Insurance site I just built...

[corywoolf]

Hello MR web developer members,

I am obviously (once you see the site) an amateur web-designer. Just looking for tips on improving the site I just put together. I am still working on more PHP forms for other insurance applicants. I am having problems keeping a variable width site and having text not stretch out too long. I like variable width sites, but what if I want a paragraph of text to have a maximum and minimum wrapping value. If you resize the main page to fit your widescreen monitor, you'll see what I mean by the text looking goofy and stretched (not the actual characters stretching). I like the usability of sites that are variable width, but it can make some elements look sloppy too. Any ideas?

http://www.allstatemichiganquote.com

Thanks in advance,

- Cory

 

[ritze]

i think it is a great start but one thing i can suggest is to populate the home page more like: http://www.statefarm.com/

just an example, doesn't have to be exactly like that just add more links to front page, otherwise i think you have done a really good job so far

 

[angelwatt]

For the fluidness, you can try centering the image to help better fill the page when the window is stretched far out. You could also set a max-width for the layout because it's harder to read long lines of text anyways. You can also make the image inline and float it off to the right, that way everything fills in more.

 

[Not Available]

On the front page, try finding a better image. That one looks awful from the resizing. Try using software like VSO Image Resizer. Also on the main page, try justifying the text.

Get rid of the frame on Auto Insurance Quotes, try replacing the link with one on the actual web form.

If you click the picture of a staff member, the blue link on the gray line is hard to read. Try replacing the color of the link. Also, try removing the underlining from links (text-decoration: none) and also find a better combination of font/font size.

Overall, it looks a little bit empty on some places, but it's nice and clean. Also, try renaming the page titles to something like Laurel Park Insurance Agency ● Index Page, Laurel Park Insurance ● Staff Members, and so on. Or reverse, Index Page ● Laurel Park Insurance Agency.

 

[corywoolf]

On the front page, try finding a better image. That one looks awful from the resizing. Try using software like VSO Image Resizer. Also on the main page, try justifying the text.

Get rid of the frame on Auto Insurance Quotes, try replacing the link with one on the actual web form.

If you click the picture of a staff member, the blue link on the gray line is hard to read. Try replacing the color of the link. Also, try removing the underlining from links (text-decoration: none) and also find a better combination of font/font size.

Overall, it looks a little bit empty on some places, but it's nice and clean. Also, try renaming the page titles to something like Laurel Park Insurance Agency ● Index Page, Laurel Park Insurance ● Staff Members, and so on. Or reverse, Index Page ● Laurel Park Insurance Agency.

Thanks to everyone for their input. I have heard frames are not favorable in general, but I want the global navigation to be in the same place at all times. I offered a link on the insurance page directly to the form (by itself) incase someone's browser doesn't support frames properly. Since the PHP forms were made with a purchased prefab form database, I don't know how to have the global navigation and form on the same page without using iframes. I agree on your advice and about it feeling empty, I am still waiting for the client to provide the real text. A few thousand brochures were sent out and they have the web address on them, so I had to have something up in the meantime.