Introduce myself (Chimney Liners)

[webbie]

The site works with my mac and firefox browser - but not exactly correctly......but that is a subject for another time and thread. As an industry and web consultant, I would have cautioned your company against using flash for a number of reasons, the most important being that there is no good reason to do so!

But, then again, that is another story!

I'm currently talking another client out of using flash. My usual riff is this "If you are Sony Music, you should use flash - if not, take a hint on web site design from google, yahoo, amazon and all the winners who have been doing it for a long time- KISS (keep it simple stupid), and always know who your audience is".

 

[begreen]

Speaking of which, have you visited Jotul in the past week? Their new stove selection is all flash based and a royal PITA. Just give me a list fer chrisakes.

 

[Gooserider]

Just curious can you visit these sites

http://www.duravent.com/
http://www.donpark.com/
http://www.novaflex.com/ (z-flex)


These are some of the biggest names in the business and I just want to see if your browser will accept any of these.

In Opera, far as I can tell, Don Park works perfectly. Novaflex gave me some grey blocks on the home page, but I could navigate to different products and the product pages worked fine, Duravent was mixed, lots of grey blocks, some pictures, but I could navigate the site and the text was readable. Their "Interactive install guide" didn't seem to work for me.

I got similar results in Konqueror for the Duravent page, didn't try the other two. Looking at the source for one of the Duravent pages, it looks like they are also flash heavy, but they use the flash as inserts so the remainder of the page was still legible.

Bottom line - my results were mixed, but the other sites were at least semi-useable. (as a minor FWIW, I haven't found a stove maker's site yet that was a problem...)

Gooserider

 

[theheatelement]

I guess the point of this test was to show as an example that these huge huge companies can't make a website that is compliant for you then us smaller guys might struggle as well. From what I got from my IT guy was this is the wave of the future possibly and it is supposed to be use of ease thing for most people who might not know how to operate a website. Hope everyone enjoys it and if anyone has any questions as we get into season please let me know, and I will try to resolve them.

 

[Mike Wilson]

Yeah, I'd like to complain about your web site also... I just tried to load it up using my standard browser, Opera Mini 4, on my Blackberry, and all I got was a gray screen with the company name on top. This is highly unacceptable. Oftentimes I find myself trying to search for the ultimate in flex liners whilst I sit here on the boat having a few (more) beers. While I have no problem bringing up HearthNet, and am actually posting this from my Crackberry right now... alas, I am unable to obtain further information on your products. How you expect to stay in business is wholly beyond me. You sir, need a new IT department. Pitiful... simply pitiful.

I am now going to go home and fire up my real computer... and God help you if I can't bring up your web page on my Atari 400. :gulp:

-- Mike

PS - welcome aboard!

 

[Gooserider]

I guess the point of this test was to show as an example that these huge huge companies can't make a website that is compliant for you then us smaller guys might struggle as well. From what I got from my IT guy was this is the wave of the future possibly and it is supposed to be use of ease thing for most people who might not know how to operate a website. Hope everyone enjoys it and if anyone has any questions as we get into season please let me know, and I will try to resolve them.

Well the point that I am making is that all of those major companies DID give me a website that may not have been perfect, but DID give me enough function that I could navigate it, and if I needed further information I could find it by doing things like downloading PDF files, contacting their tech support people, and otherwise communicating with them online. OTOH, your website was TOTALLY non-useable.... Going with an old fashioned "Flash free" website design is accessible to ALL potential customers. Another thing to keep in mind is that many of your potential customers are going to be in rural locations that are more likely to be on dialup or other slow connections. Flash is miserable to use on a slow link, I don't even like graphics heavy websites on my cable modem connection because they are noticeably slower to load than simple sites, plus they are distracting.

Flash is good for earning big money for consultants, and it locks you into expensive proprietary creation software, but it doesn't give a result that is user-friendly.

Standard HTML, or even XML is not a difficult thing to create a website in, and there are huge numbers of packages (many of them free software based) to ease the process even further.

Gooserider

 

[jtp10181]

I have seen many web pages that have a main page where it offers you the "Flash" or "Non-Flash" versions. Might not be a bad idea. I also design some web pages and like to stick to the KISS thinking. I like the site for the most part, but I found when clicking the individual products the on screen pop-up things were slightly confusing and annoying. The first time I could not figure out how to make them go away until I found the little X in the bottom right corner. I kept clicking more behind the first and they would all just come up under each other. Makes it hard to navigate the site and would frustrate some people to the point they would just close it and either call someone or look at a different product. I also noticed the text seemed crushed and was hard to read on the pop-up windows.

 

[BrotherBart]

I just want to know what the square hole in their chimney cap that they are so proud of is supposed to be?

 

[jtp10181]

I'm guessing its part of the "Patent Pending Locking System"

In case anyone else is wondering, go to Products -> click Rigid Stainless -> Click Next -> SS SCD / SS DRC

Thats another bad thing about the site, you can't give people direct links to info about a specific product.
Also, how is google or other search engines going to find all the content? (They Wont).

 

[BrotherBart]

Biggest problem I had with the site is that when Rainer popped in I was busy looking for a replacement for one of my liners. Couldn't find squat on the site about where to go to actually buy one. No joy from Google either. Gave up after three days and called Loretta at Hart's Hearth and ordered the Simpson Dura Flex 316ti liner kit that arrives tomorrow.

 

[begreen]

I guess the point of this test was to show as an example that these huge huge companies can't make a website that is compliant for you then us smaller guys might struggle as well. From what I got from my IT guy was this is the wave of the future possibly and it is supposed to be use of ease thing for most people who might not know how to operate a website. Hope everyone enjoys it and if anyone has any questions as we get into season please let me know, and I will try to resolve them.

It looks like the issue is the extensive use of shockwave. Although there is a flash plugin for Linux, there is not a plugin for Shockwave on Linux.

I think you need to tell your IT department to chill. This is not a high-end Italian tile website, it's pipe. Tastefully design for the lowest common denominator and you will get more traffic. Use flash where it will benefit your customers the most. That is small animations and interactive imagery. Gratuitous usage to be on "the wave of the future" is just silly. (And I love Flash technology when appropriately used.)

 

[theheatelement]

Guys I thank you for all the help... this is exactly what I need to find out all of our flaws and to help up in our venture as striving to be the best in your flex department as well as OEM needs... I will work on changing all of the site.. Again, thanks guys..

I guess the point of this test was to show as an example that these huge huge companies can't make a website that is compliant for you then us smaller guys might struggle as well. From what I got from my IT guy was this is the wave of the future possibly and it is supposed to be use of ease thing for most people who might not know how to operate a website. Hope everyone enjoys it and if anyone has any questions as we get into season please let me know, and I will try to resolve them.

It looks like the issue is the extensive use of shockwave. Although there is a flash plugin for Linux, there is not a plugin for Shockwave on Linux.

I think you need to tell your IT department to chill. This is not a high-end Italian tile website, it's pipe. Tastefully design for the lowest common denominator and you will get more traffic. Use flash where it will benefit your customers the most. That is small animations and interactive imagery. Gratuitous usage to be on "the wave of the future" is just silly. (And I love Flash technology when appropriately used.)

 

[budman]

Rainer,One quick question i have a magnaflex liner that i pulled to put insalation on when
it was installed they beat it up a little and then i took it out.There is no holes but some dents
i put a light bulb in side and no light on outside will this be ok.Thank's much

 

[theheatelement]

As long as their are no holes you won't have an issue, our liners are wound past industry standard so as long as the bead hasn't been broken their won't be any issues... if you feel like you have a whole in the liner talk to a chimney proffessional and you will be able to get a coupler where you can cut the liner install the coupler and resnake the liner back through the chimney.

Rainer,One quick question i have a magnaflex liner that i pulled to put insalation on when
it was installed they beat it up a little and then i took it out.There is no holes but some dents
i put a light bulb in side and no light on outside will this be ok.Thank's much