please have a looky....

Hi !

i would be most grateful for some comments on

centexfire

Very nice site!

I really like the ease of navigation. No getting lost.

You do a good job leading the eye. It's easy to tell where the navigation is and where the main content of the site is.

I like your choice of colors. It gives a nice contrast to the background and the gradient fills. Header size and color are nice as well. It's easy to tell that "this is a header" and this is content.

The only things I would recommend are putting some introductory text on your home page. I had to search for a couple minutes before I even knew what your site was about. Sites like CNN can get a way with it but they are well known websites.

Also, try to make your site validate . It should technically be taken out of the table format and brought up to web standards but to tell you the truth, the goal isn't to get millions of people to your site a day so it's not as important as with other sites.

Overall you did a great job design this site!

The header is a bit dark. Also looks like you have two dead pictures to the left, under your navigation.

I do like the majority of the site, and as maniac said it's easy to navigate. Additionally, I'm a fan of the way you have the departments categorized into a map as you have.

G'luck.

Good layout and colors. Only the menu box should be aligned with the Latest News and the Photo Gallery boxes.

well, good, but mind your eye on validity.Nowadays it is important.Layout is fair¨with small mistakes.But I would redid top logo, because the heading "CenTexFire.com" does not go with text.I sugest change color and maybe font.The hover effect is good too.

we really appreciate this. keep them coming if you have anymore....

maniac, can you help me understand the 'validate' part. i read the link and think i got it, but would like to be educated more on it.

thanks again....

maniac is talking about web standards. They are outlined at http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/. Of course, the error messages should make it pretty clear what needs to be remedied to insure cross-browser (and OS) compatibility. One example is the inclusion of alt tags on all images, so the visually impaired can get a better idea of what they represent.

Alternatively, you could opt to "second that", and rest your head with the satisfaction of a job well done. Something that your site really is, by the way.

I hardly see why someone would want to peruse your website on their cell phone.

if we intended to increase the size of some off the databases in the future so that information was available to people on the pda's and such, would that validation give us instructions (or a lead) on making sure that the sites worked across all OS' and formats ?

Validation would mean that all browsers that are standards-compliant would display your site as you wanted it to be seen. That includes PDA's and cell phones.

For example, do you know how someone with a Mac would see your site? If your site were validated, you wouldn't have to worry about that.

The only thing you would worry about is how IE would render it because at the moment, it is not standards-compliant. I believe that the next rendition of IE will be though. But by then it may be too late. People are switching to FireFox daily now.

Learning about modern design when you're used to table based design is a lot of work. If your serious about creating a standard-based site that validates be ready to spend some time experimenting with css. Its extremely frustrating getting things to work in both IE and the rest of the world but the rewards are plenty!

This is one of the coolest sites in the world:

http://www.csszengarden.com

The basic idea is that you click on the template links and the current html document is loaded with he corresponding css document. They also have a lot of good links on learning about modern design techniques.

If all you want to do is make it validate, read through what that link is above in my first post. Fix what it says to, and bling, "You're in the money"

-Tim

Oh...and I just thought you should know - it's always a good idea to read any stickies before you post on a forum. Your posts will be looked on more favorably if they abide by the rules.

I like the site. It took a while to work out what it was for though. It may be worth putting the Texas Fire Community Site into the logo somewhere so people know what the site is.

thanks ya'll. i really appreciate this. funkyfoof, thanks for the secondary sticky advice also. thanks again ya'll....