Personal Site..not trying to advertise

G

gymboy689

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 14, 2004
Messages
121
please, i would like some "constructive critisicsm" (sp?) on my website

http://jeremythegeek.com

it's hosted on a home server, so it's not the speediest, but i'm trying to learn more about this web page designing and stuff
 
Looks like crud. (The truth hurts.)

What kind of content is it supposed to have? I don't click past entry pages.
 
gymboy689 said:
please, i would like some "constructive critisicsm" (sp?) on my website
Click to expand...
I admire your courage :p

gymboy689 said:
t's hosted on a home server, so it's not the speediest, but i'm trying to learn more about this web page designing and stuff
Click to expand...
It's good that you're trying to learn. Just be ready to dedicate some time to it to learn it right.

First of all, splash pages (the page you have to enter the site itself) are mostly (I say mostly only because I don't like broad generalizations) useless, to say the least. It serves no purpose at all, especially when it's 3 images that take you to the same place. The images should be cleaner, too. Maybe you want to go with the chaotic style, but still, you can do chaotic while still being clear and organized!

The homepage has no content. That basically counts as a second splash page =/ And the background does it no good.

Frames are generally unnecesary. Avoid them if possible (and in this case, it is possible).

Not all text has to be centered ;) . Organize the content better.

Use the same color scheme throughout the site. Some pages are inconsistent.


There's more to say, but that should do for now. Basically, it's a typical beginner page. You should definitely read up on proper HTML (XHTML would be ideal), and CSS if you want to start off in the right direction. A good place to start is www.w3schools.com . Quick and easy tutorials to get you started there, and great reference for HTML tags and stuff (which I actually keep printed out for whenever I need them).

By the way, what program did you use to do the page? Or was it hand coded?

EDIT: I didn't even mention DOCTYPES and validation, but I don't see the need to, for now. Learn the basics, then start worrying about that stuff, IMO.
 
STL said:
Looks like crud. (The truth hurts.)

What kind of content is it supposed to have? I don't click past entry pages.
Click to expand...

You have a funny notion of what constructive criticism entails.~
 
thanks for the comments...i've heard many comments about the entry page...i think i'm gonna change it htis weekend, and the colors i will change as well :)

i coded it all in notepad
 
[Anarchonixx]
> You have a funny notion of what constructive criticism
> entails.~

Well, if it looks ugly, and lacks any content whatsoever, it shouldn't exist.

My website was the same way about 7 years ago.

Please, gymboy. Think about what you want to say before how you want to say it.
 
text editors like notepad are definately the way to start (and to stay :p)

However, I am finding the program PSPad to be very help ful for editting. You may want to try it out. Its a text editors with a few extra features (like tabs, batch search and replace, and syntax highlighting)
 
gymboy689 said:
i coded it all in notepad
Click to expand...
There's hope for you, then. But really, you should read up and then look at examples of what you're actually capable of (and really, it's not hard at all once you learn the capabilities of HTML and CSS).
 
Well, it is slow to load, but that's not really a problem with the site as much as the fact that upload speeds most ISPs give are a little lacking.

I agree, ditch the splash page, it's generally not a desired, useful, and is a waste of bandwidth.

The site looks unprofessional and more like an angelfire site, but it's your first site so I know you're still learning and improving. And you use frames, which I generally consider a relic in the world of website coding that should stay in the mid-90s.

Keep working at it.

Here's some links to help you on your trek.
http://www.tizag.com/
http://w3schools.com
http://www.glish.com


Hopefully the [H] won't butcher my site when I have it done. :)
 
STL said:
[Anarchonixx]
> You have a funny notion of what constructive criticism
> entails.~

Well, if it looks ugly, and lacks any content whatsoever, it shouldn't exist.

My website was the same way about 7 years ago..
Click to expand...

well under your own rules, you should destroy your own website then. It looks ugly. one out of two just isn't enough ;)

I may get flamed for this, but I'd suggest dreamweaver for learning HTML. I learned HTML by hand, using Notepad than eventually going to EditPlus. When I was forced to use Dreamweaver at work because of how we have our standards and procedures I hated it at first. But after the first week of heavy use I fell in love with it. For quick and dirty updates that need to be done to the copy of a page it's easy as pie. But if you want you can get your hands dirty and edit the code. It also writes fairly nice code when you don't hand code. Though it can get out of hand if you don't pay attention to how you're adding elements to the page.

But I have to go, i'll be back later on tonight to give you some feedback on your site.
 
NickTheNut said:
I may get flamed for this, but I'd suggest dreamweaver for learning HTML.
Click to expand...
I disagree. I do believe it's a great tool for when you already know HTML. It may make code writing and editing faster, and it allows you to get into the actual code, but if you don't know HTML prior to using it, you'll still have unneeded tags, and will have trouble finding out why certain things look different in different browsers (I have only sampled Dreamweaver, so I'm basically talking out of my ass here, but I'm guessing it still makes mistakes on generating correct code, even if it does so less than Front Page).
 
you're right, it makes far less mistakes than frontpage. So few in fact that I have trouble thinking of instances where there were problems. One thing we have trouble with at work is that it can be unstable. One of the downfalls of using something such as Dreamweaver on big group projects where multiple people work on a site, is that this can screw things up in the long run. Causing it to crash on particular sites quite often (always the biggest most extensive websites we've created).
 
Slightly off topic, I'll definitely agree with the above two posters. Dreamweaver is a great program. I've done designs for a number of years now and while yes, I can use notepad for everything, Dreamweaver makes it just that much easier. If you've ever had to edit one line of code in 20+ php files or something, dreamweaver can make that edit in about 4 seconds as opposed to however many minutes it would take doing it manually.

Now back on topic...Obviously your site is intended for personal use, probably something to show friends and to learn from, which is what it sounds like you want to do. One thing that I might recommend is starting with a piece of paper and a pencil. Draw a few layout ideas that you like, place the headers, footers, sidebars, and buttons where you think you might like them. I'd also recommend text buttons if you're not too into doing graphics. Your buttons now are basically text graphics, and there's no reason to really do that. Text loads faster and looks just the same, plus you can do rollover color changes and underlines, and all sorts of stuff like that. I'd also say to get rid of the background, and the splash page. Most people want to see the site when they go to the url, and if they were to favorite it, they would favorite the main page rather than the splash page.

Just a few suggestions, I'll add more later if you make some changes. It's good that you came in with an open mind and expecting criticism though, so there is definitely hope.
 
The entrance page is the first order of business. I would take it off completely, or at least reduce/resize the images, having to scroll it is kind of annoying. I'm guessing from the source that your coding it by hand? If so and your new then it's not too bad really for starting out. It's good to know some hand coding fundamentals, but really using a WYSIWYG editor to build pages, and then tweaking with hand coding, or even using a content management system is where it'll eventually all go. Also, frames used to be cool before the advent of newer technologies, and anymore I don't think they're recommended. Like when viewing most of your pages that have a different background color, they stand out and create a unclean look. Not to mention you have to watch how you link external pages or people get "stuck in the frames". Overall it's not bad though, a little cleaning up and some better consistency throughout the site (style sheets can be nice) and it would be much improved :) Once you have the fundamentals down, and have the cash, Dreamweaver MX is a excellent WYSIWYG editor, it's what I use to customize my own site.
 
Well My 2 cents....

First like everyone else said the splash page is pointless. I personally hate frames. You should just use text for links on the left. It does need somesort of color theme. As for everyone elses discussion I use dreamweaver just for the colors, organization, and stuff like the spell checker. Combined with wc3 validators I feel it is effective.

Do you really want to list all your mp3's for the world to see.

:cool:
 
I looked at the first page nothing peaked my interest enough to go on.

Even though it was done in notepad it still could have done better.

Remember if you want people to visit make sure that you have at least one thing that grabs them to stay.
 
It occured to me during my visit to this thread that there should be a "Sticky" on where you should start as a beginner before you just throw your site up in lieu of people giving non-constructive criticism. There were quite a few instances that I felt are highly regarded tips to a n00b to web development that would serve a much better use to everyone in a sticky than the bold that ask for a critique.

I possibly missed that sticky... but none-the-less I think it's a good idea.
 
ok, updated...i did keep the frames because i like them, though some of you did not

i took away the enter page, and changed the theme to a standard red and black, except the mp3 listing since it is a winamp generated playlist.

i did try out dreamweaver. I used it a bit on the re-done index and the links in the frame, but i ended up just using the coding part of it. I like how it changes colors for different parts of the webpage, which makes it easier, but i only used the "design" portion for previewing. Are there any good programs that are free and are similar to the code portion of dreamweaver?
 
Meh, if you're happy with it... If you keep reading and practicing, you will grow out of that stage.~ It's a personal site after all, it can be as professional as you want it to be, so it's cool if you're happy with it. A few more things that I don't like about the site are the strikethrough links (I mean, what's the point of it?), still technically has a splash page, the text in some images is barely understandable, and the frames. Frames may be fine for a personal page since it may only be friends and stuff that visit it, but they can hinder the site more than help it. http://www.html-faq.com/htmlframes/?framesareevil has some of the basic arguments about frames being evil if you're interested in seeing some of the reasons. Anyway, I think it's all been said, so I'm not adding much to the thread and might as well stop.

It's still cool that you did start out writing the code by hand, so I give you props for that. But definitely read up some more about standards, deprecated tags and attributes, and make a habit of using quotation marks for values of tag attributes (noticed that was a mistake that was repeated throughout your HTML).
 
gymboy689 said:
it's hosted on a home server
Click to expand...

Playlist files:

To listen to all of the mp3's click Here Unless you have a username/password, there is no point because you can't
acces the mp3's. For complete access, send your desired username and password Here

1. Twelve Hour Turn - dance like everyone is watching (3:46)
2. Twelve Hour Turn - don't let the music die, and don't replace me (5:48)
3. Twelve Hour Turn - i was raised to break (4:22)
4. Twelve Hour Turn - like a cool breeze blowing through your wallet (5:15)
5. Twelve Hour Turn - no tomorrow (3:36)
6. Twelve Hour Turn - sleep comes early for you (3:42)
7. Twelve Hour Turn - the dream of youth (4:48)
...

4907. Zebrahead - Swing (2:51)
4908. Zebrahead - The Real Me (3:58)
4909. Zebrahead - Time (3:11)
4910. Zebrahead - Walk Away (3:22)
4911. Zebrahead - Waste of Mind (3:32)
Click to expand...

Ha ha... wtf? You're offering access to 5000 MP3's to anyone who sends you a username and password... and it's hosted on your home server? Good luck with that. Hey, a quick whois even reveals all kinds of fun information Mr Marx.

My constructive criticism is that perhaps it isn't the best to register a domain and offer MP3's for download from your home computer with the address freely available from whois. Sure, in real terms, you'll almost certainly get away with it, but it still strikes me as pretty daft. Good luck with that :)
 
i never said it was free...i said i would give you access, but i didn't say that it didn't cost, and that i didn't own the rights













though it is free and i don't have the rights

edit: and it's streaming so it's leagal
 
If you're looking for a good editor i reccomend top style 3 from Bradsoft It's primarilly a css editor but it works very well for html and best of all it's free.
When I checked the page I found one of the images on the front page links improperly and will load your page inside it's own frame. No other really annoying errors. A bit clearer navigation naming and maybe a little more organization would make it easier to navigate.
 
i fixed the link, and downloaded that program but it's a 20 day trial, not free :mad:
 
gymboy689 said:
it's a 20 day trial, not free :mad:
Click to expand...

There's a free version that deals with style sheets (CSS) if you click on the "Download" link along the top of the page instead of the big logo.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top