OK - here goes!

Everything to do with using your own website to advertise your rental property. Design, usability, hosting, getting listed on the search engines, optimising your site, pay-per-click, etc, etc.
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Corderita
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OK - here goes!

Post by Corderita »

First I'd like to say hello and thank you to all members. I've been using this website for a very long time as I waited nervously for my house to be completed. The help and advice I found here was/is invaluable and I've never felt the need to post before as answers to all my questions were readily available.
I've had my first guests and so far so good. I like to think I may be able to help others further down the line when I've had a bit more experience myself.
So back to topic :) using advice and information primarily from this site I have come up with a website which I would like your comments on please. I need to explain that I wrote my own HTML code in notepad after reading some tutorials recommended here. I then found the posts about CSS and rewrote it (the house took a LONG time !). I didn't have any of the packages everyone seems to be using so it's not very professional looking :oops: so my question is does it do the job and how can I improve it?
http://www.sunnyiris.co.uk
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enid
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Post by enid »

Hubby's making supper and it's nearly ready ( I've had my 5 min warning!) so I just had a quick look - I love the photos but the colours of the site are too garish for me I'm afraid. You have clear informational text but I would try to personalise it a bit - make it feel you are talking directly to me.

It has all the right elements and my remarks are just a question of taste. :)
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marcus
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Post by marcus »

Wow, that's some achievement to do it with just NotePad - hope everyone else is listening in, that you can prepare a site for zero cost. Well done.

I think that the iris colour, which I thought at first was too garish, probably isn't. If the background colour was changed to something much calmer (I like white but you might try light grey, 'very light iris' etc) then the impression of over-brightness would be cured. Personally I would not use the font that you have chosen for your headings but hey, that's just me.

Last comment, more technical - you have used tables for layout within the CSS based layout which is strictly a bit of a no-no. You should use positioning commands like absolute, float, etc and create classes for these.

But don't take all that too seriously - it's close to being very nice - nice clear simple layout and easy to follow navigation, so all the ingredients are there. Add a bit more info about the area perhaps and get yourself listed in Google (you don't exist for them yet) and away you go. Again, a great achievement for a first-time site prepared in Notepad.
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Normandy Cow
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Post by Normandy Cow »

I am gobsmacked and very impressed at the patience you must have to have created this in raw HTML. Even though I consider myself to be a serious C programmer I would never now have the patience to attempt what you have done. Congratulations.

I think it is a perfectly nice website and I am sure that you will refine it as time goes on - not much to be done really.

But I agree about the garish color. Perhaps it is not the "iris" purple font colour which is the problem - it may be that it is the turquoise border that clashes with the purple? It may be a lot nicer if you lose that completely or just use a much paler version of the iris purple.
Hells Bells
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Post by Hells Bells »

A great job. I've been to Lanzarote, and I think (but i may be wrong) that the tourist office use a similar font in ads and things.Gives me the courage to think about getting away from my template site, if only I had the time.
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Corderita
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Post by Corderita »

Thank you all for your comments. I was originally aiming for bright and sunny (you should have seen it in yellow and orange!) but I agree it's too much of a clash of colours. I'll try to tone it down. The font is the closest I could find to the tourist office one.
I own up to the tables. When I converted it to CSS the tutorials I used didn't really deal with layout, concentrating on colours and fonts and alignment etc. (and ok it was easier to leave it!) I'll see if I can find one I can make sense of.
I tried to keep the text short to avoid scrolling pages which is why it probably comes across as a bit impersonal but I didn't intend to skimp on information. So, should I change to scrolling pages or add some more :?:
I have to say that if I'd known what was involved I may not have started but although it was a steep learning curve and very time consuming I enjoyed it immensely. It took my mind off the delays, the headaches, the bureaucracy.... :roll:
I've only just worked out how to upload the files (again no program) so the site only went live yesterday. I naively assumed it would automatically show up in Google - I guess I've got some more reading to do :!:
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Normandy Cow
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Post by Normandy Cow »

Corderita wrote: I naively assumed it would automatically show up in Google - I guess I've got some more reading to do :!:
I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but that is the undestatement of the century. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a nightmare and the subject of endless speculation and discussion - I have never got to grips with it and it doesn't help that google et al seem to keep changing the goalposts and don't publicise their exact criteria so a lot of it seems to be speculation.

Good Luck!!!!!

(Do a search on "search engine optimization" on google and you'll see what I mean!)
Martha
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Post by Martha »

Really good going to do all that in notepad!! You'll find the hard work really pays off though, it's so useful to know how the nuts and bolts work.

I also find the very bright background to be a bit much - maybe tone this down to a paler blue? And I can't see any of the house photos - all broken links for me at the moment...

The headers...I do find that font a bit hard to read. You could improve the legibility by not underlining it (this is confusing as underlines usually mean links, and only the email text is a link)

Also, I don't know what program you are using to make them, but the font is not anti-aliased - this is what causes the jagged edges on the type. and makes it harder to read. Maybe try and find this setting to get smooth type? What's the font called?

But anyway, well done! :D
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Corderita
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Post by Corderita »

Firebug - I have ALT names for the internal pictures which do say "pictures coming soon" (our next visit is next week) can you not see them?
I've done a bit more reading and it seems the ALT caption is designed to work if a browser has pictures turned off although everyone sees them with IE. I assume you have something other than IE?
If I add a TITLE caption could you see it then do you know - or is there another bit of code I can use?
The font is written in word and saved as a gif with MS Publisher - which I have no experience with other than for this use. (I can't find anything in the help file for anti-alias).
Perhaps I'll invest in something clever down the line. The object was to have something to point people to that answered most of their questions, not have the best website in the world but I think I'm addicted now!
Martha
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Post by Martha »

I'm using safari, yes, so that's probably it. :) Look forward to seeing the pics when they are uploaded!
About your titles - several people have recommended Irfanview
http://www.irfanview.com/
which is a free image editing program - perhaps it might be worth downloading it and seeing how that goes?

:)
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Corderita
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Post by Corderita »

Thanks Firebug I'll give it a go - something new to play with whoopee :D
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