Site Review

Okay, those sounds are just annoying. It kind of sounds like a mouse click, but not really. I would get rid of it.

Why in the world are you using Java for your menu in the first place? That could be done more easily with Javascript and images, or, if you're not worried about older browsers, just HTML & CSS.

Anyway, I do like the design. THe logo is very nice, and very church-ish. I'm not sure about the cross in the corner though. I think that the cross and the text should be integrated a little better - like maybe put the text part overtop of the cross.

Thanks for the input. I can change the sounds to just about anything... I just left the default sound just so the person had confirmation of doing something... just in case the page loads slow after the click at least they know something happened. I'll listen to the other sounds and see if there is something more pleasing to the ears or I could just lose the sound as it would be one less thing to download.

The main reason I chose Java Applet is because of the compatability problems with Javascript. I looked for about a month on various options and really couldn't find a product that was compatible across a broad range of browser vendors, browser versions, and operating systems. I wanted compatibility from IE 3.02 and up... and NS 3.x and up... and on Windows or Mac.

I tested and tested and tested various Javascripts out there... if it worked with Netscape it didn't work with IE if it worked with IE it didn't work with Netscape. If it worked with in both IE and NS then there were problems between Windows Macs. Also if it appeared to work in both IE and NS there were still some quirks... depending on what version of the browser that was being used. Until the browser vendors start implementing a standard everyone can follow I think we will always have this problem. According the the authors of the ActionBars that I use they are compatible back to even the older browsers like IE3.0x and NS 2.x. Not to mention this product can build hundreds of different types of navigation bars... not just one type or 2.

I tried the image route and rollovers, but the download times were taking a little longer and they weren't as clean looking as what I have there now. It also took a long time working on graphics. If I were catering to the IE 4.x and higher crowd only then you bet your booties I would have chosen Javascript, HTML and CSS. But I need to be as compatible as I can be. I realize the Java may not run correctly on everything as well... unfortunately the only way to be 100 percent compatible seems to be using just text and images... the plain jane stuff.

Anyway... if you have any other thoughts or opinions please share. I am rather new at web design and I have a lot to learn. If you know of any Javascript menus that can fit my needs and look like the ones I am using I would love to know about it. As you can tell by my menu I just need simple menus. I don't need any of this fancy fading, or weird stuff.

Thanks again!

Hmm... it's interesting to see how committed you are to download speed and compatibility issues. You don't see too many people like that out there anymore.

I honestly don't think that using javascript rollovers with images would add that much to your download speeds. Really, those graphics would be pretty darned small and you only have one other graphic on there as it is. All of those images would be cached on first viewing too.

Do you really have a lot of people using older browsers? (I thought that my site had a lot at about 1.5%. I don't really worry about them too much) You could use CSS/HTML as long as you set your body tag link colours to something that will work across the whole page in the 3.x's.

I guess this all comes down to a personal preference - personally I don't have a problem if my site doesn't look perfect to those 2% of people using old browsers (just as long as it's functional for them). It seems like you want to make sure it looks and works perfect for everyone though, so that's your decision to make.

Hey,

Now... take into consideration this is my first serious web design short of the old personal pages that just have a few images and text links.

I am concerned about compatibility... but I do realize that I am going to have to let some people just realize their browsers need updating.

As far as my audience... I really don't know exactly what browsers everyone has. I would guess most have IE 3.02, 4.0 or higher. As a new person to web design you can go crazy trying to make decisions... what to give up, what to not give up, etc.

I did hava a javascript version with simple rollovers, but it took me so long to develop the graphics... I do like having something like Java or Javascript develop the simple menu's, but again I couldn't find any that really did what I want. There seems to be a lot of Menus with drop downs and other interesting menus, but I didn't find many simple menus like the one I had. I don't really go for all that pizazz.. like fancy fading menu's or side menu's that come out the side of the browser or other weird stuff. I like that user to have clear visual indication of what they need to do and not allow them to get lost. That is why I like the look of the menu I chose. It looks almost like a simple table with text and rollover capabilities. What this one does have though that others didn't was a way to keep the navigation menu in sync with the pages. Unless I got rid of the frames I couldn't find any that stayed in sync with the content page. Of course I realize frames or no frames is another big subject.

My I ask what some of the primary reasons you are against a Java Applet??

Oh remember, I don't know Javascript... so I would be relying on other folks work. At least until I could learn it... but I am short on time as it is.

Thanks and I look forward to more thoughts and opinions!

I used to have a lot of problems with java applets crashing my browser - this was years ago when I was probably using Netscape 3 or early versions of 4 (on an older machine too).

Here's roughly what my site is getting as far as browsers go (audience is mostly regular people types, using whatever computer they have at home):

84% IE (mostly 5.0 or 5.5, a few at 4.0, 3 or 4 per month with 3.0 or 2.1)
16% Netscape (mostly 4.x, the odd one or two at 3.0 or 6.0)
<1% other (Opera, Web TV)

So, going by that, I feel that it's okay for my sites to use CSS to fancy up menus, as long as they will still function on the older browsers.

I agree that those fancy dHTML menus can be problematic, especially with Netscape 6 out now and none of those old menus will work. I'vs have a hard time finding scripts for these type of things that will work on both browsers too.

I dunno - this is just a personal preference. I don't like Java applets because I've had bad experiences with them in the past. But, if you're not too good with graphics and aren't comfortable using CSS, then I guess this Java thing should be alright.