Know-How Exchange : Website Critique

"Naturalmente innovativi."

Why does everything in Italian just *sound* so much better? :)

I like the site. I think that not being able to understand the copy is a negative, however, as far as anyone's review goes. However, the MarketingProfs footprint is pretty big, so I bet there are some people either *in* Italy or who speak Italian who should be able to help.

The only thing that I don't like about the site is the use of daughter windows when I click some of the links. This creates a new browser window, which means I can't use my "back" button to back to where I was. Of course, I can just close the window, but my instinct is to hit that back button.

Also, while I think your use of Flash is very nice (and prossibly quite appropriate given then upscale nature of your product), this could hurt your visbility in search engines as there's not much HTML to crawl and index. If most people go to your site only because they know of the company or were told to go there, that may not be a problem. But if you're also trying to get casual Web searchers to your site, you may want to rethink this. Of course, you've already done so much work here that you don't want to scrap it, but maybe a second site--all HTML, no Flash--would make sense.

I like it, though!

Paul

Good morning (evening?), Ricky!

My thoughts, page by page...

The splash page looks cool (even though it's an irrelevant welcome mat to the rest of the site). The contact info that's on the splash page should appear on EVERY page.

The large graphics on the home page are a bit grainy. I think the edges of the images have that "lossy" sawtooth roughness that could be smoothed out. They look even worse on the deeper pages when they're enlarged.

The links from Galleria Lavori and Cerco Casa open up new browser windows. Not a good idea. Especially since the navigation bar is still in the header of the page, and none of those links work.

Although the other three links do stay within the original browser, when you hit the Back button from there the visitor goes all the way to the splash page instead of the home page. Yikes!

I understand the appeal of Flash, but the fonts on the flash-induced pages (like Azienda) sure are hard to read, and the lines are rather cramped. I think the text on the Cerco Casa page, for example, is much more readable (but I'd go one step further and try a stylish font like Verdana or Tahoma since they were designed for web readability). If they stay with Flash as a platform, see if the developer can improve the sharpness and line spacing for the text.

Is Lorenzo yours? Cute!

I got a real kick out of the map animations on the Contatti page.

On the Galleria Lavori page, the link to Ancona is missing.

Okay, that's it from me! Enough?

- Shelley

Ditto on the daughter windows.

I thought I was the first to note the Ancona link missing but Shelley beat me to it with her typically comprehensive and insightful review.

I'd lose the splash page because it does nothing to help impress the user or sell the business. Perhaps if you released the image with a picture of the interior of one of your best projects it might have some relevance. Otherwise it's just an impediment. The current image looks like you sell pebbles.

I like the inclusion of the history and the pictures of the 3T men. Makes me feel like I'm dealing with people nit some faceless corporation.

What is the gender mix of customers? If I was an Italian man I might be impressed with a picture of a woman who is part of the management team too... Or am I thinking too stereotypically?

I'm unclear whether you build projects and sell whatever you build, r whether people come to you to develop plans for their new house and get you to build them. If the latter, it would be good to show how you work with people to create a unique design tailored specially to their lifestyle.

If you don't offer that service, well, forget it then!

Hope this helps.

ChrisB

I had navigation problems, but they are covered above.

I really liked the white space, I liked the choice of colors and fonts, I loved the simplicity of the site, all these spoke of class and elegance... but I did not like your choice of photos. They did not evoke the same sense of artistry and style and beauty (nothing against your relatives) There is just so much beauty and art in Italy, I was expecting to see columns and vases and beautiful landscapes... the photos you have chosen do not illustrate the story you tell above.