As Webmasters Are We To Critical At Times?

So i was just thinking about this, when it comes to other peoples work, are overly critical when we dont have to be?

Ive been reading through various threads on GWW over the past hour or so and, i have to admit, some of the advice people have been given, in my eyes, was more than they needed or, wanted to know.

Ive seen replies where the font being used on a site has been criticized, the colors of the site, the content on the site, the layout, even the length of teaser clips in addition to the format they were encoded in have been criticized.

Do you think that in trying to attain 'perfection' for our surfers that we are starting to lose track of what is important to our businesses, to remain profitable?

I personally dont think sites DO have to be beyond perfect to work, if a color seems off or a font seems out of place every once in a while, does that really matter? Or are we working our way towards ensuring that the surfers experience is so wonderfull, we are forgetting our primary purpose to be in business?

Just wondered what your thoughts on this were, are we getting to critical for the benefit of the surfer but, at the cost of remaining profitable?

Regards,

Lee

i've been told on this forum that i'm "brutally" honest, but i don't nitpick something like color or font unless it is really really wrong for a site. i look at the overall page, pic or gallery with an eye to "will it sell?" or "how can it sell better to its target market?"

and yes, i've seen a couple sites where a simple change in background and font color made HUGE differences in sales - i'm talking 100% more sales in one case, going from 5 a day to 10 with no change in traffic.

admittedly most sites colors aren't that bad and changing them will make much less difference. heck, in many cases, i doubt it would make a difference at all.

if that makes me overly critical, i can live with that ;)

I actually welcome the critical comments and brutal honesty. While we may not always agree with or take the advice offered, I still read it and AJ and I discuss pretty much every suggestion or comment we receive on GWW in response to a request for thoughts.

If anything, I would say that oftentimes GWW people (Patti and a few others perhaps excluded) are overly polite when asked for comments.

I would much rather have someone say, in response to my new tour, "Geez, I really think you're going to have problems because ____________________ " or "I've never found green backgrounds to work well" or "You really should make that tour shorter/longer/whatever" than say "Oh, that looks nice" when they're thinking something else... after all, this is business, not art, and I'm happy to have something that I'd consider hideously ugly if it converts 3 times as well as something I consider attractive :)

Lee you have said before that even the smallest change in a design can be the difference in making more, or less, money - and I agree.

That being said I'm not critical of site designs and usually don't post in threads asking for that kind of input as I think motivated webmasters will see what other sites do that work, emulate them, then put their own twist on it and tweak it. :bunny:

I think it depends on what you mean by "too critical," Lee. If you're being constructive and honest, you can never too critical in my eyes. The thing to avoid is trying to insert too much of your own personal preference into the advice you give other webmasters. Try to focus only on the things that matter their business and profitability. If you feel that includes telling them that their color scheme is off, then do it.

The thing to avoid is being critical just for the sake of being critical. If you feel your opinion is important enough to share with someone -- and that it might do them some good -- then I would say you can't be too critical. Just be honest, and try to be nice.

People have knee-jerk reactions to getting criticism; they take it too personally. I live by a policy of truth, and so I always just come right out and say what I think of just about anything I come across -- IF I feel it's necessary or if I've been asked. I don't mince words. That's just who I am. If others have a problem with it, well, it's their problem. :)

[QUOTE=Lee;159098]
Do you think that in trying to attain 'perfection' for our surfers that we are starting to lose track of what is important to our businesses, to remain profitable?


/QUOTE]

No. I think many times we lose focus of who really pays the bills - our customers. Ccbill only sends the checks.