I met Peggy Sturman at a networking event recently. Peggy makes one-of a kind necklaces, bracelets, and earrings from a melange of pearls, stones, and vintage jewelry parts. She has been featured in major fashion magazines and has her work in major galleries. I had a chance to review her jewelry website, BeaDelighted.

The Good Stuff

Her product photography is lovely.

Her site is simple and clean, and the pages load quickly.

The Not So Good

While the front page is striking (naked lady with nothing but a necklace!), there is no keyword text on it.

But, if we’re going for a strong visual first impression, this works.

The inner pages: the collection pages are what need help. In the olden days of the web, thumbnails were just presented in a big long scrolling list, like this.

But this is not the olden days, and this sort of design can make a site look dated. Today, it’s standard for thumbnails to appear “above the fold,” and if there are more than can appear on a page, then there are additional item pages to choose from, like this example from a site I really like, Aiko Designs.

I’m not a diehard fanatic that you should not use a scroll, but if you DO use a big long scroll page, at least have the items lined up in a grid.