a bit different, perhaps a plan b?

[ashul]

Hi All,

Has been a while since I have put up a site for discussion here - would be interested in what people think - thought the best way to get meaningful responses is perhaps take you to our news item first so you can understand how the site came about in the first place.. http://www.eduka.com/News/Eduka-Uncorks-Plan-B.aspx

Cheers

A

[alexpooley]

Hm, I'm not sure Ashul...

First of all, wine is obviously ultra-competitive. It's also uber marketing area right? So I pass on my pedantic comments below with this in mind. A brain dump if you will.

I've read the "three guys met in a bar, and one guy turned to the other and said..." type of story quite a few times in this niche already (and from WA even). And from what I can tell, the brand is basically - "these three guys" ? Tight angle. I'm unsure of what/who they're trying to resonate with.

I'm guessing they're pitching at the $20 a bottle, get me pissed because it's the weekend (15% alcohol!), market? And yet they give me pH, TA, and VA numbers for the wines which most people (including myself) won't have a clue as to what they really mean. Not necessarily bad to put those numbers there, but makes me double think their marketing intention.

What do these guys have than Yellow Glen doesn't? So YG is backed by some massive corporation of umpa lumpa wine makers, and Plan B guys are three dudes with a plot of land in the south west. Maybe the "we're in you're backyard and it's home brewed" angle should be pushed more? A picture of the vineyard with sun setting over the horizon, pictures of the three fellas making the wine with a token farm dog in the background.

The front page bites. It looks good, but IMHO it's not functional. Also the middle dude's cloud isn't pre-rendered or something like that because there's a lag between the text appearing, and then the cloud background. CSS Sprites FTW!

The "Margaret River" text overlaps the content text on the "The Frlankland River Plan" page.

I like the aesthetics of the site and the art work is cool. Not sure about the exclamation mark for branding though.

Entering such a competitive arena makes these guys far braver than myself. All the best to them!

[Franki]

serious web users, browse with their phone ;)

Not knowing what the goals of the site are make it a bit harder to comment, but then again, browsing the site doesn't give me any clue as to the purpose/goal of the site either except that it's there just for having a "web presence".

Apart from that great site!

[tuna]

First off, I like the concept.

Just I'ld like to question why a few things where implemented in the way they were.

1) main menu is hard to find and read , was this on purpose
2) why flash for the map? surely a unordered list of vcards for the addresses with JavaScript activated overlays hot spots over a background map would have done the job and been instantly accessible for the core information with or without JavaScript enabled.

[heist]

serious web users, browse with their phone ;)

Not knowing what the goals of the site are make it a bit harder to comment, but then again, browsing the site doesn't give me any clue as to the purpose/goal of the site either except that it's there just for having a "web presence".

Apart from that great site!

that was pretty much my take on it.. i couldn't figure out whether it was there for marketing or information or what.. the fact that they're willing to be daring with browser specs and design just suggests that they don't really know who their audience is.

in the end the majority of the content seemed to be about the founders and their stories, with a bit of product info and some random facts too.. it comes across as a mishmash, like "we should have a website" and then they've tried to find stuff to include. that's not a bad thing - they -should- definitely have a web presence.

this concerned me:
"Who knows, Google might one day get a Plan B and index the site despite the home page not having any content."

i'm no SEO and i don't know the rules... does this mean Google isn't even going to index their site?.... that's pretty uh, daring. :p

[temp]

woah you guys *read* it?

people read websites now? why didn't you tell me?

Ashul, it's a good demo of the flexibility of eduka CMS.

[tuna]

woah you guys *read* it?

people read websites now? why didn't you tell me?



*chuckle* this is what I'm doing wrong, I just look at the pictures and colour in the blank bits.. ;)

[Deborah]

2) why flash for the map? surely a unordered list of vcards for the addresses with JavaScript activated overlays hot spots over a background map would have done the job and been instantly accessible for the core information with or without JavaScript enabled.

Because it was the easiest and fastest solution for me to implement. I had already spent quite a considerable time with the layout and other elements. Also not sure if you noticed, the site is elastic - a client requirement, and the map being flash makes it easier to scale.

[tuna]

Because it was the easiest and fastest solution for me to implement. I had already spent quite a considerable time with the layout and other elements. Also not sure if you noticed, the site is elastic - a client requirement, and the map being flash makes it easier to scale.

Deb - some advice, make the text selectable in Flash, helps people no end..

[James Bull]

Hi All,

Has been a while since I have put up a site for discussion here - would be interested in what people think - thought the best way to get meaningful responses is perhaps take you to our news item first so you can understand how the site came about in the first place.. http://www.eduka.com/News/Eduka-Uncorks-Plan-B.aspx

Cheers

A

Ashul, how about a bottle of Plan B for the person who offers the best comment (not counting this one, of course). That's if there is a mutually agreed definition of "best".

[temp]

Ashul, how about a bottle of Plan B for the person who offers the best comment (not counting this one, of course). That's if there is a mutually agreed definition of "best".

that was me scroll up

[ashul]

Hi All - Many thanks for your responses - some I will have to take onboard going forward.

Alex/Franki, there is a bit of a plan - the current incarnation of a site is to establish a presence - and the audience is trade not consumer at the moment - get the bottle shops interested in selling the quirky plan b - so that is why the PH level s are indicated and it is also about the backers of the business.

Surprised about the clouds lagging - they are just call outs on a black bg

Gary, the next step will be consumer and the main menu as well as content will be more consumer focused. The idea is to grow the site as the business grows.

Ben, the google comment was tongue in cheek obviously we need all the help the big G can give but there is a bit of an experiment going on on that front.

I think there is merit to your comment James - and flattery generally begets the prize so Grant is currently in the front line - yes Grant it is not just a good advert for the EdukaCMS but also Deb's ability to use the CMS to make a site like this completely editable by the client.

Thanks again guys - I will have to try and organise a plan b tasting for you lot ;)