Simple site check!

[kellysaux]

I've got a markup for a pretty basic site for a client and was hoping I could get some feedback as far as any problems you may have. Please let me know what platform and browser you are using. I'm especially interested in the PC users as this site was developed and tested primarily on a Mac with IE5.0 and NE6.2.

Thanks as always!

http://www.raybrown.biz/markup.html

[kellysaux]

I've got a markup for a pretty basic site for a client and was hoping I could get some feedback as far as any problems you may have. Please let me know what platform and browser you are using. I'm especially interested in the PC users as this site was developed and tested primarily on a Mac with IE5.0 and NE6.2.

Thanks as always!

http://www.raybrown.biz/markup.html

[diane buenger]

I know you're asking for technical feedback, but first I have to say what a nice clean professional job you've done. Hat's off.

The only technical thing I noticed is that when the second site window opens [launch] - it jumps from its initial position to the center of my monitor (at 1200X1024). I'm viewing the site on IE 6.02, Windows.

Just curious, what is the rationale behind opening the second window?

Cheers
Diane

[dalel]

I am using Windows 98.

I noticed what Diane did, the jumping of the window from the top left to center. There was a pronounced delay, then the jump, in Netscape 4.7.

The popup window is fairly small on my monitor (1024 X 768 res). It's kinda funky that the original "splash" window stays open full screen and the "main" site is in this little popup.
And the popup cannot be resized. Aaaaaaargh!

Are you sure you want to deny visitors the ability to print your pages, or use their Forward and Back buttons? This is one of those "annoyance factors" that can keep your website from being bookmarked or revisited.

Why have the intro screen at all? Your logo is right their on your "home" page, and it is annoying to have to click again to "really" enter the site.

Love the bgcolor and microphone, and the positioning of the mike. Very nice!
The design is very clean and professional.

IE 5.5 - Everything looks great, but the rollovers are very slow.

In Opera 5.1 - looks great, and the speed of loading and rollovers was great!

Netscape 4.7 - same as Opera, pronounced jump of popup when it firsts opens.

Hope this helps! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Dale

Why, I’m afraid I can’t explain myself, sir, because I’m not myself, you know...
- Lewis Carroll

[This message was edited by Dale Landry on June 02, 2002 at 21:49.]

[This message was edited by Dale Landry on June 02, 2002 at 21:51.]

[gidgit]

Hi kellysaux,

Very nice design, though I would tend to concur with Diane and Dale regarding the pop up site method that you have employed...

[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[kellysaux]

thanks for the comments.
I used the window pop-up because I hate how a site that only uses a small area looks when someone is using a 22" monitor with a high resolution and his browser window is open all the way. Then the site is this little lost thing in the upper left corner.
In turn does anyone know how to resize someone's window to a specific size. Not a pop-up just an regular index page like the first page on my site ? Is there any script that can do that ? If I could do that and set the person's browser window to a size that fit the site, I would not use that pop-up style design.

[dalel]

Either that or use a table that is designed to take up 100% of the browser window.

Then put your tabled design inside that overall 100% table, nested, and center your design in the overall table.

Then you will have your small design in the center of any browser window, regardless of resolution.

Personally, I'd make the design larger; I have a problem with web design that uses tiny tiny text
that is hard to read even on a large monitor.
Your text is sharp, but very small. It would be a nightmare to read on a 15" monitor.

Dale

Why, I’m afraid I can’t explain myself, sir, because I’m not myself, you know...
- Lewis Carroll

[BobInce]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I hate how a site that only uses a small area looks when someone is using a 22" monitor with a high resolution and his browser window is open all the way.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Then why not use a liquid design that expands to fill however much space is available? Or if you can't do that, you could at least try to centre the content horizontally so it doesn't look lop-sided.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>does anyone know how to resize someone's window to a specific size<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

window.resizeTo(x, y), but please reconsider. You cannot know what is a convenient window size for the current user, and resizing their window for them is likely to annoy.

(Your site is already unnecessarily inaccessible to users with JavaScript turned off and those for whom the fixed-size fonts are too tiny.)

[kellysaux]

Can I get you guys take on this variation instead of the pop-up design ?

http://raybrown.biz/redirect.html

It should resize your window on the opening page and center when you enter the site. The redirect selects your browser type to resize to the right size taking into account the NE4 bug with the resizeTo action.
The site is resized but you should be able the window is still resizeable...

Better ? Worst ??? Thanks!

[diane buenger]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> hate how a site that only uses a small area looks when someone is using a 22" monitor with a high resolution and his browser window is open all the way. Then the site is this little lost thing in the upper left corner. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I can soooooo relate. One of the most frustrating parts of being a web designer is riding the wild browser.

I have had some heated discussions with my back-end team over just this topic. For the record, I am invariably the one wanting to control the visitor experience so they see the site as I intended. My staff points out that it is unacceptably rude to (Outer Limits style) mess with the controls on someone else's machine. They also can sometimes bring me around by pointing out that people who have their monitors set in extreme ways are ACCUSTOMED TO seeing sites look funky.

In fact, proportion and scalability is so important to me that I finally re-did my company site entirely in Flash so it would look the same no matter who got their hands on it. When I first put it up I would gleefully resize my browser from tiny to enormous and watch my site handle the challenge.

I had to come to peace with the fact that I would lose the business of people whose machines are archaic and reap the scorn of a certain number of html snobs. I justify it (somewhat childishly to be sure) by saying I wouldn't want their business anyway. (I also offer a html only version - a chicken exit, if you will.)

With regard to font size (darn us older people and our bad eyesight) I have found that using pixels rather than points in CSS is at least a compromise toward readability at different resolutions.

Netscape displays fonts differently than IE, so if I'm using a tight font for design reasons (like your page), I often add a sniffer and a 2nd Netscape friendly style sheet.

While it's true that no one gets more annoyed than me when a designer infringes on my freedom, I illogically cling to the belief that MY baby is so charming it can transcend good manners. In retrospect, I am grateful for the spoilsport voices that have held me somewhat in check.

cheers,
diane

PS I qualify as an extreme viewer - I use a 21" monitor & my resolution is 1280 x 1024. I often work using side by side windows, so when someone resizes my browser (or bombards me with popups - which i loathe more than spam) it costs me valuable time to set things right again.