And off we go on the first review since the new site was launched!
Paranormal Research Association of Ireland, sounds official.So I guess I'll start with the design of the site and move onto the content later.
First off .... someone please do something with that banner! Its on nearly every page and looks like a poor quality scan of a poor quality print of a poor quality screen shot - seriously people this is your identity! Its not a particularily nice logo to start with but you can barely read the tagline "Truth through Science" and thats the bit I actually do like.
They have some well taken photos dotted about the site but personally I dont like how they are positioned i.e. centered amongst the text with not effort to uniformally format them. The gallery section is also a bit of a let down as it has very little content for a group thats been going since 2004.
The main scheme of the site is fine, bar some poor graphics the overall look does come across as professional. The sheer amount of text on the site makes it appear like an official body. So with them apparently leaning towards the official/professional/scientific side of the paranormal scales here is what really makes it hard to bare:
What is with these graphics? They look as if they have been poached from a few different sites with now consistancy of style, they are so out of place.
With all the text and little in the way of photo/video/audio it really looks like a case of all talk no action? A good read of the site clears that up as they do appear to have done a fair bit, unfortunately as a visitor we dont get to see the fruits of their labor.
There are alot of pages within the site and maybe its busier than it needs to be? Some of the links are broken such as the links off the merchanise page and the guestbook.
The site does seem to have a good forum and there's some pretty good discussion on it. The thing about forums though is that they are the product of all the people who use them not just the site owners - so they cant really take credit on that.
If I was to give a few simple points of advice they would be:
• Fix the logo/banner
• Frame the pictures used and get some uniform size style were possible
• Look at who fonts are used on the site i.e. sizes, colors. Choose a set font (size, colour, style) for headers, subheaders, body copy and captions.
• Look at the site map - too many pages.
• I spent so much time scrolling on this site, a simple starter paragraph for long bodies of text with a "read more" button means its not so hard on the eyes.
• Stick with the template of the site, I actually like it.
So that might seem like a harsh review but I only picked so much because I think it could be a very good site.
THE PARANORMALIZERS REVIEW: 5/10
Additional note: I have to ask about the logo .... what is that form? Is it meant to be a candle flame type thing?
3 comments:
Yes a friend of mine designed it for me. It is a modern version of our old logo. I do appreciate your candor in this review and you have some valid points which I will be addressing shortly. It is always good to have an outside opinion as I look at the site quite often and have missed some details in consistency.
Thank you for the input.
I do however disagree with your comment regarding our forum. There are plenty of websites with forums that are hardly used. I think it is to the credit of all our contributors to the forum and the people who support and promote what we are trying to achieve within the forum. Including our Paranormal Alliance and international co-operation.
The forum is very good as I said. The point I made however was that a forum is the product of all the people who use it and sole credit can not be given to the site administrators.
Its a good site and I'm glad I've made some point you feel you can use.
If there are any big changes made in the future give me a shout and I'll take another look.
Earl
Post a Comment