guide for spain(please critique)

Hi everyone,

I´ve had this site published here before,
I gotta admit I´m a bit of a beginner
please tell me rights and wrongs, and what can I do to improve it
all comments will be taken very seriously
www.about-spain.es

theres absolutely no content on the first page. NEVER do that.

also, its in tables, which aren't made for layouts. I would invest your time in learning about CSS based layouts.

Also some invalid markup.

There's also a mailto: link, which as well as being not supported by some browsers/email clients, leads to a lot of spam, I would have a contact form instead.

the navigation is also really boring. i would spice it up a little bit.

__________________
echo "Take it easy, ".$CloudedVision;
.links { site: other-road-design; blog: only-nerds-allowed; project: resource-fish; organization: ARMIES6; }
<quote>&quot;I think it's wrong that only one company makes the game Monopoly&quot; - <name>Steven Wright</name></quote>

Hi Defrank,
I will be brutally honest and attempt to convey my emotions as I navigate your site. Think of it as a spicy critique and not a personal attack.

Your design is very boring and your navigation frustrating. When I go from one page to another, I cannot return to the previous page without using the browser's back button. The look of the pages from one to the next is inconsistent. I hate ALL CAPS when reading so mix the caps of your headers and page titles. Do "not" use photos as backgrounds of pages if you haven't altered them so text can be rendered on them clearly, like on the Beaches page.
You have badly implemented CSS so some links appear as links and other do not. BE CONSISTENT!!

Corrective steps:
storyboard your site with page layout.
Make a consistent page layout for all pages on the site taking content, photos, and AdSense requirements into consideration.
Make your content more interesting and "meatier"
Offer a "real" service, not just links and ads. Otherwise you'll endup with just another site that fills search engines with clutter.

Cheers and good luck.

Jason

there's very little content, i was in madrid about a fortnight ago, and was only there 4 days.

Are you targeting the tourist, people considering to move there or both?

If it's the tourist i could give you some pointers on things i struggled to find out

besides that, consistent page layout should be a priority, on a lesser note the links should change colour on your pages and the navigation should be available on all pages.

You need a layout to add some consistancy, simplicity and just flow throughout the site.

I'd say sort the layour first, and then possibly think about content, and also plan a head... how do you plan to expand the site? would a simple cms be a good way to go?

Your content should outweigh your adds... and to generate good money from advertising you need quality content to keep your users coming back, and to attract new users.

Find similar sites, and list down what you do/don't like and what you'd like to offer people that they don't.

A good website is generally well thought out.

It's a good idea to have this site but I would think maybe better to keep your new page stay within one window, so the "back" button could be used to surf back to previous page, and the customer would not get lost from your site. And I agree with the above comments about the layout.

I am stilll a student, not even a newbie yet. This is just for your information.

thanx a lot for the replies, I definetly have a hell of a lot to learn,,
and by the way, what were you struggling to find out bocaj in Madrid?

Number one problem we had was finding an information kiosk, i think we found one in sol eventually... but things such as the 3 day tourist passes on the metro, we didn't know until we went into the metro station and an american tourist pointed it out to us, also the zone system was never clear to us.

An english speaking bar guide would of been useful, we found an irish pub just outside of opera and a cocktail bar on the other side of some "plaza de mayor" ?

Generally we found most people spoke a little english and most bars had a sign that said "we don't speak english, but we promise not to laugh at your spanish"

My friend is vegan, and finding places he could eat, or places with english menu's was difficult but we did find a great vegetarian fast food place.

I've noticed that in the majority of places theres little information on people with dietry requirements.

Local laws and basic laws might be a good thing to list, as i know in the news there's been people arrested for things in foreign countries that aren't illegal in ours.

Local points of interest could be useful and places to go and see (such as the amusement park, zoo, and the parterre del retiro i think it was called we wouldn't of found hadn't we found the information kiosk)

Things such as tourist scams, or places to avoid etc.

We were only there a short time, so we didn't get to see much, but we did have difficulty finding interesting things initially as we headed in the direction of sol and gran via as it just seemed to be streets lined with H&M, ZARA, STARBUCKS etc. typically European chains, where as then we ventured more out of that district we found a different variety of shops then generally just seemed to be shut constantly?

I feel i'm just repeating myself now mind, we generally just stayed around sol, callao and gran via as we were staying in an appartment around the corner from the opera house.

Also on another note, the taxi from the airport to opera cost €38 and from opera to the airport cost €21, so we got ripped off, things such as taxes added to different kinds of goods/services we didn't know, so we just went along hoping that it was all right.

However i thought madrid was a really cute place, and i would definatly reccomend it (however it was the first time i've been abroad).

(that was a bit of an essay, sorry).

Any questions just ask..

I´ll work on the content you´ve mentioned,
I´m taking all your replies very seriously starting with the lay out,,
and I think your taxi ride from the airport was not a rip off, I got pist off more than once with cab drivers for charging me something like €20 for a 500 metre ride FROM the airport, you will get a receipt if you ask for one,
I think it´s some kind of airport surcharge, or legal rip off so to say,(I may do a legal rip offs section )
thanx again,

Hi,

I don't no what other suggestions have been made, which seems to be alot, but I will give you my input, because you can never have too much critique

Ok first off, this website is soo boring and empty, If i went on this website I would instantly leave, without a second thought. Here comes the critique:

The background image is too pixelated and blurred, I think you need a new image as background, or what I would suggest, is add a simple blue gradient, similar to one you have, this would make it look much more proffessional.

The links need some kind of rollover, so the visitor can have some kind of interactivity on the website, and I would make some kind of menu bar, because they look like random links posted there.

What are the two flags doing there?
It means nothing it being there, again, just looks like a random spot you decided to place there. Also the moving gif in the top left corner = annoying, please remove that as soon as possible.

Ok, so where shall you go next?
I would think of a brand new layout for your website, because at the moment you don't seem to have one, I would also add more information about your website, because remember your homepage is the first page they see.
I would add images, because these captivate peoples attention, so put few images of properties on there.

I would also think about making some kind of logo, just text is enough in my opinion.

There is plenty of work to be getting on with here to make this website up to scratch! Hope this helps

__________________

no but it's just the tax, or surcharge for the first journey was like €9 and the second was about €5... although we do think the first one may have deliberatly taken a longer route, and his little thing totted up the money faster then the second taxi we took.

Aaah well, given the quality and reliability of the metro i'm not going to compain too much

Puts metro systems and train systems in the uk to alot of shame xD