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MikeG
06-22-2005, 09:13 AM
I have had my very simple site up and running for a while now.
A couple of hundred have visited but only a handful left any remarks in my guest book.
Whatever I have learnt has been by trial & error and have no idea what more experienced folk think of my efforts so hints to improve the site, which is basically for folk who have left our village, would be gratefully recieved.
www.pgsc20025.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/menu (http://www.pgsc20025.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/menu)
Hi MikeG -
I've looked at your website, and may have some ideas as to what might be turning off some of your visitors.
1. You need an "eye-friendly" color scheme.
Don't get me wrong, I like green, aqua, and red, but as separate colors, not as color scheme. Same for pink and yellow.
2. Use static text, rather than scrolling.
It's aggravating to sit and wait for the text to roll by, especially since it contains the instructions.
3. ALL CAPS
Use ALL CAPS for emphasis, not for regular text. The user perceives that you are a) shouting at them or b) too lazy to use the shift key. ALL CAPS are also hard to read quickly.
4. "Click Here" or here or here or here
"Click Here" is sort of a hold-over from the 90's, when many people were still unfamiliar with the Internet, but now those instructions aren't needed now. Just make sure that the text is obviously a hyperlink by having it underlined.
5. Your homepage is a little boring - how about posting the "Picture of the Moment" on it?
6. Oops - a Tables-based layout.
I'm surprised that your layouts are based on tables, since they do not rely upon columns. Try straight text, or if you're dieing to learn the most current trend: CSS styles and positioning.
7. Blinking text usually denotes annoying ads.
You probably want to avoid blinking text. Not only is it hard on the eyes, most users have trained themselves to ignore it, due to its being associated with spam ads.
8. You might add some description with your photos, just to have some content on the page. Interesting stories about when you took the photos or maybe follow-up information might hold the user's interest more.
Good Luck!
KDLA
LiLcRaZyFuZzY
06-22-2005, 11:51 AM
i can't see your page, are you working on it? i can only see your code, did you forget the extension?
Rabidus_lupus
06-26-2005, 09:02 AM
Your page is a bit too loud for me. Tone down the colors a bit. You seem to be using big text to fill up space. Shrink the instuctions and add headings for pictures to take up a little bit of space. Also maybe add some meta keywords so the people that left can find your site in search engines.
<TITLE>Davidsons Mains menu</TITLE> lmake that correct english first
the tree
06-28-2005, 06:47 AM
i can't see your page, are you working on it? i can only see your code, did you forget the extension?Yup, I can only see source, not great source at that.
Edit: having opened in in Internet Explorer, I can now at least see something. (Seriously, you've got to fix that).
There's rather a lot of eye candy and JS gimmicks, most of which is irritating, all of which is pointless.
Your guestbook, if you really need it could be replaced with a shoutbox on the front page and there's no reason keep posts a click away from your visitors.
Ditto to everything else KDLA said.
LiLcRaZyFuZzY
06-28-2005, 01:23 PM
your code sucks:
add a doctype
change all you tags to lowercase, no mix -> HEAd
one space between attributes -> ...alink="black" background="bgpic.JPG"...
etc...
etc..
i dunno if i have ever seen such crappy code...
LiLcRaZyFuZzy -
You are one of a kind! :)
KDLA
LiLcRaZyFuZzY
06-28-2005, 01:31 PM
ha! really, im sure im gonna get a nightmare just looking at the source, and i can't even see the site in FF...
vi5in
06-28-2005, 02:03 PM
Hey be gentle with the guy :)
Tone down the colors, clean up your code. Remove the scrolling/blinking text.
LiLcRaZyFuZzY
06-28-2005, 03:45 PM
ok, ok, gentle version:
i feel neglected, because i can't see your site, i use Mozilla Firefox (http://www.mozilla.org/firefox/) and even if you were lucky that your code is parsed in Internet Explorer, it isn't in FF. So i only see your source.
You might wanna add a doctype declaration at the very top of your document, and cautiously write a well formed document.
I hope to see it soon...and review it
the tree
06-29-2005, 03:40 AM
It isn't parsed in Opera (http://opera.com/) either. You're server is delivering it as text/plain instead of text/html, most probably because you forgot the file extension. IE has a funny way of handling such MIME types wich should explain why it's working at your end but if it causes a problem with major browsers like FF and Opera then it'll almost certainly cause a problem with other browsers and search engines. You really ought to fix this ASAP.
For interest, read more about MIME types (http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/).
what, lol i thought it was just source code, well i look at it in ie...
[loading ie... downloading 443 activex virus'.... attempting to kill the w3]
okai i see a page with a title some links a gif and a backround picture.
now i think i have and a few others have been a bit mean...
but firstly you need to think of a layout, like a basic one
eg. Title in a header at the top a left column and a right column for content and a footer is basic?
something like that, or how you want your site to look like and then you can work your layout from there
also what are you using to code this, r u using notepad or frontpage or namo, or hotdog, or dreamweaver, word or what?
Lightfoot82
06-30-2005, 05:38 AM
Hi,
Just looked over your site, nice idea an i like the use of background customization, But i think the colours you have chosen are far too harsh on the eyes you have chosen very bold and strong colours that work against the colour pallettes already present - try it with much easier coulours (Beige).
Do like the site idea though.
red on blue doesnt work either
LiLcRaZyFuZzY
06-30-2005, 06:31 PM
this guy is making no effort at all, he didnt even post back, nor did he change anything on his page...
Hey -
He's a 74-year-old guy teaching himself this stuff as a hobby. Cut him some slack.
Although most of what was mentioned was valid (including your comments), it might have been a little harsh. All the criticism - and jumping in to join the band - may not be what he's used to.
BeachSide
07-02-2005, 12:19 AM
ok, ok, gentle version:
i feel neglected, because i can't see your site, i use Mozilla Firefox (http://www.mozilla.org/firefox/) and even if you were lucky that your code is parsed in Internet Explorer, it isn't in FF. So i only see your source.
You might wanna add a doctype declaration at the very top of your document, and cautiously write a well formed document.
I hope to see it soon...and review it
BE GLAD ALL YOU SEE IS THE CODE!!!! I actually took the leap and used IE to check it out... I will spend months in therapy now... Thanks MikeG!!! :mad: You know now that I think about it I haven't felt this robbed since I went and saw Alien Vs Predator.... I wanted my money back then and I want my retina's back now I think they are perminatly damaged holy cow I cannot believe I am even typing this :eek:
BeachSide
07-02-2005, 12:28 AM
Hey -
He's a 74-year-old guy teaching himself this stuff as a hobby. Cut him some slack.
Although most of what was mentioned was valid (including your comments), it might have been a little harsh. All the criticism - and jumping in to join the band - may not be what he's used to.
I don't care how old someone is... if he was 24 would it make a difference? What matters is the effort that is put into something. He was told waaaay back on Wed Jan 26 12:55:32 2005 that the color scheme was painfully bad but has done nothing about it. This guy comes here asks for opinions 9 days ago and has not responded... not once... this tells me that he does not care. The very least he could have done is come back at least once and responded to at least one of the comments that he asked for.
some of the comments where cruel but most criticism is, i hope you don't leave this as a hobby, but if you can leave webdesign because this or dont show any attitude to changing your page, are u really that commited and have we just wasted our time?
calvin_22
07-02-2005, 04:21 AM
i guess, he is updating his site,
what i see is the code
good luck
cheers ;)
BeachSide
07-02-2005, 04:30 AM
Yeah... :rolleyes: That's it... :p