as well. I will get the plans graphic link to the price and features instead. :D

Deeply appreciate your comments. I love it!

[Chicken]

Hmmm... well, since it is flash, it is hard to reference a page and discuss it. If you click on NETWORK, there are many gramatical errors in the descriptions, but I don't have time to retype them all and correct them. If you read it, you will see them.

On the HOSTING page, little things such as the very first line seem odd:

"All plans come with FREE setup fee."

You wouldn't say that the plans, "come with a FREE setup fee." This makes it seem like you're including a setup fee at no charge, almost like including a feature of some sort. Rather you'd say something more along the lines of, "There are no setup fees on/with any of our plans!" or "All Plans: No setup fees!"

The next line ("Multidomain and Business Plan comes with...") is just confusingly written. There also seems to be two spaces between "Plan" and "comes". This is minor, but point I'm making is that the whole copy (text) of the site needs to be looked at. There are many major and minor errors and this tends to turn people off.

If you're short on time, concentrate on the NETWORK page, as that one seemed to need the most help.

The UPTIME page's graphics of the charts are low quality, but aside from that, it is a bit obvious that the last value is not original (was modified).

There are a few spelling errors on the ABOUT page, as well as some gramatical errors. If English isn't your first language (a guess), have someone go through it and correct the copy (text). It will make you look more professional.

Otherwise, most everythign else seems decent (design, etc.). Just work on that working a bit. And link those images as someone else said, to either more info about the plans or to an order link.

[addvalue]

Thanks Chicken,

Thank you for the comments and suggestion. We will look into it and get it amend. That is the main purpose for putting the link here, right? Getting comments to improving it.

There is only one issue that I would like to clarify, that is the uptime graphic. We used easycapture, which is in bitmap format and convert to gif using ulead.

Because we are trying to fit into the our new forums, which is relatively small, we shrink them and enlarge again, and it turns out to be so blur. As of the last value, it is in bold. It looks weird as well, we do realised that. We have been using server that co-locate at NAC Datacenter since December 2002, which there wasn't any downtime. The only downtime is on Feb 1 2003 due to the datacenter power failure. Besides you may check on netcraft.com and it will show you the results too.

We are into serious business and we are still very new in the market. We have invested in reliable server provider and paid for high setup feem relatively hight server cost and other cost. Hence, we will not ruin ourselves by doing such foolish act amending and making up nice reports. The time will tell the truth.

Anyhow, once again, I appreciate your valuable suggestions.

[addvalue]

Originally posted by Chicken
Hmmm... well, since it is flash, it is hard to reference a page and discuss it.

By the way, why is it hard to reference and discuss when a website is using Flash? Or do you suggest we remove the Flash page instead and revamp on php webpage?

[Chicken]

Originally posted by addvalue
Thanks Chicken,

Thank you for the comments and suggestion. We will look into it and get it amend. That is the main purpose for putting the link here, right? Getting comments to improving it.
Most certainly. Overall it's just little things here and there. All suggestions are just that (suggestions!), feel free to ignore :D Just one Chicken's comments. :D

Re: The graphic...
I was just mentioning how it looks, not questioning its validity (just to clarify).

Originally posted by addvalue
By the way, why is it hard to reference and discuss when a website is using Flash? Or do you suggest we remove the Flash page instead and revamp on php webpage?
It is hard because I can't copy and paste a specific URL of a page, copy the text, and fix it for you (as I would be able to do if it wasn't a flash page). Overall, I peeked at the php pages and they seemed to need a bit more work (design wise).

I'll be honest...
I don't see a point in using flash for what you are doing. I like the flash layouts better, but feel that the whole thing could be done in php (one version of the site, no "choose one" screen). If it were my site, I'd convert the flash pages to php pages and be done with it. Less work for you to do (keep one site working and up to date and correct, rather than two).

[addvalue]

Hello Chicken,

Once again, thank you for your suggestions and the explanation.

We actually like the Flash layout as well. Hence, we are in the progress of changing the PHP layout to Flash layout.

We might consider using one if overall feedback turns out to be the same as yours. Thus far, some of our clients prefer the Flash version as it loads faster even they are using dialup. Another reason is, trendy.:p: You know, people are hard to pleased. We even have complains about our forums as it does not notify members whenever there is a reply.

So, we are working out a new forum with addon features that visitors and our clients wishes to see.

Anyway, we are just trying to improve what clients like if we are able to do so. We can't pleased the whole world afterall.

By the way, we are adding a resources link for webdesign, discussion forums, etc...if we wish to link to you, do we need your approval? Do you have a small banner that we can put on?

[Chicken]

I'm not sure what forum you are using (though it looks very nice). If you want something out of the box, that works, and works well, I suggest you get even a 1 year licensed copy of vBulletin for $85 (one year of updates).

Re: Resources link
You surely don't need permission to link to us (and we'd certainly appreicate it!). I don't have graphics prepared (one of the things on the list), but you're free to use the header graphic (if that's small enough?), and may even hotlink it if you like:

<a href="http://www.hosthideout.com"><img border="0" src="http://hosthideout.com/ravioimages/logo.gif" width="207" height="53" alt="HostHideout.com - Web Hosting Community"></a>

[addvalue]

Thanks Chicken,

I will get it link once the page is ready.

Hmm...is that ok if I shrink the header graphic smaller?
I will try to get my partner to make it as bright and clear as possible :D, unlike our uptime graphic....:p:

[Chicken]

Heh yeah. No problem. Creating all sorts and sizes of buttons is one of those things that needs to be done, but is at the bottom of the list at the moment. I'm hoping this weekend magically turns into a 2 week weekend and I have some time to get a million things done.

[addvalue]

wow...you must be really tight up. :banana:

[Chicken]

Originally posted by addvalue
really tight up.
I hope that's a good thing ;) :D :chicken: