How is my site

[IceAngel89]

want to ask for opinions on how my site layout, and colors. it dosen't seem to display well on IE though

[HazardTW]

I'm just a rookie but it looks great to me. Two thumbs up!

Regarding IE, the pro's will have to help you out with that, here is what my experience has been like:

1) design and build page in DW8
2) test in Firefox = YAY!
3) test in IE 7 = cry, cry, pull out hair
4) get it working in FF AND IE 7 = whew!
5) find out over 30% of browsers in use are IE6
6) test in IE 6 = OMFG, cry, pull hair, cry, pout, kick something.

[IceAngel89]

LOL, IE causes LOTS of problem ... anyway, any other comments?

[Major Payne]

Try designing first in a w3c.org compliant browser like Firefox then tweak for IE parsing of pages. Validate your pages here:

CSS (http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/)
HTML (http://validator.w3.org/)

Ron

[HazardTW]

Thanks for those links Major Payne, DW8 was missing some problems when validating.

[Major Payne]

You're most welcome. The closer you get to having good code on your pages, the happier some browsers are. lol I have DW8, but quit using it because of the inherent problems. Just use a good ole HTML Editor called Matrix Y2K 2007 Beta2 which is free. Along with Firefox and all its good web developer tool extensions, I'm a happy camper.

Ron

[HazardTW]

What would be the best design procedure?

Example:
1 - build pages use compliant browser like FF at your default screen res.
2 - refine to work in various screen resolutions.
3 - create separate styles to compensate for versions of IE in your default res.
4 - refine those to work in various resolutions.

???

[Major Payne]

Everyone has their own methods of design procedures. I usually work from client's requirements with a quick layout out of what it would look like. Do most banners and/or graphics in Photoshop CS2. Once I have it fleshed out, I make sure to check my HTML code for most standards. I do use Firefox as my browser for viewing my pages in. Res is currently set for 1024 X 768, but easily resized to check page action in smaller window like 800 X 600. IE gives the most design problems with the constant work arounds. For example:

The IE box model and Doctype modes (http://css.maxdesign.com.au/listamatic/about-boxmodel.htm)

Just one example of many. There are a lot more procedures too numerous to list here, but keep your code clean and check pages in different browsers for any parsing problems you may need to correct.

Ron

[HazardTW]

How about fonts, I have no idea how to check if I am on a default font size setting.

If I change my screen res to test, I have to <ctrl> + mouse wheel scroll to get the font to the correct (viewable) size, but how can I best guess(or know) what the font size will be when a visitor views the page in 800x600 for example?

I have gone to different family member's homes to see what my pages are looking like when viewed on their screens and I see a disturbing range of results.

My fear is that the loads people still using old pc's, older browsers, screen set to 800x600, and have no clue how to adjust the font size when they are viewing a web page, will open up a page that is not usable without adjustment on their part.

[Major Payne]

Take a look at:

15 Fonts (http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/fonts.html)
Web Guidelines - Typography and Fonts (http://www.utexas.edu/web/guidelines/fonts.html)
In search of the perfect font (http://www.unc.edu/~jkullama/inls181/final/font.html)


HTHs,

Ron

[Ascendancy]

I was looking at the CSS and I'm not sure if I'm correct, but it looked like you used em for your font types.

Try using percentages and see if it makes a difference.

[Major Payne]

If anyone looked at the links I gave, it's recommended to use percentages in at least one of them. I like to give as much info on a subject using links to sites easily found online so they can be bookmarked for reference. I didn't bother to look at CSS, but you're probably correct that it will help in this situation.

Ron

[HazardTW]

Currently I have been using a tip that called for setting the font by percentage like so: body {font 62.5%;}
Then use em since em would be a percentage of the elements parent.

I have not had time to check those links yet Major, but I agree with your method and that is the help I like best, links to resources that I can bookmark :)

As I said, I have not looked at those resources linked, but I guess my goal is to force a page to look the way I intended when a person loads it, then they can adjust the font if they need to, at least my page wouldn't look like garbage when it first loads.


EDIT: added something for a signature, didn't see it show up.....

[Major Payne]

Don't forget the font-family using your preferred font type that's available for everyone first, then include several other choices which you're sure everyone will have after it. Most put 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. choices in order. If your styling fonts, maybe: body {font-style: normal; color: #XXXXXX; font-size:XX%; font-family: 'comic sans ms', 'trebuchet ms', georgia, verdana, arial-black, helvetica, 'courier new', 'times new roman', monospace, cursive, fantasy, system, symbol, serif, sans-serif; font-weight:normal;}

Just put 'em in order you prefer.

Ron

[HazardTW]

You are a wealth of information Payne, I wondered what the list of font families were for, I did not give it too much thought though, I did not know it gave a choice, makes sense now, I think.

If I understand you correctly, you are saying that the fonts you provide in font-family are the fonts that a user can have displayed in your site?

[Major Payne]

The font-family consists of common fonts provided with Windows or used on most PCs. If you have preferences, just list them in order that you would like to see them used just in case, heaven forbid, a viewer does not have that font on his PC. If you want to use non-common or specialty fonts, you either have to embed them in your pages (lot of trouble) or use images of your text with that font.

Ron

[Raged]

Try designing first in a w3c.org compliant
NOOO NEVER TRY w3C is anoying! and complains about stuff that works!

[HazardTW]

^^^ Microsoft programmer ???

[Major Payne]

^^^ Microsoft programmer ???:D May have been responsible for IE coding alone! That would be enough. ;)

Ron