Testing New Website

[The Whizzard]

Hey, all! I was hoping someone would goto Johnny D's BBQ (http://www.johnny-ds-bbq.us) And let me know if they're able to connect.

Thanks,

~Whiz

[posw2ksocks]

I was able to view it. Good job. Is there only 2 pages to it? Reading through the menu I started getting hungry! Sounds like they have great food especially the boardwalk fries.

[The Whizzard]

Originally posted by posw2ksocks
I was able to view it. Good job. Is there only 2 pages to it? Thanks! I wasn't sure if the domain name updated to the DNS servers yet.
Yes, there are only two pages at the moment. I'll be adding a catering page and some others.
Reading through the menu I started getting hungry! Sounds like they have great food especially the boardwalk fries.
There's another local open pit BBQ, Bear Creek, which I thought had some pretty good ribs. While they are good, ours are very tender. They melt in your mouth and don't have the mess associated with other BBQ ribs. That's right, you don't need a napkin to wipe your fingers or face!
If you're ever in Southern Maryland, come check us out, you won't be disapointed.

[glasdave]

Yes, the site is working fine.......didn't see any prices on the platters, though. Nice clean layout,to bad your 2k miles away.

[Choozo]

Originally posted by glasdave
Nice clean layout,... Uhmmm .... looked a bit 'Warez-like' to me. You know, all black background with big red/blue text and smaller white text - ever tried to print a page like that? (what if someone would like a printout of the menu?)

Just my first impression .... Cheers :)

[The Whizzard]

Originally posted by Choozo
Uhmmm .... looked a bit 'Warez-like' to me. You know, all black background with big red/blue text and smaller white text - ever tried to print a page like that? (what if someone would like a printout of the menu?)

Just my first impression .... Cheers :) Thanks for pointing out the "WAREZ" thing. Fixed that and it should be printer friendly.

[posw2ksocks]

What about going with a nice white background with black text? It'd probably be easier on the eyes for your viewers. I used to have a black background on my website until quite a few customers complained about the text being a strain on their eyes with the background being black so I re-did the whole site with black text on a white background. I have to say it does look a whole lot better! This is just my opinion though.

[posw2ksocks]

Oops, nevermind! I just went back to your site to see that you've changed the background to a pinkish color. Looks better!

[theN]

Hi

Nice & no-frills & fast site, eventhough pink is not my fave :). Just a couple of quick points. Before that a little about where I'm coming from...I'm not a resident of USA nor acquainted with BBQ thing (never eaten/seen it). So I don't understand some jargon and local display conventions. But you're online, so are fair game ;)

Home Page
- Love this page display-style...the lines in red actually form a full line "Johnny D'S BAR-B-Q NOW DELIVERS! 301-866-0995". Thats fabulous.
- this page must atleast have a link telling about yourself. Conventionally "About Us". You could try clubbing "With over 20 years of experience..." and "A little note about the owner..." into an "About Us" page.

AFAIK a menu-page with item description and price does not also talk about the place or does it?

Menu Page
- what are the numbers under columns "Sandwich, Platter, Ribs Only, Platter etc" cost or weight? The tables would look even more attractive with a thin border.
- no need to use * when the explanation is right below; like in "Fountain Soda *not available for delivery".

Further, when you use * to denote something special, conventionally there are 2 *s. The word/phrase with the * and the sentence explaining the *. In this case please put a * next to column-name Platter.
- Don't break meaningful sentences into 2 lines i.e. "Hours - Dine-in/ Cary-out Mon-Sun 11am-7pm" would look better in a single line. BTW, I guess thats Carry-out (missing 2nd r).

Catering Page
- page is slightly confusing. I've never seen menus with prices below the item description? guess its a matter of local convention! Could you try a table with columns like -
item_name brief_desc price
- a uniform look&fell helps viewers a lot...you have the first 2-rows with 2-cols and the rest with 1-col. Was that intentional in the sense they are a combo or something??
- 2-col in the last row "Bulk items to be picked up..." could be renamed to Delivery Terms or appropriate jargon and preferably shouldn't be a part of catering table

BTW, is Southern Maryland some kind of district / general location? You don't tell anywhere how far away from your shop you're willing to deliver?

If you think your website is is obvious to your customers, then have a good laugh at the all stuff I wrote (seems I have way too much time on my hands).

Best of luck with your business and god bless you.

regards
theN

[neondog]

not bad for a start but it could use some polishing. The logo on the catering and menu pages, top left corner could use some cleaning up. Looks like the image wasn't flattened and cropped properly. Download speed on dialup was good..kudos there. Most people forget that the majority still dials in for the net. Kepp up the goood work.

[The Whizzard]

theN and neondog, thank you both for your input. I've only been working on the site less than 24 hours, so some polishing/re working is to be expected. The logo is something I did in an attempt to put something up. We have a nice one already, but it needs to be scanned into electronic form.
If you're from the DELMARVA (Deleware, Maryland, Virginia) area, chances are good you know what Southern Maryland consists of.
Most of the content was taken, verbatem, from our existing menu and catering fliers.

Thanks again gor everyones' input.

~Whiz