please review this

They have: 30 posts

Joined: Nov 2000

I have made a new design before i go around putting all my features and articals in the new template please could you review it. And give me tips on how to speed up the loading time aswell.
The URL is http://www.crosswinds.net/~digiology/index.html

Tahnx

I should have a signature here, but Im too lazy to type one.

They have: 6 posts

Joined: Feb 2001

hi

overall, nice, good colours - but i would advise reducing the size of your buttons and making the lightning feature only about 70-100 pixels high which you can then repeat vertically using css on a background color. this will drastically decrease the download time.

you said it wasnt finished but do make sure you format the text in the lists and never (never say never) use comic sans font if you want to be taken seriously (in your box on the bottom right of the page)

black text on maroon doesn't work - use a lighter color to increase the contrast.

i like the digiology logo and the binary at the top is nice but these could be used as background images (body background="image.gif")

good luck

ross

They have: 30 posts

Joined: Nov 2000

the lightning background is repeated in just one image repeated, and if i resize it it'll take hours to fit them together, I am glad to see possitive comments, because this idea came from my head and is original (i think anyway) I was expecting some negetives, I might consider smaller buttons but I dont see the point?

What do you mean by css? Please explain?

The comic sans font image is just a fake ad just so i have an idea of how it will work.

What do you mean by using the binary code as a backgroung image? I mgith have to get rid of it because it was originally a space filler because I decided to get rid of ads, bit because I might get ads back I'll have to get rid of it maybe, I didn't think people would even notice it.

Thanx very much.

PS. I'll tell u when its ready, should be in a month.

I should have a signature here, but Im too lazy to type one.

mmi's picture

They have: 457 posts

Joined: Jan 2001

you've got quite a few images on this page (20) and several are more than a few KB - that lightning is a nice effect but the way it's cut up into seven pieces is maybe gonna slow things down even more - you might try something like this layout - I'd say use plain text rather than images where you can - like in the subject headings for "News," "Changes," "contact" and "words" - you could still put up the little icons with those last two - the problem with this solution is that these are your smallest images so it won't help all that much - instead of usingBACKGROUND="red_color.jpg"'to fill the area below the buttons, you could useBGCOLOR="#751717"'the textbox for the search engine doesn't display in Netscape 4 - I think it's just enforcing the standard and wantsTYPE="textbox"'in the input tag - also, I think you need to put these inputs inside a FORM tag - don't forget to give your pages a title - I agree this site looks nice so far - get those links up cuz I wanna read the Amazon article !! Wink


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They have: 30 posts

Joined: Nov 2000

I used an image instead of a background color because any color dremweaver picked was slightly different, and even though I noticed it easier than most people, it still annoyed me, also I used pictures for text because it is smoother, and the files are tiny anyway. I got that form code from another website and Im not sure how to fix it, could anyone fix it if its only a minor change or two?
I really appreciate how you took a look at my HTML and all, thanx.

PS. Ross! Thats my name too, I thought it was an error when I saw Ross beside your message, because thats my username with a different forum.

I should have a signature here, but Im too lazy to type one.

They have: 30 posts

Joined: Nov 2000

NOOOOO!!!!!
The design you said to try is just not my style, I have a better way to make it faster, you see soon, but no, I won't use ugly text links, I want this to look cool but the last thing I want is text links on my navigation bar! Smiling

You know the top image above the buttons, of a piece of red and lightning? Could I possibly replace that with a table with a background (the vert_lightining.jpg image) of lightning and red, and a few pixels in height so it shows just the top?

Thanx

I should have a signature here, but Im too lazy to type one.

mmi's picture

They have: 457 posts

Joined: Jan 2001

you can just "plug in" some new buttons that aren't "plugged in" on my sample page Wink - I'm not sure what you meant in your question - if you use an image as a background, I think it's gonna be stretched across whatever's holding it - can ya try describing what you want again? - my understanding is dreamweaver is pretty high-end - I'd say keep workin' at accessing more colors - I think a lot of small files may be a problem in itself since they need to load one at a time - I'm not sure about the details on this - I tried to answer your other question in my earlier post - I can't help you do it in dreamweaver because I'm not familiar enough with it and I don't have it on my machine - but if you handcode those changes I suggested, I think you may get a display


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mmi's picture

They have: 457 posts

Joined: Jan 2001

I looked at your question again and I think I get it now - my thought would be that if you load this image, it doesn't matter if you use it as a background in a table or display it in an IMG tag, you're still transferring the data in that file - if you want to "crop" that image and use a smaller piece (hey, every KB counts on a slow system), I think you should "resample" it down in a good image editor like Photoshop - this may be one 'a them "fancy" images that doesn't sample down well at all - the filesize involved in this one is not worth chasing after too much, I'd say


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They have: 30 posts

Joined: Nov 2000

I put the buttons in the lightning like that before, but it took up too much space, and the left few pixels of the lightning not only looks better, but takes up less space.

What about using a imagemap? I remember there was something I didn't like about them (but I've forgoten what it is), is there something wrong with them?

Could someone please explain the CSS thing that Ross mentioned.

Thanx

I should have a signature here, but Im too lazy to type one.

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