How is this site?

[lahmayes]

Hey everyone, I just finished this site (ok finished is a relative term, i dont think a site is ever "finished"). I'm basically just looking for everyones opinions/critiques/suggestions on it, how accessable it is, how it looks in other browsers, different os's (i havent been able to test it on a Mac yet... so anyone with a mac let me know how it is) all that stuff... feel free to fill out any of the forms and stuff just make sure you put "test" somewhere in it. Feel free to place test orders if you want, too, also if people want to try disabling javascript and see how hard it is to navigate, im guessing it won't be very friendly without the menu, but let me know. Thanks!

http://www.alabu.com/

~Hal

EDIT: hmmmm, i see i have posted this in the wrong forum... oops :( lol i guess ill just wait for someone to move it though seeing how i cant delete it. Sorry guys i didnt know you had a whole forum on this topic, good idea though :)

[PeOfEo]

The navigation is annoying. http://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1&uri=http%3A//www.alabu.com/ almost clean. Fix that. Bigger problem when I turn js off ur menu is no longer visible, DO NOT MAKE NAVIGATION JS DEPENDENT! 13% of the internet according to last years stats on thecounter.com do not support JS!

[lahmayes]

ok fixed that error... what do you mean by the navigation is annoying though? like the whole idea of the menu, the fact that it scrolls or what? I know i shouldnt make it js dependant but i dont really know what else to do, i made the site map for people without js, but i know thats a pain, i sure as heck wouldnt use the site map for navigation, but i dont know how else to do it. Theres also links at the bottom of each page, i'm really trying to make it as accessable as possible (i know its in tables... i already invested a good amount of time before i figured out i should have done it in CSS). Any ideas on how to make the navigation better? Thanks!

[Jona]

In Mozilla FireFox on a Windows PC with an 800x600 pixel screen resolution, the content is pushed all the way to the right off the screen, producing a horizontal scrollbar and it took me about five minutes to find the actual content of the site.

[Quality Witch]

Hi lahmayes,

Clean site! ;)
(pretty lame joke, I know...)

The top navigation bars jumps/shifts in and out of sight when I scroll down the pages, which is distracting.
And I'd shorten some of the texts (says the technical writer in me).

I stumbled across the Site Orientation Hints by accident, because they are 'hidden' at the bottom of page
http://www.alabu.com/page/AS/sfnt
I'd put them more in the spotlight, on a separate page, with a clear link from the home page, like 'First time visitor?'
It's the type of link I often use.

Hope this helps. Have fun!

The Quality Witch

[lahmayes]

Thanks, thats a good idea about the site orientation... ill definitly do that. Jona... it seems to work fine for me in mozilla at 800x600... could you send me a screen shot? Theres not really any way to keep the bar there all the time, the idea is for it to follow you down the page... but its set as fast as i can make it without it looking choppy(1 millisecond per 10 pixel increment). do you have any suggestions for it? should i just leave it at the top of the page or something? thanks guys!

~Hal

[DaveSW]

[moderator's note]I've moved this to the correct forum as requested.[/moderator's note]

I'd just set the bar at the top of the page. I never like menus that follow you.

[lahmayes]

ok guys i got some ideas but i would like your opinions before i spend time on them... the first one is to expand the links at the bottom of each page so you could use those to navigate with, i dont think thats a great idea but it makes it possible for people with no js to navigate. the other idea is to make a mirror site with no JS, the same thing with a dif navigation menu, and probably detect whether the person is using javascript and send them to the proper site (i'm gussing thats possible, i know you can do it with flash) what do you guys think?

~Hal