Here are my impressions that came from first glance and more thorough looking through. If my thoughts can help in improving the site I shall be happy.
We all know that for a successful site the rule number one is the loading speed. Here in Siberia, Russia it came to me within 7-8 sec. I think this is fast and good.
I liked the design from the very first glance. It uses a common adopted placement of the content and gives the sureness to the visitor not to be lost at the site. Anyway I have some notes in my mind and I put it here. It is rather thoughts then an article.
1. When I saw Russian flag the first idea was: “There will be Russian language if I click there” But unfortunately there was nothing of that kind. It is better to write, “Home ‘n Linen ships internationally and to Russia including”. So one will click and he/she meet International shipping rates. I think a good idea can be place a title: “International Shipping” and then the rest of the text: “Shipping rates are calculated based on the total value of your cart” and so on. I think there is no need to put a picture of a flag. I understand that it was a fun to know the country from IP and then put a flag, but flag gives misunderstanding here.
2. My instinctive desire was to open pages in different windows, but the right button of the mouse is blocked. I do not know what was the idea. So to review the site I copied almost every page to the hard disk with IE5.5. I want to underline that it was a little bit disturbing but not blocking at all the site’s content.
3. Very strange: a link to itself. There is no need to link the page to itself: homepage to homepage. Even more: there are two links – from the Logo of the company and from the Homepage button both these links link to itself: to the homepage!
4. Shopping cart – shopping bag – view cart It is written in the “helpinfo.html”: “You can access the contents of your cart at any time by clicking the View Cart icon at the top of every page of our Web site.” There is no View Cart icon at the top, but a button “shopping bag” instead. It is better to rename everywhere to a shopping cart as in all texts it refers to as a shopping cart. The button at the top of a page must be also “shopping cart”.
5. There is an error in Novelty lightning .html file. A part of a code is printed out at this page. I checked during several days and it is still there. So nobody noticed. Well, I wanted to use Feedback, but think this is a feedback.
6. One cannot order a quantity more than 9 pcs. When I tried 10 or 11 pcs I could not insert more than 9 pcs. If company provides wholesales maybe one can order more than 9 pcs?
7. When I put something to the cart and the Cart page is opened I suddenly see a picture of another item and sometime even do not related to the item I’ve chosen to order.
Let the item you propose be on the page but not in front of me. It is better to place the picture of the item at the right side of the page.
8. Several pages have underlined titles. And there is no links. Maybe it is better to make titles bold but without underlining.
9. As far as items are sold Internationally it could be much better to use the information about the customer’s country for recalculating into the metric system, or simply to put the metric system units in brackets nearby inches and lbs.
10. List of Options in search window is rather strange. It looks like this:
Select Store
Linen Closet
Decorative Clocks
Novelty Lighting
Kitchen/Cookware
Breakfast Sets
Curtains
Shower Curtains
Tissue Box Covers
New Items
Placemat/Runners
But stores are already marked in the menu as:
LINEN CLOSET
KITCHEN&COOKWARE
DECORATIVE CLOCKS
NOVELTY LIGHTNING
It is a little bit misleading as we see some new (new?) stores in the list menu. I think it could be better to include all items’ groups in this list menu:
Select Group of Items
Tablecloths
Placemats/Runners
Doilies
Breakfast Sets
New Tablecloths
Bedding
Pillowcases
Curtains
Cushion Covers
Toilet Roll Holders
Tissue Box Covers
Guest Towels
Shower Curtains
Candy Bags
Bun Warmers
Napkins
Aprons
Parasols
Cutlery
Pots & Pan
BBQ Equipment
Cookie Jars
Grandfather Clocks
Wall Clocks
Kitchen Clocks
Scenic Lamps
Desk Lamps
Night Lights
So one can go at once to the group of items he/she wants to buy.
11. A Folded wrinkled tablecloth at the picture. I think it is better to iron the item before shooting for the Web. I mean the picture of “Blue cotton white cutwork emb ribbonlace tablecloth.”
12. Why “Other Frequently Asked Questions”? It is confusing. What other? It is better simply: “Frequenly Asked Question” or maybe FAQ as everybody now knows what does it mean.
It is really a nice idea to have Tips articles written by customers. I also liked very much other articles and things related to the site’s items: napkin folding, table setting and gift reminder.
It is good that my wife has not seen this attractive site and did not spend money there.
Best wishes,
Vasili MASLYUKOV
http://baikal-travel.netfirms.com
http://demina.boom.ru
http://ua0sn.irk.ru
e-mail: sterh@irk.ru
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