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Honeybee Designs has 6 Reviews

Below are the reviews left by other members on Honeybee Designs. Jump to review form?

ShadowedLife gave it on 18th Nov 2008 and said:
Hi there! I just visited your website and glanced at some pages as well. My first impression towards your website was of course the layout. It's really pink which is not a problem at all since it's related to jewelry and all that pretty stuff, however, I do believe the background on the topbanner is a bit "edgy"? the shapes are all "zig-zaggy" and it doesn't seem to fit somehow. I really like the text though. The dark title text with the url beneath as well as the subtitle on top, excellent.
Of course, since this is a new website I'm guessing?, there isn't much content to it, but I really like the simplicity of the blog area. There's the title of the page, in big bold letters and then the thin pink dotted line that divides the content from the title. Great job on that as well.
The footer's looking nice as well, again, a bit edgy, however, it's not that bad.
Maybe the entire site will look slightly better if there was a white border around the entire layout. I think it would look better XD at least from my point of view. hmm yes, but you're doing well, keep up the good work!

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afscom's Response:
Ah, the background image is called houndstooth, it's awesome. My favourite fabric :)

Thank you.
Anna_Kirstin gave it on 18th Nov 2008 and said:
------ First Impression ------
The pink background behind your header text is very distracting from the header. It takes away all of the focus from your title text and places it right on to the background. You never want a background to be the main focus of your header when the title of your site is involved - especially if you're wanting them to remember the title and return back to the site like you do with a store. HoneyBee Designs, while easy to remember, would be even more memorable with more visible header text. I would definitely consider rethinking the background image.

With a store or any-type of professional content, you immediately want the visitor to notice the following things:
1. The title of your store
2. Your content area (grand openings, sales, etc.)
3. Your navigation (how to find your items)

With your current layout, it gets noticed in this order:
1. Background Image of header
2. Shopping bad
3. The title of your store
4. Grand opening
5. Navigation

As you can see from the above, the background image and the shopping cart are distracting the new visitor from the most important things on your index.

I would completely remove the shopping bag from the index. It's more distracting than beneficial until I actually put something in it.

I really like the way you've done your header text. It's fun and interesting. However, I think the URL is a little too small. I would take it up a text size or two or remove it all together. The text is a little too close to the side of your div. I would give it a little more padding on the left-hand side.

The pink box that say "New in Store" could use some padding from the top. It doesn't seem to fit with the top of the box being so close to the background of the header. Bringing it down some and giving it a border similar to the border at the bottom will make it both stand-out more and give your site a more spaced-out professional look.

For some reason the background image of the footer looks slightly like it's going up-hill to me. I think you would achieve a much cleaner effect if the separator between your content and your footer was just a solid color.

Your footer text either needs to be centered or aligned to the left. Right now you have a smiley out of place at the very bottom of the page. (Cute smiley.)

Text: Your text isn't as unreadable as I have seen it on other sites, but I would still increase the text size a little. I like the text color that you've used.

Navigation: I'm a little confused about your navigation. At first glance, it looks like you've included the navigation twice.

The top navigation runs into the same problem that the header is having - namely, the background image being distracting. I would rename "Blog" to "Home". Blog is reminiscent of a personal site. A professional store would have either "Home" or more commonly something like "HoneyBee Designs" or whatever their name is. I would also change "RSS" to something else. A lot of people outside of the typical blogging, etc. internet community will have little to no idea what RSS stands for. I would find a way of incorporating it into your site with an explanation for what it is and does so that those who don't know will understand it. Of course, then again, it probably wouldn't appeal to most of those who don't know what it means to begin with. ^^; I suggest having a solid background color for your navigation to cut back from anything distracting from it.

From a navigation stand-point I would consider making your header text clickable and the URL returning your visitors back to the index page.

Contact and Track, the credits, and your privacy policy really could just be mentioned quickly in your footer. That's where most stores have them located and probably where most people would first think to look for them.

------- About --------

"Jewellery" is spelled "jewelry" unless it's a Scottish spelling I'm unfamiliar with.

with p&p being free when you buy over Â£40 of jewellery in the one go.

Don't use p&p even with the acronym. It's unprofessional. Stores get business starting off based on people's opinion on how professional and reliable the sites and owners seem. You want to come across as professional as possible to gain your client's trust.

"Shipping and handling is free on all orders over Â£40" gets your message across just as easily and sounds more natural and reminiscent of what customers are probably used to. I may just be more used to the American "Shipping and Handling"

"enquire" should be "inquire" :)

"All items are shipped". Posted reminds me too much of blogs and stuff. I'm turning into a real geek. ^^;

"only accepts payment via paypal".

I will happily refund the full cost of the item, excluding the postage and packing cost (both for the item(s) being initially sent to yourself and you sending them back to me).

This sentence was a little hard to follow.
"I will happily refund the full cost of the item with the exclusion of the shipping and handling fees. All return shipping costs will not be refunded."

------- Glossary -------

The glossary was a good addition to the site. It's very creative to include it and I can see it being a big help. Just finish with H-Z. :)

-------- Privacy Policy --------

on any infomation

Should be "information".

------- Credits ---------
"As for the website..." floats towards the right-side of the page.

You really don't need the div class "bands". The ul tag will work just as well with out it.

------ Shop ------
Your jewelry is really cute. :)

Overall:
I think you really need to re-think the header background. It's cute and everything, but it takes away from the areas of the site that you want your visitors to really notice - like your name and your menu.

Your main sub-menu confused me at first as though you were repeating your main menu twice. I don't really think you need it. I think you would be better of showcasing one or two of your products there.

I hope you find this review helpful. :)

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afscom's Response:
Jewellery is the British spelling :) As is P&P which is widely used by hundreds of British companies. But thanks anyway.

The navigation isn't included twice, the main items are at the top of the page and the 'lesser' pages are included in the sidebar; standard practise for craft-related stores.

The div on the credits page creates a 3 column table-like area to display information, but as I've only got 2 items listed it's obviously not showing 3 columns.

Thanks for your review.
Haley gave it on 18th Nov 2008 and said:
My Review:

--Style/Design--

I am really distracted by the pattern on the top of the header along with your dark grey text. Not that easy to read for me. Your actual URL on your header is very squished and doesn't even look like the proper URL. Another thing that could be improved is the fact your site looks very very small in bigger resolutions. I am viewing on 1280x800, so it looks a little small - your page doesn't even read the bottom of my browser window. Maybe this is because your site only has one update? Not sure. I think a slight background pattern might make your site a little more colorful, and rounding your edges may be an option, too.

--Content--

I really applaud you for making your own stuff. It's wonderful to see that. :) I really like the amount of products you have on your site, but I think you should reduce the amount of products per page. Maybe have a different setup/display style? Also, right now your pictures are very small before they are clicked on. I recommend enlarging them a tad and adding some CSS borders to them to make them pop. I enjoy the fact you have a glossary. It's very handy!

--Coding--

I get some MySQL errors on your site, which is a big turnoff. I got a few on your tag: vintage section. Your CSS is organized well, though, so big points for that. I agree with another reviewer that said your navigational links don't need to be images. It would be better if they were just text.

--Originality--

Made props for your own stuff and selling it. It's a great purpose, but your overall site design is just a tad dull. The grey/pink color scheme could be taken to another level. Your "logo" is not really a logo - just text. I would recommend drawing some sort of actual logo and placing it on your site - the plain text is just a bit boring. Not bad though.

--Overall Thoughts--

Your site has a great start. I see a lot of potential in you, and I hope to see more from you in the future. I hope your business takes off! The site itself is a bit dull, but I think it could easily be fixed and improved. The patterned header needs to be changed, and maybe more content on your blog added, but other than that, it is a nice start.

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Aisling gave it on 18th Nov 2008 and said:
Okay, so, I think it's cute, but some things are out of place. For example, the title. It is too close to the edge. I think it would look much better centred with the navigation. The text near the shopping bag is out of line, the link is escaping from the box.

Your navigation needs a few things. 1) The letters are too squished together. 2) There should be a hover attribute of some sort, to clearly define the links.

You need more than one entry per page to make this page look nicely balanced. I understand this is a new site, so you probably haven't just got around to it yet. You do not need to link things in your sidebar, that are already linked in your main navigation. It's redundant.

Your About page is well done. It is interesting and informative. The Glossary is a nice touch. Your Links page is organized. Your jewellery is SO cute. I especially love the microphone one. WOW.

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afscom's Response:
Thanks.

The link text is squished together to match the header text, it's just a style that I like and it actually features in some of my necklaces, which aren't on the site as they've sold out!

Again, thank you.
shroom gave it on 18th Nov 2008 and said:
Well, the first thing I noticed was how randomly placed some things look. Since your "New in store!" sidebar is a solid pink, it attracts too much attention away from your only half-pink header image. Same thing with the shopping bag at the top.

Your navigation is pretty cute, but I'm no big fan. First of all, I don't see why you made every link an image. You could get the same effect with CSS, which would also decrease your load time. Besides, if you use CSS, you could make cute hover effects for each of the links. Of course, you could do that with images as well, but it's a little more work.

I like the simplicity of your layout, but it's a bit too plain for my liking. It looks like you haven't put much work into the CSS or anything. I know that I like a little more glam, so it might just be me! It's your decision though.

I just looked at your comments page. Why on earth is your comment background GREEN?!? That is just so random, and I'm wondering how you decided to just pop some random green in the middle of all that pink... Weird.

This may just be an opinion thing, but I really don't like the RSS link in your header. Maybe you could post it at the bottom of your blog? It will still be accessible, but it won't be with all your main links. I'm not sure why your users would ever find your RSS feed to be a big deal. They're here for your beautiful products, after all!

Thank you for adding a glossary! Haha, I learned something new today from that! I had no idea what any of those words meant before this. However, why is there only A-G? I'm guessing the glossary is not yet complete?

Overall, great work with the site! I can tell you're working hard on it, and I wish you luck with your sales. :)

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afscom's Response:
Hmm thanks for your review.

Every link isn't an image, it's just text. I'm not sure about the green comment field that you're talking about, as it's white for me?

I've only added words that I've used to describe my products so far which is why it ends at G at the moment!
worldangel gave it on 18th Nov 2008 and said:
First impression:
The pink tab where you have at the side, right below your header is a little bit out of place and clashes with the background you have in your header. The shopping cart information also looks a bit out of place, but more about that later. The text you use in the header needs to be bolder.

Layout:
The shopping cart looks out of place on the header. Maybe shift it somewhere else where it doesn't block the background image of the header. I like the pink and white theme in your website, but there does seem to be a little bit too much of the white space. You also need a bolder text or tab for your navigation links. The black text seems a bit harsh on the pink background as well, maybe use the same gray as what you have been using inside your header?

Links/Navigation:
So far, not much problem with the links, all seems to be functioning fine. I like the shop area, where customers can leave their review. But I notice images are missing for some of the items, it will be good if images are including for all because if not it will look like there is a hole there. And to make things look neater, I think it is best for those images to have borders. Great to see that you have an anchor link below to let your visitors move to the top after they have finished browsing :)

Content:
I like your About page, it does give detailed information about how the shop comes about and I think that could be interesting info that your visitors would like to know :) The glossary is an added touch to help your visitors with terms they do not know, another thumbs up! :) The link page could be spruced up and made more attractive, the font looks too simple and some of the text is not aligned properly so you might want to fix that. For the Contant and Track page, I am a bit confused by the information there. What is Facebook? Is it the same as Twitter or your e-mail address? And seems to have a very big space there, you might want to provide a contact form below to make it easier for your customers to contact you.

I admit that I am curious how the original theme looks like so it will be great to provide a direct link to that as well. But it is good that you have included the credits page.

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