This is a bit of a twist on the old thread about gag-inducing websites.
http://www.rochellesparrow.com/is the site of Snoory's Friday first hour guest.
The good news: The basic layout is well done. The size is good. The colors match the theme and are pleasant together. On the FIRST page, the navigation is intuitive, and matches the design well. Good start! Those are among the first considerations when doing a "wire-frame" (website mock up)
But then, the designer went bonkers.
The contrast between the text and the background is not high enough. Anyone with color perception issue would not be able to read it - and yes, that matters.
There is too much variety in the fonts. Stick to one font, or font family, with the possible exception of headers or logos.
Centered text belongs on wedding invitations and death announcements. IOW - it is considered overly formal for most uses.
The navigation layout changes. That's not unusual when you go from a portal page to content pages - but the portal page is flash based, and contains a lot of content. BAD form! And confusing enough to make visitors leave sooner than the designer would like.
Those are
venal sins.
Now for
mortal sins:
Calendars and event information has been imported from some kind of spread sheet application. That's fine on an intranet where everyone is used to your format. On the web, it's the kiss of death UNLESS you make sure it is consistent with the rest of the design, and FOR THE LOVE OF GOD
readable!Flash portals are now considered okay - they can be indexed by most spiders and there are things the developer can do to make sure they are.
HOWEVER, this one is way too busy. It moves too fast, has too many actions going on at the same time, and too wide a variety of effects (as with fonts, less is more) There is a toggle switch that should allow the viewer to turn off at least one of the flash presentation, but
it doesn't WORK!Last, while I know you guys have busted my chops before when I mention web design and medical issues, it is a real consideration when it comes to accessability issues, and accessibility is the reason why web standards exist in the first place. This portal is an invitation to seasickness, at the LEAST.
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I'm also not sure it can be navigated if you don't use a mouse (many don't). But, I'm just learning about keyboard accessibility myself - so that's just a random thought.
Now, I need to go find some ibuprofen, since I ended up with a throbbing head by looking at this site long enough to offer opinions.
AS for the woman herself, I haven't (yet) heard her speak, so I have no opinion on how much snake oil she has to sell.
