Web Site Redesign

[stuperfied]

Ive just renewed my site and now im keeping in the spirit of things and giving my site a new look too. I have gone with add banners to display items of interest and now im trying to decide on some other effects to add. I have thought about using mouse over animated hyperlinks but cannot decide which ones.

Does anyone have any suggestions about cool looking web page designs which I may be able to incorporate into my site? The url is http://www.killercomputers.com but there isnt much there at the moment except some general ideas I was running past some people.

I also have a price list which is in Excel format and need a way to easily update new prices from it as they come it so if anyone has any ideas they would be much appreciated.

[DainBramaged]

So are you selling computers? Parts? Everything else? What are your goals? What do you want your design to "say?"

Are you going to have a shopping cart or simply by reference and email?

I guess I don't understand...

[Killawat]

you should DEFINIATLY get rid of that "new page 1" title bar

[isus]

the fact that you use frontpage does not inspire my confidence in you as a web designer.

[Matt]

the fact that you use frontpage does not inspire my confidence in you as a web designer.

Have to agree. The problem with Frontpage is that all of their websites look like cookie cutter sites. You can get a more custom look using dreamweaver http://www.macromedia.com Integrate that with Flash and you've got a good thing going. It takes longer to learn but you'll have a better looking site. But good job....Oh and remember to change the New Page 1.

[stuperfied]

Thankyou for the overwhelming interest, I will try to answer all questions but if I leave anything out could you please let me know.

I operate in all areas of computer related sales, installations, upgrades, service, repairs and support (both hardware and software related) with the exception of schooling. I operate through the use of proper banking, email, fax, telephone and inexpensive advertising, I do have a limited shopping cart avaliable on the site but it is a free version and only allows for a few sellected products to be listed. I do not have eftpos or other facilities avaliable as they contain fee's which would only serve to increase the overheads of our bisiness which I must eventually in turn pass on to the customer.

Too many times I walked into a computer store, seen a $3000+ AU price tag and wondered what the dealers cut would be. Therefore our original intended prupose is to provide computers, related hardware, accessories, software and support (in all related areas) to the general public at the cheapest but fairest prices possible whilst still maintaining an honest and fair profit margin.

Thanx for the heads up on the "page 1" thing, I guess I havent got that far yet but will fix it momentarily. I do not need a frontpage as a crutch but rather use it as a shortcut to typing the code manually although I will download DreamWeaver as suggested to assess its potential as an easier shortcut. I know some PHP but my knowledge of java and javascrypt is limited.

I hope I have been able to answer all your questions to satisfaction but once again if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

I spent the better half of last night making an add for the Leadtek WinFast A380 Video Card as an example of the kind of feature items I might place in an add banner at the top of the screen, the feature item is currently displayed on the site in the add banner with some other insignificant pictures I added from my images folder to fill it out. I have also decided that I will not be using pop-up's, official paid advertising, unwanted redirects or other such clutter on the site as other businesses do which we all find annoying.

[nasrules]

If you want to advertise on your site, you should look at Google AdSense. It's not intrusive, it's simple to set up, it pays well and people often like having it there.

Although I haven't used the WYSIWYG portion of Dreamweaver for a long time, I find it's code editor to be unbeatable. I've tried numerous versions of Macromedia HomeSite which is supposedly where the code editor is taken from, but I still prefer Dreamweaver. It really is the best web design/development tool out there IMHO.

[stuperfied]

Yes, I have concidered Google Add Sence very closely and agree with you that it is non intrusive. Do you have a link to it and if anyone else has input on the subject either positive or negative I would be very interested to hear it. (Please be constructive where possible)

The file I have chosen to download has details as follows: "Macromedia Studio MX (140,675 KB) - includes Dreamweaver MX, Flash MX, Fireworks MX, Freehand 10, ColdFusion MX, (developer edition) all-in-one". Is this the corect software or should I discontinue this download?

I have now changed the heading on the Killer Computers (http://www.killercomputers.com) site.

Again, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and I hope to make the Killer Computers site as user friendly as possible.

[Afn]

Amazon.com is the standard for e-commerce. If your site does not match the functionality of Amazon.com, your not going to make any money.

Your domain name has promise, you have to find a gimmick, and back it up with a standardized, readable site.

Computers are a commodity, and you have to justify your higher prices.

Changing the site to an information portal on how to modify your computer to make it a killer computer may be the best way to make it go.

Good luck.

[Christoph]

@isus: your french fun on your site is completley shit! its not funny on french! Im french

[stuperfied]

Ok, I see where you going with this Afn and I agree. Amazon set the standard but I believe that Amazon got a little off track with their web site which is understandable and very easy to do when you have your hand in so many different cookie jars at once (excuse the pun).

My prices are $100 Proffit on systems, 12% on anything under $100 and 10% on anything $100 and over. Delivery must also be concidered which is $10 for express postage on parcels under 3KG, $25 for 1 Box (eg: Partial system) and $55 for 2 Boxes (eg: Full system). I do not charge GST as I earn under $50,000 per year but I do have to pass on the GST of the companies I buy off. All these prices are in Australian Dollars as I do not operate outside of Australia. I will put up a section detailing our pricing structure. I believe that if you are in business and you are that ashamed of your prices that you cant show your customer how much you make in profit then you shouldnt be charging that much.

Our gimmik has always been "Killer Computers for Killer Deals" but I have always been unsatisfied with it as I think it lacks something. Good idea Afn, I have always wanted to put up a section like that but which also explains the inside of a computer in simple understandable terms for all those who are computer illiterate and informs the customer of what the estimated cost of each product should be to help save them from getting ripped off. I have always thought of this business as a way of killing any chance other computer businesses have of ripping people off in much the same way as car industries do so maybe there is some way of incorporating these ideas but I will have to give it some thought.

What does the french fun have to do with this topic, I dont know. Spamer!!, lol.

Ok, I have just spent half the night trying to get a fax through to america only to realize that the problem was my dialing rules, it added the country code twice on me. But the good news is that maybe now that I got the fax through I will regain control of the Killer Computers domain name and be able to renew it again in july.

Once again, great input and I am amazed at the quality of these replies. Thankyou all, I look forward to hearing more but for now I think I should goto bed before I take up all of the Zeropaid storage with this post.

[collideous]

Where's the site? There's a page with a Java Applet and a scrolling Marquee text. Is that all you got?

[Krypt0]

Where's the site? There's a page with a Java Applet and a scrolling Marquee text. Is that all you got?
same what I got.

Empty Java Applet that directs to 'http://www.killercomputers.com/www.killercomputers.com'
and scrolling marquee text 'Insert mouse over links here.'

[muffenme]

:fire

I wouldn't use script, vbs or js, if I was you or activex plugin.

:hole

[stuperfied]

I think I will have to start writing shorter posts because people dont seem to like reading long posts.

Yes, thats it. I got sick of the under construction sign so since im paying for it I put some very basic ideas up there.

Is there a good reason for not using vbs, js and activex?

[nasrules]

Marquee text is despised by many millions of people, as it that in a blink tag! Don't use it if you can at all help it!

What's the main design of the site? Is all the price range in Excel format? I could point you in the right direction with setting up a simple system to display data from a database or XML file using PHP which would also be easy to edit.

http://www.google.com/adsense

[stuperfied]

Removing scrolling Marquee.

Yes, I recieve one main price list from a favorite distributor amongst others on a monthly basis for ease of handling and tend to buy souley of them to save on delivery as they are the average cheapest for quality but product possitions in cells vary. It has the standard format of headings and products in Col A, prices and "EX-GST" in Col B.

EDIT: Banner link fixed.

[isus]

@isus: your french fun on your site is completley shit! its not funny on french! Im french
whoopdy doo.

notice how there is a link to email on my frontpage?

feel free to use that instead of writing a worthless comment in someone's thread.

honestly...

[muffenme]

:fire

Stuperfied first of all scripts like js, vbs, or plugin like activex need to be active and second they have a bad rep when it comes to some site trying to use these to transfer adware, spyware, virus, worms, and any other bad thing to your computer and some times your anti virus doesn't see it because it new and they never had a chance to update the anti virus itself. vbs and js are also know for the silly popup windows that try to get you to buy something that you don't want.

Software doesn't always work to stop these thing and unless someone create a langue that first doesn't suport popup boxes or the ability to read or write to your hard drive then standard html would work.

:hole

[stuperfied]

Do you mean that I should only use HTML because people will feel safer on my site?

I think I have decided not to use Google Adsence as I have found insufficient evedence to support claims that people are accepting of their presence. I did a thorough search of their site and I have found no information detailing how much profit is generated per click, the fact that google chose not to publish this information makes me suspect that google is not completely honorable.

I have downloaded Dreamweaver and found it to be everything you all suggested it would be and also everything that frontpage is not, therefore my fingers thankyou and so does my brain.

[nasrules]

JScript is fine to use although I'm not a big fan. You can also use ASP or PHP, but people of wary of other forms of dynamic pages or scripts.

AdSense pays well, I know from experience.

[stuperfied]

How many hits do you get on your site per month and how much do you get paid per month?

[nasrules]

To be honest, I can't say as my site got hit by a clicker-robot so Google cancelled my account. This was in the first fortnight of me having the ads up, but it was up to about $13, and I only get about 30 individual visits a day.

[stuperfied]

Were you clicking on the links yourself?, lol.

www.killercomputers.com temporarly has a weird message on it. This is because we are having trouble getting OpenSRS to release the domain name to us.
The Domain Name was registered by a partner who no longer has anything to do with killer computers and the admin email is pointed at one of his old accounts. Since he will not make the effort to obtain the username and password I have Faxed OpenSRS and provided all relevant information such as a copy of my drivers licence, our business certificate and a letter signed by my mother and I who are the only current partners of killer computers. They said they would not release it without his id even though I explained that he has nothing to do with killer computers and will not help.

I sent them a return email stating that I have control and I explained once again that the old partner has nothing to do with us and told them that I have put that message on the site to prove it all.

Sorry, I know this is not relevant to the topic, I just thought I should explain for those of you who visit the site to stop any confusion.

[ROCKAMANIAC]

Google ads are the most used ads nowdays... GREAT WEBSITE though ! ; ) Two thumbs UP!

[stuperfied]

Thanx ROCKAMANIAC.
My site keeps changing though because im just fiddling at the moment trying to decide what look would be best but any input on what you like, disslike or think makes a good site would be appreciated.