User Tag List

Thanks Thanks:  0
Likes Likes:  0
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 12

Thread: My second website done: Web design guru's comments?

  1. #1
    Regular Member RSV_Ecosse's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Falkirk, Scotland
    Post Thanks / Like
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Vehicle InfoStats





    Default My second website done: Web design guru's comments?

    After my first foray into the world of web design with my fathers site for his driving school which I posted about a wee while back:-

    www.firstdriving.co.uk

    ......I have now completed my second site for a friends private investigation business:-

    www.indagatio.co.uk

    My fathers site was all done using Namo Web Editor.

    Since then, I have moved on and am now starting to get to grips with Macromedia Dreamweaver 8, which is what I used to complete www.indagatio.co.uk

    I believe the coding is much cleaner compared to my first site effort, but I'll leave that open for comments!!.

    I have only just finished it tonight, so havent gone into any SEO stuff yet, will add the meta tags etc, tomorrow.

    Just wondered what some of you fellas who took the time to comment on my first effort thought about this one?.

    Still learning the ins and outs of Dreamweaver, its a cracking bit of kit compared to the basics of Namo and I look forward to advancing my skills with it in the future.

    So........./opens floodgates...........

    Whatdya think?.


    /runs.......

    P.S. Anyone using AOL will see the old Indagatio website that I knocked up using Microsoft Publisher. Go through Internet Explorer to see the new one as AOL dont update their cache until the next day and I've only just finished this tonight.

  2. #2
    Regular Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Home counties
    Post Thanks / Like
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Vehicle InfoStats





    Default

    You know, there is a local village website for my area and all the links and other websites are designed by a local firm. They are doing great business, and your 2 websites are better than any of theirs I've seen.

    I agree. The second site is better.

    I'm looking at getting into web design as I'm now a full time carer for my wife, with the hope of returning to work when the children are old enough to muck in. What's the learning curve like and what is the outlay for the software ?

    Well done by the way. Before long you'll be designing websites with FLASH intro's and whooshing noises

    I started my own website last night. I think you'll be suitably impressed when you see it. Check this out. www.saxstuff.co.uk LOL

  3. #3
    Regular Member VectraV6CDTi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Wilts
    Post Thanks / Like
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Vehicle InfoStats





    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Vectrafan View Post
    Check this out. www.saxstuff.co.uk LOL
    Its lacking something.........colour maybe?

  4. #4
    Regular Member m8internet's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Cumbernauld, Scotland
    Post Thanks / Like
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Vehicle InfoStats





    Default

    A couple of things, advice really

    Make sure the image sizes are defined in the HTML
    example :
    Code:
    width="100" height="100"
    This helps prevent a page jump about as the images load

    Be careful when using images as text
    Not only will some people not be able to see the text (as some people browse with images turned off), for partially sighted people their reader will not work
    For a commercial website this could even be claimed as a failure under the DDA

    Don't rely too much on design software
    Make sure you also have a basic understanding of HTML
    You can get just as good result with CMS, content management systems
    I've been using Mambo for years now and have recently started using e107 as this integrates much better with phpBB
    Login, type, publish

  5. #5
    Regular Member taaz's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    East Kilbride
    Post Thanks / Like
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Vehicle InfoStats





    Default

    Also need to be sure and name each page.. at the moment they show as untitled documents

    Part from that looking good

  6. #6
    Regular Member VXR_DV's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    South Coast
    Post Thanks / Like
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Vehicle InfoStats





    Default

    Better than the first site.

    But:
    - Not too keen on the top logo (shadow). Needs to be simpler.
    - Central text box uses huge fonts, and isn't very graphical.
    - Overall, fonts too large.

    Pick a colour. Use gradients to break up the colour, use subtly different shades of that colour. Use images in the middle section. Top level Nav at the Top, some sort of more detailed Nav at the bottom. LHS picture is fab, and a larger version could probably occupy the entire middle section.

    If in doubt, rip off the big boys. Nobody is to complain if their little website looks "too much like Microsoft.com", whereas using huge fonts etc. isn't going to set the design world alight, it just looks odd and out of place.

    dv.

  7. #7
    Regular Member um20's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Doncaster
    Post Thanks / Like
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Vehicle InfoStats





    Default

    Always good to see people embracing the web

    One key thing with your sites is to check for accessiblity and cross-browser compatibility.

    Use http://webxact.watchfire.com/ to check for accessibility and quality issues. It can be a bit harsh though, so don't feel down if it has a real go at your efforts!

    You should also consider using http://validator.w3.org/ to check the validity of your code. This is all the more important for cross-browser checking and so forth. The big push nowadays is towards xhtml and that's a real sea change if you're used to plain old html. More and more attributes are moving into the css.

    I use the validator all the time, especially on my last site I did www.davidallenconsultancy.co.uk. Took an age to go from html to xhtml on that one.

    Keep up the good work!

  8. #8
    Regular Member RSV_Ecosse's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Falkirk, Scotland
    Post Thanks / Like
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Vehicle InfoStats





    Default

    Thanks for the comments and advice fellas.

    Okeydoke, got lots of advice from you fellas here on my second attempt at a website in my last thread.

    I've now completely redone the whole site and uploaded it to my host.

    www.indagatio.co.uk

    I've decided to go down a slightly different road now. I'm still using Dreamweaver, but I have used a template for this site and am now using DW in its "Split" mode and to be quite honest, I'm finding I am learning more about HTML by watching whats happening in the code box as I use the desigh mode more than before. Thanks to those who suggested I do that in my last thread.

    So here's my third attempt. It needs polished, certainly. It's nothing startling.

    One thing I am not sure about is the header text for each page......it looks kinda "off centre" even though I have aligned it centre?. Any advice on that?. Looks like it just needs moved a few pixels to the right to tie up?.

    Also, the "stripey" background image on the left and the right of the main content page seems to "jump" slightly between certain pages. How can I solve that?.

    Any further advice and critique welcomed. Its the only way I'm going to get my head around this!!!.

    Thank you once again.

  9. #9
    Regular Member um20's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Doncaster
    Post Thanks / Like
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Vehicle InfoStats





    Default

    The only thing I can see with the header is that you have "padding : 2px 50px 0 0;" assigned to H1 in your style sheet, which is TOP RIGHT BOTTOM LEFT, so that's 50 pixels padding on the right.

    Looking at your stylesheet shows your background image is positioned centrally (background-position : center 0% to repeat on the y axis. I'm guessing that the center of the BODY element is different for all your pages as they are all different heights. If you look at two pages of similar height in succession you'll see the difference isn't as great as with other pages, so I'd be inclined to align "background-position : top 0%;" so each page has the same starting point for the background and it can repeat down from there.

    That's looking nicer than your first attempt anyway, although what on earth are the couple in the 'matrimonial' picture about to get up to?
    Last edited by um20; 12th May 2007 at 10:25.

  10. #10
    Regular Member VectraV6CDTi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Wilts
    Post Thanks / Like
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Vehicle InfoStats





    Default

    Thats looks great mate. Only think I'd suggest is lose the top menu:
    HOME // ABOUT US // OUR SERVICES // FEES // CONTACT US

    You already have the links on the left and bottom. No need to have them on the top as well.

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. any pc guru's out there?
    By tolly in forum General Chat
    Replies: 17
    Last Post: 18th July 2012, 21:12
  2. Website design assistence
    By TheWildHaggis in forum General Chat
    Replies: 18
    Last Post: 22nd May 2009, 20:20
  3. Website design
    By steve1975l in forum General Chat
    Replies: 12
    Last Post: 2nd July 2008, 13:44
  4. Guru's
    By spoons in forum The 'Off Topic' room
    Replies: 71
    Last Post: 21st June 2008, 16:19
  5. Replies: 3
    Last Post: 14th April 2008, 21:23

Visitors found this page by searching for:

Nobody landed on this page from a search engine, yet!

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •