Topic: Project HEDNUT

[HedNut]

Hey guys...this site has been such a great help and many of it's members a true inspiration during my build project... and I'm a long way from being finished, so I'll be enjoying all your company for a long while.  But the reason for this thread....

I recently embarked on a personal endeavor...and I was hoping some people on this site could give me some feedback on the feel of my business website?  Make suggestions, comments!?...all is welcome, and would be greatly appreciated!!!   Please, take a tour....and let me know...

HEDNUT MACHINE DESIGN

http://www.hednut.com/

Thanks again! To all SOHC'Rs!!!!

Keep that unicam busy!!
Cheers!
Brendan

[mlinder]

Good content, but a bit busy, and product/info flow is too hard to follow.

Do you mind if I fart around with your design a little bit and post up some possible solutions?

I'm pretty busy right now, so it will take a couple days, but if you don't mind me doing so, I'll post up some design ideas. If you don't want me to, that's OK too

[CaféElite]

I agree with mlinder, your site doesnt flow well but I do like your orange/black/white color choice. The cut away pics are also pretty cool so huge plus there. Mainly positioning of different sections of your site and the ends of them butting together. I am not a fan of your primary font either.. I like your head hednut logo cause its simple and clean but the coloring is off. I would like at either making the nut a litter gray color while leaving the type black or choose a go with a different color font and give the whole logo a background color.

[HedNut]

COOL!!! Thanks a lot guys and keep it coming!!   This is the first time I've ever done a website...I'm a newbie...installed frontpage and have been learning piece by piece by trail and error.  So I REALLY appreciate the comments and ideas!  And you make some great points about it being busy.... It started very plain...but I think I got carried away and added...and added....and ahah

So Mlinder!  If you're really interested and have some spare time...I'd love for you to post some ideas!  That would be SWELL!!  And don't worry about rushin!  you'd be doing me a great favour.

And C-Elite... what kind of font would you suggest?  I want something...kind of tough/mechanical looking... any ideas where you'd go with that?     Also,  I'd love some suggestions on the section positioning!  Which ones don't flow and butt together?

IT'S HELP THE INTERNET-DYSLEXIC DAY! ahahah

Thanks a lot guys!!!  Really, Really appreciate it all.  
And I hope it keeps coming!

Cheers!

[sangyo soichiro]

Pretty cool.  I did engineering myself for a year and a half using ProEngineer.

Some suggestions:
I'd drop the all caps and type normal I think.  Just my preference.

I see some solid models, but I'd like to see more actual prints generated from the models.  Something akin to what the machinists would need.  That's probably going to be important to some of your potential customers.

The "services offered" links to the left are redundant and all take me to the exact same spot on the same page.  Ditto for the links at the bottom (not needed).

You should list the software you use, IMO.  I couldn't find it, and it might be important to potential customers.

WE CAN PROVIDE THE AMMUNITION NEEDED TO LAUNCH YOUR INVENTIONS....

"Ammunition" doesn't seem to be the right word.  "Fuel" maybe?  "Propulsion"?

I didn't see any spelling errors in the quick browsing I did, but I'll just say that I cringe when I see them.  So double check your spelling, because it means a lot to picky bastards like me.


I absolutely love the header for all the webpages.

[CaféElite]

And C-Elite... what kind of font would you suggest?  I want something...kind of tough/mechanical looking... any ideas where you'd go with that?     Also,  I'd love some suggestions on the section positioning!  Which ones don't flow and butt together?

Your home button is touching the video demo box. Its like your header should be over a few spaces as well as the link buttons in your header should also be slightly spaced. The links menu below the down box should also be as wide the orange demo box or center to the video box. It just looks off. Look at http://www.makezine.com/, you will notice how things are spaced out everything seems to always line up.

My beef with the type could be that its in all caps like soichiro but im not sure.. Just seems bla compared to your kick ass cut away header right about it.

Great job for the first go though.

[tramp]

all looked good to me
good luck with the website

[HedNut]

Bonjour!  Thanks a lot again guys! I'm making a list of fixes....and looking forward to implementing them.... this is great stuff.  So the list goes as follows so far:  

-Site is too busy
-Product info is hard to follow
-organize sections and promote proper butt.....ing    Realignment, proper sapcing and clean flow is important!
-update primary font, drop "all caps"...type normally
-play with logo color schemes
-redundant "services offered" links.....I should kill the links and maybe just turn the buttons into a list?
-list the software I use
-The word "ammunition" should probably be something else.... like Fuel... (I like that suggestion! Thanks)
-double check my spelling...and check it again 2 more times (I don't want to upset soichiro!...haha) Good call!

And there she is so far... please don't be shy to be a critic..  I will work at this list and try to make it one clean, satisfying site for everybody!

One last note:

about putting up prints generated from the models....

This is a good point, and I agree it would be great to showcase them....but I have sincere reservations about making engineering drawings available on-line. All of the work I have done is in confidence and I won't use or reproduce any design/drawing or model in any way detrimental to the customers interest....

That said!...I could make dummy samples!  That's actually a great idea! and I shall work on that.
 Keep the comments n' ideas coming!!

Thanks ALL!!  


Cheers!

[wannabridin]

i think simplicity is the beauty of a good webpage.  you have three different areas where people can click to go to the same thing, but they're all titled differently.  i enjoy the color scheme, but i agree with soichiro, type regular with a standard font that's easy to read.  proper contrast is good too, so maybe not a bright white with black letters?  it can strain the eyes for someone and they might turn the webpage off just because they've had a long day in front of a screen and don't want to stare at it.  it's like in solidworks, they use a nice neutral background to help buffer the stark contrast of black and white...

all in all, great site, just needs tweaking.  slow it down and simplify it.  let your work speak for itself!!  where did you go to build it? 

[HedNut]

Fantastic man! Thanks for the comments...and I completely agree... I'm going to tone it down...for more of a simple, professional approach....making my "business" product more clear...not so jumpy and all over.   Thanks again for all the input!! As soon as I get some time to myself I'll be reworking the SHAT outa her! ahah
I'll be doing TAXES tonight! Woohooo....but hopefully tommorrow I can get to it.

As for building the website... I used Microsoft FrontPage...I found it easy to grasp...a lot like Word.  And I hosted the site with GODADDY.com   They seemed reputable with an easy to use interface for newbie-tards like me! hahaha

Cheers!
Brendan

[wannabridin]

i'm trying to get started building my amsoil dealer website, and i can't really decide if i want to use wix.com, since it's free and flash based, or pay a buddy to help me out.  i'll prolly go with wix since it's free and pretty easy to use.  i wish i knew more about webpage design and programming...

[HedNut]

Cool!  YEah...I'd love to get into it more... and hopefully someday put some flash on there...you can do some VERY COOL stuff these days.   As for webpage design...programs like FrontPage and Adobe Dreamweaver make it really easy for us (you don't really need any programming background)...and if you need to figure anything out it's only a "internet search" away.   That wix.com sounds nifty... I'll have to check that out.
Cheers!

[HedNut]

Did some site updating! If anybody has a chance to take a peek...let me know how it feels!?

I very much appreciate all comments, impressions and feelings...good and bad!

www.hednut.com

Cheers!
Brendan