Lapre started his business in 1990, based around credit repair. Soon after he began selling booklets, helping people receive a FHA insurance refund after their mortgages had been paid. This led to his first big moneymaker, when he started an infomercial stating people could make $50,000 a week using his strategy which was based around “tiny classified ads” in newspapers.

Lapre’s first trouble with the law came in 2005, when the FDA accused Lapre of making false promises about a vitamin he was involved in selling. His business claimed the vitamin would assist against diseases such as diabetes, stroke, heart disease, insomnia, cancer, and arthritis. He would receive two warnings from the FDA before finally taking “The Greatest Vitamin in the World” website down.

Lapre would come to be monitored by consumer watchdog groups, claiming Lapre was selling false get-rich-quick-schemes online. On June 8th, 2011, Lapre was indicted by a grand jury for selling worthless internet businesses. He was accused of scamming 220,000 victims out of $52 million. On October 2, Lapre died from what appears to be suicide, but his death is still under investigation.

On his site DonLapre.com, there are photos of Lapre’s house and family along with a lengthy goodbye message.

I tried to create the best product on earth, paid out millions, made very little trying to make it a success, had attorneys review my entire company, paid out millions in refunds, tried to make the commission and products better every single year, and in spite of all that, I have been accused of something I did not do. I did not have the perfect company but never once did I allow one thing to be done that would violate any law. Nevertheless, because the majority of people did not make money, in spite of everyone of them being able to make as many $1000 checks as they wanted, I am left to fight a battle that will for sure destroy what energy I have left inside… I hope the pictures below motivate you to take a chance in life and try to do the impossible… It did not work out for me with my vitamins but I believe that being willing to fail is part of having a chance at success…. Never stop dreaming and for all those who sent me testimonials of what you did because of some of my help, I am grateful I made a small difference in your life…

Lately, it’s been noticed that Live.com spams the referrer logs of the websites, claiming that it is only about quality check.

But since they check it from only a small range of IP addresses, this can be noticed (which has been by plenty of people) and adjusted to, if someone is already doing cloaking. This is a really small job for black hats, really.

So what is really behind the scheme? Honestly, I don’t know.

But for me, it screws my stats, makes me use Google Analytics instead of AwStats to see the top referrer websites and keywords. Why does Microsoft force me to use Google? I don’t know, maybe thousands of employees didn’t think much about it.

If you decide to blog the IPs, you will be out of the Live index. Go figure. Quote from MSNguy from WMW:

The traffic you are seeing is part of a quality check we run on selected pages. While we work on addressing your conerns, we would request that you do not actively block the IP addreses used by this quality check; blocking these IP addresses could prevent your site from being included in the Live Search index.

But what’s more, Live botting and crawling increases AdSense impressions, thus lowering the income from running AdSense on your website(s). And in Michael’s and in my opinion, intefering with someone’s income is unacceptable.

Is Microsoft trying to ruin the AdSense game for Google so others would switch to other contextual advertising schemes? Now that’d be a plot. And a very likely one, even though not the one admitted officially (read Michael’s post for more explanation).

• Will Microsoft keep going with the sneaky tactic and not explain everything to the webmasters?
• Shall we block Live.com bots fom our websites?
• What happens next?

We shall see the answers to these questions soon, I guess.

For those of you that don’t consciously know why you should be using what color where or are curious about better understanding the fundamentals and psychological aspect of color. This article is made for you and will help you better make that next logo, site design or print design.

Color wheelThe first step is of course understanding the color wheel, which is of course one of the primary aspects of design. The color wheel is a blending of one color to another as they could be made if you were using paint. As you well should know most of us aren’t using paint and are using CMYK or RGB colors for use in our design work. (There are others of course that I won’t discuss here.)

Color Models

Subtractive color modelCMY(K) color model is Cyan, magenta and Yellow. The reason black is in parenthesis is because it isn’t actually a part of the color model. In order to get white when designing with this model you would have 0% of cyan, magenta and yellow. When printing instead of mixing 100% of cyan, magenta and yellow to get black, black is actually used to get a more pure black and better define the shadow areas on a print job. As I’m sure you have picked up on, CMY(K) is an subtractive color model and made primarily for print jobs.

Additive color modelRGB color model is red, green and blue and is made of the primary colors that most of us are probably use to seeing. RGB is typically used for work on the computer and is a additive color model, meaning you have to have 100% of red, green and blue to get white. This is because your monitors use light to display everything you see on your screen. In order for it to product white it had to include red, green and blue. In order for the monitor to be able to product black it just doesn’t include any of the RGB colors and produces a clean black.

Basic color theory is also good to know as well, this can help you make other decisions on your design and to better understand the foundations of color.

Color Theory

Color temperature diagramIt is important but not completely necessary to know the differences between warm and cool colors. Basically Red is the warmest color and blue is the coolest color. There isn’t much more to it then that but I have included a diagram to give a basic idea. This diagram of course is not colorimetrically accurate but if you are interested in learning more about warm and cool colors you can see a more accurate diagram here.

Achromatic colors are colors that don’t have any chromatic content, basically unsaturated colors. The most obvious is of course black, white and gray. Knowing this also helps you to know that black will increase the saturation/brightness of colors that are paired with it and white will show off hues to an equal effect of the brightness.

Nuances are when you have any two colors that have the same saturation and lightness. Colors that are nuances are the easiest to combine regardless of hue. Most of the colors that are used in design are muted, earthy or pastel because they are easy to add other content to without disturbing the design.

Tints and shades are basic but still need to be touched on. Shades are created when adding black and tints are created when adding white. Both of which can drastically change the design that you are working on in different ways. You can easily create different color schemes entirely by using a different effect.

Most of that information is pretty basic but it is always good practice to start with the basics, it is easy to look over some of the more rudimentary things. When you do you can easily miss a vital step or idea that would better help you with the whole of your work.

Color Schemes

Moving on from the color wheel you step into color schemes and the three basic styles that are used to produce designs. These are the fundamentals of putting together any kind of design that is used publicly and they all fall into one of these three categories.

The first category is Analogous which is basically designing with colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel. If you pick any of the colors that are directly next to each other and make your design completely around and with those two colors then you have successfully created an Analogous color scheme. The only down fall of this scheme is that if you pick two colors that are too close to each other they can blend together and create a messy look for the design. You want to be sure that you are not just using a tint of the same color when you are using this color scheme.

The next type of color scheme is Complementary, which will consist of colors that are opposite of each other on the color wheel. This is what people mean when they speak of color contrasting with each other in order to make things stand out better. When you have designed a complementary design you create simultaneous contrast that will make each color look much more vibrant when placed side by side. There are two major down falls when using this color scheme, the first is that if you place the colors on top of each other this will create the illusion of movement. This is a bad ideas if you are using a complementary color scheme for text because it makes it very difficult to read. The second is that if you use colors like Cyan and Red you can create discord in your design. These colors that put together are known as discordants and can cause some nasty effects in a design if you decide to use them together.

The third and final color scheme is of course Monochromatic which is when you mix white with another pure color and create a tint of the color. It is similar to Analogous but different enough to be classified as its own color scheme into it self. One of the most classic examples of this is Target which uses red with white added to it throughout the web site.

Most of this can help you to understand different methods in which to use colors and labeling the way you design things better it can also of course help you with different ideas that you may have for a design by using warm colors or using a complimentary color scheme. These all lead you to understanding the ways in which the human eye sees and identifies color but may not help to understand how the human brain interprets color. Which oddly enough has a regional change based on culture and and history.

Color Psychology

In order to understand the psychology of color you must understand that it isn’t a science but an ongoing study of the effects that color has on the human psyche. Although some colors will universally spur different emotions within a certain region there may be varying results depending on age groups also.

Red is the most emotional color that will deliver any one of the following feelings to your visitors/readers depending on the mannerism you use it and intents you have to use it: Energy, strength, passion, eroticism, fire, lust, desire, blood, risk, war, danger, attention and romance. When you think of this color you should be thinking about hearts, stop signs and fire trucks.

Pink is an easy one and is more of a soft color that will deliver the following feelings: Romance, love, friendship, femininity, truth, passivity, good will, emotional healing, peace, calming, affection, emotional maturity, caring, nurturing, sweet tasting, sweet smelling, ethereal, delicacy. It can also give the emotion of devoting to breast cancer. For obvious reasons you can see why the National Breast Cancer Foundation chose this color for the breast cancer awareness month. You should be thinking about women, breast cancer, romance and candy when you think of this color.

Orange is a stimulating color and is used to be associated with life and health. In restaurants it is used to encourage appetite. Orange is also associated with being tropical, fresh and invigorating. Orange usually is associated with the following feelings: warmth, energy, vibrancy, the sun, friendly, intense, joy, tropics, growing things, heat, creativity, autumn, earth, appetite stimulant, and youth. When you think about orange you should be thinking about fresh oranges, sunsets and sunrises.

Brown is an earthy tone and usually is associated with growth and life. When using brown it is usually to associate with health and nature. The typical emotions derived from brown are: earth, materialistic thoughts, home, outdoors, inexpensive, reliability, credibility, comfort, endurance, stability, simplicity, comfort, longevity, intimacy, tranquility, masculine, nurturing, contentment, fertility, generosity, dirt, substance, practicality, and hard work. Brown is best used with a texture to imply these things, otherwise it is simply just to plain of a color. When thinking of brown you should be thinking about dirt, wood and general nature.

Gold is a color that exerts wealth and has a general sense of class associated with it. In order for it to be used properly to get these connotations though it must be shiny in some mannerism otherwise it looks cheap. The obvious and only think that comes to mind when using gold is money and alcohol. But mostly just money and wealth are the two main and universal associations with the color gold. When thinking about gold you should be thinking about wedding bands, class and wealth.

Yellow is said to stimulate mental activity and be one of the primary colors of attention. When using yellow it is best to not use it too lightly or loses it’s stimulating effects. The typical emotions that are derived from yellow are: intelligence, light, cooperation, sunshine, joy, happiness, intellect, energy, cheerfulness, optimism, purity, warmth, honor, caution (only when used in small amounts), cowardice (although only within the last thirty years or so), imagination, hope, summer, philosophy, uncertainty, restlessness, glory, and enlightenment. When you are thinking of yellow you should be thinking of the sun, religion and caution signs.

Green is an earthy and calming color that can also imply intelligence also. It also has the implications of money with it but typically only in the US. Typically green is associated with the following emotions: earth mother, physical healing, monetary success, abundance, fertility, growth, renewal, youth, stability, endurance, freshness, nature, environment, tranquil, refreshing, quiet, hope, immortality, health, healing, good luck, renewal, youth, jealousy, trees, grass, vigour, growth, harmony, envy, calm, contemplation, and friendliness. When thinking about green you should be thinking about money, health and tranquility.

Blue is the color of wisdom and trust, it is also the favorite color of over 2/3 of the world and is least disliked by most cultures. This may be because the sky is blue and the water reflects the sky making most things seen on the planet blue. It is generally associated with technology and progressive creativity. The most common feelings that people have with blue are: communication, wisdom, protection, spiritual inspiration, calmness, reassurance, fluidity, water, sea, creativity, peace, calming, higher thoughts, the sky, devotion, progress, freedom. trust, loyalty, intelligence, reassurance, artistry, compassion, sadness, tranquility, confidence, security, cleanliness, order, comfort, cold, technology, intellect, ideas, sharing, empathy, relaxation, affection, inspiration, friendship, patience, contemplation, infinity, harmony, non-threatening, and dependability. When thinking about blue you should think about the ocean, technology, and tranquility.

Purple is a color typically associated with royalty and is also the most liked color of pre-adolescent children over any other color. When thinking about purple the most common feeling are: influence, spiritual power, self assurance, dignity, high aspirations, royalty, spirituality, nobility, ceremony, mystery, transformation, sophistication, arrogance, dreams, imagination, wealth, extravagance, magic, creativity, energy, ego, ambition, fame, luxury, and power. When thinking of purple think of monarchy, children and luxury.

White is a pure color and is typically associated with being good and is the most religious color. The typical emotions that are derived from white are: spirituality, peace, higher self, purity, virginity, reverence, simplicity, cleanliness, humility, precision, innocence, youth, birth, winter, snow, good, sterility, cold, clinical, sterility, clarity, perfection, innocence, goodness, light, fairness, safety, positivity, faith, coolness, charity, union, self-sacrifice, holiness, feminine divinity, pristine, chastity and positivity. When thinking about white think about church, goodness and pristine.

Black is a color that has mysterious and sometimes negative connotations that can create the wrong image if used improperly. The typical feelings that are derived from black are: protection, repelling negativity, power, sexuality, sophistication, elegance, mystery, fear, evil, anonymity, unhappiness, depth, style, evil, sadness, remorse, anger, underground, space, secretiveness, night, emptiness, dramatic, authority, prestige, grief, anger, and serious. When thinking about black you should think about space, evil and mystery.

There are of course other derivatives of these colors that can mean different things but I could easily write forever about the psychological effects of color and bore everyone to death. The previous 7 paragraphs don’t need to necessarily be ready but are there as a helpful place to look back at to ensure that you understand the psychological connotations of various colors. These are not necessarily the things that your audience will immediately think of it is more of a subconscious thing then anything. It just helps to build that rapport that you want to establish with whoever is going to be looking at your designs.

A lot of this is very basic but when it comes to color: things are pretty basic, either it looks good or it looks like crap and that is typically left to the designer on whether they can develop that skill or if they are going to fail to impress their audience enough for them to enjoy the design or bare with it to get the content they want from the web site quickly and efficiently. Which category does this site fall into? (BTW, this article is the reason I should break articles up into parts and not try and type it all into one very long article: 2,417 words.)

Comments

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Bookmark WebProNews:

Dustin Brewer is a web and graphic designer with a passionate interest
in everything that is technology. He currently is the webmaster and
editor for tech filter, a technology news web site, as well as a writer
for Gadgetell– a similar web site about technology news with a strong
focus on new gadgets.

Sometimes a misspelled domain can be harmful; googkle.com led visitors to a malware site that would upload various Trojans and downloaders to a PC just by going there.

In the case of Google’s AdSense for domains, intentional misspellings led to domains held by a Panamanian company called Unasi Inc., apparently for the purpose of gaining AdSense revenue, eWeek’s Ryan Naraine reported.

It was Microsoft Research that uncovered the scam, the report said:

The report listed Amazon, Expedia, and Mapquest among the brands victimized by the scheme. Google’s domain parking server Oingo.com hosted nearly all the misspelled URLs.

Security researcher Ben Edelman told eWeek of problems with Google’s domain parking:

Email the author here.

Add to | Yahoo My Web

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

You see, having a company like Microsoft focus too tightly on defeating Google in whatever Google decides to do means they spend less time paying attention to us and more time trying to beat up one of our competitors.

What’s not to love about that?!

In his latest scheme, he’d like to see Microsoft and Yahoo “clone the Google API” (which Google API? That’s not entirely clear.)

If Scoble really thinks that having a non-Google API is the real barrier to adoption, then I suspect he’s not trying very hard.

Keep focusing on Google man… And bring as many of your co-workers along for the ride as you can!

Reader Comments…

Jeremy Zawodny is the author of the popular Jeremy Zawodny’s blog. Jeremy is part of the Yahoo search team and frequently posts in the Yahoo! Search blog as well.

Visit Jeremy’s blog: Jeremy Zawodny’s blog.

I mean your entire financial worth, not just the money in the bank but the money that is tied up in your home, stocks, bonds and retirement accounts, everything that you may have or will have.

This is a field for professionals to work in not amateurs. You would not go to your neighbor ‘Dave’ and have him look at your trick knee (unless he was a doctor) and you would not go to see your in-laws and ask them to diagnose car trouble (unless they are mechanics).

But every day somebody goes to his neighbor or to their in- laws and asks them for financial advice.

Financial advice about things like asset management is a complex field that takes years of study to learn. There are many self-help programs on the internet and on TV that encourage you to learn ‘a simple easy system’ to make millions.

Well this is a flat out lie. If a simple easy system could teach you to handle your money and make millions we would have far more millionaires than we do. In fact only those folks that didn’t have a computer would be poor. Don’t be taken in by the advertisements that you get in your e-mail or that you see on late night TV.

Asset management can be learned but you need to pay attention to what you are doing and not give in to easy fads or get rich quick schemes. When you are considering what money you need to send your kids to college, go on that dream vacation or retire to the Caribbean with you are really considering your future.

Nobody wants anything less for themselves than their dreams. If you put your dreams in the hands of professionals you are far more likely to realize them than if you allow Dave from down the block to set your goals.

Discover important advice and information about asset
management. What should you look for ? And what
should you avoid. Click
==> http://www.asset-management-secrets.com/asset-tracking-software.html

Internetworld quotes Jim Lanford, the co-editor of ScamBusters.org in an online alert, saying, “Within hours of the earthquake and tsunami, scams began appearing online and offline. We’re not surprised by these scams. The same thing happened right after 9/11, and after every major natural disaster since then.”

Ploys include e-mails purporting to include photos or video of the disaster and its aftermath; such attachments can, in fact, be worm and/or virus payloads, the FBI warned.

Among the ways scammers are using the disaster, said Finnish security firm F-Secure, is to twist the typical “Nigerian” banking scheme with fresh and topical details from the affected countries.

The best advice – don’t click on anything in an email. Instead, go directly to the website of one of the aid/relief organizations. Both the BBC and CNN, for example, have lists of such places on their news sites:

Neville Hobson is the author of the popular NevilleHobson.com blog which focuses on business communication and technology.

Neville is currentlly the VP of New Marketing at Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson’s blog: NevilleHobson.com.

Answer: The location of a site’s global navigation should be decided based on two main considerations: site usability and search engine visibility. Placing the main navigation scheme on the right side of the page does have benefits. It also has drawbacks. I’ll go over the advantages and disadvantages of these navigation schemes in this article.

Making Web pages appear focused

For successful search engine visibility and site usability, the topic of a Web page should appear focused. During usability testing, which is a service we offer at our firm, some of the questions we ask testers include:

• What site are you viewing? How can you tell?
• What section of this site are you viewing? How can you tell?
• When you view this page, what does the company want you to do? How can you tell?
• Is there enough information on this page for you to place an order? Why or why not?
• If not, what information would you like on this page that would encourage you to place an order?
• Do you trust this company enough to place an order? Why or why not?
• What pages have you visited?
• What pages haven’t you visited?

(Note: We use these questions for a commerce site usability text, where the main call to action is to place an order or add to cart.)

On almost every page of a Web site, visitors should be able to look at a page and determine (a) where they are at, (b) the main focus of the page, and (c) what you want them to do. If visitors are unable to determine these three things on a page, then the page will have problems with search engine visibility and conversions.

Location of the global (main) navigation scheme

In terms of site usability, most people have grown accustomed to the main navigation being on the left side of the page.

When a site contains a lot of pages, it is quite common to have a main navigation at the top of the page, with a subnavigation located on the left side of the page. One of the problems with having a main navigation at the top of a page is banner blindness, where users typically ignore the content in the first 100 pixels at the top of the page. Reason? That location is where banner advertisements are commonly placed.

People are not accustomed to the main navigation being placed on the right side of the page. However, as a designer, sometimes I like to place the navigation scheme on the right side of the page. Using a right navigation has some benefits:

• Most people are right-handed, meaning that the mouse location on their computers is on the right side of the screen. When (usability) testers use the mouse to navigate the site, they do not have to put the mouse cursor over the main text to navigate the site.
• In Western countries, people read from left-to-right. Our eye-tracking software shows that testers tend to look at the center of the screen first. Then they read the page from left side to right side. So testers see the main text first, not the global navigation scheme. Likewise, the search engines also view the main text first, not the global navigation scheme.
• Our tests have show that people do not mind that the navigation is on the right side of the page as long as the navigation buttons look clickable and distinct. The right navigation also works best in a two-column layout.

Thus, placing the main navigation on the right side of the page, or doing the table trick, can be effective for search engine visibility and site usability. For the search engines, the main text will appear prominent because it is placed before the global navigation scheme. And as long as the global navigation scheme appears above the fold and looks clickable, visitors have no problems using the site.

The three-column layout

Although many sites do quite well with a two-column layout, we have found that a three-column layout can be more effective in terms of search-engine visibility, sales, and conversions.

The following list shows where we like to place various items:

• Column 1 – global or sub-navigation scheme
• Column 2 – main content
• Column 3 – visual calls-to-action, and applicable cross-links

The third column allows designers to showcase the main call-to-action so that it appears above the fold. Likewise, it’s a good location to put applicable cross-links, which are good for both the search engines and upselling. For example, if your site sells shoes, designers can place the “May we also suggest” links on the right side of the page.

Sites with a left navigation bar do quite well in the search engines, particularly if the navigation scheme is a series of graphic images instead of straightforward text links. If you choose to use text links as the main navigation in a left sidebar, be careful that the text in that column does not dominate the page. If a text-link navigation scheme dominates the page, the content of the page will not appear to be focused.

Conclusion

Whenever you design a site navigation scheme, always include two forms of navigation: one that is search-engine friendly and one that is slightly more visual. Usually, that means creating a set of graphic images for navigation buttons and placing a corresponding set of text links at the bottom of the page. That way, the global navigation is available above and below the fold (for usability). And the text-link navigation scheme is search-engine friendly.

Click here to sign up for FREE B2B newsletters from iEntry!

Shari Thurow is Marketing Director at Grantastic Designs, Inc., a full-service search engine marketing, web and graphic design firm. This article is excerpted from her book, Search Engine Visibility (http://www.searchenginesbook.com) published in January 2003 by New Riders Publishing Co. Shari can be reached at shari@grantasticdesigns.com.

Shari Thurow Answers SEO Questions: Click Here For Free Answers

One of the pluses we have as web designers is that millions of colors are at our disposal. Unlike the print world, we do not have to pay for each color we use. If we want to use a specific hue of yellow, for example, all we need to know is the hexadecimal code for that particular color.

One of the pitfalls of having millions of colors to pick from is that some people go crazy and use every color imaginable on their web site. This is a big no-no. Not only does it look unprofessional to use 20 different colors on your home page, but depending on the colors you choose, your page may not be readable.

It is extremely important to pick hues that complement each other. You will want to use a background color that contrasts well with the color of your text. People are used to reading black text on a white background. I keep this fact in mind when I design my clients’ web sites. Although I have never stuck with the black and white color scheme, I try to use a dark font on a light background. It makes for easier reading and a more pleasant experience for my visitors.

Color affects our emotions. For example, the color red makes us hungry. If you’re on a diet, it wouldn’t be a good idea to set your table with a red tablecloth!

Colors like blue and green are cool. Have you noticed in the summertime how sitting in a blue room automatically makes you feel refreshed?

Yellow is a wonderful brightener. It is cheerful and warm-like the sun.

When using colors on your web site, you need to consider the mood you want to create and the audience you are designing for. If you are designing a web site for children, red is an excellent color choice, because it attracts the eye and stimulates our metabolism. Red is cheerful and exuberant.

Blue is an excellent choice for a business site because it exudes professionalism, wealth and power.

If you are designing a web site for a nature group, greens and browns are natural choices because they are colors that are commonly found in the outdoors.

Another important consideration when choosing color schemes is cultural differences. For example, black is the color most commonly associated with mourning in the United States, but in Japan, white symbolizes sorrow. In Malaysia, green is associated with disease, and red symbolizes anger in Indonesia. As you can see by just these three examples, color is interpreted quite differently depending on the country. You must be careful if you don’t want to insult your visitors.

Choosing an appropriate color scheme for your web site is extremely important. Your color scheme must be carefully considered because the wrong choices could adversely affect your visitor’s experience at your web site. You only have one chance to make a good impression. Don’t blow it!

For more information about choosing color schemes, visit the following resources on the web:

www.godigitalstudios.com
www.visibone.com

Joanne Glasspoole is a Webmaster and freelance Web designer. Visit her Web site (http://www.glasspoole.com/) for Internet and technology news, insightful articles, and links to excellent Webmaster resources to help you grow your online business.

Let me start this review by saying that I am based in Europe where 56K modems are the norm and broadband is unavailable for most users. I therefore always have download speed at the top of my agenda for websites and Gaslamp Org passed my first test with ease. The site downloaded quickly enough through my slow gateway, the home page is a mix of text and images so I knew what I was getting whilst waiting for all the images to download.

My first impressions of the site were that it was an informative site that told me everything I needed to know about the GasLamp Quarter. This site had obviously been designed by a professional organisation (even if the webmaster may have a touch of colour blindness) and by extension that the Gaslamp Quarter would be a well run place rather than a cheap shopping complex. I could quickly see that things happen there all the time and when I had looked through the site I felt that if was in San Diego I would like to visit the GasLamp Quarter, have a meal there and be entertained. So job well done overall.

The pages within the website (with the exception of the home page) do fell part of the same site using a new window for the retail sites which tend to be of different designs gives the site separation. My biggest problem was the colour scheme. 30 seconds after getting the purple background area I had to move on as my eyes couldn’t take it. Rather than redesign the whole thing just modify each section to a white page background and use the “section” colour for the top bar, headers and highlights. The only part of the site that failed was the historical tour pages where the pages change style, shape and design and go to a left-right scroll bar.

The organisation of information was fine. If you ask 100 webmaster to design a category system you will get 100 different answers and 75% will work fine. No matter what you do there will always be a few square block pages to fit in round hole categories.

I didn’t spot any glaring code errors and even with Active X turned off the pages all loaded and the site was still navigable from the bottom menu on each page (even if some of the navigation is missing without the Active X top banner). The only links that give problems are the store links that go to corporate home pages rather than the San Diego branch page but that is Hard Rock Cafe’s problem not GasLamps. The only other error was that I checked the site in June and the “special offers” page still had Easter and Mothers Day specials displayed.

What would take this site to the next level? In my opinion very little is needed. Change the home page, change the historical tour to match the rest of the site and get rid of the bright background colours. Other options to improve the site would be to provide at least the historical tour in other languages for tourists; get the stores/restaurants pages to match the GasLamp design and allow on-line shopping but the latter two options are commercial decisions rather than web issues and its a good site as it stands.

Regards,

Julian Tandy
Nissan Rally Raid Team Website http://www.nissan-dakar.com

Peer reviewers volunteer their time and effort to help other ebusiness owners with their websites. Please take time to visit this reviewer’s site and say that you think what they’re doing is valuable to the web business community. For a complete listing of sites reviewed, visit the Peer Review section. If you’d like your site reviewed, send an email to editors@ientry.com.