Help Needed! Launching Community Currency for Ethical Sector

[karl]

Design Help Needed! Launching Community Currency for Ethical Sector

We are due to launch our site (www.via3.net) which delivers a community and ethical trading service (based on community currency) for charities and businesses within the new economics new business. However,though I know a lot about currency and collaboration I know absolutely nothing about web design and need some help!

We are due to launch the service in October and are in the process of finalising the lay out and design of the site/ home page. Any constructive criticism much appreciated!

Thanks!
www.via3.net

[mossoi]

Looks good. A nice professional feel without going over the top.

The only thing may be to change the divider ( / ) between the links at the bottom. The forward slash generally represents a directory level so it could be miscontrued as talk is within locate which is within apply etc.

Just a small point but I've got to say something!

[mossoi]

One other thing, the colour of the links beneath the main title may be a little too pale.

They aren't immediately noticeable as clickable items.

[karl]

Thank you, really usefull comments especially the colour of the sub menus. All makes a lot of sense! However, if you have any comments on the navigatiblilty and message delivery of the site i.e. as a random user do you know what the site offers they would be also be really usefull.

Thanks!

[smoseley]

Great looking site !!! Everything is really well done. The navigation is easy to follow and well laid-out. The colors follow through on each page just enough... not so much that you feel like you're on a different site.

As for the copy, this is all I read:

Via3.net is a groundbreaking community and Internet service for communication, exchange and collaboration across the worlds of environmental sustainability, ethical investment, social enterprise, corporate responsibility, progressive economic and business action

I stopped there, because my brain was hurting. Try speaking in plain english terms. Don't talk down to your audience as though they're 3rd graders, but don't use your thesaurus for every other word, either. As George Bush says:

Verbosity leads to inarticulate and unclear things.

LOL

EDIT: That's George W Bush (as if there was any question)

[karl]

i never thourght the man W. could teach me anything, but god help me you have shown me the light.. Thanks!

[smoseley]

The ironic part is that he teaches through example.... "verbosity" isn't a word.

[justlivyalife]

Does that mean you are questioning the US President's speech?

[buntine]

on my first try i got a server error saying the server was unavailable..

Nice site. simple, easy to navigate. Dont forget to preload your mouseovers though.

[splufdaddy]

I like the design and layout, but the homepage is looking a little full. I wouldn't add anymore content w/o taking some off first, or you could overload your visitors. Looks good though, simple and professional, as others have said.