Site Review 3

[tjcusick]

I am a free lance web designer, self taught and in need of some guidance. Key word here is Free, i do all this stuff in my spare time for difference groups and organizations without asking to be paid. And I'm sure some of you will think that is a good thing when reveiwing my web pages...

That being said, I have 3 websites that I created and I would like some opinions and suggestions as to how they can be improved, what needs to be changed, etc...

I will post each one here individually so that comments can be directed to each one seperately. Thank you for all your comments...

First Site:

http://susquehannacachecorps.bravehost.com/

 

[ca8msm]

Hmmm...let's start with validation. Go to

http://validator.w3.org,

enter your site and note all of the validation issues you have.

After you have fixed those, have a look into why tables are no longer used for page layout, and then go through removing all of the tags that are no longer supported by your doctype (e.g. the font tag). This also applies to the inline attributes such as "align" which should be replaced by styling from a css file.


-------------------------------------------------------

Mark,
[URL unfurl="true"]http://aspnetlibrary.com[/url]
[URL unfurl="true"]http://mdssolutions.co.uk[/url] - Delivering professional ASP.NET solutions
[URL unfurl="true"]http://weblogs.asp.net/marksmith[/url]

 

[Foamcow]

Ummm, what can I say.

Are you serious about web design?
Whilst I appreciate we aren't all master artists this looks pretty much the sort of site I was seeing on Geocities about 10 years ago.

Might I recommend you take a look around the web at some contemporary web design.

The same applies to your other submissions.

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[tjcusick]

ca8msm,

Thanks for the info, but the validation program is telling me that certain items in my code are not valid because the item is not open, but when looking at the code there is a open ... just for an example the <a href=""> etc </a>.. it is telling me that the </a>

end tag for element "A" which is not open.

also this one i dont understand what it is refering to either...

there is no attribute "TYPE".
<script type="text/javascript">

I'm not sure i really understand that validation site you sent.

Do you think by removing the tables that could solve some of these issues?

You have to understand i've never learned anything about CSS and using a table just seems to be the quickest and easiest way to create a nice formatted layout.

do you have any suggestions as far as website or books i could look at to learn CSS if that indeed is a better way to format the webpage?

 

[mmerlinn]

When you validate your site, fix the issues ONE at a time from the TOP down. Most of the time fixing one item will fix dozens of others due to the cascading effect of errors.

This method is true in any programming language. One error oftentimes causes more errors even though the subsequent code is correct.

If you must use tables, then you must also declare the correct DOCTYPE that supports tables otherwise you will never find most of your problems. The modern alternative, CSS, requires a different DOCTYPE to validate properly.

mmerlinn

http://mmerlinn.com

"Political correctness is the BADGE of a COWARD!"

 

[johnwm]

I found it really hard to sort out the adverts from the content. I endorse previous comments about out-dated design, typified by Marquee style text, scrolling adverts, tables for layout and invalid code.

Use a validator to identify and rectify all the validation errors.

You can learn the basics of HTML and CSS from

http://www.w3schools.com/default.asp

For advice on avoiding tables for layout see

http://www.hotdesign.com/seybold/

A few more interesting snippets on modern web design can be found here

http://www.josiahcole.com/2007/02/14/a-webmasters-19-commandments/

- although there is still some discussion about one or two of the nineteen!

___________________________________________________________
If you want the best response to a question, please check out FAQ222-2244 first.
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[ChrisHunt]

If you must use tables, then you must also declare the correct DOCTYPE that supports tables otherwise you will never find most of your problems. The modern alternative, CSS, requires a different DOCTYPE to validate properly.

Not true. All DOCTYPEs support tables, but they're only supposed to be used for their original purpose - tables of data. You should use CSS to lay out your pages - there's a learning curve involved in getting the hang of it, but it's well worth the effort.

do you have any suggestions as far as website or books i could look at?

If you're looking for websites, I've slung together a few useful links at

http://www.extraconnections.co.uk/articles/web-design-resources

. As for books, this one is highly recommended for beginners: Build Your Own Website The Right Way Using HTML & CSS.

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[tjcusick]

doing the validation i've narrowed it down quite a bit but one major thing it keeps telling me is:
This page is not Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional!
I dont understand why it is saying this but i've noticed this on a lot of pages as well.. nto just my website pages.. any ideas?

it is telling me that Line 195, Column 27: "DOCTYPE" declaration not allowed in instance.
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" ><!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transition
but the ><!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transition line is the very first line of the html file...

Any ideas?

 

[traingamer]

But it is also on line 195. You also have multiple body tags.

Greg
"Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught." - Winston Churchill

 

[ca8msm]

You have multiple...well everything! for example, the start contains

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">[/URL]
<html>
<head>
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="TJC Propductions">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" >
<title>Welcome Page</title>

which is followed half way down the page by

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">[/URL]
<html>
<head>
	<title>untitled</title>
	<style type="text/css">
		#sBar {text-align: center; margin: 0; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 5px 0px;  width: 728px; background-color: #fff; border: 1px solid #dfdfdf;}
		#sBar li {display: inline; } 
		#sBar li a, #sBar li a:visited {font: bold 11px tahoma,arial; text-decoration: underline; color: #004891; margin: 0px 15px;}
	</style>

</head>

<body>

-------------------------------------------------------

Mark,
[URL unfurl="true"]http://aspnetlibrary.com[/url]
[URL unfurl="true"]http://mdssolutions.co.uk[/url] - Delivering professional ASP.NET solutions
[URL unfurl="true"]http://weblogs.asp.net/marksmith[/url]

 

[mmerlinn]

[&nbsp;]
Several tags can only occur once in each document. Examples are <!DOCTYPE>, <HEAD>, and <BODY>. And they can only occur in certain places within the document.

This is a quote from

http://www.w3schools.com/tags/default.asp:

"The <!DOCTYPE> declaration is the very first thing in your document, before the <html> tag. This tag tells the browser which HTML or XHTML specification the document uses."

You might want to review the tag specifications there to help find your errors.



mmerlinn

http://mmerlinn.com

"Political correctness is the BADGE of a COWARD!"

 

[tjcusick]

I understand that the DOCTYPE for example can only appear once and if you look at my html on my hard drive:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">[/URL]
<html>
<head>
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="TJC Propductions">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" >
<title>Welcome Page</title>
<style type="text/css">
...
</script>

</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" >
<p>
<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10" width="780" align="left" border="1" bordercolor="#ffffff">

there is only one DOCTYPE in my document... any ideas why when posted to the internet id does this:

...
</script>

</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" ><!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">[/URL]
<html>
<head>
	<title>untitled</title>
	<style type="text/css">
		#sBar {text-align: center; margin: 0; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 5px 0px;  width: 728px; background-color: #fff; border: 1px solid #dfdfdf;}
		#sBar li {display: inline; } 
		#sBar li a, #sBar li a:visited {font: bold 11px tahoma,arial; text-decoration: underline; color: #004891; margin: 0px 15px;}
	</style>
</head>

<body>
<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="center" style="width: 754px; margin: 0 auto;">

This is what is confusing me...?
Could it be the Bravehost.com website putting that crap on the document?

 

[ChrisHunt]

Could it be the Bravehost.com website putting that crap on the document?

It looks like it could be - since it seems to be connected with the Bravenet ads at the top of the page. Another reason not to use free hosting for a live website - hosting is so cheap these days, why would you want all that bravenet rubbish?

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[tjcusick]

well since the organization i am doing this for is not a "real" organization, just a group of people and there is no money in the group, that is why i'm looking for the cheap and easy way on sites... Believe me i wish i had the money to get a real site and not a free one but wish in one and ...

Thanks for all the help people ... i have been playing around with the CSS style sheets and hopefully i can make some of you proud

At least i created my first CSS Menu already...

 

[mmerlinn]

[&nbsp;]

Bravehost, Tripod, eBay, and many other sites add code before and after your code when you use their services. Naturally, this code will not validate.

The solution is to keep a local copy of your code in a file on your hard drive and only validate it. Once you have validated your code and it works like you want it to work, then upload it to Bravehost.

Be sure to archive your copy on your hard drive so in the future you have a validated pristine copy to edit when you need to make changes.

mmerlinn

http://mmerlinn.com

"Political correctness is the BADGE of a COWARD!"

 

[Stretchwickster]

I remember contributing to a thread (thread434-1314406) regarding free PHP & MySQL web hosting packages a while back, might be worth researching/trialling some of them, as they may not insert their own adverts into your code.

Hope this helps!

Clive

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer." (Paul Ehrlich)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To get the best answers from this forum see: faq102-5096

 

[ChrisHunt]

One of the sites I run is for a small walking club. Hosting costs £25 (i.e. about $50 USD) a year. It's not difficult to raise that kind of money from even a small membership, but I've set out to make the site self-funding through advertising.

This proved simple to do, just using Google Adwords and a few affiliate marketing schemes targetted to members' interests. In fact, the site makes a modest profit.

Of course it means swapping a site festooned with Bravenet ads for one with Google ones; but at least you have some control over their nature and placement, and any profits go to you and not to your hosts.

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd