VrtualTrapezoid's comments

VrtualTrapezoid | 9 years ago | on: Dear Client: Stop Asking for a Ballpark Estimate

So here's some constructive criticism for your constructive criticism. Your heart is in the right place but unfortunately your criticism isn't that constructive. Just saying "Your thing you think looks good actually looks bad. Fix it." is really more of a soft-pitch put-down.

Constructive criticism points out what's good about something and how it can be improved. It's specific and provides actionable guidance.

1) The site would benefit by leading the eye in a more controlled manner. Right now there are at least two groups of three or more columns so it's hard to know where to look. Take a look at brick wall designs such as Twitter Bootstrap. Lead from general at the top to more specific, detailed information as you go down the page. Imaging the page as a tree diagram.

2) Make the site "say more" by reducing content. Right now there are at least two places on the page that talk about what you do, who you are, and what you're about. Combine those to be more succinct.

3) The color scheme is changing to match the client you're highlighting and that's kind of cool. It's also kind of cool how you show a different client each page visit. But I think a slider would do a better job there. Do you expect more than one visit to evaluate your business? Probably not. Plus a slider that has controls to move back and forth makes the page interactive, fun, and space-efficient.

4) It's okay that all the content is "above the fold" but do you think links to case studies are the best use of that space? Why not use it instead to guide clients immediately through your specific development process in simple terms, show them how easy it is to work with you, and show how you're different from competitors? Then you can give them a link to case studies to show that you practice as you preach.

5) "Cogeian Systems is a small team of custom software and web design experts." I'd be careful about your grammar. You're a small team of custom software? Oh wait, and web design experts. You could change that around a bit to be more clear and active, "Cogeian Systems' experts create custom software and web designs that meet your needs, affordably and on-time." Now your verbs are active, you're saying you have a team of experts, you say what kind of experts they are, and you share what the benefits are of having experts do the work (ie you save time and money).

VrtualTrapezoid | 10 years ago | on: Collective Memory Discovered in Bacteria

"Using computational modelling, the scientists explained this phenomenon in terms of a combination of two factors. Firstly, salt stress causes a delay in cell division, leading to synchronization of cell cycles; secondly, survival probability depends on the individual bacterial cell's position in the cell cycle at the time of the second exposure. As a result of the cell cycle synchronization, the sensitivity of the population changes over time. Previously exposed populations may be more tolerant to future stress events, but they may sometimes even be more sensitive than populations with no previous exposure."
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