Review: ProjectCM

Hi and welcome to TWF.

Firstly we do ask that before posting your own site for review that you have a look and comment of some of the other sites in the critique forum to help others out, then they will help you with yours.

I have had a look at the site any way and first off I get a small horizontal scrollbar at 800*600 which I would say is because of the size of the table/image at the top. 770 pixels is really the most I have found you can go to get no scrollbars.

Why is the site in a frameset? You are going to do yourself no favours really using frames, especially if you want to get with the search engines. Is it something to do with the domain forwarding you are using to free space? If you can't do away with the frames then use the noframes tags to put in some real content for the SE's to read and links to the other pages.

The overall layout & look of the site is good but it desperately needs some colour and more of a logo.

I also get an error :
Line: 170
Char: 1
Error: Permission denied
Code: 0
URL: http://www.geocities.com/projectcm

Good start and look forward to reading your reviews on some of the other's sites posted here.

Point taken...I'll be looking to put in my 2 cents worth sometime later, but not before I feel qualified to do so...I'm still a novice, and a beginner at that too!

I would like to get some opinions on that mini horizontal scrollbar thing...it doesn't show on my notebook...

And could you please elaborate on the noframes thing? My knowledge of web design's still too shallow to comprehend it...thanks...

And I would also like to request a few comments on the logo. Would a colour logo look weird on the b&w top image? But I agree that I need some colours to liven up the site a little.

thanks for your time!

Quote: Originally posted by Project CM
Point taken...I'll be looking to put in my 2 cents worth sometime later, but not before I feel qualified to do so...I'm still a novice, and a beginner at that too!

It is sometimes better to get opinions from novices rather than hardened experienced webmasters, that way you get a fresh evaluation with new views rather than the usual comments. Don't be shy just look at the sites and say what you feel about it.

First off, how are you making the site? Handcoded, Dreamweaver, other editor?

With the top image I'd say choose a colour and have like a faded colour wash on it then use that colour for links/rollovers and headings on the main parts of the site.

looks nice... except, of course, the being colorless part. But I suppose it's a matter of personal taste.

Ok, i'll post my humble views on other threads then...

The site was handcoded with Notepad as I feel this is the best way to learn from scratch...Graphics were done using Photoshop...

I've conjured up a logo, pls take a look at it...but i've tried using orange rollovers for the links and it doesn't look that fantastic.

I really appreciate all comments made so far and look forward to contributing more to this splendid forum.

My first impression is that I have no idea what this site is about. YOu need to do a better job of clearly explaining that to your visitors. You have: "What you'll find on this site are guides to essential aspects of the game as well as tips and tricks. " - what game? Seems like soccer/football to me but you need to make that much more obvious. The "beck to beck action @ Project CM.. be the top manager..." etc. stuff at the top isn't telling me much either.

Second problem is that there's not nearly enough colour on here. The black and whtie looks is just boring and doesn't really suit the purpose of your site. Try doing those photos in the header area in colour rather than black and white, and then choose a few common colours from the photos to use in the rest of the design. The goldy-yellow in the soccer ball on the right side looks good - maybe spread that throughout the rest of the design.

I'm also getting a huge horizontal scrollbar in Opera 6 at 800 x 600. It's a dark grey bar with "Latest updates" that's causing the problems.

Overall it does look quite nice - would be fine for maybe a video game site or something like that, but I think that you need to add some colour and other elements to the site to get your subject matter across to the viewer. Think of the entire design in terms of your theme - which colours are approrpiate? What kind of writing style? What kind of navigation? What kind of imagery? What kind of labelling and organization? These things should all work together to communicate a coherent and appropriate message to the viewer.

I agree - this site looks good but would probably be improved with some more color and the an application of the kind of holistic analysis Megan suggested

I look at yer code :eek: - I think you want the style section inside the HEAD - the way some of these tables are nested or whatever might cause trouble down the road - what are these guys: PMT109-150? - I don't think ALIGN is a valid attribute of an anchor tag

In netscape4.7 the first time it wouldnt load, and gave me an error message unseen before (to long to repeat here), opened up in IE to see and also got an javascript error (a geo's one) but page loaded, reloaded in NS and the page displayed as well as that really annoying ads.x10 pop up ad.
anyway in NS all i get is the banner, the left column, with the right column under it and in the middle is a small table with "contact us" in it.

I tried Opera (with broswer set as mozilla4.76) and the page loaded but the geo banner (usually top right) is now bottom left and two of em. and I get a slight scroll bar at 800x600 in opera, none of the others do, also gpt that pop up. still using opera i changed the browser id to opera and displays without the geo's ads but still has a scroll bar. this time i changed the id in opera to ie5 and got a massive scroll bar (must be how Megans is set up, as its the same problem)

to fix the scroll bar - add marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" to your body tag (you should use 4 of them, you only have 2)
to fix the errors you may need another host.

as for the colors and layout its quite nice but very dull, my 2 cents of ideas would be, make the guys jerseyss in the banner the color they are, but leave the rest of the banner how it is (even thou i have no idea what the rest of it is), there is something written above the soccer ball at the right, what is it? dont make your viewers guess, use a white font or take it off.
if you want to keep to black, white and greys, change the link color from dark grey to light grey (even have dark grey as the hover affect)
add some color into it, use the clubs colors, the dividers, headings, name etc could be these
also change your pages title - project cm could be anything, ans as mentioned you need to use the words of what your site is about in your page (also helps search engine results), you mention "game" but not what game it is.

dont change your link in the status bar

I never went past the index page

hi, i've taken up the suggestion to add colour to the player jerseys...does it look better?

Also shifted the 'style tags' to inside 'head'.

Font size for the main column increased as some visitors complained of eye strain...

Links changed to silver...

Thanks for all comments made.

A bit better but now the orange in the football on the other side doesn't look so good try to make it the orangey-red from David's shirt. The links in my opinion don't look any better they need colour not a variation of the colour they already are. Try adding the orangey-red throughout the main part of the site to give it some life.

Hi, my site has undergone a complete overhaul...would appreciate comments on the new look...but I don't suppose anyone would remember the old look...didn't want to start a new thread though...

URL: http://projectcm.redcardhq.net

The site is about the game Championship Manager...didn't include a description of it in my site as almost all of my traffic's from Championship Manager gamers, so I saw no point in doing so.

Your old design was similar to this but in black and white,right? I'm trying to remember what that looked like.

This looks okay overall but I feel that the organization could be better. All those different table boxes seem to kind of run together - needs to be some sort of visual divider in some areas.

The top banner area also needs work - the right side is okay but the left side with the two different logos are a problem. they don't work together visually at all, and I'm having a hard time figuring out which is the one that actually belongs to your site. I like the black and white one better actually - maybe if you fixed that up a bit and added some colour it would look good. YOu might want to think about doing something about the black background there as well. Actually, it would look good if that black part extended all the way across the page.

One more thing to do is to fix up your background image so it tiles smoothly.

looks good in IE5, NS6 and Opera6, will only display the top banner and background in NS4.7 (no content)

slight horz scrollbar in NS6 at 800x600, its the username and password inputs that are making it do it

I'd make that "championship manager" icon in the banner a bit brighter, is a bit dull, doesnt stand out enough

mouseover the images at the bottom (affiliates and top CM sites) I get a javascript error in opera: Error:
name: TypeError
message: Value on left hand side of '.' is not convertible to Object: cur2.filters, also for which2.filters

the mouseover effect your trying to do works in IE, dosnt work in opera or NS6, NS6 has default images (no errors thou), opera is default images with errors

even thou you say its only people coming from Championship Manager gamers to your site, an about the topic page could help you bring in more fans etc, just an idea

I like it alot in IE 6.0 especially the fixed background is a favorite feature of IE to exploit. But didnt like the exit banner on the exit... grrr! advertisments.

good job.

Hi Guys, you might remember my Championship Manager site from a few months back. I've redesigned the site a third time to incorporate SSI and to improve the loading time. Can you please help me with a critical review? Thanks!

http://projectcm.redcardhq.net/test

Most of the links don't work at the moment.

I've incorporated this thread with the old one so that people can read through to see what changes have been made.

It certianly loaded quickly for me but then I have a fast connection so maybe someone on a modem can comment better on speeds. The only thing I have to comment on now is really that it just kind of stops dead on the right hand side and feels to me that it should be boxed in maybe or spread to fit the width of the screen. The only other thing is that it feels kind of cold with the colours, maybe introduce a warmer colour somehow.

I think your design is a good example of how to design a website.
Some *really* minor things:

• Maybe a little too much text.
• Maybe make your 'Vote'-button appear like the 'Login'-button.

Overall: It's great!

Quote: Originally posted by The Webmistress
I've incorporated this thread with the old one so that people can read through to see what changes have been made.

It certianly loaded quickly for me but then I have a fast connection so maybe someone on a modem can comment better on speeds. The only thing I have to comment on now is really that it just kind of stops dead on the right hand side and feels to me that it should be boxed in maybe or spread to fit the width of the screen. The only other thing is that it feels kind of cold with the colours, maybe introduce a warmer colour somehow.

Thanks for the time in finding the previous thread...I shoulda done so...Are you using a resolution higher than 800x600? I've noticed the problem of the stopping dead at the end too, but haven't found a decent solution for that...Thanks for noting it though. Another thing, I wonder whether I've used SSI correctly. I just learnt it off the net and have used SSI for the left and right columns, as well as the bottom. Does it appear correctly? For me, it seems correct, but my friend using another pc told me he only sees a message "An error has occurred while processing this directive". Any advice on what could be the problem? Is it me or him?

Thanks Jack too. The login and vote buttons are default, not my own graphics...perhaps you're saying I should standardise them? Thanks again.

Could be lack of coffee on my part this morning but I am not getting what the site is about. I am aware that not all of your links are working yet and maybe the text on the home page is temporary but it seems to me that instead of using the home page to discuss changes made on the site, you should explain what the site is about. Tell a little about what is offered there so that first time visitors will know why they should stay.

You could always add a webmaintenance update section, or something to that effect, to the left for anyone interested in what changes you have made to the site.

IMO, the image at the top over powers your little logo. It is a bit fuzzy looking and too blue.

Add some rollover colors to your links at the top.

For some strange reason, your copyright info, and link partners at the bottom is not showing up in Opera. Oh, there it is. It is under the "SIgames News" column on Opera and at the bottom, centered on IE 6. Doesn't look bad in Opera...just different.

Oh, you are gonna love this. Here is a SCREENSHOT in NS 4.79 if you are worried about that audience. It looks like that top image in the body section is tiling. The top part is fine in NS.

Other than those things it looks nice.

I know it's standard good practice to describe briefly what the site's about...but I've some reservations about this aspect for my site as almost all visitors are repeat visitors, or link from another similar site, all link through search engines, so they should have a pretty good idea about the site beforehand. It will definitely be useful for the newcomer who doesn't know what he/she's in for but I think I get very few visitors of this kind...so it might be redundant imo.

About the Netscape thing, could someone give me a rough estimate as to how many percentage of surfers use NS? It looks awful in NS, I must say...

The link I provided is also only a test section, not the main site. I have already put a maintenance message on the main page...thanks for the advice though.

About the roll-overs at the top, what do you reckon would be a good color? I've blue in mind but the other rollovers are orange.

Thanks for your review.

Even if almost all of your visitors are repeats, where does that leave your possible new members? Maybe like me... (still not knowing exactly what your site is about) You can do what you feel is best for your site though. Just voicing my opinion here. My intentions are not to be pushy. BTW you are right about it being "good standard practice".

Here are a couple of browser stats for you to look at. Maybe someone here has some more definate numbers for you.

http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp
http://www.webreference.com/stats/browser.html

Your server isn't responding at the moment but I believe the tiling bar thing can be fixed. And the graphics for the boxes on the right too. I don't feel you should disregard this due to the amount of NS visitors you don't have. Instead, find out what the problem is and see if you can fix it. Shouldn't be a big deal and then your NS visitors will be all happy and stuff.

I will check back and see if your site it up in a bit. I suspect that Busy will be your life saver here in this department though. He is good at finding NS problems.*not meant to discredit other members*

The server was down just now but back up already....Thank you so much.