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Exploring Hong Kong using the MTR as a guide: a new website

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  1. #1

    Exploring Hong Kong using the MTR as a guide: a new website

    Hi all,
    I've decided to get in to web development and to start, I've created a website:
    HK Suburban || Exploring the path less taken
    Hong Kong Suburban is a blog in which I travel to MTR stations a bit off the beaten path and explore the surroundings, take pictures, and document the experience. So far, there are 5 posts up with more to come. Feel free to 'like' or follow the facebook page for updates: https://www.facebook.com/hksuburban/
    This is the first website I've built, so any feedback in terms of content or user experience would be much appreciated.


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    猴山
    Posts
    23,652

    Nice looking site but

    1) you could do with some sub-headings
    2) The watermark on your photos is too obtrusive

    Hoping that people will 'read' a webpage is a little hopeful. They will scan it for key words that interest them and read that section

    Perhaps you could have a relatively standard layout for each district

    - History / Facts & Figures (I always like to know the key demographics of a town - you can tell so much!)
    - Transport links
    - Markets
    - Temples / museums
    - Restaurants
    - etc

    This should make the sight easier to navigate.

    imparanoic likes this.

  3. #3

    Cheers for the suggestions. I do like the idea of a standard layout with links to that specific subheading. I might steal your idea.


  4. #4

    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Posts
    1,507

    I hate to be facetious but don't a lot of tourists use the MTR to travel in Hong Kong already? I understand the premise of your site is a travel blog built from the ground up using the MTR as a reference point for tourists, but most HK travel guides recommend the MTR anyway.

    Moreover, I think your "suburban" label of the places you've visited is inaccurate because that term isn't really applicable to Hong Kong. The closest thing I've seen in Hong Kong that resembles a suburb is a gated community like Beverly Hills. Most other residential apartments in Hong Kong are public housing estates or private developments, which are mostly in urban areas. If you don't live in an apartment or a gated community in Hong Kong, chances are you live in a village house, which is a village and not a suburb. I'm not trying to argue semantics here, but if you ask most Westerners who've actually seen or lived in a suburb, I'm sure that the majority of them wouldn't call the high-density apartment complexes suburban, which makes your site a little misleading. Moreover, all of the places you've listed are urban anyway.

    Regarding the site itself, I think your pictures are nice and I enjoy the narrative writing style. However, your photos are too big and it takes too much scrolling for far too little information. I also think you should focus less on reviewing restaurants because that's already been done for you on Openrice. Moreover, your destinations are lacking a lot of content because there is much more to do in Tai Po than just the market and the museum. Overall you could do with better formatting and much more content.

    As it stands, your site just doesn't have enough information to be a travel reference, but as a personal blog it's perfect. I think that this is quite a good start into web development and I wish you all the best with it.

    Cheezsteak likes this.

  5. #5

    Join Date
    May 2012
    Posts
    1,186

    Some inspiration: https://mexicocitymetro.wordpress.com/

    Agree with someone else who said you could put a bit more effort to find the less obvious in each area you visit.

    Cheezsteak likes this.