Hello

fiesty_01 — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 08:58:48 +0000

I got 6 bad links, 28 coding errors, 23 code warnings, 11 browser-compatibility problems, and a load time of 153.34 seconds with a 28k connection speed (6.?? seconds with the fastest speed listed). There were also a few miscellaneous spelling errors (many were simply due to lettering style such as "FUnny" instead of "funny"). There might be few too many different colors for the text also, but it is a humor site after all (I didn't find them bothersome, though, except for one place where I thought I saw fuchsia letters near green letters? Can't remember exactly).

The main thing that was more annoying than anything was having to scroll many (who knows how many) times to finally reach the bottom of the page. This should be eliminated by condensing this one large page into 2 or 3 pages. I don't know about everyone else, but too much scrolling on one page tends to really bug my eyes.

Also, remember that one page might be terrible to one person and great (or at least okay) to another. Also, the ads are no big deal to me (I just try to ignore them), but many do seem to really dislike them. I hate many commercials on television and radio, too, but I still watch TV and sometimes listen to the radio.

Hope this helps some, and good luck.

P.S.: I also agree with what Busy said.

hostito — Tue, 27 Jan 2004 13:39:29 +0000

Consider taking a design or art class for inspiration and ideas on form and technique.

Suzanne — Tue, 27 Jan 2004 00:39:53 +0000

w3.org

amrod — Tue, 27 Jan 2004 00:20:15 +0000

whats a "W3C"?

Megan — Mon, 26 Jan 2004 14:22:27 +0000

Busy wrote: Think things like
"sometimes less is more"
"pros built the titantic"
"KISS - keep it simple silly"
"do I realy need that"

Usually less is more

I think one of the key things in design is to do what's appropriate for the site. I could go on about this but you didn't ask for design advice.

Looking at your site, you'll firstly need a good graphics editor. Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard, but it's very expensive (about $699 US, I think). Jasc Paintshop Pro is another viable option and costs $79 US. For your coding, there are lots of options out there. Dreamweaver is the WYSIWYG industry standard but again, it's very expensive. There are many, many good text editors out there, some with more HTML-specific capabilities than others. My advice is to try a bunch and see which one works for you.

However, no HTML editor will make you create a well-coded site. The only way to do that is to learn the code yourself and use the W3C validator to check it. By looking at yours, you really need to learn Cascading Style Sheets. Your code is a really odd mix of inline styles and old fashioned mark-up (font tags). Once you clean that up you can clean up other coding problems. Oops, you didn't ask for coding advice either

Finally, it'll serve you well to stick around here. Participate in the review section, read what people have to say in other sections. You could learn more at a place like this than through many other avenues.

The Webmistress — Mon, 26 Jan 2004 09:09:49 +0000

I agree that 'tools' will not automatically guarantee a great site, learned skill in several areas will allow you to create good websites, so you really need to get a graphics program and practice your graphics skills (logos, photo resizing, graphical content creation) and then either learn to code by hand or if you want a helping hand get a WYSIWYG editor like Dreamweaver as it will do the coding for you but you can build using the split design/codde view and then you'll see how the code goes together and tweek it by hand where necessary.

My advise for anyone starting out is to find sites that you like the look of and then view the code to see how it's done and then try to recreate the site, not to go online with but just as a learning exercise to do the graphics & coding.

Suzanne — Sun, 25 Jan 2004 17:21:32 +0000

The Hyperlink

The biggest thing I think most people forget (oldbies and newbies alike) is that the hyperlink allows you to not have all the information on one page. We don't read books on a single sheet of paper, we don't have newspapers that span parking lots to crawl upon and read daily. Use hyperlinks to create dynamic documents that can lead the user on their own path. Keep pages short, relevant and well linked.

Marketing Structure

This goes to marketing as well, but in general your first page (home page) should contain the most current information and links to all the main sections of your site, with either teaser headlines to those sections or descriptions of what's in those sections.

Each main section page should contain longer descriptions of the subsections within it, and a list of things inside it, sort of a sub-home page. Feature the item that was the teaser on the home page.

From the subsections, each link should lead to a solid whole page. An article, a long joke, a collection of small quotes, a photo essay, et cetera. This solid whole page can actually be broken again into multiple pages, but the level won't change. It should link back to the section page and the home page, and may contain links to other pages at its level in a sidebar or within the content.

This puts users in control of their information within 2-3 clicks at the most, keeps the pages small enough that they load quickly, draws interest into the deeper sections of your site and doesn't bash the user over the head with too much information right off the bat.

How a User Views Your Site

Some users will be satisfied with the headlines and say, yup, not what I wanted.

Some users will be satisfied with the summary and say, interesting, I'll get back to this, or no, not what I wanted.

Some users will be satisfied only with the full text and will continue on through the site. Each click they make further commits them to their journey, and if you satisfy their needs at each level, you'll have them as a user.

i.e.
1st page: wow, that headline looks interesting, I wonder if it's what I'm looking for?
2nd page: that summary seems to be right, this is the article/joke/essay/photo that will answer my question/amuse me -- *I want to read more*

>--- here is where the $$ comes in if you're working on a pay model, look into things like BitPass for micropayments instead of hefty charges for recycled jokes. other options include subscriptions, newsletters, et cetera --<

3rd page: ah, yes, this is what I wanted. I'm going to print this, email this, download this (provide options, ESPECIALLY if you're charging for it).

In General

You need to build a level of trust and quality in order to be a valuable resource. Building interest includes not showing everything at once. The maxim that if everything is emphasized, nothing is emphasized (typography) applies to content as well. If all the content is presented at once, there is no content, only noise.

mairving — Sun, 25 Jan 2004 13:12:12 +0000

There are tools that can help you to build sites but the biggest tool is in your head. Learn what good web design is by seeing how other sites do things. Listen to advice from people, not everyone but some. I think the hardest thing for most people to learn is to think like someone else. People tend to design a site based on what they like, test it with their browser at their resolution, using their favorite colors, etc. You need to consider others when you design a site.

Here are 6 rules of good website design that I try to practice:

People hate to wait.
People hate to scroll.
People hate to read.
People would rather scroll than wait.
People would rather wait than read.
People are not necessarily rational or consistent, but sometimes they are.

Remember that a tool is only good for someone that knows how to use it. Dreamweaver, Homesite, Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Opera, Mozilla are some tools that can help you get there but you need to learn how to use them first.

Busy — Sun, 25 Jan 2004 10:02:45 +0000

Think things like
"sometimes less is more"
"pros built the titantic"
"KISS - keep it simple silly"
"do I realy need that"
...

W3C is the only flash thing you need, but as a guide only, any site, big small, family, e-commerce ... can be built with notepad or the flashiest top of the line, 'but wait thats not all' WYSIWYG editor.

Content is king and always will be

And also remember Bill Gates started out in the family shed.

Abhishek Reddy — Sun, 25 Jan 2004 09:17:39 +0000

Moved thread -- I know this is related to your review, but the Critiques area is exclusively for reviews themselves.

Tools won't give you an impressive site. Only content will give you an impressive site. Good design will make it better, and more usable but will not be enough. Similarly, good code will make it more accessible and flexible, but won't be enough. Your starting point should really be on content. How your site and code looks should depend on what you're trying to present.

In this vein, really the only tools you'll need is a text editor, a graphics editor and the W3C validator. Rather than focusing on tools, try learning basic concepts of markup, design, accessibility and usability.

What are you using right now?