Review my site

cgfreak™ · #1 (**permalink**) 12-28-2005, 12:59 PM

I'm currently designing American Check Management's web site, you can go to www.acmeft.net to see the current site.
Here is the new design, still in development ACM.

Another Designby CGF Creations.
Thanks.

cgfreak™ · #2 (**permalink**) 12-28-2005, 02:13 PM

***little update, added a security lock on the background login. :)

Tim · #3 (**permalink**) 12-28-2005, 04:26 PM

Given that you've only created one page so far, here are my bullet points;

* No DOCTYPE ... all sites should have one
* 26 errors on the home page
* I prefer the simpler, less diverse navigation of the original. The top nav could get 'under'-looked.
* Stick to one font (with variants thereof), I don't like the serif font
* The serif font could be due to the css link errors
* I don't like the Flash navigation at all ... what's the point?
* What is the green blob at the right of the Flash navigation for? Looks v.odd
* At 1024 width, the blue background looks too dark and prominent. At 1280 it's a weird strip with white to the right
* The 'Learn More' buttons are not user/accessibility-friendly. Better to use short description links or properly utilise the Alt, Longdesc and Title tags
* The 'Learn More' buttons are pixelated and blobby
* I don't like the logo colour but at least the original site referenced that 'pink'. You have not, so it looks more isolated

Otherwise, the design is clear and clean but to be browser/future-proof I think you should consider using divs instead of tables and CSS for all formatting. I will be interested to see the rest of the site.

Good luck

SnerdeyWebs · #4 (**permalink**) 12-28-2005, 04:50 PM

This site might give an idea on some important things to check on your new version.

SilkTide

It's a british site and some results do not matter. But, if you compare the two sites you have and even your home page you might find a thing or two that will help =)

Happy Holidays to ya!

NewZeal · #5 (**permalink**) 12-28-2005, 05:21 PM

The site gives a good impression and is much better than the original. I like the pics and the layout.

Some small observations
The pic of the hands on the keyboard kind of gets dissolved into the white background at the top there. The pic of the lock seems out of place where it is, overlapping the top border thingy and being placed under the form fields. Doesn't look right. Also the text in those boxes stands out too much. Maybe change from black to dark blue or grey. Is there a reason why you used serif here?

I also think that the banner is too high on the page and as you expand the site will create limitations. The menu system looks good and this is shaping up to to a great site.

Tim · #6 (**permalink**) 12-28-2005, 05:52 PM

Thanks to SnerdyWebs for introducing Silktides' Sitescore. However, having tried it out on several sites, whilst some of the results are fascinating, I query it's accuracy. Some of the observations were completely wrong e.g. 'All of your webpages have the same title' when all are different and 'No forms were found in this website' when there is one.

My advice is to stick to the recognised checkers and get Firefox with the 'Web Developer' and 'Tidy HTML' extensions.

markhallgate · #7 (**permalink**) 12-28-2005, 06:17 PM

the text in the middle box:

online bill pay

•Pay Bills anytime, anywhere for free!
•Schedule Payments:
Automaticlly or manually(get email reminders)
•Save Money on stamps, envelopes, & late fees.

Get Started Now!

doesn't look right, it seems like it has been cut and pasted from notepad.

Also centering the page would look good, seems to work ok in Firefox. Good looking site.

mark

cgfreak™ · #8 (**permalink**) 12-29-2005, 11:27 AM

Thanks for the input guys, i have fixed most of the problems now, from 100 something errors i brought it down to 56 and im stuck there.

On W3C says:
Error Line 52 column 14: there is no attribute "height".
<table height="28" width="766" border="0" cellspacing="1" background="images/men

but the height is there, i just dont get it, any clues?

Tim · #9 (**permalink**) 12-29-2005, 12:49 PM

How come the errors jumped from 26 to 100?

With regards to 'height', when it says there is no height it means it's not allowed. You should be able to safely delete it and if necessary use CSS to dictate the height.

If you get Firefox and the extensions I recommended above, especially 'Tidy HTML' you will find some plain English explanations about the errors and ways to correct them. Non-valid Flash 'embedding' can be got around with the Flash Satay method. There are other versions of it too.

You have missed a few XHTML tag closures ( />) too, simple to solve.

Good luck.

cgfreak™ · #10 (**permalink**) 12-29-2005, 04:27 PM

Thanks, what a great tip :), check the site for the new inprovements.

cgfreak™ · #11 (**permalink**) 12-29-2005, 05:40 PM

Allright thanks to all the support ive been getting here this page is W3C friendly :) test it

cgfreak™ · #12 (**permalink**) 12-29-2005, 06:23 PM

Hmmm it seems that it validates just fine on W3C but for some reason FireFox doesnt want to show my Flash! :(

Tim · #13 (**permalink**) 12-30-2005, 06:38 AM

Try this;

<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="flash/header.swf" width="757" height="172">
<param name="movie" value="flash/header.swf" />
<param name="quality" value="high" />
<param name="loop" value="true" />
<param name="alt" value="Write your alt description here" />
<param name="title" value="Write your title description here, probably same as alt" />
</object>

You will see I have added alt and title tags in the parameters, this will make your Flash more accessible and search engine friendly.
Incidently, your page is looking much better already. Try making the list in the centre box (next to the hands photo) a proper 'Unordered list' like this;

<ul>[*]item1[*]item2[*]item3[/list]
Good luck.

cgfreak™ · #14 (**permalink**) 12-30-2005, 05:18 PM

Thanks, i fix those little pesky errors lol

SnerdeyWebs · #15 (**permalink**) 12-30-2005, 05:25 PM

Looks good and yeah, those errors can thow one for a loop sometimes.

Have a Happy New Year!

Tim · #16 (**permalink**) 12-30-2005, 07:06 PM

Oh no you haven't! Check it in good old Firefox, the designer's friend.

It's <ul> not <lu> to begin an unordered list and in the Flash parameters you have this...value="ACM Ameriacn check management" twice, see the error? You seem to be getting your tetters in a lwist!

Check and check again. You know how to check at http://validator.w3.org/check?verbos...pt3/index.html (see the other errors), you know which is the best browser with the best tools and then you just got plain sloppy!

cgfreak™ · #17 (**permalink**) 01-04-2006, 11:24 AM

Quote:

It's <ul> not <lu>

Im so stupid, stupid, stupid lol thanks :D

cgfreak™ · #18 (**permalink**) 01-10-2006, 11:42 AM

Updates updates here

janeth · #19 (**permalink**) 01-10-2006, 11:12 PM

Hi

I found your post here from this topic Google Forum not sure why the poster felt the need to talk about your site in another thread but did not feel the need to let you know what he thought.

But since the forum is picked up by the search engines and this is a big forum with a lot of members I thought someone should help you out and not just sit around and point fingers.

Not talking about the current company looks like you have gotten some great reviews.

I would move the title to the top of the page and unless the business is one that most people would be searching for by name I would add some of your best keywords into the title.

Most of the meta tags you can do away with about the only ones I use are the description and keyword tag.

For the most part I try to keep them under about 5 keywords.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode