I really like it. I am always a fan of dark mode though, I know some people are big fans of light mode.
My big piece of feedback is that the header image (the one of the low rider, looking right on) is too big, bold, high contrast, and maybe a little out of focus? That part of the page is really meant to not be focused on. I can’t imagine making that photo black and white, but maybe you could put a black and white picture of something that was made with the CNC? Or maybe it could just be done with lower brightness and saturation? Maybe it could just be more of a low key background gradient thing? This is why I am not a graphic artist.
I also think the site is generally a little low on two things:
Things you can do with the CNC. Something like this shows really well, and it isn’t going to create crazy expectations. Or maybe this is an opportunity to make a big V1 sign? The shots with the machine could include an in progress piece. Or if you can fit in a second image, then it should be something the machines have made.
People. Even if it is just some slow motion hands doing something on the machine. Some kids and adults looking interested. It is all kind of cheesy. But I think it adds a sense of scale and makes it more approachable. The picture from the magazine article of the smiling guy really draws your eye in.
That’s my $0.02. But I don’t want you to think it is worse without that stuff. It is a nice update as it currently is. You’ve gotten some good actionable feedback and it looks good enough to ship to me.
In the LR3 description I would emphasize that it’s punching far above its weight, or write the same idea with different words.
All the machines punch above their weight, but for the LR3 there is a more direct comparison with commercial large format machines, whereas the MPCNC is more unique and harder to compare like-for-like.
The discord link could go to a landing page that says:
Are you sure? The forum is much more active and a better place for questions and discussions.
Take me to the forums / Continue to discord anyway.
I agree. The old header is B/W I had it in there but it is a 525. I will put some effects on the current pic. Let me know if it isn’t enough. The hard part is that picture is fluid. It changes sizes depending on your screen size. The previous theme has the logo /menu hidden until you scroll down so you can use that first picture as a large logo banner. This theme does not, at least not that I can find. so now if I put a large logo there it will be two stacked logo’s, not a good look.
If I could just have the 4 first picture active as rollovers (they can’t), that would be so perfect. I agree with this as well. I need a place to put them, and I need the pictures to use.
Anyone wanna donate some family fun pictures?
Let me think about this one, Seems like adding the user gallery is needed and would help with some of this, pictures with people…gonna be a bit harder.
True, words are hard. Let me see if I can come up with something.
Okay under the help links I can put a gallery/collage. It is static but I could look through the current gallery and see if any of the pictures would work. I could ask for permission to use them on the home page. That should add some humanity to the page?
I am not a fan of black background & white text. If someone wants to print that page, sometimes the white text does not show up. Doing a print preview in B&W it does appear to be gray & not white.
Let me dig through the themes again to see if there is one more full featured now that I have a better idea of what is desired. Might even be able to find one that can switch between light and dark.
It is so hard to “step up my game” here. The site has so many moving parts, and the most technical of it all is the actual pictures and content. I am not good with pictures, especially if I need to be in them. Might even need to get a little light box for some product pictures.
I used to when I needed to print out stuff for my boss & he didn’t have time to do the research. He wanted to see a printout in front of him for comparison of different products. I didn’t really compare CNC machines back then, but am sure others do. Sometimes I do like to have something in print in front of me so I can make notes on it for later.
I will get a new link up ASAP. The Shopify backend is not working at all right now, and the themes site is being on / off.
I started digging through the themes a bit more, instead of just the looks I started looking at some of the features. The premium/paid themes vary a lot. I pay for a handful of plug-ins monthly (back in stock notifications, etc) some of them include stuff like that an dcould save a ton of money in the end. I had no idea they could include features like that. Built in also means it should be faster, and match better, as long as there is not too much built in. So I think we might have a few links to look at as soon as the backend starts working well again.
I used to work with someone who would print out their emails amd keep them in a filing cabinet. Even mundane stuff. I complained about the waste and the boss told me, “paper grows on trees”. The concept still feels so foreign to me.
I guess it should be possible to have some kind of print function/script on the site, for pdf-export and the like. Whether it’s something that Ryan should spend time on - is a whole different question!
Ahhh my eyes hate me. Messing with 5 more themes. I had to narrow it down from 200 or so, then start to customize them. Each has some sort of thing I end up preferring to change. So it takes a while to narrow them down, for example one has a collections list that is just ugly, one has a goofy menu I can’t get rid of. Current collections page, Collections – V1 Engineering Inc
The focus is on the actual products page, I have requirements, like a pop out zoom, not the rollover zoom and a large info area. I think I am getting somewhere but it is slow going.
I think I have a solution to this, if teh main page is dark (most themes are not) the product pages are mostly all light. Not sure if that is a good solution but I am keeping an eye on it. Bare minimum, I will make sure it prints correctly with no background.
