dictionarium.com

[coltclint]

Hi,

Please, I would like to know what do u think, colors/layout/image/logo/flow/load time about my site:

I am ready to hearing your criticisms and suggestions.

www.dictionarium.com


Colt Clint

[Waylander]

Couple of things quickly,

I dont think the site will fit in 800x600 which is usually the development norm for sites with a wide user viewing range.

I noticed this big block of what looks like code to me, i think thats spanish though so im not sure....

<% INICIO COLUNA DO MEIO %> <% Set FileObject = Server.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") Dir = Request.ServerVariables("Script_name") Dir = StrReverse(Dir) Dir = Mid(Dir,Instr(1,Dir, "/")) Dir = StrReverse(Dir) Arquivo_contador = Server.MapPath(Dir) & "/dictionarium.txt" On Error Resume Next Set Instream = FileObject.OpenTextFile (Arquivo_Contador, 1, False) Valor_Antigo = Trim(Instream.ReadLine) Valor_Novo = Valor_Antigo + 1 Set Outstream = FileObject.CreateTextFile (Arquivo_Contador,True) Outstream.Writeline(Valor_Novo) %>

[coltclint]

Hi,

I did the site in 1024 x 768 (Inclusive I am see this page nusing 1024x768 configuration.

According your words I must written my code using 800x600 configuration?

Regarding the code you saw, it was a script for counting visits and was written in Spanish.

Do you have comments about 'code'? or banners?

Thanks

Colt

[rapid]

viewed site at 800x600 and 1024x768. looks ok in both, but it definitely fits better at the smaller res.

comments about code
your code fails validation.
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dictionarium.com%2F
would be much better being written using valid html with css for layout, especially as you have a really clean and simple layout. you could also put your javascript in external files, reducing the size of each page loaded and so making it faster.

comments about banners
the banners on the home page fit in quite well with your site, they don't jump out and overwhelm your content, which is good.

is the site fully up and running yet? when i search 'website' the results page doesnt have any results on it. it just has lots of links, which should really be underlined and have a hover state so users know they are links. in fact, as you have so many links you should really show visitors which links are internal navigation and which will take them to external sites, either by making the different sections look very different or by using different colored hovers.

when clicking on your 'Dictionaries by Subject' links they open in the same window, which is fine, but the next level of links opens in different windows, which gets confusing for the user and prevents effective navigation. better if all links that navigate around your site open in the same window and every page includes a menu or link to a site map to help visitors find their way around. these sub pages also have a different layout to the home page. keeping the same layout throughout the site tells visitors they are still in the site they wanted to be in and that they havent accidentally clicked an external link and been taken off to some other site.

could also change the font. verdana is supposed to be the easiest to read on a screen and as its a dictionary site and all about reading it might be good to make it as readable as possible.

[coltclint]

Rapid,

Thank you for your considerations. I like the 'positive' criticism like yours.
I am also a critic! From me, especially! When I was a young man I said " After forth years old the men are old!". After 20 years I continue thinking in this way!

Well... regarding your comments I would like to know MORE about you said:

1. What font would be best to use in my website?
2. The background=white it is pretty or would be better use a dark color (Sometimes ago my website had the background=black)
3. I did not for pages open in another window or the same window! I will see this in more details, because I not think in this feature!
4. What is a 'mirror'? It is the 'copy' of another sourcecode? or like that?

Thank you again. I am ready to hearing criticism.

Best

Colt

[rapid]

hi colt,

1. "vedana, sans-serif" would be the font i would suggest.
2. white is definitely the best background color.
3. its more polite to your visitors if all you pages open in the same browser window. the website might be yours but the browser belongs to the visitor and if they want to open your next page in another window they can do that on their own.
4. not sure what you mean by 'mirror'. what is it about?

[coltclint]

Rapid,

Ok. I wil try to do you suggests.


Regarding 'mirror' I was thinking in 'site mirror' - was only a question out of our subject - however I discovered what is a 'site mirror'!

Thanks


Colt

[coltclint]

Rapid and friends,


I did some changes in the source code and layout.

1. I change all fonts to 'verdana'
2. The pages open in the same browser.
3. The code itself cotninues with the same problems... I believe... I repeat dozens of times: <font face="verdana" size="2">. I would need find a .css script - a cool script - to change this problem.
4. Some internal pages shows some banners no links! Are tests I was doing in my computer, soon I will change them!

My question: I am in the right way to have a 'portal of dictionaries' ???

I look forward to hearing from YOURS!

I did want to have a pretty site! I want to have an awarded site!

Thank you

Colt

[Sir Jake]

Coltclint,

First of all, I think your site should have a blob, (short paragraph) describing what it offers. I did look for myself but most web surfers only have a 3 second attention span and they might not really look and ...click, good bye.

Secondly, I feel your page should be barely off white since it's ALL text, this would make it easier on the eyes. I would also go with Verdana font and a larger size since you have the space. None of the the colors match either, you have a green logo, a light blue vert nav and navy frames on either side...no theme.

[Zarel]

Hi,

I did the site in 1024 x 768 (Inclusive I am see this page nusing 1024x768 configuration.

According your words I must written my code using 800x600 configuration?

Regarding the code you saw, it was a script for counting visits and was written in Spanish.

Do you have comments about 'code'? or banners?

Thanks

Colt
To be exact, it's a server-side ASP script for counting visits. Since it's server-side, we shouldn't be able to see it. If we are, you're doing something wrong.

An HTML file with an ASP script should be a '.asp' file, if you didn't know. It also requires a host that supports ASP. If you don't have either, you won't be able to use this script.

[coltclint]

Zarel,

Do you are right! . asp Script cannot be saw!

This index file, today index.html, was an index.asp, I did the changes in extension, but I forgotten to cut off the asp script!

Thank you, you did a valuable observation!

It is also possible see another .asp files in this website?

Best

Colt

[spufi]

3. The code itself cotninues with the same problems... I believe... I repeat dozens of times: <font face="verdana" size="2">. I would need find a .css script - a cool script - to change this problem.

Add a line like this inside of your <head> tags.

<link rel="stylesheet" href="defaul.css" type="text/css" media="screen">

Now, create a file and save it with the .css extension. Have this file be in the same directory as the rest of your pages. Now, within the .css file add these lines to start

body {
background-color:#FFF;
color:#000;
padding:0;
margin:0;
font-family:verdana, sans-serif;
}
h5 {
font-size:110%;
}

You can play around with the size of your h5 tag. I just went and picked a number.

Now, your <body> tag should be just the <body> tag by itself. You can now get rid of any <font> tags that surround your <h5> tags.

In terms of menus, look at the Taming Lists link in my sig. This will help you clean out a lot more code. In terms of looks, I would just use one Amazon image for all of the items instead of using an image for each item.

[coltclint]

Spufi and friends,

I did the changes suggested and more...

The lines of code were recuded from 700 to 550 and I add some css code.

More suggestions and helpful are welcome.

Thanks

Colt