[jfreeman373]

It has come to my attention that various individuals have their reservations about the SP Technology Website.  I am now here to find out what the commotion is all about. I hav polled many web developers before going online and even disucssed various alterations wtih a marketing firm.  After all was said and done, the site we have now is  the result of the time and effort spent.  There are many that just love our website, there are others that can't stand it. No one seems to be sitting on the fence as far as that is concerned.  


I am not here to attempt to please everyone because that will never happen.  Many individuals find cause with us merely for our mission statement; to those people, anything that changes for the better (by thier own suggestion) will still be found with disregard.  Unless of course we cease to exist .  


Now, to begin with... here is what is possible. Basically anything goes.  The system is database driven and the html was written by hand.  I wrote my own php libraries and all the interactive programs by hand (other than the Java chat room).  The graphics, the animations, the layout, functionality.....all by hand.  I even wrote the program I use for  database information entry.    


What I am attempting to say here is that I am not  inexperienced or have many inabilities in web design, netorking,ecommerce, or digital media work. (By the way I'm a musician and my real love is recording and mixing; which is a real pleasure when you build your own monitors that just smoke.  I'm not talking about the voice coils either).  


Now... what I would like is for people to offer suggestions about what they like dislike etc.  Please no suggestions on Corporate trademarks, logos, mission statements,  or product information.  They are in use on all of our marketing material,owners manuals, shipping materials, programs,manufacturing procedures, corporate books,checks, etc.  That's not gonna change.


PLEASE!!!... no suggestions about the pop-up....I HATE IT TOO.   When our trial marketing effort is completed....it WILL go bye bye.


If you think the website look is cheesy now you should have seen my original web page intro with the voice of James Earl Jones reading the introduction to the Timepiece 2.0 while laser beams shot out of our logo spelling the words "SP Technology Loudspeakers Inc." while  starship firefight sound effects played in the background. Whew...     Trust me... it's been tuned down a couple of notches.   Come on... if I got to work hard at something it better well be fun.


The look of our website can change in the blink of an eye, my text data and information can be called from the database anywhere I would like it to display without having to rewrite the programing...really not much work.  


If you have editorial suggestions on the technical writting, please refer your comments to Bob.  He edits his own text.


In any of your suggestions that refer to a personal conflict your system has with our website, please reference your connection speed, processor speed, and RAM allocation.  If you use a browser other than Internet Explorer or use a screen resolution other than 1024X768 your problems will be noted but may not be addressed.  


95% of all of our traffic comes from those individuals with the above listed specifications on a broadband connection.  I don't mean to be discriminatory but the numbers of the most get the attention of the host.  


It is very difficult to create a website that looks and loads correctly on all web browsers, screen resolutions, and connection speeds.  Let alone any animation or high tech model cutaways that may tax an older processor.


So while I assumed most people that were into hi-fi audio that got on the internet would have hi-fi computers with hi-fi connections, it seems I have made an ... well you know how the saying goes.


Last note...In the past I had written an online auction for guys to buy, sell and trade their audio gear.  Market Vision suggested that I take it down.  The work has already been done and it can be put back at anytime if the world so suggests;  If not, it stays in the dumpster.  


One more note...I lied .  We have a forum on the SP Tech website that noone seems to be using.  I know it's not the best but it's the first forum I ever wrote.  It works, that's about all I can say.  If it all possible please help me to get it going or I will probably take it down.  I don't mean to steer anyone away from audio circle, but it could be used as a supplemental to SP Tech customers. SO....everybody here that has bought our speakers "start talking on our forum!!!"    It will help those that stumble upon it from the outside world; unfamiliar with audiocircle or SP Tech; to get some conversation going.  You will really be doing a service for your fellow man that has not had the greatest opportunity a person can have by owning a set of SP Technology Loudspeakers.  


Finally, feel free to be candid on your comments; but please do not be rude.  I do well at giving and recieving fairly harsh criticism and I take and give no offense unless that intent is directed at myself initially.  If YOU had to produce a product up to the specs of Mr. Robert Smith; you would soon learn how to accept criticism yourself OR you would have to just quit, go home, and cry.  Which I have been known to do on occasion


SOooo........the gloves are off, let the comments fly, and thank you for your participation.


If you would like to contact   me directly you can email me at webmaster@4sptech.com

[Tyson]

I would suggest to not use frames on both the top and left side of your page.  Pick one or the other and put all your links there.  Personally I prefer having links and other info like that at the top or the bottom of a page, that way the "main" page only has to be scrolled up and down, never side to side.  Side to side scrolling is a pain and definite detraction to the usability of a site.

Also, I would suggest getting some high resolution digital photo's up asap, as the ones up now look photoshoped and not particularly enticing.  I'm not saying the speakers are ugly, in fact I think they look nice.  But I do think their images on your website can be improved.  This is a downfall of a lot of high end websites - they simply don't have good pictures of their product, and as a consumer this can definitely sway your opinion from "just browsing" to "this looks like something I want to own".

[pjchappy]

Just a few complaints. . .

Would like to see a different color layout. . .it is just too dark.

Would like to see good, clear pictures of the products. . .

A few of the pages have the glaring sunlight picture in the background. . .makes reading the material hard and annoying.

Too much java, or whatever it is. . .I find simple layouts w/o too much majic are better websites.

The framing should be adjusted a bit. . .

p

[Horsehead]

I agree about the color being too dark. High resolution pictures of the speakers are a must.

I had sent Bob some high res photos of my Continuums and suggested he use them on the website to show the speakers set up in real customer's systems.  Send me a PM if you want the photos direct and if you think you can use them.  

Overall, I like the information that is provided on the site, it just needs some polishing.

[jgubman]

The site's way too confusing, even the navigation has too many layers. Pick one navigation structure (left-hand nav or top nav) and stick with it.
The navigation buttons are a little dated and take up too much space. Most people are sticking w/ simpler, less stylized navigational elements these days. Simple tabs or just plain old styled text.

The frames should go and with a more organized navigation, wouldn't really be necessary.

The shockwave 360 degree photos are kinda low rez. I'd get rid of that and replace them w/ a nice photo gallery showing various angles of all the speakers and allow the user to blow them up if they're interested.

As far as functionality goes, I generally use either a Linux box at work or my Mac at home. Both are high speed connections, so no worries there, but on your product pages and on the pop-up, the inner frameset doesn't have a black background (only appears black on Windows IE) so, it's just about impossible to read the text. This is w/ Linux Mozilla and Mac Safari and Firefox browsers. Should be an easy fix.

Also, the inline links on the product pages don't work w/ the above mentioned browsers. Should also be an easy fix.

Generally, I don't really care about chat rooms or forums on manufacturer's sites, when there's a resource like audiocircle.

Hope you find this useful.

[brj]

If you use a browser other than Internet Explorer or use a screen resolution other than 1024X768 your problems will be noted but may not be addressed.

Why would you intentionally chose to focus on a subset of the viewing community when clearly defined web standards exist that all browsers fully support?

I'll simply ignore a website that won't render properly under whatever browser I happen to be using at the moment (Mozilla, Firefox, Opera, Safari, etc.).  Currently, I run Linux workstations both at work and at home, but over the past 10 years, my list of primary machines would also include Sun, IBM, HP and SGI workstations and Macs.  I only run MS Windows through terminal servers or group accessible machines, and then only rarely.  Even if I did have a Windows box as a primary platform, I would not run Internet Explorer.  Even ignoring my strong distaste for Microsoft's corruption of well established web standards with proprietary extensions, they have simply stopped innovating when it comes to their web browser.  Tabbed browsing is no longer a bonus for me, it is a requirement.

Unfortunately, I can use the current SP Tech website as an example of this.  The background on the current site renders in white under Mozilla instead of black, which makes the light colored text extremely hard to read.  Consequently, almost all of my information on, and growing interest in, SP Technologies products has been obtained through this forum, and Bob's extremely helpful and detailed private messages.  (Actually, I owe Bob a response at the moment... oops!)  If I had run across the website via a Google search, I most likely wouldn't have pursued it further.

I do have a strong appreciation of aesthetics, but when it comes to web content, my goal is to get the information I need or want as fast as possible and move on.  Anything on a site that slows me down more than a couple of seconds, and I'll simply go somewhere else.  Contributors to such slow downs can be poor interface design, non-conforming web elements, unnecessary use of flash, java or graphics, or just about anything else.   Please note that I have plenty of bandwidth and processing power, so my threshold is probably higher than most, but I see no reason to assume significant levels of each for a "typical" user.

Google is the phenomenal success it is because it is so fast.  Yes, they have compute resources to make the Department of Energy envious, but Google also worries about each byte of data on their pages.  Clean, simple, standards compliant and easy to navigate means I'll keep coming back - and mention it to my friends.

Yikes, I didn't intend that to be a novel, but I hope it provides some food for thought.  By the way, I applaud the use of a central database and common code libraries... just help me get the info I need as fast as possible in a standards compliant manner!

Horsehead:

I agree that hi-res photos are a great idea.  Can you put yours in a gallery for the immediate consumption of us impatient types?  Thanks!

[infiniti driver]

Is this not some really good info that folks are bringing to the table? I say...YES, great INFO!  All accurate too.

My only gripes/ darkness, and on dialup...it takes bloody forever. It actually takes MINs. not seconds on dialup. I have had the server expire and bump me off due to non-activity (dont ask me why) and it is ineffective as for as bandwidth goes.

Now let me kiss some butt...because it is due. I think the artistic creativity to be very strong...if I were advertising a video game or a skateboard parts site. I think it is "hip"...but for a high end loudspeaker website to do commerce, this is my idea.

Lot of green and tropical colors. Make it pleasing and clear. Larger print (smooth large fonts) for us old geezers to be able to read. A no brainer navigation. Something as simple as the msn home page for the dummies (ones that have money are dummies)


I met a very wealthy Man a few years ago and actually put a sound system in his new home back then. When I say very wealthy, how about 400 million in wealth. I asked him what he wanted. He said, I want a button to turn it on, one to turn it off, one to turn it up, one to turn it down, one to change songs. 5 buttons, no more.

He loves his bose wave radio too. He can work it.

[JohnR]

Hi jfreeman, you are a courageous person asking so frankly for feedback on a website  

My suggestions:

* You don't need the entrance page. This is (I think) a hangover from the days of David Siegel (I think it was him who popularized this idea, along with various programs that generate sites that way). Just go straight to the interesting stuff.

* Why use Flash? I had to install the plugin just to view the site and I don't see anything that actually requires Flash. I also have the problem someone else has with the white background in the Flash panels.

* If you are generating the page in PHP there is no need to use frames. Frames were invented so that hand-coded pages could be built with consistent navigation. With PHP, just make the code spit out the navigation around the main content section.

 * The pages on eg the Continuum are too long.

Hope this is useful, good luck!

[Carlman]

It needs a theme that is consistent with your product.  Currently, the site misrepresents your product.  That's my main gripe.  Clearly SP has put a lot of thought and R&D into the product and the website should represent you that way.

That said.....

I hav polled many web developers before going online and even disucssed various alterations wtih a marketing firm. After all was said and done, the site we have now is the result of the time and effort spent.

I have serious doubts about your marketing company's ability to define SP Technologies on the web.  If they thought your site was good, they do not understand what you do/your product.  I have worked with many ad agencies and web developers and none would have told me this was consistent with your product if they'd spent the time to learn what SP does.  And that's without ever hearing them!   I would wager "selling expensive speakers" is the extent of what your marketing company probably understands.  (based on the site)

I don't like to reference a lot of other sites because it puts you in a position of trying to copy someone.  So, I'm not going to provide any examples of sites that get it 'right'.  What most people consider good these days accomplishes a few basics... easy to read, clean, organized, and most importantly, makes people trust you enough to want to buy your products.  You need CREDIBILITY to convince people to consider your products on the web.

Making a site that accurately represents your business philosophy is key. (if your business philosophy is good) I don't see how a spinning shiny gold logo, black backgrounds, hard to read buttons, and blurry photos will appear as a good representation.  I'd also recommend shortening the text and keeping mostly factual data and summaries of the philosophies.

Most people want to deal with someone that's organized and to the point.    I can help... you have PM.  However, I hope my comments here were helpful as well.

-Carl

[Carlman]

And another thing... make it clear how much things cost.  I clicked on 'Buy now' and got this:

$698.75  

FEATURES:
Wood Veneer with high gloss front panel OR lower cost Black Satin finish overall.(subtract $75.00 per cabinet)

Constant Dispersion, Wide Bandwidth, Flat Response, Low Distortion, Pinpoint Imaging, Wide Dynamic Range / High Power Handling, Constrained Layer Enclosure Construction, Bi-Wiring w/ Neutrik “Speakon” & / or Dual Binding Posts, and High Frequency compensation for Full(4p) & Half (2p) Space.

You pay only $1073.75 NOW and then $1073.75 (plus C.O.D charges). For a total price of $2,147.50 per (1) speaker.

The total delivered cost per stereo pair of "(2)" speakers is $4,295.00 (plus C.O.D. charges). So don't forget to place the number (2) in your shopping basket if your intent is to purchase a stereo pair.  

So, is it $698 or $4295?  The price grows and grows as I read... adding options as I go.... Plus, buying half of 1 speaker, then another half... What the?  This is starting to sound really shady.  

I'd suggest you just indicate the price of a completed pair of speakers.

[JohnR]

Good point, who ever buys just one speaker...  

[JoshK]

All very good suggestions so far, especially:

1) No side to side scrolling, this is a PITA.
2) No flash, keep it simple.
3) No intro page, go straight to info.
4) Great content, just needs a little simpler organizational structure.
5) something lighter is easier on the eyes.
6) Hi-rez pictures are worth thousands of words.

Having to be an internet guru just to find the info your looking for isn't a great marketing goal.  Stick to simplicity and simple, easy to navigate organization.

Just my $.02,
 
but I have seen far worse......acoustic-reality.org for one!!

[F-100]

So, is it $698 or $4295?  The price grows and grows as I read... adding options as I go.... Plus, buying half of 1 speaker, then another half... What the?  This is starting to sound really shady.  

I'd suggest you just indicate the price of a completed pair of speakers.

Yup, I have to agree with Carlman. Very confusing here.

[nathanm]

I think the focus of the site should be promoting the two speakers you guys sell and not so much the reams of weirdy Christian pontification.  I say that  simply because it has nothing to do with some boxes that make sound.  That stuff is all well and good and obviously it's something Bob is very passionate about, but it really belongs on a personal website, not a commercial one.  I don't see why you want to potentially turn people away just because of that. "What the hell is this guy on about!?" - that is what I thought when I first visited.  I don't think that's the reaction you want.  People want to learn about the speakers; what they look like, how they're designed, what the specs are and how to listen to them.  They don't want a fourteen page philosophical treatise on life the universe and everything.

* The load time has to decrease dramatically.  I think someone said it took THREE MINUTES on a dialup connection?  That is unacceptable.  Try for an 8 SECOND load time.  The first page you go to should load the fastest of any of them.  I mean, when you're waiting for the index page to load on a cable modem something is severely wrong!

* Lose the entrance page.  Completely useless.

* Eliminate any and all Flash content.  Flash is for making animations, it is a creative tool, not a user interface tool.  It's slow, it's annoying, it requires a plug-in which yes most people should have, but still...why bother? The existing fly-in graphics are frightfully lame and cheapen the site.  Nobody cares about that stuff, it's a site about speakers not animation.  Even if Flash is used it should not cripple the site if the user does not want to use it.  Stopping to download more crap is a pain.

* There should only be one navigational element, not three!  Stick with a navigational set of links on the left hand side. Don't use frames.  Make a distinction between basic product information and lots of lengthy theory articles.

*Replace graphical buttons with straight text links, or use less cheesy looking buttons.  As Smeggy said, it does look like a sci-fi fan site!  Don't bother with mouseover animations, it's just junk that gets in the way IMO.

*Lose the pop-up when first loading the page.  Pop-ups are an annoyance 99% of the time and should be eliminated entirely.  AC's private message pop-up makes sense as it brings something to your attention (AND you can turn it off if desired which is good) But a pop-up for somewhere you already are makes no sense.  We've already come to your site, now don't annoy us whilst we're here!  Actually, this pop-up is worse than that...it has the words WARNING WE'RE OUT TO GET YOU!  I mean, what's the deal?  This seems like my computer has a virus all of a sudden!

*Provide small, quick-loading images of the speakers with links to larger ones if the user desires.  Shots of how the speakers look in a real world room helps the user get a sense of scale.  Show the back panel too.  The current pics are 3d renders which makes it look like you are selling vaporware instead of real speakers.

*Provide an easy to read list of specs that gives you the skinny on these things at a glance.  Then offer up the option to read about why these speakers are so good etc.  Keep this fairly short as well.  Then if a person is REALLY sold on the idea then they can read the full length Bob's bible mission statement thingy.  I'm not saying that it should not be there, but it should be 'off to the side' so to speak and not the most prominent bit of text.

*Get a shopping cart system that works.  The existing model is extremely confusing: pay some now...pay some later, is this for one or two speakers?  It's a mess, just tell us what it costs.  Make sure to provide photos of all the available finishes as well so we know what we're getting.  A good cart will not require instructions, it will be self-evident what you need to do.  It shouldn't be that hard really, as there are only two products! Heh!

* The cart should show as much information in a single page as possible.  Hitting Next... all the time is annoying.  Everything available to order and the options for them should be clearly spelled out on one page.  Does a person really need an account?  I mean, how often is someone gonna come back to order more $5000 speakers?

*Forget the message board\chat stuff.  Just give a link to AudioCircle.  Vendor-specific message boards in my experience are usually sparse and rarely used.

*Make sure the pages work on most browsers.  As has been mentioned, there's pages which give you grey text on a grey background - not good!  I'm using IE and I still get the incorrect background color as shown in these screen shots.  I mean, this alone makes the site pretty much useless unless you feel like copying and pasting the text elsewhere just to read it.  Don't give the user a bunch of guff about "this site best viewed with...blah blah blah" - nobody cares or pays attention to that.  They just want it to WORK, and rightly so.



*What's the point of the Web Search link?  Get rid of it.

*The support link gives me little more than a picture of a lens flare.  WTF?  And how much "support" does a person really need for a speaker?  If you can't figure out how to hook it up you've got a serious problem.  It goes without saying that if you have a problem with your speakers the contact info on the website would be where a person would look to call\e-mail for help.

Basically the main stuff you need is this:

Product information
Good photos
Design Theory
Where\how to purchase
Company contact information

The rest is just extra filler material that can be put 'towards the bottom'.

Keep it fast, keep it easy to navigate, provide nice sharp, color correct photos and don't annoy the user with technical java\flash garbage.

[Smeggy]

Ditto to all above. Niely put  

You *really* need a better logo too.

[F-100]

Very well said, Nathanm.. KISS (Keep It Simple) method is the way to go.

[infiniti driver]

I agree, Nathan definitly knows the "ins and outs" of effective web design.

Really...the kiss principal will always work.

When I first visited the site, I was using dial up. The browser (IE6) was hanging madly and I just got kicked off due to "timeouts" a few times before I got there. I then went to high speed and then to ultra high speed. Even with super speed, 4 seconds or more. Instant access and well placed cookies to bring the site up again are the key. Clean, bright, simple, easy. Other keys.

[JLM]

I'm definitely no web guru, but my suggestions:

1.) Increase speed, even our high speed service has "bad days" and I can get timed out.  This is a big, big issue.  Can't imagine dial up customers being able to use it at all except during very off hours.

2.) Provide a summary of the company design philosophy, background, and products offered up front (who we are, why we're here, and why visitors should be interested).  You're fishing for business here, so throw out the hooks right away.

3.) Organize is such a way that I'm sure I've seen it all the first time through the entire site.   (Some sites weave you back and forth past the same pages from various pathways.)

4.) Expressing your religous convictions is admirable, but secondary to what the site is about for many visitors.  I encourage you to hold to your beliefs, but don't be pushy about it (not saying you are, just a preemptive piece of advice).  Personnally I enjoy finding out what the proprietors are like away from the office.

[jfreeman373]

Ok...everyone.  I just got done typing a big long response and then my computer crashed when I hit submit.  So here is the short post.

Thank you all for the ego thrashing and I think it has worked out for the better.   If there are anymore comments on the updated site they will be appreciated as well.  I just don't have the wind now to say all the nice things I was going to say, so thanks will have to suffice.

Just for a heads up...if you don't have a CSS compliant browser the site will not look right at all....sorry. GET A CSS COMPLIANT BROWSER!  It only makes since for the guy on my end. More pictures to come and the "product features" pages will be broken up at a latter date for your info and easy digestion.  Have to work that out with Bob.

Please reply ASAP so I can swith the site over, IF this one suits your viewing pleasure.

Regards, and good evening Audio Circle Civilians

New site is http://www.4sptech.com/new/index.php

[lonewolfny42]

It's an improvement....easier to locate info.