Xara Web Designer Newcomer

[spreadz]

After struggling with various other web page creation software over many years, http://www.uk-neural.net is my very first attempt with XWD. A slight difficulty I encountered early on (I'm a man, so am genetically programmed not to read the manual first) was soon sorted with the almost instant help from others on this forum.

XWD is far and away the best combination of ease of use leading to professional looking results that I've used. Even integrating a .php guest book using iframes and placeholder was so simple to master and went without a hitch. I would appreciate feedback from other website builders not only on the sites functionality but also opinion regarding 'look & feel' for which third party judgements are almost always a better measure.

spreadz

[steve.ledger]

Neat layout - but fairly unexciting.
Contact page has a different font size to the rest of the pages?

[ChrisBro]

Hi Spreadz

Firstly well done on finishing your first site, quite an achievement and I am sure it has given you a warm fuzzy feeling inside

I see you managed to fix the button problem as well, not a bad first effort at all, keywords and page descriptions present so Google and Co will feast on your content you even have a working favicon

I do agree with SLedger though it is a little plain in a way, you see from experience when people see a site full of text it can be a bit of a turn off to a certain extent, it looks like what it is 1 big page full of text, I would reccomend using some images to break it up a little, I am the worlds worst at drawing my own images so I get most of mine from various stock image site then play around with them so they suit the purpose of whatever site I am designing.

With incorporating images you are goin to make it a little more pleasing to the eye

Apart from that though well done, it seems full of great content and in a niche as well so search engine should love it which in turn will mean organic traffic which is what we all need.

Hope that helps

Chris

EDIT

ALso noticed on the bottom of your home page you are advertising poker and bingo etc this is fine and can be a nice income stream but you really need to join the relevant sites affiliate programmes then incorporate you affiliate link into the site, that way you will earn everytime someone joins on of those sites and spend a few quid.

And on a final note on your software page again you could do with some images of the software itself, you could do a very simple screenshot or a popular option in the world of Internet Marketing and Ebooks and so on is to actually create a brand for the product, the developer may already have such images may be worth shooting them an email to see if not you can create your own with software such as cover action pro, that one works with photoshop but the same thing could be easily made in Xtreme.

[spreadz]

Neat layout - but fairly unexciting.
Contact page has a different font size to the rest of the pages?

Thanks for the feedback, I'd not noticed the miss-matched type size, so now fixed.

I take your point regarding the "fairly unexciting" comment, but I believe it is an inevitable and unavoidable consequence of the subject matter. Bear in mind I'm looking to provide information, facts, evidence, etc for the serious visitor, someone who has searched specifically for the subject matter. I'm not really interested in grabbing the attention of the casual surfer who has landed by accident. Graphic content for its own sake can IMO sometimes trivialise serious content and allow it to lose its authority?

I suppose on a scale of Hello magazine to a broadsheet newspaper, I'm looking to be closer to the latter.

You may have misunderstood. This is my first attempt with XWD, rather than my first website. This particular site has been around a while now, but XWD has helped me rebuild it in its current format.

Also noticed on the bottom of your home page you are advertising poker and bingo etc this is fine and can be a nice income stream but you really need to join the relevant sites affiliate programmes then incorporate you affiliate link into the site, that way you will earn everytime someone joins on of those sites and spend a few quid.

Affiliate schemes have always been a disappointment to me. Same goes for Google Adwords. The two text ads at the foot of the home page are pre-paid by the specific advertisers, and EACH one brings in more revenue than the combined total I've had from Adwords and affiliate schemes. Even though in its previous incarnation I carried an Adword skyscraper on almost every page! Which explains why I have an "advertiser space" as a footer throughout the site. The two advertisers in question approached me, I didn't have to go looking.

Maybe the pre-paid route favours the area my web site covers, so would not suit all circumstances. What experiences do others have in the revenue generating areas?

spreadz

[Antspants]

spreadz

I think I can see the obvious reason for the difference of opinion here- your site is targeting people who are left-brain dominated but the world of web design (and these forums) is populated by people who are right-brain dominated- art & science and all that.

The site is clean and clinical but I would have to agree with others that the text would look better broken up a little. All of the tutorials i've studied on web design recommend using images to break up the page, apparantly we (web surfers) just won't sit and read through long blocks of text.

I found some images in few minutes on istock.com , you could probably find some better ones and they only work out at $1-2 each for full rights to use on a web site or printed matter etc. I've attached a jpeg showing the images as a cluster.

Can I ask about the profile of a typical customer you are trying to attract? The products suggest logical academic types but the adverts are for bingo/poker/casino, is there a conflict here?

Which of the software packages were AIG & Lehman Brothers using?

[spreadz]

Thanks for the feedback Ants. The silence following my last reply gave me the distinct impression that I was being viewed on here as "Here we go, another one who won't listen to well intentioned advice, he knows better than the rest of us, so why bother?"

I am however now won over by the arguments - for which I thank those who have taken time out to offer opinion. Not being a marketing man my tunnel vision was probably focused upon those visitors who came looking for specifically the information I provide. The Internet is not like that, is it? So the site would benefit from a more appealing/inviting look, making it easy for the simply curious to dip in, explore and find out a little more. It's off to istock.com for me and we'll see what they've got to suit.

Can I ask about the profile of a typical customer you are trying to attract? The products suggest logical academic types but the adverts are for bingo/poker/casino, is there a conflict here?

Very difficult to pinpoint "typical", both business type and customer. I always have a problem with the pre-populated drop down "state type of business" questions. But users of machine learning software are as diverse as the applications they are used for. Screening of credit/mortgage applications to horse race prediction, mail-shot targeting to weather forecasting. In fact anyone who has records and would like to use them to their full predictive potential.

Which of the software packages were AIG & Lehman Brothers using?

They would have exploited everything available - as does every blue-chip company around (not restricted to investment banks). But it's the old saying about a bad workmen blaming his tools. No amount of solid software can make up for reckless human behaviour.

Spreadz

[Antspants]

spreadz

it's subliminal I guess, but I think the placement of images does tend to add a bit of warmth/depth and comfort to the user.

Also forgot to mention, web designer 6 now has a few contact form scripts available otherwise something like www.jotform.com is handy for creating a contact form- construct the form then copy & paste script to placeholder on contact page. (thats if you want a contact form instead of 'contact details')

No amount of solid software can make up for reckless human behaviour.

But that IS the problem with this type of software imo (i'm talking with regard to those used in financial markets, can't comment on other sectors) in that they can never seem to measure risk correctly- because of reckless or irrational human behaviour. Yes history repeats but never exactly which means the 'behaviour' part is more art than science. Say George Sorros wakes up one morning with a headache, gets the hump and dumps 50000 FTSE Futures contracts on the market, the market will fall that day. The market won't care that some black box said there was a 90% chance that it should rise!. I think the 'keep it simple' strategy is best for trading financials- buy dips in a bull market, sell rallies in a bear market, 2% risk on any 1 trade.
Art to get you in(intuition)science to get you out(money management & risk controll).........I digress, gl with the site/venture.

[spreadz]

Thanks Ants regarding the email form, I already have a form2email script I'd just not implemented it at that stage.

I'm not sure that labelling software's inability to predict a random event (George's headache) as a "problem". You or I can't predict it, so why is the software failing if it doesn't either? What it can do far better then I, is to balance all the factors in place before an event and arrive at a probability that will be far better than mine - in the long run. With regard intuition, it is something I've learned to stay well from when it comes to investment. Time and again where the software and I have different views on an outcome, the machine wins the day.

To add another survival rule. Don't play with money you can't afford to lose (be honest with yourself, if the whole lot went you'd be fine with that? Really?) Allied to the previous statement, NEVER borrow money for the purposes of speculation. Some may have made fortunes with this tactic, but you won't, and every market crash is exaggerated because of it.

spreadz

[Antspants]

I like the changes you have made spreadz. The images used give it a nice 'complete' look and for me they add depth to the pages. Also like the new style to the graphics of the top banner/header.

[spreadz]

Your positive feedback is greatly appreciated Antspants. I was fairly happy with the results after trying all sorts of combinations, but the candid views of those unconnected with the site are the acid test I suppose.

Spreadz