New website for your valued comments

[DK Karaoke]

Hi all,

I have finally completed my website and its just gone up live.

I would really appreciate your comments please, anything you find wrong, or quirky, or that you think looks horrible.

This has taken me a long time to do, as I started from not even knowing what the word HTML meant, let alone how do you design a webpage. However during my building phase, I had to learn as much as possible.

I also did all the hard coding by hand, no software used at all, apart from Photoshop for doing the images etc.

The only bit I was not sure of was the php element of the contact form and linkto page, and if it wasen't for Marc J's help on this I would never have finished it.

Marc is also hosting my site, and I must say, he gives a truly excellent service and I would highly recommend him to all dj's alike. Believe me I have dealt with other hosting organisations in the past and there is no comparison between the help and service Marc J gives. He's also a whiz at all this computer stuff, not like me, but am learning.

So please do have a look and let me know what you think, both good and bad, probably more of the later I would imagine.

http://kaira-solutions.com

Many thanks in anticipation
M

[Ricesnaps]

One phrase - Animated Gifs.

Will give you a little more detailed answer tomorrow, but loose the clipart

[Shaun]

First thoughts on your site was that it seems to busy. Too much crammed in to every available space. I honestly didn't know where to start reading and I got frustrated at the sheer amount of things I was seeing. It's not that there's too much info, it's more the way things are crammed in and placed. I also agree with Ricey about the animated gifs. They scream "tacky" to me, I really don't like animated gifs on websites.

I like the colour-sheme though. For it being your first site design you've done a pretty good job. :approve:

Hopefully I've not come across too harsh, I've tried to provide an honest opinion on it based on my personal first impressions. Best of luck with your site mate.



The only bit I was not sure of was the php element of the contact form and linkto page, and if it wasen't for Marc J's help on this I would never have finished it.

Marc is also hosting my site, and I must say, he gives a truly excellent service and I would highly recommend him to all dj's alike. Believe me I have dealt with other hosting organisations in the past and there is no comparison between the help and service Marc J gives. He's also a whiz at all this computer stuff

No arguments from me there, Marc is a genius when it comes this kind of stuff. I was once offered free web hosting for life from another friend and acquantice. I declined and stuck with Marc as his service is absolutely impeccable. I know I've said it many times, but Marc.....thank you for everything you've done for me. You've went above and beyond for me on so many occasions, and I really appreciate all your help. Also a big thanks for all the help you've given to the MDD members, it says a lot when a non-DJ is on this forum giving away professional advice (mostly for free) whenever you can, especially as this is how you make your living. Truly....THANK YOU!.

[Corabar Steve]

I don't like it
http://i.virginradio.co.uk/images/blog/roundup_charts_11_andy.jpeg

[rob1963]

First thoughts on your site was that it seems to busy. Too much crammed in to every available space. I honestly didn't know where to start reading and I got frustrated at the sheer amount of things I was seeing. It's not that there's too much info, it's more the way things are crammed in and placed. I also agree with Ricey about the animated gifs. They scream "tacky" to me, I really don't like animated gifs on websites.

I like the colour-sheme though. For it being your first site design you've done a pretty good job. :approve:

I agree with the above comments.

In addition, there are a few spelling mistakes in your terms & conditions.

I'd also make your mobile phone number easier to read & get right by quoting it as xxxxx xxx xxx rather than xxxxxxxxxxx

Finally, I'd lose the hit counter.

Hope this helps.

:)

[Corabar Steve]

I'll be more constructive in the morning when there is less Guinness in my system.

[soundtracker]

Much too busy for me, I found it quite off-putting, and as someone said before, didn't really know where to start with it!

[Corabar Steve]

Way too cluttered. Took a long time to load last night with, all the gifs turning up one at a time. I also get a large mauve empty space on the right.

[Marc J]

Firstly, thanks for tha kind comments guys :o

Anyway, onto the website....

To add to the comments already made (most of which I agree with - except that a mobile number is correctly displayed as 07xx xxx xxxx Rob :p), I have to question why you didn't use any sofware (except notepad?) to create the site when there are many good free HTML editors available?

In my opinion you've made things difficult for yourself (especially for editing further down the line) with your use of absolutely positioned DIVs for most things. I like to think I know what i'm doing and I was struggling keeping track of what was what on the source - everything went from c1-c41 and I found myself scrolling everywhere (that comment applies to editing - not viewing). Unfortunately doing a u-turn on this decision is more like a complete re-write than a quick edit.

I personally wouldn't have used iframes as you have, this falls down when you want to send some a link directly to any page other than the homepage. I'm guessing you did it to perhaps cut down on repetitive code on every page for the header, left hand side and footer, but you could achieve the same thing by using server side includes (i.e. shtml or php).

Most of your iframe content pages include a W3C confirmation link, but this is also in the parent page on the left hand side, resulting in two on most pages. To be perfectly honest, very very few of your clients will care or even know what this is and personally I would remove it altogether - your pages will still be valid HTML 4.01 (if that's important to you) but you just won't have the link.

I'd make the large yellow "Contact Us" in the footer a link.

On your terms page, there's a link on the right "Back to Contact Us Form". Who's to say that was the page they were at before that one, or have even been on that page previously at all?

[DK Karaoke]

Thanks all for your helpful comments. I have made changes as suggested.

Also I have made the view screen a bit larger to accommodate the pages, so if its viewed on an 800 X 600 monitor, one will have to scroll a bit to the right.

I have also summarised some of the pages and gotten rid of some, combining the info into others.

I have tried to look at this from the viewers/shoppers point of view, if someone is searching for something, it will be something in particular, and I have tried to provide the answers to what they probably want to know. So they dont have to ask stuff like -

how do I make a booking
whats the booking fee/deposit
When do we have to pay
what if we cancell
what do we get
etc. etc.

I have also responded to some of your individual comments below.

Anyway all, let me know what you think of the changes, and again thanks for all your valuable advice.

M


One phrase - Animated Gifs.

Will give you a little more detailed answer tomorrow, but loose the clipart

Now gotten rid of.


from Elite - like the colour-sheme though. For it being your first site design you've done a pretty good job.

Hopefully I've not come across too harsh, I've tried to provide an honest opinion on it based on my personal first impressions. Best of luck with your site mate.

Thanks for some 'good' comments, and no you were not too harsh, its about the truth.


from Corobar - I dont like it

Everyone to his/her own I suppose, cheers


from Rob 1963 - In addition, there are a few spelling mistakes in your terms & conditions.

I'd also make your mobile phone number easier to read & get right by quoting it as xxxxx xxx xxx rather than xxxxxxxxxxx

There were two spelling mistakes, thanks for spotting them. Have changed the layout of the tel numbers also.


from Marc j - In my opinion you've made things difficult for yourself (especially for editing further down the line) with your use of absolutely positioned DIVs for most things. I like to think I know what i'm doing and I was struggling keeping track of what was what on the source - everything went from c1-c41 and I found myself scrolling everywhere (that comment applies to editing - not viewing). Unfortunately doing a u-turn on this decision is more like a complete re-write than a quick edit.

As you said its hard from an editing point of view, but it at least almost guarantees how it will look on the viewers screen, assuming they dont turn on their own stylesheeps etc.


from Marc j -
I personally wouldn't have used iframes as you have, this falls down when you want to send some a link directly to any page other than the homepage. I'm guessing you did it to perhaps cut down on repetitive code on every page for the header, left hand side and footer, but you could achieve the same thing by using server side includes (i.e. shtml or php).

Thats assuming you know php etc., as I originally said, I am not a programmer, nor do I know PHP, I'm a DJ not a programmer, but trying to get by with what I know in order to set my site up. Perhaps this is something we can explore in the future, as anything to cut down the downloading time the better.


from Marc j - Most of your iframe content pages include a W3C confirmation link, but this is also in the parent page on the left hand side, resulting in two on most pages. To be perfectly honest, very very few of your clients will care or even know what this is and personally I would remove it altogether - your pages will still be valid HTML 4.01 (if that's important to you) but you just won't have the link.

I put a link on each page, as a searcher using google, or any search engine, can land on any one of your pages. I have already had this at least 4 times (known from my Google alerts). That is also the reason I have put a link to the home page on each individual page.

The validation is important to me, as I have taken the time to ensure the coding was compliant, and therefore, should at least ensure the pages will display the same on most browsers.

Also quite a lot of my clients are corporates, who like all this compliance stuff.

The css does not comply as I have used some css unique only to IE, and they are not yet recognised by the W3C.


from Marc j - I'd make the large yellow "Contact Us" in the footer a link.

Have done this.


from Marc j - On your terms page, there's a link on the right "Back to Contact Us Form". Who's to say that was the page they were at before that one, or have even been on that page previously at all?

This is true, however, if a viewer does select the link to our terms from the contact page, they can return easily.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Still looks too busy to me - way too much going on on each page. Also, there are too many small photos and images that you can't see properly as they are too small and aren't clickable.(karaoke page is a good example of that)

[DK Karaoke]

Still looks too busy to me - way too much going on on each page. Also, there are too many small photos and images that you can't see properly as they are too small and aren't clickable.(karaoke page is a good example of that)

will have a look, but why would you want to click on an image, thats not a link. were some of the pictures supposed to be links?

Do you use a high resolution monitor?

Cheers M

[pagan_flame]

Sizing - Bottom Scroll Bars Are Bad... and on a bigger screen there is a big empty space on the right. Use regular tables with % values to make the page fill the screen (like on mine) to whatever size / setting the viewer is using - or at least centralise the page if not.

The 'Your party is our party too' bar is present all the time - lose it after the first page and use the space to line up your menu buttons down the left side (like on mine! ;) ) and hence give your other pages more space.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

will have a look, but why would you want to click on an image, thats not a link.

Because the pictures are so small that you can't see them, so there's either no point in having them or having the ability to make them bigger when clicking on them.

[DK Karaoke]

Sizing - Bottom Scroll Bars Are Bad... and on a bigger screen there is a big empty space on the right. Use regular tables with % values to make the page fill the screen (like on mine) to whatever size / setting the viewer is using - or at least centralise the page if not.

The 'Your party is our party too' bar is present all the time - lose it after the first page and use the space to line up your menu buttons down the left side (like on mine! ;) ) and hence give your other pages more space.

Cheers, and thanks for the good advice. Will have a look.

When you say the scroll bars are bad, what do you mean? Do they look awful, or are they not showing right.

The tables are coded to centralise, so dont know why this isn't working, you can get the page to the left, if you change resolution, you have to refresh.

Also I originally had all my tables set to %, but when I viewed them on a higher resolution /bigger monitor they went all over the place, not laid out right.
I am not using framesets, as they are less adaptable than iframes. Also using iframes you dont have to use the document type for a frameset

[Marc J]

Easy way to centre your content: -

Change
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<head>
to

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<head>

:D

[Corabar Steve]

Not related to your website, but there are multi quote buttons on this forum. Just click the button with "+ on each of the posts you want to quote from.

Now the site, it still looks very busy & there is still the empty expanse of mauve on the right. Not good.

I also think you use way too many colours for the writing.

[pagan_flame]

When you say the scroll bars are bad, what do you mean? Do they look awful, or are they not showing right.

Also I originally had all my tables set to %, but when I viewed them on a higher resolution /bigger monitor they went all over the place, not laid out right.
I am not using framesets, as they are less adaptable than iframes. Also using iframes you dont have to use the document type for a frameset

Bottom scrollbars are bad - because people are prepared to scroll up and down for content, but not sideways.

Never said to use framesets - just to lose the sidebar and put your menu there instead after the first page; You can do that in a number of different ways.

I use Very Old Basic Web Design Techniques from around the turn of the century - as this makes my site look the same on most browsers, screens and screen settings - remember to design it for the viewer, not yourself.

Think of it as a shop - when your potential client walks through the front door, can they see what they want - and get to it easily and quickly?

[Corabar Steve]

Well put Malcolm

[DK Karaoke]

Bottom scrollbars are bad - because people are prepared to scroll up and down for content, but not sideways.

Never said to use framesets - just to lose the sidebar and put your menu there instead after the first page; You can do that in a number of different ways.

I use Very Old Basic Web Design Techniques from around the turn of the century - as this makes my site look the same on most browsers, screens and screen settings - remember to design it for the viewer, not yourself.

Think of it as a shop - when your potential client walks through the front door, can they see what they want - and get to it easily and quickly?

Thanks, I agree with your final statement, hence why I have those direct links in various pages, as well as those in the header/footer.
Cheers.


Not related to your website, but there are multi quote buttons on this forum. Just click the button with "+ on each of the posts you want to quote from.

Now the site, it still looks very busy & there is still the empty expanse of mauve on the right. Not good.

I also think you use way too many colours for the writing.
thanks for tip, much easier.

am working on setting percentages, and works fine when I view using my usual setting of 1024 X 768, but seems to still go all over the place when I view in different resolutions, and on a different computer with an even higher resolution and bigger monitor, but will keep at it in the meantime.

At least at the moment, it stays in place, even if its loaded to the left for some.

[DK Karaoke]

Easy way to centre your content: -

Change
to

:D

Cheers Marc, will have a go.

[Skins]

question.....

why two names for your company?url is kaira solutions and also DK Disco??:confused: Is it because od DK Disco`s in Poole to avoid confusion?

Just a thought......:)

also, do you happen to know Dale Tucker up your way, used to be under the name of DK Lights or something, ??


S