taylorantone
MIS
Any suggestions on this one? I'm still waiting on content from the site owner to finish it. But any comments you have would be easier to take care of now instead of later.
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Comments on a site I'm putting together?
- Thread starter taylorantone
- Start date
- Status
It looks pretty slick, as far as it goes.
I think I'd make the header image an <img> tag, rather than a background image. That way you can be sure it will appear if visitors print a page, and you can also put some [tt]alt[/tt] text in there for screen readers and search engines (all it needs to say is "Donna Omar - your realtor").
I also think you should be little less aggressive with the compression on that image - there are visible jpeg artifacts around her eyes and (especially) on the Legacy logo. If you find the whole thing getting too big, one approach would be to seperate out the little images and float or CSS-position them into place.
Still on that image (be fair, there's not much else to talk about) I find that Donna's red dress clashes rather with the pale turquoise of the site. With some careful Photoshopping you could recolour it to something more sympathetic. Alternatively, consider turning all the photos to black and white with a slight turquoise tint so they're not fighting so much with the rest of the design. B&W can be a lot more flattering for portraits anyway.
OK, moving on, you should be making better use of the <title>. It can be a useful tool for search engine traffic, and you're wasting it. Nobody's going to search for "donnaomar.com", they'll just go there. So make your home page title "Donna Omar - Your realtor in Midland, Texas" and give your other pages titles like "Donna Omar - Contact Details" or whatever.
Finally, this is quality work - you should have a credit on there so people can see who did it and hire you. Maybe some more little letters in the bottom section?
-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd
I think I'd make the header image an <img> tag, rather than a background image. That way you can be sure it will appear if visitors print a page, and you can also put some [tt]alt[/tt] text in there for screen readers and search engines (all it needs to say is "Donna Omar - your realtor").
I also think you should be little less aggressive with the compression on that image - there are visible jpeg artifacts around her eyes and (especially) on the Legacy logo. If you find the whole thing getting too big, one approach would be to seperate out the little images and float or CSS-position them into place.
Still on that image (be fair, there's not much else to talk about) I find that Donna's red dress clashes rather with the pale turquoise of the site. With some careful Photoshopping you could recolour it to something more sympathetic. Alternatively, consider turning all the photos to black and white with a slight turquoise tint so they're not fighting so much with the rest of the design. B&W can be a lot more flattering for portraits anyway.
OK, moving on, you should be making better use of the <title>. It can be a useful tool for search engine traffic, and you're wasting it. Nobody's going to search for "donnaomar.com", they'll just go there. So make your home page title "Donna Omar - Your realtor in Midland, Texas" and give your other pages titles like "Donna Omar - Contact Details" or whatever.
Finally, this is quality work - you should have a credit on there so people can see who did it and hire you. Maybe some more little letters in the bottom section?
-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd
AlbertAguirre
Programmer
I would also use liquid html techniques.
I personally feel like static widths are outdated and a waste of screen real estate.
I personally feel like static widths are outdated and a waste of screen real estate.
AlbertAguirre
Programmer
Also, a more professional photo of Donna will go a long way.
Having good photography is crucial especially for sales oriented websites or just marketing in general.
I am an ametuer photographer and I can tell that image was taken with a cheap camera and poor lighting.
Having good photography is crucial especially for sales oriented websites or just marketing in general.
I am an ametuer photographer and I can tell that image was taken with a cheap camera and poor lighting.
- Thread starter
- #5
taylorantone
MIS
Good tip on the header bg usage. I'll change that over to an img within the header and use some good alt tags.
And the <title> suggestion is good too. The site currently includes the entire header (from the <html> tag down to the opening <container> tag, then includes the footer (from the closing <container> tag to the </html>. I'll have to change where my includes begin/end to make that work.
I'm kinda limited to the photos of herself she gives me. And I'm horrible at creativity/photoshop stuff, so I tend to avoid it when possible.
As far as the liquid html, I left that part up to her. She wanted a centered, fixed-width site, so that's what I've given her.
Personally, I can go either way. Liquidity has it's uses but doesn't do it for me all that much. A good example is any site with mainly text articles. If you let that expand/contract based on the browser width, a 1600x1200 article can be daunting to read just because of the horizontal span. For some reason, people find it easier and more engageing to read more columnar articles.
I'll be added some info in the footer at the end, like who created the site.
And the <title> suggestion is good too. The site currently includes the entire header (from the <html> tag down to the opening <container> tag, then includes the footer (from the closing <container> tag to the </html>. I'll have to change where my includes begin/end to make that work.
I'm kinda limited to the photos of herself she gives me. And I'm horrible at creativity/photoshop stuff, so I tend to avoid it when possible.
As far as the liquid html, I left that part up to her. She wanted a centered, fixed-width site, so that's what I've given her.
Personally, I can go either way. Liquidity has it's uses but doesn't do it for me all that much. A good example is any site with mainly text articles. If you let that expand/contract based on the browser width, a 1600x1200 article can be daunting to read just because of the horizontal span. For some reason, people find it easier and more engageing to read more columnar articles.
I'll be added some info in the footer at the end, like who created the site.
trollacious
Programmer
You can also use the status line for mouseovers on the buttons rather than just let it show the URL for the links. That will add text for the search engines to read, too.
Lee
Lee
Here's the best way (I think) to put includes into your page whilst retaining maximum flexibility:
Code:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD xhtml 1.0 strict//EN" "[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">[/URL]
<html lang="en" xml:lang="en" xmlns="[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">[/URL]
<head>
<title>Donna Omar - Your Realtor in Midland, Texas - Welcome</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<!--#exec cgi="/cgi-bin/head.pl" -->
</head>
<body>
<!--#exec cgi="/cgi-bin/top.pl" -->
<h2>Welcome</h2>
<p>This is where you'd put the unique content of the page.</p>
<!--#exec cgi="/cgi-bin/bottom.pl" -->
</body>
</html>This approach allows you to radically change the way each page is marked up, by only changing top.pl and bottom.pl. I recently did exactly that to move from table-based to CSS layout.
-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd
- Thread starter
- #8
taylorantone
MIS
Not up for perl, but I've redone the includes similarly with standard include statements. I'm including just the header and navbar, then just the footer. This allowed me to add another style element to the header for each page to change the navbar button to show which page you're on.
This also made it possible to give each page its own title, with a decent description to help with search engines.
I've also redone the header with an img instead of a background to allow an alt tag.
I've gotta say, this is one of the best forums for really good web design advice. No one is flippant and tells you that you design like crap, and every suggestion is helpful.
This also made it possible to give each page its own title, with a decent description to help with search engines.
I've also redone the header with an img instead of a background to allow an alt tag.
I've gotta say, this is one of the best forums for really good web design advice. No one is flippant and tells you that you design like crap, and every suggestion is helpful.
- Thread starter
- #9
taylorantone
MIS
Okay guys, need a few more opinions. I'm still waiting on the site owners content (I can't tell her base what she wants them to be told), but aside from that I've done just about everything I can.
Any tips/suggestions/advice?
So far so good! Keep it coming!
Any tips/suggestions/advice?
So far so good! Keep it coming!
- Thread starter
- #11
taylorantone
MIS
Yeah, I'm probably going to do that. Since I'm still waiting on the site owners content, that Legacy link may become something else, and Legacy will just be linked from within the site content somewhere.
So I haven't changed it yet.
So I haven't changed it yet.
Don't open any links in new windows, it's bad for accessibility and just a bad idea generally. Don't but into that "it stops people leaving my site" rubbish - if they want to leave, they'll leave. Live with it.
However, I think you should remove the legacy button from the menu bar - you expect those buttons to navigate you around Donna's site, not to take you to a different one. maybe you should make the legacy logo in the title bar clickable, or introduce a new one into the content somewhere.
-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd
However, I think you should remove the legacy button from the menu bar - you expect those buttons to navigate you around Donna's site, not to take you to a different one. maybe you should make the legacy logo in the title bar clickable, or introduce a new one into the content somewhere.
-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd
- Thread starter
- #13
taylorantone
MIS
or introduce a new one into the content somewhere."
Exactly what I said. It's only there now as space filler until I get the content from the site owner. I had to have something to show her, and a Legacy link has to be prominent due to legal requirements.
Exactly what I said. It's only there now as space filler until I get the content from the site owner. I had to have something to show her, and a Legacy link has to be prominent due to legal requirements.
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