New website soon- please rip it apart first for me ?

[DavidHale]

Oh and I'm not sure what's going on with the gallery things - takes an age to load (although that may be my connection) and puts up 3 different sizes of the same picture.

 

[Greg Masters]

Bill

As I spot things:

• 'Who we are' - make paragraph spacings consistent
• We only take small groups of riders out at any time- too many and a trip can start feeling like a procession and it starts becoming dangerous if there are any problems out on the piste miles from anywhere, so we strictly limit our numbers so that you and your pillion (if you take one) can get the maximum enjoyment out of your trip, in safety. Feck me, that's a long sentence!
• From Ireland to Romania and Turkey, he has covered nearly e Something bolloxed here!
• Wayne and Rosie need closer face-pics
• Moto Morocco live! (top banner) - missing a hyphen?? Same on video link.
• ... or dry bag on a rear rack is a good idea.(failing that, ... - superfluous full stop and missing space
• I think that you need to re-proof read all the text!
• Dual sport bikes with Knobbly or dual-purpose - why capitalise 'knobbly'? Wapper's already made the point about random capitalisation of words!!
• Bicycle tours - this page needs some heavy revision IMHO. It should be split between road-touring (and give an indication of daily mileage) and MTB. The whole page is littered with links that take to motorbike pages eg 'What bikes are suitable for our trips?'. In fact the whole bottom of that page reverts to motorbikes. Should there not be a new website called Velo-Morocco (or similar)?

But overall, I'd say that it has a good and pro feel about the site.

Nice job!



Greg

 

[Wapping]

Don't like the word 'Stuff' in GPS stuff.

My daughter says, "..... 'n stuff".

It's getting very close to, 'random'.

-----

Our road-only trips. Should read: Our on-road only trips

----

As well as having enough wear left on them to do the trip, your tyres should be in good condition and road legal by European standards. Moroccan roads can get quite rough from time to time with frost damage, potholes and occasional sand blown across the road; so pure sticky racing tyres are probably not recommended! Dual sport bikes with 'knobbly' or 'dual-purpose' tyres are also fine and you shouldn’t worry about their performance on the road. For instance, several of our tour lead riders run Continental TKC80 tyres for every trip without any problems.

I am not sure you want the speed bit..... It may put some punters off.

 

[DavidHale]

The section on the right called "Moto Morocco Keyword links"... what's going on below it? All a bit random.

Ah-ha! Now I see - it just took a while to load.

 

[Deleted account 220427002]

Really don't think you should have posted this thread until you had a lot more details and sections finished... too much unfinished... site will lose it's intended impact to potential cusomers if you show it now with so many bits unfinished and unprofessional looking...

the HD video looks bad too.. the choice of music is very very irritating and to me has no feel or connection for the pictures being shown... and the worse and most unprofessional bit is it's being presented in wide screen on youtube and it look as if it's been squashed up in a distorted 4:3 ratio.. it looks like you don't know what you were doing.... plus no fade out at the end... just music cut off.

 

[(RIP) Proff]

Good start Bill
on the "What we do" page >>

we will take a group our on a circular ride
Also on same page you go over same ground twice regarding pillions or partners

Whether a novice, an experienced off-roader or purely a road rider, there are trips to suit you as well-and on a lot of the trips, your pillion passenger is more than welcome to join you to experience the best biking roads in Northern Africa with you.

and around 2 paragraphs further down >>>

If your partner wants to join you on the trip, we’re very happy to have them along, either as a pillion or they can ride in our support vehicle


Will carry on reading and enjoying


OOOPPPS
On Bills profile >>>

From Ireland to Romania and Turkey, he has covered nearly e

very country in Europe, and has several successful Sahara crossings to his name on two wheels as well as in 4X4 expedition vehicles.

e very

 

[Fanum]

Ah-ha! Now I see - it just took a while to load.

Yup...it's a flash based widget- It can take a few seconds the first time but the plan was to make the main page interesting enough to hold the attention before you notice that the cloud is active

The cloud words are tags, and there are a lot more that need editing- I can't remember if 'squirrel' is still floating around in there but the cloud does need tidy ing up and tweaking for sure

 

[mozzup]

ahem, another 2 penneth...

I think the mouseover effect on banner would be better the other way round, dark usually, lighter on mouseover? Agree with Davidhale text formatting is a little to mixed, perhaps stick to left justified, maybe with just titles centred. The body text I wouldn't have 'justified' (i.e. right side straight line) I'd stick to left - it's easier on the eye.

 

[Wapping]

The maximum distance we ride in any one day is around 300 miles, with most days being between 150 and 200 miles. Seat comfort is important , particularly if you have a pillion. We do, however, stop frequently for photographs , ‘comfort breaks’ and drinks, as well as having a sensible lunch break, so the day’s riding is broken up nicely. Our support vehicle also has spare passenger seats. So, if your pillion wants a break, that’s no problem, either. Sometimes seeing the scenery from a vehicle without a helmet and riding gear can make a nice change to even the keenest pillion passenger!

Maybe add the km distance in brackets? We are not all imperial in our measurements.

 

[judge]

This ere post comments thing? I'm sure its down to the way it has been configured (or not yet configured) but I posted my comment, I guess it goes to the Admin for approval but it told me nothing of the sort and then chucked me to a random page that I hadn't posted the comment on.

Not a great user experience, leaves me thinking its either not working and I stop leaving comments or it is working and I done something wrong so I might repeat ad-infinitum and bombard you with repeat comments.

It needs to be 'stoopid friendly'

Given user interaction is critical to the success of growing a live site I'd suggest this is an important feature to get right.

 

[Fanum]

Really don't think you should have posted this thread until you had a lot more details and sections finished... too much unfinished... site will lose it's intended impact to potential cusomers if you show it now with so many bits unfinished and unprofessional looking...

the HD video looks bad too.. the choice of music is very very irritating and to me has no feel or connection for the pictures being shown... and the worse and most unprofessional bit is it's being presented in wide screen on youtube and it look as if it's been squashed up in a distorted 4:3 ratio.. it looks like you don't know what you were doing.... plus no fade out at the end... just music cut off.

I take your point Gary, but I wanted to do it this weekend to get a few views....it will improve over the next few days as more content goes on and stuff gets tidied.

The video is coming down too.....they clocked the music as being unlicensed so there are AMazon ads on it now which I hate- I have some copyright free music to add instead but it took 4 hours to render the vid and longer to upload it- it's only just under the 2 gig limit!!

The next one will be a better aspect ratio as well

PS if you don't like the music, you've got no taste anyway

( I was going to have some pukka Moroccan music behind it but TBH that gets quite wearing even for me.......any suggestions welcome on what to use instead )

 

[Fanum]

This ere post comments thing? I'm sure its down to the way it has been configured (or not yet configured) but I posted my comment, I guess it goes to the Admin for approval but it told me nothing of the sort and then chucked me to a random page that I hadn't posted the comment on.

Not a great user experience, leaves me thinking its either not working and I stop leaving comments or it is working and I done something wrong so I might repeat ad-infinitum and bombard you with repeat comments.

It needs to be 'stoopid friendly'

Given user interaction is critical to the success of growing a live site I'd suggest this is an important feature to get right.

Hmm interesting that, thanks Andy- I knew it was working 'cos I get the comments to authorise via email on the BB, but I haven't logged in from that end myself (doh!!) so I wasn't aware of the redirection thing......will definitely try and sort

 

[Greg Masters]

Stick a link back to the 'Home' page on every page please.

G

 

[Trippy]

The thing about being able to post on it is because it is intended to be a 'live' site- it'll become more important when the live trip reports and bloggs go up.

I can enable or disable it for any given page- at the moment it's open on most but that will be changed when its live so that only stuff that I want people to comment on (like a ride report so that other s who were on it can add stuff for example) can post.

Before anything goes on, I have to authorise it specifically, and there are anti-spam measures in place too, so it can't be abused

Maybe the problem I see with the reply facility is that with people posting under names like Tuned In, Jez and Toad it is obvious to the 'outsider' that these are mates from UKGSer and I wouldn't have that 'link' either & the mention of moderator. Again maybe thats just me.

And I agree with Tuned In about the YouTube clip.

 

[Fanum]

Map page (with interactive route overlays that you click and then see photos from along that route etc) is definitely coming....I've been playing with the Google map API and have the license sorted and can embed maps in there- I just have to make it look better before it goes up

Also coming will be a calendar and planner, plus all the downloads and files from the old site will be on their own page properly before it goes fully live

There are quite a few other missing pages at the moment- info about Ramadan, food, all sorts of content stuff etc

 

[Wapping]

This means that less experienced riders or those on slower bikes shouldn’t have any problems on one of our road trips and shouldn’t worry about ’slowing everybody down’. We do ask that you speak to us if you have notched up less than 2000 miles on the road on a large capacity machine or have held a full license for less than two years though.

Bill, I assume that you would ask the questions in your booking form?

 

[Fanum]

Maybe the problem I see with the reply facility is that with people posting under names like Tuned In, Jez and Toad it is obvious to the 'outsider' that these are mates from UKGSer and I wouldn't have that 'link' either & the mention of moderator. Again maybe thats just me.

And I agree with Tuned In about the YouTube clip.

Those comments will be gone so everything is fresh when launched Jim......they're still there to show that it works and from the first round of testing.

 

[judge]

Agree with Tooned also - bit early in its evolution for a critique and I'd never subject a website to random 'horse design committee' review

I could show a website to a dozen web developers, experts in their field and the only thing they have in common is holes in their heads and holes in the arses

Same goes with Grammar, everyone will have an opinion not all will be right or wrong, so I won't argue with Wapping

Maybe the initial crash test dummy crowd weren't quick enough with their comments but the site is nowehere near defined (or so it looks to me) and until the other elements are in there it still looks like a re-tweaked brochure site than a LIVE site per se?

 

[roddy]

in the resources bit of the home page

resources
GPS stuff for morocco
and
on-site resources
GPS stuff for morocco

both take you to the same page ? it kind of looks like to me they should have been seperate pages?

 

[Fanum]

This means that less experienced riders or those on slower bikes shouldn’t have any problems on one of our road trips and shouldn’t worry about ’slowing everybody down’. We do ask that you speak to us if you have notched up less than 2000 miles on the road on a large capacity machine or have held a full license for less than two years though.

Bill, I assume that you would ask the questions in your booking form?

Oh yuss

We've had a lady rider who notched up her 2000th mile on a big bike whilst out on a trip......she did really well and thoroughly enjoyed it (the RR is in the section here) so it's not something that we would stop someone from coming over, but I do make sure I speak to the person on the phone and they and make sure that they'll be ok with less experience (you can normally tell)