Website Review

[tjcusick]

Ok I'm back again and ready for the destruction that is to come... Actually I'm back because you guys helped me out and got me (sort of) on the right track to making my websites better. Well the website location that we were at before with this website jacked up their prices and we decided to shop around and found another website that is much much better. So please check out my relaunch of this site and give me some critiques...

Site is

http://lodge199.org

Thanks

 

[johnwm]

Nice looking site. However it confuses me slightly that the 'headlines' column links to some items on the same page, some items on another page on the same site, yet others take you to a different site.

You are also forcing your images/ThirdDegree.gif into a different aspect ratio, making the square into a non-square

___________________________________________________________
If you want the best response to a question, please check out FAQ222-2244 first.
'If we're supposed to work in Hex, why have we only got A fingers?'
Drive a Steam Roller
Steam Engine Prints

 

[tjcusick]

Johnwm: I made adjustments to the page. Got rid of the forcing image and put a proper image of the lodge building in its place. also I made changes to some of the links going to other places on the index page. Any better?

 

[johnwm]

Yes - but not sure about the use of the one table to produce 2 independent columns of data, particularly with the (rather clunky) double borders. The stuff in the bottom rows of the table doesn't look as if it belongs there either

___________________________________________________________
If you want the best response to a question, please check out FAQ222-2244 first.
'If we're supposed to work in Hex, why have we only got A fingers?'
Drive a Steam Roller
Steam Engine Prints

 

[tjcusick]

Johnwm: Are you referring to the Calendar of events?
do you have any suggestions as to how i can put that information on there in a similar format?

 

[johnwm]

I would put each set of events in a separate table. Put each table in it's own <div> with fixed width and set to float left. I would also take the info in the last two rows of your existing table and put them in a separate <div>, as they are not really connected to the table info.

___________________________________________________________
If you want the best response to a question, please check out FAQ222-2244 first.
'If we're supposed to work in Hex, why have we only got A fingers?'
Drive a Steam Roller
Steam Engine Prints

 

[tjcusick]

Ok i moved that stuff out of the bottom of the table.
but i'm not quite sure how to go about making the table div section like you said. This is what is in there:

/************** .story styles *****************/

.story{
	clear: both;
	padding: 10px 0px 0px 10px;
	font-size: 80%;
}

.story p{
	padding: 0px 0px 10px 0px;
}

<div class="story"> 
    <h3><a name="events"></a>Activities</h3> 
    <table width="600" border="0">
      <tr bordercolor="#000000">
        <td width="70">&nbsp;</td>
   ...
  </div>
  <div class="story">
    <p align="center"><span class="style9"><u>The more interest you show, the more we will do. If you have an idea let us know </u></span></p>
    <h1 align="center">TO SIGN UP OR FOR MORE INFO CONTACT</h1>

 

[ChrisHunt]

I've just taken a quick look at your site, and have a suggestion over and above picking at the markup etc. that you have there.

You've got a site with a mixture of fixed content - What's a mason?, about the lodge, etc.; and ephemeral content - upcoming events, news stories, notices etc.

With that in mind, have you considered using some blog software, like Wordpress, to manage your site rather than building up each page from scratch as a static HTML page? It might take a little time to get it all set up how you want it, but it could save you a lot of time in the long run.

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[tjcusick]

Chris: What would the advantage be to doing it that way? Those letter/documents will not change. They are static.

 

[ChrisHunt]

The advantage would be better management of your site, as you accumulate more and more articles over time. It also gives you access to pre-written plugins that'll do useful stuff like manage an events calendar.

I wouldn't start a non-trivial site now based on static pages, even with the benefit of server side includes to do some of the common stuff (though I've built quite a few sites like that in the past).

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[tjcusick]

Johnwm: Back to the Table section on my index page. Do you have an example of how i could do that without the table?

You have to realize that most of the users of this website "want" to see the events laid out like this where they can go to a quick page and see everything that is coming up.

ChrisHunt: I understand what you are saying about the pages and such but i guess i'm old fashion and i like the static pages. I have added a blog to the page for people to post comments to, but i haven't included the static pages there yet. I might put a few there and see what people think, but personally I like the pages being static, it sort of sets them off by themselves and gives them a life of their own rather than being stuck on a blog that just seems cold to me... i must be old fashion...

 

[MikeBarone]

Do you need the "3" G's? If not, get rid of the left and right one. Do the "lamp posts" have to be so over powering? Drop them down so the top ball is even with the text. The header graphic won't take up as much room this way.

The footer "G" graphic. Resize it using a better graphics editor and it will look cleaner. Do not use HTML to resize images.

Same applies to all your small graphics. If you use HTMNL to resize them they get distorted and look like manure.

$0.02

-
Mike

http://www.cgiscript.net

FREE CGI/Perl/JavaScripts

 

[tjcusick]

Thanks Mike, Yeah if you were a Mason then the Columns and the 3 G's are significant. If you look closely the 3 G's in the middle are slightly different from each other.