[webarch-websites] review the layout of https://webarch-dev.host1.webarch.net/

[Jonathan]

OK well, I'm just having a look round, generally looks REALLY  good: I 
like the crazy black and white photos on th homepage!

--------------------------------------------

My general comment would be a suggestion that to add to design, hosting, 
support and ethics, what about "About Us".
It would probably have (in my mind) the existing "About" and "Join Us" 
as sub-menus, along with "Contact" - althiough the latter perhaps ought 
to be separate on the top level menu?

I suppose my general expectation would be to see at the top level:

- "Services, Support and Pricing" [if that's too long, maybe "Services 
and Support" or the two (Services and Support) as 2 separate items but 
stick "Pricing" under Services, (I suggest) and "Documentation" under 
"Support"]
- "Ethics/About Us"
- "Contact Us"
- "News and Blog"
... and "Login"??
... maYBE "Feedback"???
... maybe "Search"???

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In terms of glitch-spotting at random, I noticed on
https://webarch-dev.host1.webarch.net/pricing/
the sentence " All of these factors result in our ..." is broken by a 
diagram ... in fact also to mention the text on that pie-chart is partly 
black against a black background ...

On
https://webarch-dev.host1.webarch.net/support/
"Get in touch ..." should perhaps more usefully be an email link ?? and 
read "Get in touch by email" ??

I love "Web Work is the House Special"

I would humbly suggest that the following doesn't need to be included in 
the section
"The Bottom Line
     £42 per hour
     £290 per day
The minimum time period we charge for is 1 hour for non-members and 15 
minutes for members of the co-operative."

For prices people will click "Pricing". Maybe ... But I accept it's a 
matter of judgement - don't take my ignorant comments as having any merit!!

Similarly we might consider removing from
https://webarch-dev.host1.webarch.net/design/
"How Much?
     £42 per hour
     £290 per day"

On
https://webarch-dev.host1.webarch.net/response-times/

I think this page is good.

"support at webarch.net ... " [in 2 places on that page]
could usefully also be an email link (NB is it support@ or info@ ... 
doesn't matter perhaps)

Ahh, and
https://webarch-dev.host1.webarch.net/response-times/
says " Just bear in mind that our office is often only staffed between 
9am-3pm ... "
but that's inconsistent with :
https://webarch-dev.host1.webarch.net/contact/
which says 9.00-2.30pm
I think the latter is correct.


I'm not qualified to comment on the various pages under "Hosting" but 
clicking one or two at random I thought
(a) There are a few prices dotted around here; are they coded in, and is 
this a good time to ask / work out for future planning, if these could 
be somehow easily updatable from a one-ring-to-bind-them-all kind of CMS 
price list? Say on
https://webarch-dev.host1.webarch.net/shared-web-hosting/

On
https://webarch-dev.host1.webarch.net/be-a-partner/
The 3 following need turning into clickable hyperlinks:
http://www.mc3.coop/, Wordpress work to http://flet.org/ and Drupal work 
to http://agilecollective.com/

On
https://webarch-dev.host1.webarch.net/ethics/
Replace the 2nd "Webarchitects" with "it" in:
"Webarchitects is ethically focused because Webarchitects is a 
multi-stakeholder ..."

On
https://webarch-dev.host1.webarch.net/ecodissident/
I found a dead link
https://webarch-dev.host1.webarch.net/co-op

AS a non-tech person I might be confused by the difference between the 
various sub-menus under "Hosting" For example, if I'm correct, I could 
order a website hosting via:-
https://webarch-dev.host1.webarch.net/ecohost/
or
https://webarch-dev.host1.webarch.net/hosting/ {NB links not yet there)
or
https://webarch-dev.host1.webarch.net/shared-web-hosting/
Because I'm involved I knwo about this but outsiders don't, so can I 
suggest that at minimum each of these 3 pages (and are there more?) 
should also signpost to the others .. with a few words explaining how 
each differs.? OR group them all under one Heading - say the existing 
"Hosting" > "Hosting" one? Or does that logically miss somehting? I 
dunno ...

Also these in general some of these should have somethign like "Click 
here to buy now"

I also think that to clarify from the outset, the link "Hosting " > 
"Ecodissident" might be worded "Ecodissident: Secure server space in 
Iceland"


On
https://webarch-dev.host1.webarch.net/join/
."... the following form and the PDF version.." aren't linked to 
anything yet (I'm sure you know)


The "Documentation" sub-menus I haven't really looked through: My 
general thought is that it's a long list and likely to grow ... is there 
any merit in splitting into a few major areas? Like say:

Websites: creating, hosting, including domain names
Email, including email from your web hosting account
Online servers, databases, tools and architecture

Or perhaps group by or add major types of thing like Drupal, WordPress?

I know I'm incorrect with this especially the last one ... but anyway, 
wow that's a lot of comment, SORRY - I'll stop now!!
---------------------------------------
Cheers
Jonathan



>
>> Are those the right sections (design, hosting, support and ethics)?
>> How about the navigation and text?
>
> I think it's fine, I did wonder about adding some bits to the text but
> wasn't sure if the front page text was short on purpose or could be a
> bit longer?
>
>> Decide what stands out to you and what else you want to see. Prices
>> for each service are placed in each section, and at
>> https://webarch-dev.host1.webarch.net/pricing/
>
> I have added "pricing" to the navigation under Support.
>
>> The products and prices also need a review - what do you think?
>
> Yes, I think we need to review that and all the content on the site
> really.
>
>> The new blog content will go in
>> https://webarch-dev.host1.webarch.net/news/
>>
>> Do you want to post a couple test articles?
>
> Will do.
>
> Sorry for the slow response.
>
> All the best
>
> Chris
>