Comments please ?

[chelsea485]

I have built my own website from scratch, as you can see using Dreamweaver ?

Any comments that would make it better would be appreciated please.

Thank You

[Corabar Steve]

Looks nice enough to me, although wouldn't it be an idea to also have a drop down for the start times in your formmail page?

[rob1963]

Ahhh...the old white writing on a dark blue background. Exactly what I used to have until it got slated by a number of people on this very forum!

Apart from that, I would simply the enquiry form & move it to the contact page, as it makes more sense to have all the contact stuff in the same place.

Also, some of the photos on the photo archive page are very dark & you can't really see much in them. Try lightening them with some software, which is what I had to do to all mine.

Apart from that, I think it looks pretty good.

If you want to return the favour, I started the thread below this one to ask for opinions on my own site, so feel free.....

[Penfold42]

Also, some of the photos on the photo archive page are very dark & you can't really see much in them. Try lightening them with some software, which is what I had to do to all mine.

Is it me or do the photos load too slowly........:)

[chelsea485]

thanks rob i will do,

what sort of software can i use to lighten the pcitures up ?

Plus, how do i embed the enquiry form on the contact page ?

[rob1963]

Is it me or do the photos load too slowly........:)

Good spot Tony...I didn't notice that before, but you're right.


thanks rob i will do,

what sort of software can i use to lighten the pcitures up ?

Plus, how do i embed the enquiry form on the contact page ?

Chelsea, I haven't got a clue about embedding the enquiry form on your contact page, as I'm not very technical, but there is a member called Marc J who is a real expert on this kind of stuff. I'm sure he will read this thread before too long & offer his advice.

As for lightening the photos, I'm sure there are many software applications that will do the job, but I use Picasa. I've done a quick Google, and it appears to be free. It's also easy to use...even for me!

Take a look at the original photo below, then click on my Rob James Entertainment banner below it & you'll see the lightened version of the same pic at the top of my home page. I think you'll agree there's quite a difference!

:)

3418

[Penfold42]

Good spot Tony...I didn't notice that before, but you're right.
In which case it's just a resize excercise then........:)
Some web Guhru will shoot me down now....:D

Take a look at the original photo below, then click on my Rob James Entertainment banner below it & you'll see the lightened version of the same pic at the top of my home page. I think you'll agree there's quite a difference!


Anything for a hit....:D :D :D

[rob1963]

Anything for a hit....:D :D :D

Lol!

Actually, i did try posting the before & after pics in my post, but for some reason it didn't work.

Both pics came out dark, which is why I asked him to check the dark pic against the lightened one on my website!

:)

[Larry B Entertainment]

I would make all the screen properties the same so on some pages such as the photos, you dont have to scroll across to see everything.
Also the link photos could do with being a bit smaller as they pixelate where you have enlarged them too much.

Allign the navagation bar items evenly as it will make it look much neater.

and one last thing, on the Contact form, remove the years from 2003 - 2007 from the drop down menu as obviously they are never going to be needed again. It will just neaten it up. :)

[Corabar Steve]

Ahhh...the old white writing on a dark blue background.

I wasn't going to mention that as it is a personal taste thing (& everyone on here knows I hate that format anyway)

[Penfold42]

I wasn't going to mention that as it is a personal taste thing (& everyone on here knows I hate that format anyway)


I wasn't going to mention that as it is a personal taste thing (& everyone on here knows I hate the light on dark format anyway)

...but you have now....twice......:p :D

[Corabar Steve]

Been at the cooking sherry again Tone?

[rob1963]

I wasn't going to mention that as it is a personal taste thing (& everyone on here knows I hate that format anyway)

In that case, you are probably one of the people I have to thank for getting me to change mine from white text on a dark blue background.

:beerchug:

[ppentertainments]

The booking form uses Microsoft Word which most people have but not everyone. An option to also download in PDF format would be free an may appeal to more people.

Like it though, but do agree with the photo comments.

[Marc J]

Doesn't look too bad. As always I'll comment on the technical side rather than the content!

1. As mentioned before, don't use HTML code for resizing your images. The full image (file)size is used and browsers don't resize images well producing "jaggy" images.

2. Again, as mentioned earlier, convert your booking form to PDF rather than a Word doc. It's better for security and compatability issues - some people (including me) won't open a Word doc from an "unknown" source.

3. I'd open links to external pages (such as the one for the band at the bottom of your homepage, and the ones on your links page) in a new window.

4. Some of the photos in your photo archive aren't showing. It'd be better if they enlarged on clicking - there are loads of free gallery scripts available to make this page better, just Google for "javascript gallery script" (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=javascript+gallery+script&btnG=Google+Search&meta=) for starters.

5. The enquiry form is obviously using a 3rd party, which breaks out of your design totally and would probably be better as part of your contact page. There are some contact form scripts recommended in this thread (http://www.mobilediscodirectory.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=6041). If you don't want a PHP one I've used a CGI script called BNBForm (http://bignosebird.com/carchive/bnbform.shtml) in the past.

6. I'd elaborate on the page <title> tags, and add meta descriptions as well, as these are used by Google.

[chelsea485]

could you please give me more info on point 6 marc, how do i do that ?

Thank You

[Shaun]

could you please give me more info on point 6 marc, how do i do that ?

Thank You

My suggestion....hire Marc. I'm often surprised how much information he gives away for free, considering this is what he does for a living. Trust me, hire him to sort it out for you, they don't call him Yoda for nothing. :D

[Marc J]

they don't call him Yoda for nothing. :D

Ahhhh....and I always thought that was because of my ears and severe chlorosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorosis_(medicine)) :D


could you please give me more info on point 6 marc, how do i do that ?

Thank You

http://www.marketleap.com/help/seo101/titlestags.htm

[Dragonfly]

like the site it looks good to my untrained eye ......... ive also clicked the link at the top and signed up to your guest book :D :D :D :D

[Spirits High]

My suggestion....hire Marc. I'm often surprised how much information he gives away for free, considering this is what he does for a living. Trust me, hire him to sort it out for you, they don't call him Yoda for nothing. :D


:agree:

When it comes to all things weblike Marc's the main man or as you've seen Yoda :D

I can't believe that after Marc sorted my site out he still doesn't get annoyed with me emailing him asking him daft questions every so often

[Shaun]

:agree:

When it comes to all things weblike Marc's the main man or as you've seen Yoda :D

I can't believe that after Marc sorted my site out he still doesn't get annoyed with me emailing him asking him daft questions every so often

Over a decade of me emailing him with daft questions has probably desensitised him to those scenarios. :D

[rob1963]

My suggestion....hire Marc.

Seconded.

He's the dogs.


like the site it looks good to my untrained eye

Wow Dave...you mean you've been around for 31 years & you've never trained your eye?

:eek: :eek: :eek:

[Marc J]

I can't believe that after Marc sorted my site out he still doesn't get annoyed with me emailing him asking him daft questions every so often

Over a decade of me emailing him with daft questions has probably desensitised him to those scenarios. :D

http://images.despair.com/products/demotivators/cluelessness.jpg

;) :D

[Shaun]

:lol:

[JAMdisco]

Yep, that's a Dreamweaver template alright. The same one I used :D

I was going to redesign my website with my newly acquired knowledge of HTML as soon as I've done Excaliburs websites.