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http://w-ww.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10102&t=12591		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  John How [ Mon Jun 25, 2007 6:05 am ]
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Hey, I just launched my website site so if you have few minutes, kindly take a look and let me know of any problems you may encounter. It is still under development mostly in the gallery sections and I am trying to make them as uniform as possible and have to resize a couple of the images and make some tweaks to the code to get them all functioning the way I want.
Anyway, take a look please.
Thanks, John
Author:  JimWomack [ Mon Jun 25, 2007 6:18 am ]
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John, the site's very nice, tastefully done. I'm on a dialup line and the page/picture loads were as fast as it gets for me. The "road trip" guitar is a real marketing stroke! I really enjoyed the sound clips. Well done.
Author:  WaddyThomson [ Mon Jun 25, 2007 6:24 am ]
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John, very nice website.  Good viewability, fast loads, professional look, enough information, but not too much to read quickly, very good, fast loading pictures, good flow of information.  Not to mention the Killer Guitars.

That said, I might make a few recommendations (don't ask me why I think I'm qualified)  1) The text on the gold background could be darker, or bolder or something.  I had to look closely.  Something to make it pop off the page a little more, for easier reading. It could be me, though, so let others chime in.  2) Be careful what you wish for - "Talking Shop" could be time consuming.  3)  The words "Satisfaction Guaranteed" - There is a Dry Cleaner somewhere who wishes he hadn't used that phrase.

Author:  JJ Donohue [ Mon Jun 25, 2007 6:29 am ]
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WOW, John...I love all the info you have included on the site. The gallery and the soundclips are fantastic. The testimonials are impressive as well. Looks like the road trip sure paid off!

The negatives are:
... the small font used in the text. My eyes need larger print.
...I miss the shot of your rustic shop
...some inside shop pics as well as your smiling face would put a more personal touch on the site

In general, it is the best informational site I've ever seen...everything a potential buyer would need to make an informed decision to go to the next step.

Well done...
Author:  Bob Long [ Mon Jun 25, 2007 6:34 am ]
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The site is really nice John. Everything loaded quickly, nice photos, great reviews, the copy is real easy-going and personal, which I like a lot. AND... am I correct, you built the site yourself? Way to go!

Long
Author:  martinedwards [ Mon Jun 25, 2007 6:43 am ]
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you spelt waranty wrong........

other than that, great site!!
Author:  JimWomack [ Mon Jun 25, 2007 6:46 am ]
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... the small font used in the text. My eyes need larger print.



If you're using a "wheel" mouse, hold the Ctrl key down and adjust the font size with the wheel.
Author:  WaddyThomson [ Mon Jun 25, 2007 6:49 am ]
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That works, or if you are using Firefox, use ctrl + +, but the frame does not expand with the text, so it is obscured by the other type on the page.
Author:  old man [ Mon Jun 25, 2007 7:00 am ]
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Should be warranty, John. Warrantee is the person receiving the warranty.

I really like the site.

Ron
Author:  John How [ Mon Jun 25, 2007 7:02 am ]
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Thanks guys, I guess I used this size for the text because I wanted to minimize scrolling. I'll have to re-think that I guess as I still have scroll bars on most pages and of course that depends on how big the viewers monitor is anyway.

[QUOTE=Bob Long] AND... am I correct, you built the site yourself? Way to go!
Long[/QUOTE]

Yes you are, I am not a computer geek by any stretch but html is not such a tough nut to crack really. The difference on this one is I used a lot of CSS and very limited use of tables. I hate tables with a passion in fact the only place I used them at all is for my menu bar to make the buttons spread evenly across the page.

I am patiently waiting or rather sanding like crazy trying to get the current batch of guitars finished so that I can get some pictures up where all the blank spaces are. Hopefully in a month or so.
Author:  old man [ Mon Jun 25, 2007 7:05 am ]
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[QUOTE=JimW] <span style="font-style: italic;">... the small font used in the text. My eyes need larger print.

</span>If you're using a "wheel" mouse, hold the Ctrl key down and adjust the font size with the wheel.
[/QUOTE]


Whoa, thanks for that trick, Jim!! After it enlarges two or three times, it turns bold.

Ron
Author:  Don Williams [ Mon Jun 25, 2007 7:39 am ]
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I like it, but I find the text on the header buttons to be fuzzy and hard to read. Same with your logo text.
Author:  John How [ Mon Jun 25, 2007 7:46 am ]
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[QUOTE=Don Williams] I like it, but I find the text on the header buttons to be fuzzy and hard to read. Same with your logo text.[/QUOTE]
I will be re-doing both the header and the buttons soon and the reason the buttons are fuzzy is that I had to convert them to gifs and resize them.
Author:  Marc [ Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:02 am ]
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I like it, great site, well thought out and planned. I I would suggest making the links to the in-progress shots more obvious, seeing a guitar made and how it's done is fascinating.

Also you might think of adding a 'shop tour'. You have a great craftsman-looking shop, one of the best I've seen, (didn't you post a video of the inside once?), I think visiters to your site would enjoy having a look inside.
Author:  Brock Poling [ Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:34 am ]
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I am not sure what platform you built it on/for, but you might want to take a look at in in IE 6.0.2XX I had some serious layout issues.

I am sure it is just browser compatibility issues.

Author:  burbank [ Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:44 am ]
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Very slick, John. Professional-looking and easy to navigate.

Since you asked for opinions, though, there are a few details that I think could improve it. Please see these as constructive suggestions, purely personal preferences.

Your old site had a warmer, less formulaic feel about it. The shots of your shop gave more of a glimpse about John How as well as your fine guitars. Maybe some shots from your old site would fill in that part.

The animation that runs when the images are opened look great, but I wonder if they would be distracting for a potential customer after seeing it a dozen or more times.

Like I said, purely personal, and offered as potential areas for improvement. But all in all, a very nice site that conveys a lot of good imagery and information in a compact, easily navigated structure.

Author:  John How [ Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:47 am ]
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[QUOTE=Brock Poling]
I am not sure what platform you built it on/for, but you might want to take a look at in in IE 6.0.2XX I had some serious layout issues.

I am sure it is just browser compatibility issues.

[/QUOTE]

Yes I see that now, that is quite a mess. I had meant to check it out but never got around to it. I had all this incompatability between browsers, it's such a pain.
Fortunately, I kept everything so I will restore the old site for now and it's back to the books for me.

Do you know when they are releasing ie 7?
Author:  John How [ Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:48 am ]
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had=hate
Author:  gozierdt [ Mon Jun 25, 2007 11:02 am ]
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John,
Very nice looking site, even for a professional web designer. Fantastic for an amateur. I did find that I couldn't go to either "John Thomas Tune 1" or 2. Got a "requested url not found" error screen.

Gene
Author:  James Orr [ Mon Jun 25, 2007 11:35 am ]
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Hey John, I'll try to look over the code this week to see if I can see what's
happening. I haven't looked, but is it still up? I just need the index file to
check out.
Author:  Colin S [ Mon Jun 25, 2007 10:13 pm ]
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John, you already know that I like your new site. I ,of course, especially like the fact that you have all those great sound files of your guitars. Any guitar builder that doesn't include sound files is saying to me, that they are not sure if their guitars sound good or that they are not sure that the public will think them good. We all know that yours sound fantastic, the best steel strings on the forum.

By the way works perfectly on my IE browser (with Vista). Also fine on Netscape.

Colin
Author:  Dave Anderson [ Tue Jun 26, 2007 12:16 am ]
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Very good job on the site John ! I agree with some others that there needs to be some shots of the shop and of you.Other than that,Great job!
Author:  LanceK [ Tue Jun 26, 2007 12:17 am ]
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Nice site John!
It somehow has the same look and feel that your vintage style guitars do. Was that planned?

Author:  CarltonM [ Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:30 am ]
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John,

Some grammar and typo observations:

HOME PAGE: "your" should be "you're" in the first sentence. You use the words "guitar here" twice in p. 1--it'd be good to find a different way to say the same thing; P.2--"Each of my instruments..." should be followed by "is" rather than "are." "Each" is the subject, and is singular; The phrase "uniquely one of a kind" is redundant--should be either "unique" or "one of a kind." Should read "response"--with an "s," not a "c." You have a confusing mixture of capitalized words throughout your site--e.g.: "Guitars" in the last sentence of p.2.

"GUITARS" SECTION: You've spelled "dovetail" without the "e."; I'd hyphenate "X-braced." Maybe "ladder-braced" too, but it's your call. I'd definitely hyphenate "multi-scale."

"GALLERY" SECTION: Superior photos!!! No problem there!

"REVIEWS" SECTION: The Road Trip Guitar photo is too small and fuzzy--make it loud and proud!!!; Should be spelled, "indefinitely" (not "indefinAtely")

"PRICING" SECTION: I'd hyphenate "one-piece," "multi-colored" and "two-way" (as used with "trussrod").; Should be "complimentary" rather than "complementary"--different meanings.; You've got two "a"s in "Zebrawood." Again, there's a strange mixture of capitalized and lower-case words--for example, in the first two sentences at the top you've got "ladder braced," "Ladder braced" and Ladder Braced."

"ORDER" SECTION: Should be "accurate," not "acurrate."

Your site has an excellent look overall, John, so I hope you don't think I'm being a picky jerk. It's just that a website is the first impression of you for many potential buyers, so it should be crafted at least as well as your instruments.
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