Useless Thread

[Potvin29]

[Sarge]

Loonie above $1.06 US?  :o

[Derk]

That's useless?

Or would that be the US dollar that is approaching useless? :)

[Sarge]

That's useless?

Or would that be the US dollar that is approaching useless? :)

:)

[Frank E]

That's useless?

Or would that be the US dollar that is approaching useless? :)

Pretty serious stuff, and the idiots in charge are all playing politics. 

The thing is that they've got to make deep deep spending cuts over the next 20 years to get this thing under control. 

They're like a 20 year old with an unlimited credit card fast forwarded 20 years later. 

[Sucker Punch]

I've been asked to redesign/improve the website of a local carpentry shop, and I'd appreciate some input.   I've done a few pages as volunteer jobs for non-profit organizations, but this is the first paid gig I've gotten that is vaguely in the field I'm looking at as a career, so it's important that I do it well.

I've spoken with the owner, but he doesn't seem to really know what he wants.   He just wants it to be better and more professional.   I'll be meeting up with him in person on Tuesday, so I figure I'll spend some time this weekend mocking up some ideas and make a pitch to him then.

The url of the current site is http://murphywallbed.ca.

If anyone gets a chance, just take a glance at it, and if you can think of any design flaws, missing or useful features, etc, I'd appreciate.

[Madferret]

I've been asked to redesign/improve the website of a local carpentry shop, and I'd appreciate some input.   I've done a few pages as volunteer jobs for non-profit organizations, but this is the first paid gig I've gotten that is vaguely in the field I'm looking at as a career, so it's important that I do it well.

I've spoken with the owner, but he doesn't seem to really know what he wants.   He just wants it to be better and more professional.   I'll be meeting up with him in person on Tuesday, so I figure I'll spend some time this weekend mocking up some ideas and make a pitch to him then.

The url of the current site is http://murphywallbed.ca.

If anyone gets a chance, just take a glance at it, and if you can think of any design flaws, missing or useful features, etc, I'd appreciate.

See if he has any testimonials or letters from satisfied customers.  In trades your reputation is everything.

[bustaheims]

I think the big thing for him is to do something that really separates him from the competition but isn't gimmicky or cheesy, etc. Right now, his site is really pretty bland and non-descript, and would easily get lost among the other options.

[Frank E]

I've been asked to redesign/improve the website of a local carpentry shop, and I'd appreciate some input.   I've done a few pages as volunteer jobs for non-profit organizations, but this is the first paid gig I've gotten that is vaguely in the field I'm looking at as a career, so it's important that I do it well.

I've spoken with the owner, but he doesn't seem to really know what he wants.   He just wants it to be better and more professional.   I'll be meeting up with him in person on Tuesday, so I figure I'll spend some time this weekend mocking up some ideas and make a pitch to him then.

The url of the current site is http://murphywallbed.ca.

If anyone gets a chance, just take a glance at it, and if you can think of any design flaws, missing or useful features, etc, I'd appreciate.

What's the show?  If the beds are the show, then more beds on the first page.

Ask him one question, "Where do you make your money?"...then take his answer and focus on that very product.  Everything else is secondary.

[Madferret]

And ask him if he KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT OUR POST STATS.

[Rob]

And wear pants!

[Derk]

That's useless?

Or would that be the US dollar that is approaching useless? :)

Pretty serious stuff, and the idiots in charge are all playing politics. 

The thing is that they've got to make deep deep spending cuts over the next 20 years to get this thing under control. 

They're like a 20 year old with an unlimited credit card fast forwarded 20 years later.

I racked up enormous credit card debt in my many years in university. Luckily, I got a good job when I graduated, rented a room, lived lean and paid all my debts down. It's tough, but it can be done. Unfortunately, most countries these days have problems with that sort of thing.

[LittleHockeyFan]

SP,

I would have him make the images bigger....there's way too much 'blank space' on those pages, and I'm on a small laptop. If it looks small to me, imagine what it looks like on a huge full size computer screen.  The home page has two tiny images on it. They need upsizing.

Whoever said focus on the one thing he makes money on is right. Take the images for it and make them front and centre. (I think it's important to show both photos too, the tucked away bed and the off the wall image, for comparative purposes) If they have a showroom example, it should be shown perhaps on the contact page, so people know what they're looking at.

It might just be me, but I'd kinda like to see a price range shown so I'd know right off the bat that I'm either ready to go with it or in over my head. As a shopper, I hate wasting lots of my time (and gas) going to see something only to find it's way crazy expensive or really not suitable for what I want. That'll be an argument to have with the owner though.

[Sucker Punch]

Oh, that's not me.   That's what's been there for the past 4 years, the last time he hired someone to do it.   I haven't touched it yet.

Thanks for all the advice guys, I've written down a bunch of notes.   I just got off the phone with the owner, and he wants the entire site rebuilt from the ground up.   The only thing he likes about it is how easy it is to find through search engines.   He wants an entirely new site, he wants people to be able to purchase stuff through the site with a credit card, and he wants to be able to upload pictures and videos himself.

So it's a bigger (and better paying) job than I thought it was going to be.   We're meeting on Tuesday to figure out the details.

[LittleHockeyFan]

and don't forget Safari and Chrome...for the Mac and Linux users.