Please give me your opinion on a new Pelican Parts Home Page...

[Wayne 962]

Okay, it's no secret that we're expanding the empire. We already have DriveWerks, which sells automotive accessories for all types of vehicles (http://www.drivewerks.com).

We're also going to be adding Pelican Parts Express, which will be a joint venture between us and one of our suppliers, to provide our customers with parts other than Porsche and BMW (Honda, Toyota, etc.). At first, this will be import cars only, but we will be expanding it to include all cars.

Also, we will be breaking off the BMW section of the site into an entirely new site. This won't happen for a few months though.

So, we need a new home page, that's really simple, and serves as a 'splash page' that will allow our users to get to any one of these four websites in a single click. This will be the page that you see when you type in www.pelicanparts.com. You will only see this page once per browser session (if you hit any of the home buttons on the site, it will take you to the main Pelican Porsche page.

Anyways, here's the main page I designed tonite:

http://www.pelicanpartsexpress.com/graphics/index3.htm

It's designed to be simple, and get you to one of the three main spots.

So what do you think, and what suggestions do you have? Your opinion is appreciated.

-Wayne

[Jack Olsen]

I think it's great. Visually simple, and very clear.

The only thing I'd change is to fix your capitalization in the Pelican Parts Express section.

[brandett]

Heres a thought.

If you are going to have parts for several makers (more than 3) I think it would be easier for all if You had one mane page where You choose which car You are interested in, i.e skip the Parts Express and include them in Pelican Parts. Easier to market one site with good selection to attract new customers.

This way You can expand to any car brand by just adding them to the selection and save time on maintaning the site. On the other hand You maybe want the Pelican Parts to be a pure Porsche site.

[Wayne 962]

Excellent suggestion, however, I do want Pelican to be just Porsche (and BMW). In fact, we are going to move the BMW sections to their 'own' site in a few months, and really start to grow that section, like we've grown the Porsche section. Then, onto Mercedes (Tom's choice). I have a penchant for *gasp* Corvettes, expecially the early ones...

We are going to eventually integrate Pelican Parts Express with our regular catalog and shopping cart, but in the meantime, it's going to be a completely separate division. I was going to do this a long time ago, but the book has just sapped up all of my time over the past 4 months...

I fixed the capitalization problem, thanks...

-Wayne

[Fishcop]

Full stop after "truck" in the Express section, and remove the Italics from the heading (or Italicise the other headings).

Too anal of me?

Looks really good though

[Bobboloo]

These will all be different sites with their own addresses right? Each site should feature it's own homepage with highly visible links to the other sites. That way each one feels more specialized. For example. A customer who is a Porschephile is more interested in doing business with someone who is specialized for their needs than doing one stop automotive shopping.

Bobby

[MBAtarga]

I'd suggest dropping the Pelican Parts banner at the top. I don't think it will be a url link based on the "choose your destination" heading below it. The style of it doesn't match the style for the other three links. Unless the IE window is maximized, you have to scroll to see the bottom link. By removing it, that's likely no longer the case.

[cegerer]

"...we're expanding the empire."

Wayne, you're beginning to define the word empire! Great job!

BTW, do you ever have time to drive your P-cars?! -- Curt

[dickster]

i like it, its nice and simple

[carnut169]

Does this mean a Pelican Parts Honda Civic BBS is in the near future?

[gblumenstock]

I do not understand the name "Pelican Parts Express" in the context you are going to use it. We all want our parts fast. (Why should the everyone else get their parts faster than the faithful here? ;-) ) Alternatives might be: Import Pelican Parts, More Pelican Parts, Pelican Parts for the Common Man... You get the idea. It might also make sense to choose an entirely new name better associated witht the new vebture and put on a tag line " a fully owned subsidiary of PP."

GB

[JSDSKI]

Pelican Parts EXPRESS sounds like a delivery service rather than parts supply for "other than Porsche" vehicles --- play around with the name for awhile (like "OTP" Parts Express -
other than porsche instead of OEM)

IMHO look at making the top banner more of a straight line without the wheel photo rather than a square that matches the three main graphics --- that way it will frame the graphics you want the client to see:

PELICAN PARTS
your one stop source for parts and technical support

(I don't know how to get the type to center in this post, but
the above example would be centered aligned...)

[autobonrun]

the Pelican Pars Express descriptor says for "all" import cars. I assume in actuality it is for all imports ex Porsche and BMW.

Perhaps as mentioned earlier by Brandett, everything should be under Porsche Parts with a selection for Porsche which takes you to the current Pelican Parts website for Porsche, a separate one for BMW, another selection for DriveWerks, then a fourth selection for All Other Import Parts.

[nostatic]

You asked for opinions...those I got.

I don't like the Pelican Parts logo on the top being centered...I'd rather see logo left and some ancillary logo right. The page looks too newsletterish. Also, I really don't like hr tags. Instead, I prefer a single black (or other color if you like) pixel graphic stretched across the row. Take a look at http://nostatic.fm for what I'm talking about. I also prefer external style sheets to control fonts and sizes, and in general like smaller fonts.

I do like a simplified number of choices...between 3-7 is ideal. The categories are a bit unclear though. I agree the express is not a good word...how about "Pelican Import". Also, does Drive Werks sell parts? If so, it overlaps with Pelican Imports. If it is just "lifestyle" and accessories, that's OK.

In addition, on the Pelican home page, I'd be a fan of similar simplification. For instance, you could give users a choice of "buy, learn or talk". Buy takes them to the catalog pages, learn takes them to tech section, talk to the web forums. Of course within there everything relevant is linked back to catalog items...after all you are here to sell.

[tchanson]

Originally posted by carnut169
Does this mean a Pelican Parts Honda Civic BBS is in the near future?

...and will that then lead to a mind numbing string of posts beginning with "What's my '94 Civic worth?"....

[RazorRacer]

What's up with the wizard dude? Seems out of place.

The page is boss.

[Kemo]

I love the pic of the red 911, so safe with the tire under the body! I think it looks good. Its simple and probably wont tire out those unfortuate enough to still be on a dial up account with a 14.4 modem. I guess you could have a Pelican BBS User competition to see who can develop the best splash screen. You dont have to use the winning page...but it seems like we have alot of computer savy folks here on the BBS, and it would be interesting to check out some of the "artistic interpretations" that will undoubtedly keep us up late at night giggling.

[nostatic]

Kemo has a good point. How about if you have a contest for the page design? People could use the existing assets or any other ones. People could vote by a poll, and the winner gets a copy of the new book. You wouldn't necessarily have to use the page, but it would be interesting to see a bunch of design comps.

[Wayne 962]

Hmm, I hadn't really thought that anyone here would want to design the page. I suppose I could offer some free Porsche models to the 'winner.'

-Wayne

[Wayne 962]

Pelican Parts has a lot of content and a huge catalog. The PPE will just have a catalog for import cars and trucks, (and eventually accessories), and that's it. That's where we got the 'express' part. Get in, get your parts, and that's it...

???

-Wayne