Busy — Thu, 05 Sep 2002 22:32:17 +0000

Load time isn't only graphics as most people think, your .html file adds to it, your .js, .css ... (if any) as well. (html file is 12.4kb)
nested tables (deep nested tables) can slow it down heaps, maybe break your main page in half or three quarters the length. much of the stuff on there isn't needed, a link to them would work. consider using SSI or something to include sections on choosing or like a msn/yahoo style where you can set whats displayed and whats not.
I'm not a gamer but when I do play them I always click thru all the intros as fast as I can so I can play it, pretty sure this would be the norm for die hard gamers too.
I counted 6 tag sets and a few font tags, use CSS for fonts etc, use one tag in the head (should be ) ,your coding tidied up will gain some load speed

Re: off topic answer to off topic question

Mark Hensler — Thu, 05 Sep 2002 19:00:33 +0000

Quote: Originally posted by Abhishek Reddy
No, we wear dark glasses all the time, and only go out at night. In our rooms, the windows and blinds are always shut, and the only light source is the moniter (which is why we need black backgrounds).

And don't forget our blacklights! I've got a 2ft and a 4ft fluorescent blacklight fixtures in my room. My room glows!

Katie_Venra — Thu, 05 Sep 2002 16:30:01 +0000

Well, the site layout is the standard layout for most gaming sites, especially in Trek related sites. The gamers like something thats uniform in design and doesnt change from page to page, run a search for 'star trek game sites' in google or something and you'll see what i mean

As for the load time...what are you connecting at? At 56k (full 56k though) it takes from 10 to 20 seconds for the main page to load. Theres nothing i can do with the graphics, if you look at it there is barely any graphocs on the site at all, if i remove any more of it it will be nothing but text...which is good for me (dont have to update the hearder) but it will end up boring our visitors...

I'll see if i can compress the .jpg and convert the rest of the .gif files, but if i compress it anymore than it is i'll get that grainy effect that webmistress was talking about... :-/

disaster-master — Thu, 05 Sep 2002 15:42:04 +0000

I peeked at it the other night but didn't have time to give you a critique. I do think it looks much better. However, isn't there anything that you can do to decrease the load time? I know that I have a crummy dial up connection (poor me )but it is taking the site several minutes to load.

Just my opinion here but I think you have a bit much for the home page. Or is this the home page? I don't see a "Home" link. This page is the Latest News page isn't it?

The image you have at the top of each section in the body part is too repetative. Not sure I would use it over and over like that. Other than those few things....nice job.

Sonia

The Webmistress — Thu, 05 Sep 2002 07:56:30 +0000

Actually I prefer the blue & red you have there now as it matches more with the site and it's the lighter blue and pink that make it look bubble gummy. Keep it the new colours and change the logo under the times to match. The piture of the woman looks better now as well as she looks less grainy.

Katie_Venra — Thu, 05 Sep 2002 02:06:31 +0000

Yeah see what you mean about the bubble gum effect, i hate the way Adobe messes with eyecandy glass effects when its a .gif. I'm gonna try PNG or JPG later on, but we have the Trek Gamers memorial coming up and the network sites on my side are starting off the 911 memorial's so the banner has changed again...the new one will be uploaded on the 15th, its been fixed, a bit like this current one...

I'll get vic to do something about the links as well...we'll see what white looks like

Megan — Wed, 04 Sep 2002 15:20:49 +0000

Yeah, I was thinking it would look good if those links were white, or the yellow on mouseover looks okay. I also think that the text in the logo should go over the space ships not under it. And I agree about the bubble gummy pink and blue. Another thing is that I think I liked the old background better - it didn't cut off so much around the edges.

Much better with the spacing and alignment though.

The Webmistress — Wed, 04 Sep 2002 14:48:01 +0000

Better organisation at the top now but I'm not sure about the colours. The logo seems very bright and bubble gummy and the others very dark and the picture of the woman looks too grainy. I don't like blue links on black and I think the red bullets clash with the pink.

Katie_Venra — Wed, 04 Sep 2002 14:26:58 +0000

Actually that IS true in some cases.

The founder of the STCD (Victor) does a lot of freelance game review work for PC Gamer UK and 'The Net Bug' magazine in the UK. So when a new app comes out in the UK or a new games thats been chalked up as a possible big seller he gets them all in the same week. He then gets a few big bottles of cola, orders out a family size pizza and shuts the blinds.

Myself, Vic and Nikki then proceed to tear the game or app apart,looking for faults of any kind. That kind of thing can go on for a few days...or until vic completes the game. Usually takes him a 24 to 36 hour stint to finish a game off, if its longer it gets an even better review...

Anyway, i've altered the site around a bit, dropped the clocks down and seperated them with a bar and split the 2 menus in half AND i've re-organised the template table's so 800x600 res screens shouldnt get a horizontal scroll bar, well, it didnt on mine anyway

off topic answer to off topic question

Abhishek Reddy — Wed, 04 Sep 2002 07:38:32 +0000

Quote: Originally posted by The Webmistress
*Slightly off topic*

What do gamers do in the real world once they trun away from their black screens - wear dark sunglasses all day or just go out at night??

No, we wear dark glasses all the time, and only go out at night. In our rooms, the windows and blinds are always shut, and the only light source is the moniter (which is why we need black backgrounds).

Re: *off topic answer to off topic question*

*off topic answer to off topic question*

Re: off topic answer to off topic question

off topic answer to off topic question