site critique

i am looking for critiques on my site. design, layout, content, anything goes and be as harsh as you want. :)

site (http://www.TexasContractorRatings.com)

btw, if you were to leave my site by clicking one of the links along the bottom of the page, it wouldn't hurt my feelings. :D

thanks in advance,
steve

It doesn't wow me, but then again, I'm a designer and not a contractor. :) The design is probably fine for your purposes. Overall, it's balanced and nothing sticks out as inappropriate.

The main thing I would really implore you to do, then, is clean up your code. You've got improperly nested elements(see the form on the register page, for example) and a few minor details (like missing alt attributes) here and there that could stand a polishing.

Your markup is pretty solid. It could mostly benefit from the aforementioned validation. The CSS could be condensed considerably, mostly through use of short hand rules. (border: 1px solid #000; instead of border-style:, border-width:, etc.)

Very clean design. I like it. :thumbsup: As Magnus mentioned, sort out your code and you'll be doing just fine.

thanks for your responses guys.

i can't figure out what's wrong with the registration page. any hints?


<table>
<form name="login" action="/register2.html" method="post">
<tr><td><p>*First Name:
<td><input type="text" name="first_name">
<tr><td><p>*Last Name:
<td><input type="text" name="last_name">
<tr><td><p>*Username:
<td><input type="text" name="username">
<tr><td><p>*E-mail Address:
<td><input type="text" name="email_address">
<tr><td><input type="submit" value="Register">
</form>
</table>


btw, THANKS FOR THE CLICKS!!! :thumbsup:

regards,
steve

You need closing tags on all of the <p>'s, <td>'s, and <tr>'s. I'd also suggest closing those input tags like:

<input type="text" name="first_name" />

okie doke. i thought i read somewhere that they were unnecessary...what's the downside of not putting them in?

thanks again,
steve

The downside is that sometimes the browser will go crazy and just display things in weird ways. It's also a good idea to close every tag according to the xhtml standards.

ok, i fixed the registration page.

here is the code:

<table>
<form name="login" action="/register2.html" method="post">
<tr><td><p>*First Name:</p></td>
<td><input type="text" name="first_name"></td></tr>
<tr><td><p>*Last Name:</p></td>
<td><input type="text" name="last_name"></td></tr>
<tr><td><p>*Username:</p></td>
<td><input type="text" name="username"></td></tr>
<tr><td><p>*E-mail Address:</p></td>
<td><input type="text" name="email_address"></td></tr>
<tr><td><input type="submit" value="Register"></td></tr>
</form>
</table>

on a related note, does anybody know why mozilla shows this code like this?:

http://www.TexasContractorRatings.com/screen.gif

why the extra vertical spacing?

regards,
steve

Are you familiar with the W3C validator?

http://validator.w3.org/

You did not fix the problem with your form. The problem is that the <form> element cannot be a child of the <table> element. You need to just move the <form></form> tags outside of the <table></table> tags.

If Mozilla looks quirky, it's most likely because it actually cares whether or not you do things right, whereas IE does not, and will try to do what it thinks you intended, rather than being honest and helping you to become a good coder.

i changed the table/form tags and validated the registration page on w3's validator, but the spacing still exists in mozilla. any other suggestions?

thanks again,
steve

i'm not sure, but is it really a problem? it's not breaking the layout, and it looks fine. i would never have known there was a problem if you hadn't pointed it out. ;)

with your main navigation, i have another suggestion, however... rather than including "|" as a list item in between each menu item, why not keep the list to the meny items themselves, and add a right border to each one using CSS. then, apply and ID to the last list item so that you can specify a rule specifically for it so that it has no right border.


<!-- HTML -->
<ul id="mainNav">
<li>menu 1</li>
<li>menu 2</li>
etc...
<li id="last">last menu item</li>
</ul>

/* CSS */
ul#mainNav li {border-right: 1px solid #FFF}
ul#mainNav li#last {border-right: none}

sir, are you picking my nit? :D seriously, is there a reason i should change the menu or just to do it?

regards,
steve

well...

what does this list mean?

* menu 1
* |
* menu 2
* |
* menu 3
etc...

the "|" characters are not content, they are not relevant as information at all, but you have marked them up as if they are just to achieve a design effect. this is counter-productive to the whole point of using CSS to begin with: to seperate presentation from structure and content.

you apparently have some reading to do. that's all the explanation i'll give. it's your call.

you're right, i have a lot of reading to do. like most of us though, i have my hands in so many fields for work and play that it's hard to get the time to dedicate to learning all subjects thoroughly. to me, css was a tool to help me develop this site when my programming buddy decided he was too busy to help....but i am digressing. :p

i am going to respectfully leave the menu as is for now, but i certainly appreciate your knowledge and time.

thanks again g,
steve

i wasn't trying to be snippy. it was just my honest opinion. i could be wrong in the end... who knows?

but the spacing still exists in mozilla. any other suggestions?
I don't see anything in the layout that would cause the spacing - my guess is its the doctype.

i wasn't trying to be snippy. it was just my honest opinion. i could be wrong in the end... who knows?

i didn't take it that way. just discussion. ;)

I don't see anything in the layout that would cause the spacing - my guess is its the doctype.

i'll test that. thank you. :)

regards,
steve