Thread: Please review my directory!

Please review my directory!

I have put a lot of work and time into my pet directory and hope you all like it. Please let me know what you think!

www.PawPetDirectory.com (Running Vantage 1.3.1)

JD,

Very impressive. I am terribly envious of your ability to style/design/modify your vantage theme. Here are some feedback items.

1. I really like the "user panel" area with links to various features (register, login, etc). I am probably going to copy that now.
2. I love the icons next to the menu bar headings.
3. I love the picture graphic, however, I feel that you should add a cat to the logo. Almost feels too dog-centric on initial viewing.
4. Styling - your home menu item has rounded corners when highlighted/selected. However, the other ones do not. Also, not sure I like the rounded feature in the upper left hand corner of the drop down on the user panel menu items. Seems a little out of place aesthetically speaking. But these are MINOR nit picks.
5. I do not like the FAQ page or the "live chat" interface. I feel like I should just be able to find answers to common questions easier than that.
6. When checking out the blog page, your first post runs into the comments bubble thing and it is acting up in my chrome browser. Overlapping text issue of some sort. Not sure why only on that post. I am referring to the look of the blog page...not the individual post page itself.
7. I personally am not a fan of the categories not having descriptions, but that is my just my personal preference.

I have not attempted to post an ad or what not to test that out, but on the whole it is a fantastic site. I wish I could do half the stuff you have done!

JD

Those icons on the homepage next to each feature you discuss - did you make those yourself or find those on the internet somewhere?

I just checked your site and saw some of the changes. I really like the new FAQ page much better now.

JD

I hope I am not out of line here. But, I went over your FAQ text and decided to make some edits. Feel free to do with them as you please.

First two entries, I believe you should have a comma after yes and no. The second one will need to be tweaked to read better.

How do I create a listing entry. Can you break those up into a bulleted list instead of having it in sentence form like you currently do?

The last question: Why is my listing is not active?

Should be edited to read "Why is my listing not active?" or something similar. One to many "is" there.


Also, just a thought. Do you think it makes sense to have the FAQs for the regular businesses wishing to list and for affiliates mixed together? I am not sure that is the best way to go. I wonder if the affiliate stuff might be offputting in some way to regular customers or what not. Or just confuse them altogether. Just a thought.

Hey ktc,

Your feedback is BEYOND appreciated, and I am very thankful for the details in the changes that need to be made. I have marked up the the errors and fixed them. Below is what I have changed based off what you have provided to me.

1. Changed home button rounded to full fit
2. Replaced FAQ with hands-on questions and answers (not live chat)
3. Fixed first and second question of Yes and No with a comma after them.
4. Broke down the second FAQ question into number listings for better layout.

As per the affiliate and business FAQ being mixed in, I am doing this so it is landed into one page and not confused into two different locations on the site.

Thank you so much for your feedback, I'm really happy you are enjoying the layout and the way it's looking and feeling to the end-user. I really do put a lot of man hours into this directory BEFORE I even advertise it. I'm a big perfectionist when it comes to websites that I feel, will make a huge change to the internet. If there is anything else you feel, that needs to be changed... please let me know and I will review them and make changed based on what I see.

I forgot to put in the previous post that with the menu icons, they are custom and put into the image library of the plugin that was designed.

It is quite clear that you have put a ton of work into it. Looks fantastic and very inspiring.

I love the new FAQ drop down style effect. If you have time to put a quick tutorial up or point me in the direction of a good tutorial for that I would love to learn how to do that myself. I don't even know what it is called or where to begin looking to learn that effect.

I also noticed that you made some sort of change to the navigation menu. Before, it was centered with blank space to the right and left of home and user panel. Was there a reason for the current look?

The share plugin on the individual listings looks really clean. Did you have to do any css/php changes to get that plugin to look like that or did you simply download it and activate?

The picture space on the ad listing looks bigger than the default version I believe. Is that correct? I like the way it looks in your test listing.

I would probably add the text "zip code" after country or remove country in the main menu search area. Not sure if you plan on going for international audiences. I plan to do something like that.

Also, what is the purpose or strategy behind the email subscriber box? I am trying to wrap my head around who would sign up for that and why. Businesses listing their business, why? Affiliates? I am not sure that there is any mention of that anywhere as to why I should sign up.

Are you planning on adding a facebook icon above or below the twitter icon in the sidebar menu area? I think those icons in the sidebar are good for the time being, but as you grow and gain credibility I would think that you might want to use the valuable real estate for other purposes like selling ad space or what not.

Very nicely done a lot of work. Have you used any child theme? It does look like Vantage with no child theme. Your FAQ page is done very well have you used any plug-in for accordion style page?

HI. Did not read all the comments but I am not liking the dark background and lack of images. Otherwise it looks user friendly. Goodluck.

link goes to a parked page. did you abandon the project?