|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||
 |
|
|
«
Previous Thread
|
Next Thread
»
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread | Rate Thread | Display Modes |
Dev Shed Forums Sponsor:
|
|
#1
March 10th, 2004, 12:28 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Bring It On!
Hi Everyone,
I just love this forum! Well, I'm asking for some critique on this page. I've love to hear what you all think and suggestions on improvements. I'm still in the finishing stages and tying up loose ends. I'm new to this, so even the harshest is appreciated! www.lightacres.com Thanks!
|
|
#2
March 10th, 2004, 12:47 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
nice looking site.
couple of things tho: I think according to http://www.thecounter.com (look at the global stats) about 39% of web users have their screen resolution set to 800 x 600 and 47% have it set to 1024 x 728. so to about 39% of people veiwing your site will have to do lots of scrolling to see your info. Very off putting Personally i would change the rollover links to still display the link text, maybe drop it down to a grey. I don't like the fact the over state image totally disapears also your site seems to be made entirely of images. It loaded fine for me but then i am on a very quick connection. I would use a modem dial in to the net and check out what it is like on a dead slow net connection. I am sure others will have comments about this too, Fireworks is a great tool but images and text are a happy couple, neither are happy on their own. If you are new to this then well done on the images, they look cool. A lot of the information you have in images should be in text, making it quicker to load and indexable by search engines. At the moment a search engine looking to catalouge your site won't be able to get any information about what is on it. You should add meta tags to allow search engines to index you properly. Otherwise you will never make it onto a search engine. Hope these comments ain't too negative Last edited by tobycatlin : March 10th, 2004 at 12:51 PM.
|
|
#3
March 10th, 2004, 12:56 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Very helpful
Quote:
No not at all! I appreciate the honesty and the help! Thanks much!
|
|
#4
March 10th, 2004, 01:15 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Please read my comments for toby in New site for a software provider
The above comments regarding DOCTYPE, JavaScript, CSS, Formatting, TABLES apply to you too [well, it applies to many sites  ].What exactly is this? Code:
<tr> <!-- Shim row, height 1. -->
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="6" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="1" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="1" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="28" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="8" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="28" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="4" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="1" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="16" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="15" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="14" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="10" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="24" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="144" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="22" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="74" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="129" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="8" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="12" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="11" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="76" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="18" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="9" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="32" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="110" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="6" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="17" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="1" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="15" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="63" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="21" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="10" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="25" height="1" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="1" height="1" border="0"></td>
</tr>
No.1: What about colspan? Code:
<tr> <!-- Shim row, height 1. -->
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="6" height="1" border="0" colspan="34"></td>
</tr>
No2: Since it is a blank gif, you are using it as a spacer. What is wrong with margin, padding? No3. What kind of a design will have 34 columns? Next: Code:
<tr valign="top"><!-- row 1 -->
<td colspan="33"><img name="index_r01_c01" src="index_r01_c01.jpg" width="959" height="8" border="0"></td>
<td><img src="shim.gif" width="1" height="8" border="0"></td>
</tr>
Same as above, index_r01_c01.jpg is a simple colour. What is wrong with using HTML background colour which does not require additional downloading of your image. MENUS: Again, as in above link, you are using images instead of text. And on top of that, they disappear with mouse over. That is very disorienting for users. CONTENT: There is no text. All texts are made up of images. That is one sure way of turning a 15kb document into a 153 kb document which takes 10 times longer to load in a browser and has 69 images instead of text. I can see that someone has spent a lot of time creating these images and they are nicely put together but it is totally fruitless. If you are insistent of using images instead of HTML then why make 69 images and create tables. Put it all in one image and you have a gallery instead of a web site. AFA web design is concerned; this page is more a picture than a web design. People in Photoshop board would be best to judge it. Sorry, I know that this is not what you wanted to hear but I can only give you my honest opinion, unpleasant as it may be. Good luck 
__________________
© AZ AZbb :: AZ Bulletin Board - Secure BBS script, Front page CMS, Chat, No database Simple Guide to Apache and PHP installation on Windows
|
|
#5
March 10th, 2004, 01:23 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
On the subject of screen res look at: http://editor.actrix.co.nz/byarticle/changeres.htm
Screen resolution and the available range of fonts are the most annoying considerations (restraints really) when writing a site. Quote:
Right your not going to like the answer to this. If i understand the way you have set this up is that all your text is typed into Fireworks and then exported as an image. well there is no quick way to export just the text. what you need to do is identify parts of the page that are going to be common on every page, like the logo, the side nav and the top nav and use Fireworks to do that. Then use Dreamweaver to create a template or a frameset and set the images you made into it. Once an image has been downloaded onto a users machine it get reused without having to be download it again. so try to reuse the same image as much as possible. Then you need to create a new HTML file for each page. CSS or cascading style sheets are the best way to add style to a site. these may help: http://www.macromedia.com/support/d...rial_index.html (good info on everything especially frames and templates) http://www.webmonkey.com - look at the design> site building especially but it is all good http://build-website.com/
|
|
#6
March 10th, 2004, 01:34 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
Well, as you can clearly see, I'm not a programmer at all. I'm much more of a designer. So, this forum is entirely new to me. Therefore, you're right in that I created this website in fireworks without understanding much as far as coding. I REALLY do appreciate your comments. They are of an immmense help to a newbie like me. Do you recommend, other than perhaps taking a few classes, on literature that may help me understand programs such as fireworks and dreamweaver (these are the two primary programs I'm using)? Thanks!
|
|
#7
March 10th, 2004, 01:51 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
I feel there are deffo two approaches to creating a website. From the programmers perspective and from the desingers.
Programmers site normally load like lightning and are compatible with every single browser ever to grace the internet, but also break every single design law going (red comic sans text on a green back ground etc) designers nomally create great looking sites that take ages to load and will only run on modern browsers. The best achieve both. I am primarily a programmer and am struggling to teach myself some design skills. In a way learning to code is easier than learning to design, there are hard and fast rules and very rigid ways of doing things, design is much more subjective. i personally have never taken a class in web design in my life, all i have learnt is from the good people of the internet. Just like those in this forum. A good portion of the internet must be devoted to teach other how to write websites so run some searches and see what comes back. As far as your site is concerned you have done the majority of the work, ie collect content, design logos, set colour schemes, everything is there it simply needs to be set out correctly. I have attached a zip file containing a very simple example of a frameset, it has no links or anything but will give you a working example that you can play with. As for books i would look for something on general web design rather than specifically on dreamweaver and fireworks. I like the quick start books book on amazon Last edited by tobycatlin : March 10th, 2004 at 01:57 PM.
|
|
#8
March 10th, 2004, 01:57 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
First comment, from another BBS admin, you do not need to QUOTE in order to reply. All that does is increasing the size of this page thus, increasing the amount space it takes on the database and server, increasing the bandwidth usage of this forum, and causes the page to take longer to load.
In any forum, we only quote in replies when we are referring to a specific point or question. Anyway, I had Dreamweaver for many years on my computer but it was gathering dust. Few days ago I removed it for good as I tried it once and never used it. All good designers use the most basic tools. That would mean that you have to enter all codes by yourself, but then that would mean you get to know them intimately. Google is your friend. I started with Google. Search for "HTML Tutorial" and you will find millions. Read them, some are good some not so good but all have something to offer. Once you get to understand the basics, then you look at other people's site. I am one of the people that often look at the source of web pages. Whenever I see something nice, I look at the source and see how they have done it. No matter how good you get, there is always something new to learn. There is hardly any week that passes and I don't see something new in some web site and check to see how they have done it. Read the HTML and CSS specs at: HTML 4.01 Specification Cascading Style Sheets, level 1 There is hardly any day that I do not check something in above sites. Then you can move on to CSS2 and XHTML. As you can see, Fireworks got you in trouble. To be honest it has a different purpose. I know many people who use NotePad for web design. I use UltraEdit since I do PHP programming and I like its RegEx text edits. I used to use FirstPage which is free and a very good HTML editor. Good luck
|
|
#9
March 10th, 2004, 02:05 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
Comment: Many designers avoid frames altogether. Frames are also passé. Simple rule is that only use frames if there is absolutely no other choice and I have not yet come across a 'no-other-choice' situation. While you may find frames on many sites designed by hobbyist, you will not find any frames on any major commercial site. There are many reasons for it, like the future of web and WebTV, text browsers etc.
|
|
#10
March 10th, 2004, 02:21 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Thank you for giving me such wonderful advise. I gues through trial and much error, one can ultimately learn!
You are so kind to to have gone through the effort and the time!
|
|
| Viewing: Dev Shed Forums > Web Design > Website Critiques > Bring It On! |
| Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
| Display Modes | Rate This Thread |
|
|
 |
|
Del.icio.us
Digg
Google
Spurl
Blink
Furl
Simpy
Y! MyWeb
Linear Mode
