Greetings all!

Looking for input from other webmasters on my site. I'm just working into a business site and have undergone complete revision. There are a few things I'm still not altogether pleased with, and I'm looking for input from knowledgeable others to see if those are sore thumbs in everyone's point of view, or if it's just me being too fussy from a design perspective.

Thanks Much,
Rocky!

www.rtfi.us

Had a quick look at your site Rocky,just the frontpage and it certainly makes me want to see more.I'll get back to it tonight when I have more time and check it out properly.I won't be able to give you any advise,it looks to me like your doing ok in that department but I want to check it out now.I do a bit of fishing as well,(I can hear the fish laughing now)At least this will get you on the first page again.grin.

Had time for a good look around this time Rocky and as far as I'm concerned don't change a thing.I'll be back.

Rocky,
Nice friendly site, I like the fishing page, even though I've never been fishing in my life. The background image works well, although the pictures bump into the text on the left.

If you want to get into web design, I would suggest making a separate page and getting some ideas from sites you like in terms of design and function. Things like the little fishing boat are fun on your own site, but will look like bad clip art on a professional site, I'd also be careful of using a bold seraph font with text that small, my eyes hurt a bit.

I think good design is a lot about personality and that really comes through, but you also need to recognise where you can use expert help, which I wouldn't presume to know.

If I was going into web design for other people, I'm sure I'd need help with certain aspects of code and programming etc in order to provide for each customers needs.
If you can source the people to fill the gaps, you can keep doing what you're best at, and with your friendly approach, could do nicely.

Good luck with it,
James

Hi Rocky,

I just checked out your site. Overall it isn't a bad site, but I think there a a number of things you could try to make it more rofessional and easier on the eye.

On the front page... in practical terms, dark text on a light background is always easier to read. The white bold "times" font is really hard to read for me. If I wasn't trying to find my way around the site I wouldn't have bothered. If you want to keep the dark blue with white text try helvetica, arial or verdana... they will at least make the text easier to read.

Also you should put your navigation at the top in some form, and give your two sections subheadings to give visitors a preview of the info, so they can find what they want quickly and without reading all the text.

On the www.rfti.us site... I like the initial feel of it in many ways, but there were still things that didn't work for me. I would try simplify your nav menu. Not the content but the style. Maybe it is just personal, but the blue on blue with the table borders & shading look a bit messy for my taste. While I like the picture you have used on the background of the first page, I wouldn't use it as a background, it always makes text hard to read. It is a nice effect, but if it compromises the content then I would advise it to go... Again, think about the white text on the blue background on the other pages... Oh and check your links... the "collectibles" link opened another window for me!

On the web design site... I'm sorry, but the site just didn't do much for me. The effects may be great and fun, but I found the clock distracting, and while being able to write cool scripts, they don't necessarily make a site look professional. Good layout and design are still the backbone of quality sites, and I feel your site needs some work there. I guess in the end though it depends on your market, and your taste. Im sure (as read above) that some people will love it!

__________________
www.masterpeace.com.au - overdue for overhaul
www.papercutmedia.com - where I write CSS & XHTML these days
"insert witty remark here... when I think of one..."

Alas, I have been reviewed! Thank you both for your time and the input.

Masterpeace...

* Fonts - Tried all three, settled on Arial bold. Also stepped font size up 2 pixels to make it easier to read.

* Yes, it's a bit blue, but the site revolves around fishing, and my thoughts were that the blue would lend a watery theme.

* Navigation - I honestly prefered the hover buttons I had before, but found they locked XP users up. Compromised, with plain old hyperlinks for load speed and cross browser compatibility, and tried to dress them up. I'll play with losing the under/over line and see if maybe that makes it appear less cluttered.

* Likewise will add heading to the two sides as you suggest.

* Link problem - is found on three links that open to extensive sub-sections! Considered the viewer may want to look at other faster loading parts of the site, while waiting on graphics in the Collectibles section to load. There were issues with the other two sections also, those three links were intentionally targeted "blank", each for their own reason.

* Design side - was playing with a great many concepts that I didn't want to install in the fishing side. Most have failed miserably and were scrapped. I agree the clock is distracting, that is one of the demons I've been wrestling, and believe me, I wish I were that talented.

James -

* Likewise, I have considered moving the web design end off on it's own. And, yes... I am currently pursuing going back to school for the technical end of web design, as to date I am self taught. I have a grand total of 24 hours formal computer training, 16 of that was on DOS summer of 1988, the other 8 was split between Introduction to Windows and Surfing the Internet in November 1999!

* Per your comments on the pictures bumping into the left side of the text James, I find that problem only at 640 x 480 resolution setting. At that setting however, your comments on the font being small puzzle me. Might I inquire what setting you are running James, as this one has my curiosity piqued?

The site was optimally designed, as is noted on the index page, for 1024 x 768 resolution. And, as also noted, I did work it around 800 x 600 resolution. At 1024 x 768 I show close to a half inch, (or about 14 - 15 millimeters) between the pictures and text, and close to a quarter inch (or 7 mm) gap at 800 x 600. Unfortunately one can only design so much around resolution settings in a single page, and at 640 x 480 the site does have a few problems.

* Little guy in the boat IS bad clipart James! Whaddaya mean he "looks like" bad clip art! ...LOL... Had I your artistic talents, I would draw me a new logo that didn't; but alas I don't!

He was fun at one time; still is to some folks and that's what the site is about... Fun! The site is however, in progression from being my introduction to web design, to something a little more serious, and I'm slooooowly fading those little "fun" things out so as not to throw my regular viewers into a total state of panic. He may go away someday, but for the time being, he's just got to stay. No, I would not put him, or anything like him, on a client's site, unless they specifically requested it!

* And, should you ever happen to get to North Dakota James, I would love to cure you of that little never having fished before problem also!

Again, thank you both for your time and suggestions, they were greatly appreciated!


Rocky
www.rtfi.us

Rocky,
sorry if i sounded too critical, like I said, the site is fun. and thats something you just have to have naturally, you cant do it with design skills.
As for the technical side, I think thats where your talents lie, I just meant we all have to recocnize what we're good at and what we're not.
I could spend days trying to learn some of those neat scripts and effects you have, but wouldn't it be better if I could find someone like yourself who already has the skills?

If you do find someone who can make professional looking web graphics, just exercise your choice, and you wont loose the feel you have. The little fishing bloke is well chosen, but poorly made, thats all I meant.

On the fishing page, I meant the pics on the right bump into the text, sorry. I'm using IE 4.5 as my browser, which I know is out of date, but I think its important to try and standardise a site as much as possible. I've been to a few sites that were made entirely of 'flash' graphics, and none of it works on my machine. I may be a dinosaur but who knows, maybe I could have been a potential customer.

Best of luck with the site, and if I'm ever in North Dakota, you're on.
James

Your comments were and are regarded only as "constructive" criticsm James. And, in that I asked for that, in offering the site up for review, no offense was taken, nor is any apology necessary. Likewise, hope that I did not offend you in anyway in reply, or in review of your site, as my comments were offered only as such there, and were well intended also.

Most of those neat scripts I use were found on download sites for such goodies, and manipulated slightly to serve my cause. I am guilty only of being capable enough to figure out which line of script to alter. Unfortunately the really neat Javascript fails in Netscape, and as mentioned in my last post, problems were seen in Microsoft XP with DHTML, therefore in designing for Cross Browser performance I've had to dump a considerable amount of failed script. I do try and make it work in as many different facets of the Net as possible, and likewise design around as many different resolutions as possible, unfortunately it's impossible to fit it to all.

As for IE 4.5.... You know, Microsoft does offer free updates, old chap! ...LOL... Don't know that I'd call 4.5 a dinosaur yet, but it's been around awhile.

I still believe, the problem you're seeing with the pictures is related to your monitor resolution setting. And, the fact you're running IE 4.5 lends further to that suspician. That version of Internet Explorer would I believe have been stock in Windows 98, and if my memory serves me correct, 640 x 480 was the default monitor resolution setting therein as well. I honestly don't recall for sure, I just recall always having changed my default setting on 98.

Agreed, and do agree wholeheartedly, on the little fishing bloke. And, again LOL! He too was off a download site, and was in fact a little canoeing bloke, that I altered to make fishing. One pixel at a time, in Paint. If your resolution is set where I believe it to be, when viewed at 640 x 480, the pixels expand greatly, and you are very much correct, he gets really UGLY!

If you're ever in ND, I promise, we will fish until you can't stand no more James! Don't suppose you drink beer, and tell tall tales too?

Doesn't matter, I'll teach that as well, if you don't already know how.

Has been a pleasure chatting!

Rocky
www.rtfi.us

Made a few changes on the site, and bounced a few new ideas around in there. Couldn't quite go everywhere that was suggested all at once, but I am slowly taking things that direction. Fixed the problem with pictures on the homepage for James, they will not run into text any longer, regardless of resolution! Lost the clock, added linked openings on items on the index page, cleaned that up a bit, and changed looks on the design side altogether. Likewise built and added a comprehensive site map, to make everyone say this guy has too much time on his hands.

Time to submit it all for review and input again! Would appreciate some feedback this round guys, had 86 visitors last time through the wash here with it and only had 3 comments! I'm not sure if that's a good thing, or not....

Thanks in advance!


Rocky

__________________
"North Dakota Fishing Fun!" | Dakota SEO and Design! | Web Design ~ SEO

I quite like the blue background, however, I would tone it down a bit by making the tables a lighter shade so that the white text wasnt so glary. I'd suggest #425896 for the background of the tables, and instead of the bright blue borders, have a slightly different shade of blue, #0330AF. The text links you have in the pale blue could maybe be replaced with black. If you kept with the diff background colour as above for all your other pages tables/menus, you could have the black as the link colour. That way you would be keeping in with the blue theme you want, but you wouldnt feel like you were being slapped in the face with a cold fish ;-)

On that first page, I'd suggest have the image as a separate <td> to the text. I think you would be able to align it up better that way. And I would lose the under/over line for the links ( I couldnt figure if it was meant to be a button or what)

But apart from a couple aesthetical changes, I like the site. It was what it is...a fishing site :-)

__________________
Web Development Community ::: Forum ::: Library

It' time for Progressive Web & IT Development!

Hi Mat,

Haven't been ignoring you, the suggested revisions instigated a few changes, which led to even more changes, and I've been busy with those.

* Regarding the #425896 in background I attempted that, and the #0330AF in border color. This combination unfortunately lacked enough contrast to give the perception of depth I was trying to attain with the colors selected in the borders, and flattened the page entirely too much. (Again I'm thinking "water", since this is a fishing site, and thus want to suggest a feeling of depth.) Likewise, I found that in using the #425896 in cell backgrounds with any color bright enough to lend contrast and attain the desired effect, that it tended to brighten the entire page too much, detracting from the deep rich qualities of the blue selected. I did however find a shade of blue that was not quite so bright, but offered sufficient contrast to tone the borders down a little.

* As for the white text being to "glary," I did kill that for you. On the lead page, I had for some reason, selected a bold font throughout which didn't change with changes effected on the Style Sheet at Masterpeace's earlier recommendation. I lost the bold on the lead page, and I changed font color throughout from #ffffff to #ffffee to kill the glare, which is essentially what you both had suggested. It worked very nicely throughout the site, and makes the text a bit easier to read.

* Per recommendation of the "Black" links, unfortuantely that didn't work for me, even on the lighter background. There simply wasn't enough contrast there for my comfort zone. Having had a monitor at one time that had, new ~ "out of the box", a much darker picture than most monitors, I avoid dark text on a darker background like the plague, as it makes things impossible to read on such a monitor. Likewise I stopped by a friend's house the morning after those revisions, and he mentioned problems he had encountered in 800 x 600 resolution on a few pages; while checking those out on his computer, the black links were barely legible on his monitor, and barely visible amidst the darker background on other pages. In trying revisions to the link color, I attempted numerous different options, but was unable to find anything else I felt truely comfortable with. Not altogether sure what exactly was up with the friend's monitor as my blue background was in fact, a deep dark purple there, but we have to consider that his was not the only one manufactured on that assembly line! Nor was mine at work, the only one manufactured on it's assembly line either, there are a great many of them out there to think about. Per the dealer, complaints on the one at work were consistent throughout that product line, in fact they had quit carrying that monitor after a year, because of numerous complaints regarding that problem.

* I killed the overline effect on the links. In fact I tried losing the line altogether on the homepage for the sake of the pseudo button effect being too busy, per Masterpeace's earlier suggestion. (Which yes the button effect was what I was after Mat,) But, in that I'm running CSS, that creates a problem thoughout the rest of the site with recognition of links in the text, and given I'm looking at over 250 pages to alter links on, that's a wee bit much to change for CSS correction on those few links. {Website designer smotes himself in forehead!}~~> Thoughts on correction of homepage button problem have just registered; like I could maybe override the CSS on those particular links. Oh, I simply hate it, when the walls on the box get too tall to look over!

* Separate <td>s were installed on the graphics, per the lead page. You're right, much cleaner effect! Again, simply got caught up in the designer's trap mentioned above. Had installed the graphics when there wasn't quite so much text there, with text wrap implemented to afford padding on the text, and it all lined up real nice at that time! In the course of Search Engine Optimization, changes to the text did in fact cause the text to wrap however, leading to what you were pointing out. Loved this suggestion it looks much nicer. Thanks!

Yes, it's blue ladies! Not sure what else to tell you...... cold fish and all.... guess it's a guy thing or something. I tried to lose it for both of you! Honest!!

Thanks much for the review and suggestions Mat. Appreciate your taking the time.

Rocky

__________________
"North Dakota Fishing Fun!" | Dakota SEO and Design! | Web Design ~ SEO

I think that looks much better, even the toning down of the blue. I can live with the rest of the blue ;-)


Mat

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Web Development Community ::: Forum ::: Library

It' time for Progressive Web & IT Development!

Thanks Mat,

I think it was a combination of toning both the blue border and the white text down that did the trick, likewise I tweaked the color in the links just a little, to make it a little softer as well. All combined the changes just made things a little more peaceful!

Rocky

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"North Dakota Fishing Fun!" | Dakota SEO and Design! | Web Design ~ SEO

Hi Rocky,
I think the site looks great. But what do you think about a really nice looking logo? I think it might help out in the looks of the site.

__________________
Custom Website Design | Search Engine Optimization | Web Design Templates

Hi Rocky,

I like your fishing site and you sure made me laugh with the fishing jokes. Just a few ideas:

• The background image only on the home page is a bit confusing. It makes one wonder if it failed to load on the other pages. I would stay with the plain blue background on the homepage, too.
• You have some mixed fonts. Some pages (like the site map) are still in times. I took a look at your css file. I suggest you specify more than one font-family, just in case the visitor doesn't have your favourite fonts installed. I use to do it like this:
  font-family: Frutiger, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif
  Then if the visitor has the Frutiger font, bingo! If not, the browser will try the others in sequence and it will show the page at least close to what I intended.
• If you will go in business with web design, I suggest you build a separate site, give it a more professional look, and throw some content and features in there. The way it's done now simply doesn't inspire trust and I guess won't help you getting customers.

About going back to school. Believe me, I've had quite a bunch of years of formal training, and I mean serious school stuff. They are nothing without that painful life experience. So I guess you are already a student at the most important school. Give it enough time, dedication, passion and patience, an open mind, and you'll see the results.

All the luck

Alex

Hey Alrux!

If the jokes made you laugh, you'll love the stories on the links found first two columns of the "Editorials Page".

Suggestions are understood.

• Per image on the Homepage - I understand and very much respect your position, that page was however designed differently from all other pages, in that section of the site, to set it apart. There are repeated homepage links on the menu at left, given it's extent, and if the viewer is wandering around the site and hits one of the "Take Me Home Mabel" links by accident, when the picture in the background comes back up they immediately know they have returned to the homepage. Rest assured there was a method to that madness on my part, it was not without cause!
  
  Likewise understood on Fonts as well - I had mutiple fonts in there and had set Times as the default, which was not a good font on that background, as Masterpeace pointed out earlier. I took the optional fonts down in attempting to select an appropriate few, and I guess I never put the other options back in. Not sure why it elected Times on the Map page, (I could have sworn that I changed that. Must be software gremlins or something!!) LOL
  
  Web Design Page - Point is well taken also, Alrux. When I get to a position that it appears to be a profitable venture on either end, I do intend to seperate them. At the moment it's all for fun and the learning process, and thus it's difficult to justify the expense of two URLs and host server space. Traffic dictated moving it from free server space and trying to make it a little more presentable. I also felt it dictated seperating the Design Toys therein from the fishing section as well and just threw that section up to house them.

Thanks for the review and the pointers, especially those on the education end of things, they were all very much appreciated.


On Janeth's earlier post ~ have been contemplating a logo, however given the diversity in the site and what I'm trying to do with it, I simply haven't found one I'm comfortable with. Have a few ideas on the drawing board, rest assured.

Thanks much Janeth.

Rocky

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"North Dakota Fishing Fun!" | Dakota SEO and Design! | Web Design ~ SEO

Hello Rocky1,
Thanks for reviewing my site. just took a look at your and like it, it is a clean design. I am not sure if i like the all blue look though. I would rather see a blue table centered in the middle of the page. Perhaps surrounded by white or with a simple, non descript light backgroung. Like those small boxes that everyomne seems to be using.
Thanks again for the review,
Mike
www.scootertopia.com

I am not to keen on dark sites since they are hard to read and strain the eyes. I think it looks good but is not pleasing to the eyes. My site started out with a black background but I soon realized dark background = gloomy site.

Now the http://www.rtfi.us/home.htm page I think Is great but again parts of the text blend with the backgroung a diffrent color text maybe or maybe my eyes are going from looking at this screen 14 hours a day.

I think instead of the pop ups for links like recipe book there should be a top nav bar in the frame it would even work if you put the 2 nav bars side by side I think just shrunk the windows havent realy tried it.

Each group does something diffrent Pictures just opens in same window but looses the main nav bar took a second to see C'mon Mabel! Nice Fish wow.

I think the nav structure (photo Galery) type inhttp://www.rtfi.us/pics_fishin.htm would work well in the frame the main pages are placed in.

Over all this is a very cool site and I have added it to my fav list great sounding recipies will try them. Good Luck

__________________
Please Review My Site In Return at
http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?p=81412#81412

Thanks Scorpion,

Points are well taken on navigation. Site has been an on-going project for some time, and thus different ideas and concepts were and are attempted therein routinely. I have revised much of it, trying to get it all into one pattern of navigation, but I simply haven't gotten to it all as yet. Just went through and re-named and grouped all the base photo pages pic_****, so I could find them in fact! And, re-built a couple of the photo albums in the fashion you praised.

As for pop-up on the recipe page, I targeted that one in that manner intentionally, so the visitor could browse the site, and print recipes off the second window without backing up the print buffers too bad, should they so desire. I had run the collectables section in the same fashion thinking the viewer could browse while waiting for pictures to load, but I believe I've changed that since because it wasn't truly as viable an option.

As for the Dark backgrounds, my eyes are unfortunately the exact opposite, they are strained by bright glaring backgrounds, whereas the lighter text over dark background is easier for me to read. Matauri cites the same problem with her eyes, and she likewise designs heavily in darker colors, http://activnet.org/, it's tough to meet everyone's needs. And, unfortunately since I have to look at the site a great deal more than everyone else, (like probably a thousand to one) my vote was placed at the top of the list. I did attempt more neutral colors, but then it's difficult to find text colors that contrast well to work with. Such is the case with a few more folks I've run across herein, as well.

Regarding the watermark in the homepage background, that one is there as a marker. Given the extent of the menu and the numerous "Take Me Home Mabel" links, scattered throughout, it makes the homepage readily recognizable when you return to it. I've given thought to installing java menu and losing the frames, but I run frames primarily for load speed and changing that would slow my pages.

Yep... we got big walleye up here in ND dude! What more can I say. Except, it was pure luck! I fished for 7 hours that day, and aside from that fish, had only one other bite. That was in fact going to be, (and ultimately was) my last cast for the night, I was headed for the truck after I reeled that cast in, then suddenly the line tightened, and got heavy, and then things got real exciting! Spent every night on the river for the rest of the summer and never found another anywhere close to that big! There were several others blessed with fish of that same stature, in that time however.

Thanks for the feedback and the compliments, wish you many enjoyable evenings viewing the site, I think you'll find all the recipes much to your liking as well. Drop me a line if you have any questions therein.

Best Regards,
Rocky

__________________
"North Dakota Fishing Fun!" | Dakota SEO and Design! | Web Design ~ SEO

I just visited your site. Wow! Awesome pics! I found it very easy to navigate and very professional looking. Did I mention the georgeous pics???
Love the little fish by the webmaster link, creative!

I don't fish much but I live on a lake in eastern central Georgia (Clarks Hill aka Lake Thurmond). My pics never look THAT great!

Keep up the good work and thanks again for the site review: www.cynaunltd.com
Donna

__________________
"You are never given a dream without being given the power to make it come true." --Richard Bach

Well the fish pictures I took, and the first 9 of the Lakeside pictures I took, thereafter credit goes to Microsoft's Clipart files! They were too nice not to include them on the site, the reds and oranges just stood out too beautifully on the blue background.

Little fish fit the site, have sort of made it a signature thing therein.

You're very much welcome on the site review.

Thanks for the review.

Rocky

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"North Dakota Fishing Fun!" | Dakota SEO and Design! | Web Design ~ SEO

Hi Rocky.
Your site loads extremely quickly due to the text-intensive design. And the index page text is straightforward and informative.

There is one weak spot in the basic navigation, imho. Because of the frames setup, you have to scroll to the bottom of a frame to find a "home" link and there's no link to the home page on the left hand menu bar. Putting a home page link at the top of that bar might help.
My education and background is in art and graphic design, so I found the index page with the small graphics on the solid blue backgound somewhat unimpressive, but I love the layout and wallpaper on the homepage. The greys of the bass(?) make the text just a teeny bit hard to read, but shouldn't be a problem for most browsers.

JerryB
SSK Sign Supply
www.signsupplystore.com

Thanks for the review SSK.

Per comments on the weakness in Back to Homepage buttons, "Mabel" links bottom of each section of the navigation left frame are home buttons, making 4 total in left hand navigation, (and one at the bottom of every page). Beginning with the "Home Mabel" button first section, which on mouseover runs Title text, "Back to the Homepage with your guide Mabel!" Thereafter Mabel guides you back to the homepage where ever you go, except for the blatant homepage links for those that don't catch the Mabel links.

Subtle humor got in the way of clear navigation, I guess!

As for the wallpaper on the homepage it's there as a marker as well, so that when folks stumble across the homepage links in left navigation, you realize you've come back. Not to mention I thought it was pretty cool from an artistic standpoint as well.

Likewise all the albums pages have links back to the homepage and those that have been updated, (top and bottom frames), that being everything but the first set therein, (likewise running left and right frames), in fact have both Mabel and homepage links to guide you back, on every page of the album. Hate to say it, but.... there's no weakness on homepage links guy!

Both the frames and text-intensive design were implemented intentionally for load speed. Likewise most of the graphics have been optimized as well. We've got a great deal of very slow service out here in rural ND, and I design specifically for that problem!

Concurr on the Index page. It started as a simple gateway page, just a few lines of text to grab a search engine's eye, and it has turned into an SEO tool on the site. I'd love to rearrange it and as soon as I figure out how to get found for the keywords "fish" and "fishing" I'll work on that too! Right now I'm just happy with #1 finds all over for RTFI and Rocky Thomas. The graphics are just there because it was getting way too text intensive! It needs help I know!

Again thanks for the review! Stop in and visit again sometime. Mabel will be waiting for you! };~)

Rocky

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"North Dakota Fishing Fun!" | Dakota SEO and Design! | Web Design ~ SEO

Hey Rocky,
I like your site, not least of all because it's got so much personality. Your sparkling wit and down home charm comes through on every page, which makes it fun and interesting to visit even for us poor unenlightened non-fisherfolk.

You've obviously heeded much of the prior advice regarding colours since the site has an attractive appearance overall. The only thing of substance I could find to comment on was in the area of linkage and navigation.

Your nav bar frame has underlined headings. It's not the most important of concerns, but I always dislike underlined words that are not hyperlinks. I just don't see a need for it since there are so many other ways to add emphasis and draw attraction to text.

And about your navigation, I realize you have a huge site with lots of pages and lots of content so it must be difficult to develop a nav system that can be easily comprehended by visitors. You've got the frames version on most pages, but you jump back and forth with some parts of your site. Sometimes a framed nav bar, sometimes not. I definitely prefer a site to have a consistent appearance and navigation method.

I also wonder if you couldn't find a more condensed way of presenting all your links on the left and then they might all be visible at the same time rather than a scrolling frame.

You've got a few links that open in new windows. I can imagine that you've done it on purpose (for example the recipes and collectibles where you have a completely different navbar on the left frame). But couldn't you add a "Mabel" link on their unique navbars and have it load in the same frames? I think it would appear more consistent then.

Anyway, you've got a great site and I can imagine that you have a loyal following who love it and enjoy pouring over it for hours. So in reality you don't need to change a thing. But if you wanted to, I'd say developing an improved navigation and site organization would be the way to go.

Nice work,
jade

__________________
Jade Burnside, Ahead of the Web
What good is your web site if no one can find it?
SEO & Optimized Web Site Design

Hey Jade,

Thanks for the review and compliments on the site.

Underlined headings in Navigation have been fixed, can't believe no one has yelled at me on that sin previously!

Per comments on Navigation, virtually all of my pages are running in a Frames environment. To my knowledge only four pages aren't, the Index page, and three minor pages running there "Rentals", "Sunrise Sunset", and "Temp Conversion/Windchill Calculator" Pages. The Frames Divider has been killed on all to eliminate the grey line running up and down through the page however, and if there is insufficient text in navigation to set a scrollbar it appears they aren't in frames.

As for your suggestion of condensing the navigation menu, I'm in search of a cross browser compatible, side bar, java menu, that runs external source code. This would allow elimination of the frames pages as well. Simply haven't found one that suits my fancy yet.

Thanks Rocky

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"North Dakota Fishing Fun!" | Dakota SEO and Design! | Web Design ~ SEO

Just a brief note to wish everyone here in the US a Happy Thanksgiving!

To the rest of you folks out there in the world that don't join us in these festivities, have joyous and wonderful Thursday!

From all of us here at RTFI....

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"North Dakota Fishing Fun!" | Dakota SEO and Design! | Web Design ~ SEO

Hello from Ottawa Rocky,
Please, I don't pretend to know much about site construction, Javascript, Flashy logos and the such, as I'm rather quite new at all this. But I thought I make an observation if it's all right with you.
The site is truly marvellous, as blue is my favorite colour. However, I found that when I clicked on the first picture and a new window with text popped-up, I couldn't see anything, black on dark blue did not do justice to your message,I had to highlight the whole text to read it. Well, perhaps my browser or whatever is not compatible to yours and if this is the case (I use MS/Me-IE6)then, my mistake.
I checked your site thoroughly and there are some pages that are easy to read, navigate, understand, etc.. but some that are quite hard on the eyesight, like the recipes pages(unfornutaly,I have lost my 25 years of age recently and my eyesight is not as it used to be-some French humour, here,lol). I find that the Trebuchet MS or the Tahoma and even the Arial(not Bold) fonts are easy and soft to the eye.
All in all I think your site is extraordinary, jokes and all.
Good luck with it!
Best regards
Marlene A. Sahal
www.artistestravel.com

Greetings Artistes,

Thanks so much for the compliments on the site. And, I'm glad you enjoyed your visit there. Input is always appreciated, amateur or pro, young or old, I welcome and embrace it all.

I am however concerned about your comments on the black text on blue background, because I have no pages like that. I presume in your referring to clicking on the first picture, and finding that page, that you refer to the "Fishing Section" link from the "Index Page", or first link on the first page up on the site, which leads to the Fishing Section Homepage?

Said homepage is supposed to have a very faint watermarked image of a walleye chasing a minnow on white background behind the text, as cause for the black text there, and it sounds as if that graphic file probably didn't load for you. You might try it again, and try refreshing the page to see if it loads. Occasionally that file will wait until everything else on the page loads, and thus it can be a bit slow to load on certain servers, or even certain days on certain servers. However... it is there honest to goodness! I wouldn't make it that tough on anyone, young or old.

Again thanks for the review!

Rocky

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Guess what? No problemo on the pics, except that I am HUNGRY NOW!

I just wanted to let you know I didnt see anything amiss today or any day recently, and I want to do a massive review so I am getting there soon.
Any thing in particular that you want my humble opine on?
I shall catch you soon! But I don't mean like a fish!

Review to your heart's content, Mik! Really can't think of anything I've a technical issue with for you to look over, as I've pretty much removed all the technical toys upon their failure in either Netscrape and/or Opera! She's pretty much cut and dried HTML.

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Hey, rocky1, thanks. I am just going nuts, wait, let me rephrase, lol, going full tilt on 'my' site touchups, but I will never let this 'get out of site' (a pun) on us.
I just have to slow it up a bit here and do a slight regroup, but hopefully by Tues. at the latest!

I'm glad you re-phrased, I would've hated to have had to comment on that situation!

};^)

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I said then rocky1 Yes, I'll do all the 'blue' reviews this time.
Seems those 'site touch-ups' I talked about, well, let's say I 'touched' everything out the door, and a client is looking for a redo to, but Tuesday ain't over yet!

http://www.rtfi.us/ ......
Scary colours, Man! But not as scary as this site:
http://www.londondiary.ltd.uk/index1.shtml

But then again - what do I know .... londondiary won a Golden Web Award 2002! Though it didn't say in which category.

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Very will done :)

I loved the detailed information. the link borders around your images distracted the eyes alittle but you can remove those by place BORDER="0" inside your [img][/img] tags.

Since I'm a avid fisherman, I bookmarked your site lol.

all said...great site :)

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Please review this site at:
http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?p=48949#48949

Sorry about that Tiger1! I just sorta happen to find blue kind of peaceful and relaxing myself. Of course... one has to wonder how and individual survives that finds blue, the color of sky and water, scary! ~~ LOL ~~

But as they say... to each his own! }:^B

By the same respect, I personally find the white backgrounds on many websites scary for the most part too! I look at Web Design as an artistic expression, and shudder at the thought that we might be sold on an empty canvas as such.

As for the Golden Web Award, I wouldn't put a whole lot of faith in that being indicative of excellence in design. Award of such is simply based upon the number of clicks you generate for their site!
"TO VOTE FOR THIS SITE CLICK HERE!"

Thanks for the compliments copywrite, glad you enjoyed the site. If you're ever in Central ND look me up, I've got tons of favorite fishing holes within a mile or two of home, and several extra rods hanging on the wall in the garage!

As for the borders on the pictures... that problem was reviewed. I knew there was a reason I had done it, but couldn't remember why! Upon getting to the last image there on the Index page, I found that the edge of the picture is not real clean and at that point I recalled having installed the borders to try and cover that. In review however, I found that I had run a <Border="3"> which was no doubt a wee bit much, thus I reduced that setting to <Border="1">, to find a happy medium. This covers the edge of the picture in question, and reduces the glaring border effect on all, to a point where it's more tolerable.

Thanks for pointing the problem out!

Rocky

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<<<<<<<<
Sorry about that Tiger1! I just sorta happen to find blue kind of peaceful and relaxing myself. Of course... one has to wonder how and individual survives that finds blue, the color of sky and water, scary! ~~ LOL ~~
<<<<<<
It's not the blue per se - but rather the blue and red together.
Also the main copy in white text.
But hey, as long as the majority of your visitors like it ....

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Understood on Blue and Red combo! And, I'll give you scary on that one tiger1. Red is a throwback to the old, more animated design. Have slowly but surely been weeding things out from that, but it all takes time so as not to throw the regulars into design shock. Title on the lead page you refer was put there to get attention, and although I did try other colors there when I redesigned they always seemed to get lost in the page. Without getting totally tacky, and going for a chartreuse of bright yellow, the red is the only one I've found that reaches out and screams at you.

And, the white text was really nasty! That's a refined gray on there now. Tossed in a few degrees of black to take the edge off the white and reduce glare.

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Hello,

Dropped by your site and had a look around. Spent most of my time within the webdesign area, as it seemed that was more what you were interested in hearing about over all else, with it being your new endeaver and all. Not much I can comment on though. You seem to have been taking the suggestions from everyone else, wish I could have been part of the evolution to comment :o) But as it sits now, imho, it's clean, quick, informative, and layed back. Just keep plugging away at it until you have what you are looking for.

Take Care & Best Wishes

Sanders Consultation Group Plus

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My apologies for not getting back to you earlier Trogar, must have missed your post here!

Thanks much for the review and compliments on the site.

Would also like to take this opportunity to offer best wishes to everyone for a safe and joyous New Year. May you all prosper and find happiness in 2004!

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