The sites been on the go for about a year now but was redesigned recently.
It uses Frames - dodgy idea or not?
There are quite a lot of banner exchange ads on the site. Are they worthwhile?

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Markgreat
Homes by Speyside
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Hi Iain,

Frames may or may not be dodgy but I'm happy to avoid the contest and steer clear of them completely :) For opinions on the subject see this thread on frames

Banner exchange ads, are they worthwhile? Again I skirt the issue by not using them. Coward? In this case, probably yes :)

I'd actually be more concerned with the design and build of your site - as a designer I'd be focusing on the site layout and style before attempting to fill it with any graphics

Banner exchanges. In my opinion, a waste of time and valuable page space. Frames are good in the right context. I can understand the initial use of frames; to create a single navigation page, which allowed for the editing of one page as opposed to many. Now that has been replaced with includes using .php or .asp. I personally choose includes over frames. Biggest problem with frames is how a browser builds it. Too much text in a link and it gets hidden under the frame and you have to adjust frame size unless you fix the frame. Blah, blah, blah... Includes work from the server so you don't need to worry about the browser.

I would suggest moving you logo to the top of the page though along with the company or site name. I have no idea where I am or who's site I am on. Have you checked to see what browsers the JavaScript navigation DON'T work on? That could be a deterrent. I would also suggest working with your color palette. I lose the links in some of your tables. Put some consistency in your design and you should be fine. Also make the page names bigger so people know what page they are on.

Best of luck.

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Scott Brinkerhoff - Art of Zen Studios
Web Design I Design Monk
© 2000-forever - All rights reserved by me - SO THERE!!

Per the banner exchange ads, they might help you with search engine listings, and they might gain you a little traffic. However... you might also be losing a bit of traffic with them there, and if not relevant, they may hurt you in SE listings. They certainly add nothing to the appearance of your site, from a perspective of profesionalism or even simple aesthetic value, because one can find clipart or graphics of other nature that are of much better quality to lend color and enhance the site's appearance.

Furthermore, if you want to load your site with banner ads, one has to wonder why you pay for server space. Why not go with a site on one of the free servers, and run their add on banners along with yours, to increase your profit margin.

As far as frames, I love a great many things about them, so you won't hear any complaints from me in that respect. However, under your Freebies link when you click on the free banner/button it loads your entire homepage to the main frame. Link on said button should as I'm sure you know, be only for the right frame of the homepage.

Loved the work on the B-52s page!!! Although it's not sauve or debonaire, it is a ton of fun, as well it should be. We have B-52s flying over us all the time here in ND, and you've captured the profile, from all angles beautifully, in the numerous animations. Although I did have a little trouble with the "Late Night" page loading on dial-up and gave up on it. The site itself is way cool!

Rocky

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

Thanks for your comments everyone. I will definately get rid of some or all of the exchange banners.
I wasn't aware that some of the links disappear in some of the tables, due to the color pallette. Thats very bad. I'll try to sort it out A.S.A.P. but very busy next few days.
My freebie is a bit feeble (I have better things to put on soon). The idea is to allow anyone to use the banner as a link to anywhere by changing parameters to configure the banner display,link etc - I can fix it by making the link target configurable too.

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Markgreat
Homes by Speyside
Tickets!