My new homepage - www.smat.de.ms

[SMAT]

Dear forum users !

I am new to this board but I have some knowledge about HTML and so on...

I hope you like visiting my new website www.smat.de.ms (http://www.smat.de.ms) !

An entry into my guestbook would be nice, too.

PS: My site is available in english so everybody can understand !

And now I´ll watch the whole forum a little bit :-)

[rapid]

get a doctype (http://www.w3.org/QA/2002/04/valid-dtd-list.html)

might want to reconsider using frames (http://www.cti.hull.ac.uk/malang/authoring/design/frames.html), especially as the layout of your site isnt very complicated.

having a splash/entry (http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=2507) page to enter the site isnt really a good idea, usually used by porn sites to warn visitors about the content of the site. if you are going to have one to allow visitors to choose which language they want to read the site in, then the splash/entry page should only have the two links that go to the two different language sites.

very few people like times new roman font, suggest using a sans-serif font such as verdana which was designed to be easily read on a screen.

some of the images are not showing, and dont seem to have Alt Tags (http://ppewww.ph.gla.ac.uk/~flavell/alt/alt-text.html).

using 'link' as a link description (http://evolt.org/article/Writing_effective_link_text/4090/60343/index.html) isnt very helpful. also, you should warn visitors that it is a mailto: link and if clicked will open their default email editor. many people use web-based mail but dont know how to set it as their default and they wont thank you for opening msoutlook when what they wanted was your email address so they can copy and paste it into hotmail.

do you really need a top menu and a left menu within a few centimetres of each other? of course you want the site to be usable but it should also be streamlined so evrything is clear and visitors dont have to think about which menu to use and whether there is any difference between them.

the left menu is made of text links. the mouseover effect is good but buttons (http://developer.kde.org/documentation/design/ui/fittslaw.html)/whole target areas would be better for increased usability.

the 'Home | GeneRally | Live For Speed | Downloads | Chat' links all open other pages within your site. but 'Guestbook | Forum' open in a new window and go to other sites. since all the menu links look the same the results should be the same to, but your arent. visitors expect consistency and might get confused or annoyed if different things happen. id suggest separating them from the main menu in some way, either in looks or position, and explain to the user what will happen if they click the link.

the pages of the site look fine, nice content. not sure about the yellow background, doesnt seem to fit a games website, but the images look good. has lots of potential to grow to include lots more games. and to organise play-offs between german and english visitors.

[SMAT]

Hi again,

1st thank you for your opinion. My site is not in the final version. There is a lot to improve I know but I do my best :-)
In the future the layout and the whole design might be changed by me so you might come back to see the new changes. And thanks for your tipps. I´ll try to use them.

PS: Maybe you´ll leave a comment in my guestbook ?
However thanks for your post.

Greetings ! SMAT

[Booooze]

First things first, I like it. The colours arn't my favorite, but there ok. There are a lot less problems than rapid described. The only thing I can say is get it validated, use the alt tags, as rapid said. and change your small link description. + The splash page , it isn't a good idea, and if I was viewing this site as a user, and not a reviewer, I would have left. and having the links at the top and the side, is ok, but iI wouldnt do it. Lots of sites do it, but I don't really have any preference on where they are. Read below as well.

Rapid:

I like your enthusiasm. It's great. You put a lot of effort into your reviews, but here are some things you should correct when reviewing. Maybe you know of them, maybe you don't.

1. He has a doctype. We cant see it because he used a redirected url, which puts all his code in a single frame. the only way to fix this is for him to check his options at the redirecter site, and get it to show the real url, and not mask it.

2. I dont think theres anythign wrong with the fonts. It's plain and simple. Big deal. If everyone used verdana or sans-serif, the web would be a little more boring.

3. About the links. who cares. You'd have to be a complete dumass to mix em up. unfortunatley, there are a fair amount of dummies out there. So this one could go either way.

4. It's pretty abvious your using ie and you don't check sites in firefox, netscape, or any other browser. If you view it in firefox, there are complete mouse over links. In fact, the site looks better in firefox. Download firefox and take a look at it. It's worth it.

back to the review:

anyways, the rest is pretty well ok, but I wouldnt worry about pleasing each and every visitor, as each one likes something different. Overall, liek rapid said, its got great potential


P.S -- excuse the typos + grammer

[rapid]

hi boooze,

1. didnt notice the redirect, must be slipping in my old age.

2. i dont think theres anything wrong with the font either, i review based on the knowledge ive gained from research on things such as what fonts are most readable on a screen, etc. and i try to share that knowledge with others, i dont demand anyone take any notice of me.

3. link descriptions are important. who cares? all the people that do research into this kind of thing to enable people like us to make better websites that include text links that are discernably different from the main text so as to be noticeable but dont stand out too much so as to disprupt the readers flow. effective text link descriptions are also important for alternative user agents that tell the user there is a link and give the link description for the user to know where the link goes and what they can expect when they get there. using 'link' as the link description isnt very helpful to those users.

4. your right, didnt check this site with firefox, usually do, and opera too, must of forgot. ill try to be more thorough, but what i said about the usability difference between text links and buttons is proven and well documented and given the percentage of users with IE, and given the ease with which it can be fixed i think its something worth mentioning.

thanks for bringing these things to my attention. i do sometimes get sloppy in explaining myself through over-familiarity, ill try to be more thorough and justify my opinions with more clarity. when i review sites for others im talking to myself just as much as im talking to them as seeing these sites and thinking about them in this way helps me become better at developing websites and encourages me to develop my ideas about good website design and high levels of usability. i also like to be challenged in this way, so please carry on.

[Booooze]

Like I said, your enthusiasm is great. Just a few things maybe you didn't know. Keep up the good work:)

[SMAT]

Thanks !

In the last day I had not the time to optimize the site for other browsers but it will be done. And the bugs I will also fix :-)
I hope I can do that as fast as possible.

Greetings SMAT