Did my site with Xara Xtreme Pro 4

[zeedale]

This is really a prototype of the site, created completely with Xara Xtreme Pro 4. Kudos here to Xara's quick WYSIWIG interface when it comes to building basic websites: Fusion Dance Centre.

I noticed the following about the site:
1. Loading times for every page is noticeably slow. Is this due to inefficient elements on each page? How could I speed up the page loading if I redo it in Xara? What about redoing it via other software?
2. The menu is slow to respond. (I used mouseOver and mouseDown techniques.) Again, can the speed be improved by redoing anything in Xara? Like grouping or combining objects perhaps?
3. Any other Xara tips for creating speedier websites?
4. Any other comments for improvement would be sincerely appreciated.

Thanks all for your help.
--Zee

ps: Thanks to G. Priester for his "Creating A Multi-page Website" tutorial.

[juergen]

Morning Zee,

just looked at your site and can't tell I saw something being slow.
The document is small and although being plenty, the images are small too.
The menu responds quick as well.

I looked at the produced code and the only thing that would make me get gray hair (if I had any) is that they mix up structure, content and layout heavily. Personally I would always create external stylesheets to have a chance to change color schemes, layout quickly without touching the page at all.

Juergen

[manny2k]

No real noticeable slow loading here seems to load as fast as others and i'm not on a very fast connection, the menu reaction was ok too, oh and i like the way you have used the logo in the word dance

[pauland]

Coming along nicely. I'd use less compression on the picture of the dancer leaping against a red background.

Paul

[zeedale]

>Personally I would always create external stylesheets
Yes, I intend to do that as the site becomes more complex. I used Xara initially because it's very quick at creating prototypes and relatively simple pages.

>I'd use less compression on the picture of the dancer leaping against a red background.
Does Xara allow you to set the compression when exporting to html? I could not find any such setting.

Otherwise, thanks all for the critique. I'll continue to try and max out Xara's efficiencies before I move on to another authoring package.

Thanks! :-)

[aridzone]

Very nice website Zee

Looks quite professional