Review www.i2marketing.com

markrga · #1 (**permalink**) 10-20-2003, 06:38 PM

I would appreciate any comments regarding my site and ways that I may improve the effectivness.

i2 Marketing
www.i2marketing.com

Thanks
Mark Robertson
[/url]www.i2marketing.com[/img][/list]

Amus · #2 (**permalink**) 10-20-2003, 07:07 PM

Looks Great!

I would try to make your logo banner more visable. I had to scroll to the right to see it.

SyrenSong · #3 (**permalink**) 10-21-2003, 12:13 AM

You've got a really nice looking website.

Unfortunately, not many folks surfing the web on dialup connections are going to see it.

You've got over 300k of graphics on your site. That and the rotating java applet are really slowing the load time for your index page.

Most folks surfing with dialup connections won't wait for more than around 60-80k max to download, then they're gone to another site that loads faster. I'd reconsider some of those graphics if I were you.

You've also got an awful lot of bloated code on your site:

Code:

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td>



</p>

</td></tr></table><table dir="ltr" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td valign="top" width="1%">



 </p>



<font size="2"> </font></p>



</p>

There's nothing going on with any of this code. It's attempting to space your page to look nice, but it's just making your source code larger than it needs to be.

I suggest streamlining the code a bit by removing some of the excess tags and use code that validates using W3C standards at http://validator.w3.org/, starting with a proper DOCTYPE for your page.

You've got a really good-looking site. Even if you only do a little work with your graphics, that'll help you quite a bit!

HTH!

info202 · #4 (**permalink**) 10-21-2003, 01:05 AM

great site... good content, but the pages themselves are entirely too HUGE...
I viewed it in 800x600 and could not see the logo at all and barely saw the right side of the screen... you really to make it much smaller....
one of the things I learned from another forum is that most people are still viewing at 800x600.. when I do a site, I always change the resolution on my computer so that I can see what other will see, not just what my computer is viewing.. even at a larger resolution, everything is too big

aside from the size, you have done a great job..

manimal99 · #5 (**permalink**) 10-21-2003, 02:46 AM

With my high speed connection and display settings at 1024 X 768 , the site is fast and flawless !
Very nice looking ! I would try to make it so it worked as well for others though. Great Work :)

markrga · #6 (**permalink**) 10-21-2003, 09:48 AM

I want to thank all of you who commented on my site. As I continue to learn HTML code I have been trying to clean up the code. Reading WEBPROWORLD over the past few months have taught me a lot and have been a valuable source of information.

One of my oversights is that I did not realize (but should have) that there are still a good majority of surfers using the dial-up connections, and the 800x600 resolution. I made sure that I checked my site in both resolutions and was willing to loose a little bit of my banner with the 800x600 resolution. However, because I have high-speed DSL connection, I gauge my performance from my office.

I will begin to work on the graphics and reduce the size of those, and if necessary eliminate the rotating java applet.

Again thanks for all your help, and will continue to read WebProWorld to continue to learn from the Pro’s.

Sincerely,

Mark R. Robertson
I 2 Marketing
www.i2marketing.com

alienzhavelanded · #7 (**permalink**) 10-21-2003, 05:33 PM

The look of the site is great! It loads a little slow for me even with a cable connection though. This is largely because of the graphic & Java.I would lose the applet. When loading the page in Netscape, I didn't have the Java Virtual Machine, so I had to go through the ardurous task of installing it first. The applet also really serves no purpose to get your point across, does it? You could achive the same thing with a smaller animated gif. In the end this is less coding headache for you. As it is, the combonation of large graphic, java applets, rollovers, etc make for a cumbersome home page.

If you are using Photoshop or Fireworks to do your graphic, make sure you optimize them before you save them for the web. Your home page graphic only uses maybe 5 visible colors I can see, so look into things like reducing colors in the graphic to lower file size.

The urge to start big on the home page should be avoided. Make sure it loads fast and is highly accessable, then in your pages beyond that let loose (within good rules of thumb of course). Hehe

Also, both Dreamweaver and the new FrontPage (sorry 2002 users,it doesnt have it) offer cleaning of the html code, so if you are using either one that will help you. Also a good find and replace on those pesky will get rid of them!

Happy Coding
The Martian

janeth · #8 (**permalink**) 10-21-2003, 07:14 PM

I agree with alienzhavelanded. The java applets would be the first thing to go.
The load time will cause you to loose a lot of customers.

rocky1 · #9 (**permalink**) 10-22-2003, 12:56 PM

Info 202 ~

Quote:

great site... good content, but the pages themselves are entirely too HUGE...
I viewed it in 800x600 and could not see the logo at all and barely saw the right side of the screen... you really to make it much smaller....
one of the things I learned from another forum is that most people are still viewing at 800x600.. when I do a site, I always change the resolution on my computer so that I can see what other will see, not just what my computer is viewing.. even at a larger resolution, everything is too big

No disrespect intended Info, however the stats seen here in thread on resolutions viewing our own sites supported differently. Therein it was reflected that shares of the viewing market were split pretty much equally betwixt 800 x 600 and 1024 x 768, tipping ever so slightly one way or the other on a geographic basis. The latter's share of viewers is supported as rising rapidly, in all markets, as is reported in article found at http://www.statmarket.com/cgi-bin/sm...ture&week_stat

Although I won't dispute the need to design for both, nor will I dispute the suggestion that the graphics on this site are a wee bit overwhelming in 800 x 600, that resolution is not necessarily the more popular share of the market anymore.

Site worked great otherwise, although a bit heavy on the graphics, it loaded in just a shade over 30 seconds on 49.2k dial-up.

Rocky

markrga · #10 (**permalink**) 10-22-2003, 04:18 PM

Again, I want to thank everyone for their valuable feedback. I am making changes to the layout to fit into the 800x640 resolution, and reducing the extra code, and finally will reduce some of the other graphics. The team has been a great help to me and I sincerely thank you for your professional input.

Mark R. Robertson
www.i2marketing.com