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Scootertaj
12-14-2004, 02:07 AM
Hey guys,
Just asking you to review the site, see what you think.
Thanks
p.s. Ignore content
Here (http://home.comcast.net/%7Etrampball/index.html)
ronaldb66
12-14-2004, 01:35 PM
What strikes first is the lack of actual design; it's just a collection of bits of content with hardly any effort in organisation, placement or styling.

Furthermore:
Mega-background image, loading slowly and obscuring text;
Marquees have been deemed evil years ago. Luckily, the marquee element is only supported by IE;
Underlining text that isn't an actual link is confusing and misleading;
Bright red is a bad text color in almost all situations. Against the medium blue from the background it's even head-splitting;
Excessive use of deprecated elements like font, big, center, etc. and deprecated attributes where CSS ought to be used.

In short: nice effort, but needs work.
Sayonara
12-14-2004, 02:05 PM
Dear god:

<center><i><u><font face="Bembo Extra Bold"><font color="#cc66cc"><font
size="+2"><big><big><font face="Swiss911 XCm BT"><big><font
color="#990000" size="+3"><big><big><big>Trampball Home Page&nbsp; </big></big></big></font></big><br>
</font></big></big></font></font></font></u></i>
</center>

This is why we have CSS, to avoid that kind of mess.

You can replace all that with <h1 id="mainTitle">Trampball Home Page</h1> and simply define a style for mainTitle within your <head> </head> tags (or preferably in an external CSS file) like this:


<style>
<!--

h1 #mainTitle {
font-family: Bembo, Swiss911, serif;
font-size: 2em;
color: #cc66cc;
font-style: italic;
text-align: center;
text-decoration: underline;
}

-->
</style>
chilipie
12-14-2004, 07:02 PM
Luckily, the marquee element is only supported by IE
I could see it (FF 1.0).
Scootertaj
12-15-2004, 04:10 AM
Well thanks guys for reviewing my site. I know it needs a little work, haven't updated it forever because I can only do that at my friends. Ok I know the coding is horrible but that's because I didn't do it. He has comcast so you don't have to code at all. Sorry guys but the marquee's staying. I think it's cool and thats all that matters. The webpage was just something to do and I thought it turned out good. Guess not.
Thanks
Scootertaj

P.S. Could you guys say anything good?
rmedek
12-15-2004, 04:17 AM
Hi Scootertaj,

Well, don't take anything anyone said personally... the fact of the matter is you asked for it to be reviewed at a place called "CodingForums.com". If it was "KewlSites.com" I could see the reviews as being a bit harsh. :)

Everyone here is offering advice on making this site kick ***, and by kick *** I mean good design, good coding, and good content. Until those three happen, though, what you have is a website designed by a generator with marquee tags circa 1995.

In other words, it's a good first effort, but if you are intent on making a great website, think of it as just that-- a first effort.

Sincerely,
Scootertaj
12-15-2004, 06:13 PM
Yea your right. I just didn't see anyone say anything good. If I could control if from my house, then it would be a lot better, but I can't.

The design is my friends, the program is my friends, and the background/text is mine. I did the marquee :D , and a lot of the links. Thanks for the input though.
tsguitar2004
12-16-2004, 04:56 AM
Ok, here's something good: that background image has major potential as a smaller, narrower header image. I love the blue sky and whisps of clouds with the basketball (or maybe you're calling it a trampball).

The code is awful, simply terrible. We can't say that enough. If this is just a site for you and your friends, don't have it reviewed. What's the point if it's just between buddies? If you want to see what other people think of it, then be prepared for that marquee to be the first thing attacked. I hate the marquee tag and you will too in a few years (maybe even a few days...).

As a final thought, give some consideration to applying an actual design to the site. As ronaldb66 said, there's no actual design to this thing. The home page has a huge image in the background and the other pages don't; in fact, the other pages don't even have a menu to move around your site. The user is forced to come back to the home page for navigation. There's nothing unifying the site under any common look and feel; there simply is no design to evaluate (except the lack thereof).

So there you have it, a nice comment for you (and a few others not so nice).
-ts
ronaldb66
12-16-2004, 01:09 PM
Having thought this over last night, I'd like to pitch in something positive as well:

I concur with tsguitar2004: the background image actually is quite good and would make a lovely masthead. In fact, all the photos are pretty good.
Furthermore: you have a decent subject. Many young people wishing to start a site of their own don't actually have a subject so they end up doing something superfluous on skriptz, gamez or warez; not you. You guys have an original hobby which you are by the looks of it quite serious about: perfect site material.

So, if the intention of this site is to inform visitors about your hobby, you have a great potential to make something really worth visiting and really fun making out of it; it just needs some work.
Scootertaj
12-17-2004, 03:46 PM
I agree greatly with you ts and ronald
Especially you ronald, everything you said I agree.
In fact just yesterday I suggested to my friends that we have a background image for the rest of the pages, and we have already got some pictures that would look very good. .
Your right about the menu, I will do that sometime this weekend mabye if we have time. Your also right that it was a page for a hobby and to tell about it.
In a couple of weeks I will begin on a new page that I can control, and I'm sure it will be much better. I guess your right about the maruqee, but I think it's a good way to show our email address rather than do: "Contact us at *******@**.net or w/e.
Thanks for your feedback, I greatly appreciate it.
PS As you can tell from the pictures (that you guys liked, we took them ourselves hehe) we're young and I'm the only one with web design skills.
se4b4ss
12-17-2004, 04:44 PM
i think it'd be fun if we had a contest to see who could take the trampball content and make the best site with it.
chilipie
12-17-2004, 05:12 PM
i think it'd be fun if we had a contest to see who could take the trampball content and make the best site with it.
Yeah :p . I'd be willing to have a go, now it's the Xmas holidays and I've got some time on my hands.
Scootertaj
12-18-2004, 02:54 AM
Hmm, well I never thought asking my site for reviewing would lead to this but... Also, my friend doesn't know about this, and I don't think he would like if our website was everywhere. It was supposed to be between our families but I thought it would be good to see what the site was reviewed for. Sure you guys can use it but please don't publish it until I give it an OK?
dniwebdesign
12-18-2004, 04:05 AM
Hmm, well I never thought asking my site for reviewing would lead to this but... Also, my friend doesn't know about this, and I don't think he would like if our website was everywhere. It was supposed to be between our families but I thought it would be good to see what the site was reviewed for. Sure you guys can use it but please don't publish it until I give it an OK?
Maybe you could use the winning one as yours? They give it to you and you can use it... not saying there wouldn't be any conditions from using their design...
Scrowler
12-19-2004, 07:09 AM
it is bland, it lacks imagination and proper design, thus it is just an html page with an image on it.

the fontface is not attractive and should be changed to a font like tahoma, arial, verdana etc.

the links should not be divided by those lines, the grey is ugly, and the lines are unnecessary.

you should move all the links into the left cell of a table with two columns, one 20% wide and the other 80% wide and put the content into the other.

tickers are annoying, if you have to have an animation, make it loop once then stop. if you can't do this with html or javascript, do it in flash, or don't do it at all.

the background image took years to load, either tone down the size or dont use it.

the colours of the links don't go well with the blue background (red/blue dont mix).
dniwebdesign
12-19-2004, 09:51 PM
the background image took years to load, either tone down the size or dont use it.

I felt like a nice guy... here is a toned down version of the background for you scooter if you wish to use it...

http://www.dni-server.no-ip.com/HPIM0610.jpg
Scootertaj
12-20-2004, 02:46 AM
I think I'll stick with mine. Also, guys if you do make a site, I'm not going to use it :o . One reason, me and my friend created it so we're not going to just trash it and use someone elses. Also, please don't make a new website of it. This was supposed to be fun and has turned into much more. I guess it was a stupid idea to have it reviewed because it was for fun. Thanks and please don't make a new one!
dniwebdesign
12-20-2004, 10:59 AM
Well honestly, if it was for fun I wouldn't have gotten it reviewed. What else do you expect from a bunch of web designers, coders that do nothing else besides this for most of the their day (or at least that's me). ;) It is your website, you have ultimate choice though.