A facelift for our website: thoughts please.

I think there are a few things that can be done to enhance your new design

1. The first question your home page needs to answer is: What is this website about? Unfortunately, I don't think the current home page answers this. Right now, a visitor has no way of knowing that you guys specialize in "iPhone apps and games". In fact, there's no mention of "iPhone" anywhere there. Sure, there's 'app' and there's 'iTunes', but having iPhone in there will drive home the point far quicker. It's the thought process - "oh, it's iPhone", vs. "Hmm... I wonder what this website is. Well, it says 'app'.. could it be for my android? Oh wait, it says iTunes" - and that's assuming a user has that technical knowledge

2. I would highly recommend you use a prominent image between your nav bar and the "we're on fb" text to show some screenshots. For e.g., look at these sites. A visitor would have absolutely NO doubt about what the site has to offer
a. http://tapulous.com/
b. http://tapbots.com/

Browse through www.smashingmagazine.com for some inspiration

3. A Blurb
Have a blurb in there that highlights what you do or what your app does. Like, in tapbots, you'll see it right next to their logo. "Robots for your iPhone and iPod Touch".

4. Page titles. Try adding something there too like "1026 Development - iPhone Apps and Games"

5. You *could* try splitting apps and games into separate sections. It will help you word the sections better to suit the app or game in there

IMO, these would be the top things for you to look at in your design.

 

Be honest - did you use a template for that site? I'm 95% certain I've seen that exact same style and layout on a couple of other app developers' sites.

 

Well it's not exactly a unique layout concept. No doubt you've seen dozens of other sites with a similar layout.

Header on top, then a navigation bar and a two-column content area below.

 

ill be honest. ur design is a basic design. i see that same design in alot of websites all over the internet. Ur coding is basic CSS. Nothing fancy about the coding and the design. Ur logo is very basic. PM Me if u need help or need help with any ideas. also u need a small support forum. theres other ideas too. u can do.

 

It's simple and to the point if that's what you're going for, can't argue with that.

 

Here's a simple one.
Change your font, its very basic. But don't go overboard, just a more unique one that's still easy to read.

A more complex and abstract one.
Give it more attitude. Good imaginations overcome technical (aka simple CSS) difficulty.

 

I think it's ok if a little bland. How about some screenshots/artwork on you front-page?

Oh, and I don't like the fact that the whole site is anchored to the left-side of my web-browser. Makes it look a lot worse when displayed in a wide browser-window.

Edit: I thought of something else I think is a real weakness (sorry): The site has a layout that doesn't really emphasize anything. There's a column called "app of the month", another column mentioning facebook and a third mentioning your game "power pegs". A suggestion would be to put the "app of the month" front and center, making it the dominant element of your front-page.

Take a look at the sites of companies like Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, Apple and notice how the layout leads the eye to the different elements...

 

also ur website isnt cross browser friendly. Meaning. It looks ok in ie. but it looks horrible on firefox. u should have all browsers installed on ur system. testing ur website in all browsers. chrome, safari, firefox, ie ect.

 

You could try crediting the author of the website template (http://www.freecsstemplates.org/preview/exploitable/) as per the instructions in the license agreement (http://www.freecsstemplates.org/license/)

 

Oh, so it's a blog template? Hmm...

 

Hi Jeremy,

I agree with what a few of the others have said about the cosmetics of the site needing a little brush up. However, I think that investing significant development time in your site is probably not going to be worth it.

The first question you must answer is: What is the purpose of this website?

If the answer is "to sell more apps," then I think this is the wrong approach. A full website is not a good medium to sell apps because you are not reaching people where they need to be reached to make a purchase, that is, on their device.

We get more than 10x the traffic on our mobile formatted website than on our full website. It is much easier to drive traffic to a mobile website by sending people there directly from your app.

That said, I do have a couple of regular websites, but I have a bigger reason for their existence:

http://www.BlueOxTech.com is my site to attract clients needing a contractor to develop iPhone software. These people will be browsing on a desktop computer most likely.

http://www.MoxieWordGame.com is the site to support my most popular game, but the desktop browse-able version exists because I have cross-platform aspirations that include the desktop eventually.

http://m.blueoxtech.com is our current mobile website, but it is in need of serious updating, as I have been so tied up in getting new apps out the door.

Just my 2¢.

Share and enjoy,

 

Good site but you can do much better with little effort!

App of the month. Well it sounded like your reviewing an app that is not yours. I think it's your creation, right? Also, move it to the right column. It's on every page but not promoting it properly.

Use the top section where the logo is, or move the main navigation to the same level as the logo. There is a lot of vertical space lost.

Your apps, that's what's important! This is not the AppStore Present your titles on the front page, not with the icon, but fun ads / posters, large screen shots, video (if possible) and compelling copy.

PS. What's 1026 standing for?

Cheers and congrats on all the apps!

 

i would start with the logo. It needs a new design. ur logo is plain and basic looking. then start with a whole new design on ur website.