Site overhaul?

[Torsten]

Hi,

As many of you have pointed out it's time for an overhaul of our website. This process will take some time and we would like to give you the opportunity to have your say on anything we change. Below you will find two drafts of our renewed start page. What do you think of them? How do you like the colors, images and especially the structure and navigation? Many thanks, Torsten



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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Yankee]

Hi Torsten

My initial reaction is that I like layout of the second version better. However, I find the logo in the first one more appealing.
I would suggest changing any German words (e.g. Kontakt, Suche) to English ones.

You've got a lot of material besides the tests on the site and I'm curious how you're planning to reorganize all of that. Or haven't you gotten that far yet? It seems to me that there should be at least one very general link on this page that will take a visitor to the rest of the stuff on the site.
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[Torsten]

Hi Amy,

Thanks a lot for your feedback. I agree with all your suggestions. You are right, we'll have to come with a layout that reorganizes all our content and the challenge is to create 'navigation paths' that lead our users intuitively. Yes, of course all the information will be in English and we'll a uniform layout for all pages.

How much information would you put on the home/start page and how would you group it?
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[Yankee]

Hi Torsten

Personally, I find an uncluttered first page to be preferable. However, I think you could add a sentence or two that briefly describes/outlines the sorts of other things available on the site. That brief description could then be linked to a page that serves as a relatively detailed (and complete) table of contents for the entire site.
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[Stew.t.]

Hi Torsten

I like the clean design of the 1st option.

The second option looks a bit like a template design from cmsimple or other such web designers.
We (trans-lingo.com are overhauling as well) and I think the logo is crucial, and agree with Amy the first logo is better, has a more graphical look to it.
Are you going for a dynamic site, and keeping phpBB?
We have opted to try out typo3 which is better for handling and storage than cmsimple.

Will the forum threads appear in the same window as the tests shown above, that is quite nice if it can be achieved navi-wise.

Maybe also consider groupings such as audio and official tests under one umbrella. At the moment there are too many sub pages in my honest opinion.
A lot of sites are cluttered, and my favourite ones are clean, simple and minimal.

I like these guys:

www.hhl.de

They have a lot of info but it is cleanly presented.
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[NinaZara]

I like the first layout better, less blue colour. Some people might find it difficult to read fonts in white. This might be the hidden factor why people are so bad at navigating, too many distractions.

[Yankee]

[Guest]

Hello!
I'm new here. I've been browsing tons of forums for an idea of what to do. I was laid off from my job about 3 month ago. I've been looking for a job since then, but did not even get a single interview. I worked as a web designer for a publishing company for the last 5 years. Looks like www.english-test.net is an active forum with active members and may be someone has some experience working as a freelance web designer. May be "The word "ought"." category is not the most appropriate for this question, but I want to try anyways to get some opinions before I go ahead with my life. I'm wondering if it is possible in the current economy to find work for a freelance web designer and make enough to pay for rent and groceries. I was able to find a small project on craigslist and I developed a website for a company. It was a small project and took me only a week to complete. I got paid $800 for 1 week of work which is not bad. Please people give me some ideas. I have 2 kids and my wife is out of work as well. Thank you in advance.

[Jimwth]

[Torsten]

Hi,

Please take at this job description and let me know what you think: Site Overhaul

Many thanks,
Torsten
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Shyone]

Hi Torsten,

I'd much prefer the lay-out of the first option.

If I had to say why I would say: "It appeals to my sense of tidiness."
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[Jimwth]

Hello, Mr. Torsten. I like the first one. It's much more pleasant to look at, I think.