Need opinion from the pro's. - Page 2

Baez · 08-25-2009, 11:45 PM

Take a look at this: Baez Computers

If you like the layout I can give you the style sheet similar to it.

Spit-wad · 08-26-2009, 01:14 AM

Don't mean to thread highjack, but your website looks better every time I see it, Baez

SapperX · 08-26-2009, 03:13 AM

Just a warning, I have been a web designer/developer for over 8 years and therefore I am intrinsically a bit harsh about this.

Personally, I think your site should be left alone. As of right now anything that is done to it will be similar to tidying up a trash pile. I don't mean to offend, but if you want a nice website, learn how to make a website first. I would be more then willing to help you learn, I can supply tons and tons of links to get you started with css, or any other web standard you wish to learn about.

Baez, not bad at all! Your css needs some major revamping. Your html is in dire need of being cleaned up, and why so many images? A lot of things you have used images for can be easily done with css + xhtml. Why the flash? Not only can all of that be done with jQuery, mootools, etc... but it will be faster and quite frankly, a lot prettier. Some of this stuff is of marginal importance since the site is so small, however if it ever grows in size page load will become priority number one, as well as standards compliance to ensure cross platform and Search Engine Optimization.

Like I said, I know I'm a bit of a **** about this stuff... but I am definitely willing to help you guys out if you'd like.

zmatt · 08-26-2009, 05:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SapperX

Just a warning, I have been a web designer/developer for over 8 years and therefore I am intrinsically a bit harsh about this.

Personally, I think your site should be left alone. As of right now anything that is done to it will be similar to tidying up a trash pile. I don't mean to offend, but if you want a nice website, learn how to make a website first. I would be more then willing to help you learn, I can supply tons and tons of links to get you started with css, or any other web standard you wish to learn about.

Baez, not bad at all! Your css needs some major revamping. Your html is in dire need of being cleaned up, and why so many images? A lot of things you have used images for can be easily done with css + xhtml. Why the flash? Not only can all of that be done with jQuery, mootools, etc... but it will be faster and quite frankly, a lot prettier. Some of this stuff is of marginal importance since the site is so small, however if it ever grows in size page load will become priority number one, as well as standards compliance to ensure cross platform and Search Engine Optimization.

Like I said, I know I'm a bit of a **** about this stuff... but I am definitely willing to help you guys out if you'd like.

I don't think you came across that harsh. Those are all good points. I think he would be wise to listen.

And baez, your site has come a long way.

synergy · 08-26-2009, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SapperX

Just a warning, I have been a web designer/developer for over 8 years and therefore I am intrinsically a bit harsh about this.

Personally, I think your site should be left alone. As of right now anything that is done to it will be similar to tidying up a trash pile. I don't mean to offend, but if you want a nice website, learn how to make a website first. I would be more then willing to help you learn, I can supply tons and tons of links to get you started with css, or any other web standard you wish to learn about.

Baez, not bad at all! Your css needs some major revamping. Your html is in dire need of being cleaned up, and why so many images? A lot of things you have used images for can be easily done with css + xhtml. Why the flash? Not only can all of that be done with jQuery, mootools, etc... but it will be faster and quite frankly, a lot prettier. Some of this stuff is of marginal importance since the site is so small, however if it ever grows in size page load will become priority number one, as well as standards compliance to ensure cross platform and Search Engine Optimization.

Like I said, I know I'm a bit of a **** about this stuff... but I am definitely willing to help you guys out if you'd like.

I also don't want to be harsh, but I fully agree. I've been designing websites for 5 years and am CIW certified. There are certain basics you need to understand before you plop some code onto the WWW.

Overlord, you need a theme as CrazeD said. If you need to download a template...even just to test with...then do that. Definitely learn CSS and use it. Read some tutorials on creating optimized graphics for the web. There are some really simple, basic things you can do to seriously spruce up your link buttons and other graphics.

Avoid "hard on the eyes" stuff like bright green graphics on a black background, and white content with black text all backed by another black background. The swervy text on the servers page is also bad news. Not only is it hard to read, but someone with a lower resolution monitor (yes, there are still a lot of those) will have like 50% of their screen taken up by that graphic. You always need to develop to the lowest common denominator. Meaning, try to limit use of plug-ins. Develop for lower resolutions, slower internet connections. etc.

Baez, your site looks smooth! Good work. I do agree about the CSS making the interactivity of the site more efficient. Your code looks a lot like it was generated from a WYSIWYG, which isn't bad, but a lot of the time those apps generate non-standard code.

Baez · 08-26-2009, 04:56 PM

Thanks for the compliments guys.

No WYSIWYG involved. I coded and designed everything from scratch.

And it's all standards compliant. That's what the icon in the left div is for

.

overlord20 · 08-27-2009, 03:42 PM

Bare with me guys. I am learning CSS as I type. I will use a layout but will continue to learn css and build by own from scratch. If someone can post some links to CSS and Dreamweaver tutorials it would be greatly appreciated. Google and Bing searches bring up a lot of crap.

Baez · 08-27-2009, 04:38 PM

Best place to start learning HTML and CSS is w3schools.com

SapperX · 08-27-2009, 08:19 PM

^ Couldn't agree more. After that it's all about looking at others' code and emulating it... then creating your own. I gave you some details via PM. It's awesome that you are learning new things though, never know where it could lead.

synergy · 08-28-2009, 12:11 PM

Add another to w3schools. The nitty-gritty technical details are covered by World Wide Web Consortium - Web Standards.

Lynda.com isn't free ($25/month), but it is an excellent resource for learning new programs and technologies. You might want to sign up for a month or two and take a few courses.

Adobe also has a lot of resources:
Adobe : Dreamweaver Support Center - Help and Support for Dreamweaver
Macromedia - Dreamweaver Support - Tutorial and Article Index
Adobe - Dreamweaver Developer Center

If all else fails, use the help doc. It's also a pretty helpful resource.

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