I am not selling anything as most folks here already grow their own stuff. However, we just finished our website for our CSA and produce delivery service and I would like some feedback on it.

Need specific comments on how it loaded, easy to understand and is it appealing? Also, other than personal and farm photos which are coming soon- what else could be added to make it better?

Thanks for the help folks- I may just be able to have my husband quit his job and work from home this summer! Yeah! Amy

-- Amy Richards (amysgarden2@earthlink.net), March 14, 2002

Answers

Hi Amy, So do you have a web site address? Daryll

-- Daryll in NW FLA (twincrk@hotmail.com), March 14, 2002.

Sorry about that! Just trying to make it hard on you all!

http://www.amysorganics.com/default.htm Amy

-- Amy Richards (amysgarden2@earthlink.net), March 14, 2002.

Well it loads very fast, though it's late here. A P4 1.3 Ghz running Win ME and IE6, through a 56k modem running at 44000bps. Yes it reads fine though I did skip a little I like how easy it is to navigate. A good choice of fonts, easy on the eyes! What to add? Some recipes! Nice backgrounds too!

-- Ross (amulet@istar.ca), March 15, 2002.

When I used the url you posted, I got this page cannot be displayed message.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), March 15, 2002.

It worked for me ok, loaded well too. Maybe add some pictures of the items, and info on how to use them, how they are grown, pictures of where the stuff is grown too and the people who do the growing and other work. Maybe a few tid bits on why organic is good/better and the soil/building testing stuff, info on why the natural fertilizer used is better than the chemical ones. Good luck with it, the site looks good to me.

-- Thumper/inOKC (slrldr@yahoo.com), March 15, 2002.

Loaded fine on an iMac with IE 6.x. There is something very appealing about that little cow, don't know why. :) It's cute, but with attitude.

--->Paul

-- paul (ramblerplm@hotmail.com), March 15, 2002.

loads and appears good with win2k IE6 and Netscape. I agree about the fonts- good choice. Nice clean simple layout. Good subdued backgrounds although the foodbasket.jpg background on some pages could could be a bit hard to read for some with less than perfect eyesight. Maybe a black font would work better on that background or subdue it a bit more. Clear and concise navigation. Presentation to the point and no-nonsense. Your cowlogo.gif is 50k and could probably be optimized down to half that which would speed the loading up for dialup users. Overall it looks like nice work. Good luck with it.

-- Dave (multiplierx9@hotmail.com), March 15, 2002.

Your site loads quicly on the very slow system here. On CSA & Newsletter pages might go with either a darker ink color or lighter background to make the text easier to read, like you did on your About Us page. Saw a number of little things but don't know how much of a review you want. If you want a fuller review, email me.

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), March 15, 2002.

In the our goals section, is there going to be something more, or did my computer not download correctly? There are large gaps between words in the text with the last word of a line being all the way across the page. Otherwise it's really good.

-- gilly (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), March 15, 2002.

I am using Linux Mandrake8.0 operating system with Opera5 browser. Had to remember to turn on the graphics as I tend to surf alot with graphics off since I have slow internet connection. Looked fine and navigated fast except for backgrounds. I would get plain blue background with text, then half minute later after having read half way down the page, the background design popped up. Just my slow connection I'm sure although unusual for Opera as it usually hangs until all photos etc are loaded to show page unless I have graphics toggled off.

-- HermitJohn (hermit@hilltop_homestead.zzn.com), March 15, 2002.

Got curious. Still using Linux operating system, Netscape4.7 browser was oddly faster navigating your site but gaps between words on first page were still there, forgot to mention that on last post but front page showed this way also with Opera.

Then tried Konqueror browser. It was tad slower than Netscape but showed words as I think you intended with no unsightly gaps. Konqueror browser recognizes some IE only tags in html that the other browsers I use dont, so I assume whatever you used to create your page is IE biased. I imagine vast majority of your potential customers run some version of M$ operating system and browse with IE so its not worth your time to correct. Just a point of info, Opera is very picky about sticking to agreed on universal html standards so if your site shows up well in Opera, it should show up well with any browser.

-- HermitJohn (hermit@hilltop_homestead.zzn.com), March 15, 2002.

Take Amy off the end of the addy .Nice job.

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@hotmail.com), March 15, 2002.

Very nice! I wish you well. I, too, like the cow! Amy

-- Amy (kimico@aol.com), March 15, 2002.

Yeah I did the same as Jay and just copied the whole line, including the Amy. http://www.amysorganics.com/default.htm That is a very neat way to market your farm's produce BTW. I will show it to a neighbor of mine, who's facing some pretty stiff competition for organic veggies, and farmers market sales.

-- Ross (amulet@istar.ca), March 15, 2002.

I like it, I am wondering if any of you from OK. are interested. I know several sell goats, I sell lambs, blueberries and other stuff like soap, anyone interested in CSA Farming. Amy I like your site. You also live in an area that it will probably work. People in the Northwest have an appreciation to how things are grown, so do some of the Northern locations I have lived in. I think this part of the South is not there yet. My blueberries are organic at the moment but I wouldn't even bother advertising that way, most people here just want to know the cost and will not buy unless it is the lowest cost around. Let us know how it works out.

-- debbie (bwolcott@cwis.net), March 15, 2002.

WOW! You did a great job!

I absolutely LOVE the great backgrounds, however I do agree that they need a to be subdued a shade more and/or the text should be a size or 2 larger on those pages (news,delivery,recipes, and storage)to make them more readable (but don't dump them if you can help they are so cool!)

I only had one page that had the the sprawled out lettering...

-- Novina in ND (homespun@stellarnet.com), March 15, 2002.

I LOVE it! So does my youngest-he knows a farmers market when he sees one! (peaches, cherries, free samples----!)

-- Terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), March 15, 2002.

Thanks Ross, Your link popped me there at "warp 9" . Looks good , Amy. Just add the features you think appropriate. Very fast loading site.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), March 15, 2002.

Thanks everyone for your responses! My husband is going to do some revisions tonight that address some of your comments. You guys were absolutely right but when you look at something a hundred times you don't see it from a fresh prospective anymore. Amy

-- Amy Richards (amysgarden2@earthlink.net), March 15, 2002.

I just quickly read the first two pages, and just one point immediately comes to mind: we live in Kitsap County, so I know where Whidbey Island is, but the vast majority of websurfers do not, so be sure to put in "WA" and USA somewhere in your first page. A website is accessible from ny computer on the globe, and is an international marketing tool. Not that you're going to deliver to Oshkosh or Caracas, but just so's people know where you are.

-- snoozy (bunny@northsound.net), March 15, 2002.

neat,clean easy to navigate. w/ my 24,000bps connect the graphics rarely finished loading before i clicked to another page.:O

thanks your site has given anther boost of enthusiasm to study the nasty html some more & get my website up & going.

right now all i have is a web page at www.localharvest.com, look up mississippi & i'm the only one there!

btw the local harvest web page is free & it could link to your website...do you have your csa farm listed w/ the robyn van en site www.csacenter.org ?... also free, go for it!

-- bj pepper in C. MS. (pepper.pepper@excite.com), March 15, 2002.

Really nice web site Amy. I found the whole thing very easy to read and very informative. I especially like the way that you introduce the other farmers who supply your CSA.

The only thing I can think of to point out is to remember, with the USDA's organic ruling, if you are selling more than $5000.00 worth of products you must be certified organic.

Please let us know when you get the pictures of yourself and your farm on the site. I'd love to see them.

-- Murray in ME (lkdmfarm@megalink.net), March 15, 2002.

Hi Amy,

Looks nice. I would add the WA as someone stated before. As I was curious as to where you were located.

Also you need to add titles to the pages (you may already be planning this) if you go to each of your pages and look at the top of the browser it will say Home Page, New Page2 etc. If someone bookmarks your page they won't know what site it is. It will also help with the search engines.

Nice site.

Robert King

-- Robert King (info@king-consulting.com), March 17, 2002.