Final Polish of Site

My biggest difficultyis the final polish.

[killroy]

I'm currently finalising a redeesign of an existing site. My problem is that I'm a techy through and through. I've got wonderfull code, graet algorythms, brilliant logic, clever techniques. Even super extensibility, posibilities and abilities.

But I such at design, business and, well, website completion.

I've created a relatively (for this countrY) large site. I created the database engine from scratch. I created my own scripting language, parser, compiler and all. And I've pushed it through improvements and revisions for 4 years. I've learned from my mistakes (frames!). It is also the oldest and crappiest site in my portfolio, but also the biggest and mosst successful.

Now I've laboured and rebuilt it from scratch, using all I've learned in the last four years. I even slaved myself through an improved design, which is VERY hard for me. But now I'm stuck with the site 99% finished and at a loss of what to do.

It needs a final polish. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and unhappy (unable) to release it as is. I'm at a loss of what to do. If anybody would be so kind to throw their expert webmasters eye over it and spot my obvious blunders I'd be eternally gratefull. The "old" site is in my profile, the new layout is available on a seperate url. If any of you are interested in a bit of a before <-> after study please let me sticky you the new site for peer-review.

Thank you so much,

SN

[ken_b]

Hi Killroy;

You don't really say what you mean by "final polish". Why not give us a general description of the kind of details you are having trouble finalizing.

Folks may be able to give relevant ideas more easily with a little better understanding of wht the problem is.

[killroy]

With that I mean thinks like "fluff" pages, "fluff" elements, like contact details, standard links, standard elements. Small design things where you can tweak bitsone way or the other. that sort of thing.

Like I got the stuff under the hood, I got a general idea for the chassis (design) but I'm missing hte last step to the complete car.

SN

[jamesa]

Wow killroy, your own scripting language, etc? I'm impressed.

Well, I think you need to stay on the same track: functonality. Just the questions change, but the goal remains the same. When you start thinking in terms of "fluff" that's exactly what you'll end up with.

Some questions:
- is the content easy to digest?
- does the viewers eye naturally gravitate to the areas you want?
- can the message of the pages be scanned easily?
- can visitors with different objectives all find content relevant to their needs?
- does the site convey a sense of authority?
- does the site appear trustworthy?
- would diagrams or photos help convey any of the concepts better?
- does the site illicit the desired emotional response from the user?
- does the site contain the elements one would expect from a site like this?

All of these are design questions, IMO, and will dictate design decisions.

[peewhy]

A good dry run is to ask a friend, not for 'honest opinions' but to go on to your site and with the intentions of buying a specific product. Be there and watch.

This way navigation and user friendly elements are tested.

If all goes well their, ask " what would you want to see if you had the option?"

Don't act on opinion first but take on board what is said. The world is full of internet experts and critics! Cutomers are your priority ... friends and critics don't put food on the table. That isn't to say that ideas are not to be taken on board.

Repeat the same with someone else.

Remember 'horses for courses'.

[killroy]

Thanks for all the valuable input. The site doesn't directly sell something to the visitors. It sells something to companies, that want to catch the eye of the visitors.

I've prided myself in an effective and efficient website, esay and quickly navigable by my visitors. Trying to avoid the usual mistakes (endless "0 reults found for example) by applying my technological skills.

This has also always been the sites greatest success with visitors commenting on that. But now, I want to make the site appear much more prfessional. It currently looks exactly like it is: the work of an idle afternoon, tweaked and tweaked again for 4 years straight.

When I talke about fluff, I mean all those things that aren't a direct result of the product itself, but of the process of making a website. Like bottom-of-page navigation, privacy policies/TOS/copyright notices and other legal jabber.

Sometimes it's as simple as havign a static top-of-page navigation, repeating it in the middle were appropriate, and afterwards beeing unhappy about the duplication.

It's the standard symptoms of working alone and having no extra, independant eyeballs to check things out.

I'm sure I'm not the only one with this "polishers block" andperhaps we can collect some more general ideas taht will benefit many other.

SN

[peewhy]

I always work on the basis that a website is never finished. I'm sure a few good tips and hints, some gems of ideas and you'll get what you want with your website. You've invested a lot of time - I wish you luck.

Peter

[killroy]

Hehe, I don't mean finished, I mean hmm, how about RC, release candidate? let's call it publishable.

SN