Brooke,
I am sure I have come across a number of web sites which have the same layout and general feel of yours.
Is that because it was originally based on a template or is it because the layout is so simple, clear and attractive and the site is so easy and quick to use?
I like it!
Alan
Can you review my site?
-
Alan Knighting
- Posts: 4120
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:26 am
- Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France
Alan,
Thanks for the compliment
The layout is pretty standard, I think... the main site embedded into a table with a different background than the rest of the page, and left-navigation menus. I wouldn't have any idea who first used that idea. But I'd be very interested to know if other sites have the same text that ours does!
Thanks for the compliment
The layout is pretty standard, I think... the main site embedded into a table with a different background than the rest of the page, and left-navigation menus. I wouldn't have any idea who first used that idea. But I'd be very interested to know if other sites have the same text that ours does! Brooke
MadDogWoman,
I think this is a very good effort, packed with information, all logically structured. I didn't see the site before the changes you mention above so I'm talking about the site as it is now.
A couple of things I would do differently:
- captions are trying to wrap round the pictures, splitting the caption in two.
- the background on some pages is lightly 'pebble-dashed' - I'd stick with the white.
- the main external shot of your house MUST be taken on a sunny day. This is obligatory for all Lay My Hatters! It looks to me as if you have fiddled the sky to be bluer because it doesn't match the light on the house. With a pale render like yours, I would take a picture in the golden light of early morning or late afternoon, as this will make it feel warmer and won't cause the rest of the picture to be underexposed.
It's good that you have learnt from other sites and used ideas that you liked. But although I always advise people to do this, I do mean the ideas rather than the actual content, whether it is pics or text. It was very nice of vrooje not to give you a right good earbashing I thought, and reflective of how pleasant people are to each other on this forum. Long may it continue!
I think this is a very good effort, packed with information, all logically structured. I didn't see the site before the changes you mention above so I'm talking about the site as it is now.
A couple of things I would do differently:
- captions are trying to wrap round the pictures, splitting the caption in two.
- the background on some pages is lightly 'pebble-dashed' - I'd stick with the white.
- the main external shot of your house MUST be taken on a sunny day. This is obligatory for all Lay My Hatters! It looks to me as if you have fiddled the sky to be bluer because it doesn't match the light on the house. With a pale render like yours, I would take a picture in the golden light of early morning or late afternoon, as this will make it feel warmer and won't cause the rest of the picture to be underexposed.
It's good that you have learnt from other sites and used ideas that you liked. But although I always advise people to do this, I do mean the ideas rather than the actual content, whether it is pics or text. It was very nice of vrooje not to give you a right good earbashing I thought, and reflective of how pleasant people are to each other on this forum. Long may it continue!
Paolo
Lay My Hat
Lay My Hat
-
Alan Knighting
- Posts: 4120
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:26 am
- Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France
Brooke,
It is style and layout I was referring to, not the content.
This might be a question out of the Pirates' Handbook, which you might prefer not to answer. On the subject of people "pinching" the coding of your site, are they able to save the whole site in one go or do they have to do it page by page?
There is one thing I keep coming across time after time which I absolutely hate and that is having to scroll pages horizontally to read them. Having to scroll vertically is almost inevitable but horizontally is not necessary if the pages are designed properly. I run my screen at 1024x768 which I think is a good balance for content and readability.
Alan
It is style and layout I was referring to, not the content.
This might be a question out of the Pirates' Handbook, which you might prefer not to answer. On the subject of people "pinching" the coding of your site, are they able to save the whole site in one go or do they have to do it page by page?
There is one thing I keep coming across time after time which I absolutely hate and that is having to scroll pages horizontally to read them. Having to scroll vertically is almost inevitable but horizontally is not necessary if the pages are designed properly. I run my screen at 1024x768 which I think is a good balance for content and readability.
Alan
-
MadDogWoman
- Posts: 63
- Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 2:39 pm
Thanks Paolopaolo wrote: - captions are trying to wrap round the pictures, splitting the caption in two.
- the background on some pages is lightly 'pebble-dashed' - I'd stick with the white.
- the main external shot of your house MUST be taken on a sunny day.
Vrooje has been very helpful in his/her (sorry Brooke - still have not quite worked out if you are male or female - not that it matters one jot!) comments via PM too for which I am extremely grateful.
A couple of things
Not sure what to do about the captions or what you really mean.
On my monitor they are all white (but I will put my glasses on and take a closer look!!!)
It was taken on a sunny day - there are two shots - which one are you referring to? It will probably be a while before I can take another as all the plants are dead and the rain has well and truly set in now!
Nicola
MadDogWoman,
This is how the captions look on my 1024 x 768 monitor:
Another point about your homepage: if your house has a pool, always show it on the homepage. That's a lovely summery picture above of the pool, I'd certainly put it on the homepage.
This is how the captions look on my 1024 x 768 monitor:
The one at top right on the homepage - blue skies but no direct sunlight anywhere. It looks like an overcast day - if the house were lit up with sunlight, it would look like a happy holiday-ey picture and make people more inclined to enquire. But I wouldn't replace it with a winter pic - I'd wait till spring.It was taken on a sunny day - there are two shots - which one are you referring to?
Another point about your homepage: if your house has a pool, always show it on the homepage. That's a lovely summery picture above of the pool, I'd certainly put it on the homepage.
Paolo
Lay My Hat
Lay My Hat
-
MadDogWoman
- Posts: 63
- Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 2:39 pm
Thanks for showing me how it looks on your monitor, Paolo
Good idea about the pool - I will change it
I'm at a bit of a loss about the captions though. My settings are the same as yours so I'm not sure how to get around it. Any ideas?
The photo was taken on a sunny day but not bright "bright" sunshine - it was the first available sun after the terrace was laid but before a deadline for submission to a certain lisings mag.
I have other great sunny photos in the snow but unfortunately all my dog agility equipment is in the foreground (its not normally near the house). Typical eh?
Nicola
Good idea about the pool - I will change it
I'm at a bit of a loss about the captions though. My settings are the same as yours so I'm not sure how to get around it. Any ideas?
The photo was taken on a sunny day but not bright "bright" sunshine - it was the first available sun after the terrace was laid but before a deadline for submission to a certain lisings mag.
I have other great sunny photos in the snow but unfortunately all my dog agility equipment is in the foreground (its not normally near the house). Typical eh?
Nicola
Nicola,
Kinda funny... I'm female but I was actually named after my grandfather. Brooke is definitely a unisex name!
I usually force captions to appear at the bottom of pictures either by using a mini-table and putting the picture in the top row and the caption in the bottom row, e.g.:
where IMAGELINKHERE is the path to the image that you want people to see when they click on your picture, and IMAGEPATHHERE is the path to the image that you want actually displayed on the page. the "HEIGHT=Y WIDTH=X" is optional but if you want your images displayed with a certain size, you substitute those height and width measurements (in pixels) for Y and X above.
Something else I've done in the past that's simpler than the above but doesn't allow you quite the same placement control is just to put a break tag that looks like this
between your image and your caption. This will make sure that whatever's on the next line is below the full image, which the paragraph tag doesn't always do.
I know that you're using Frontpage and probably not manually editing the code, but if you can't get the results you'd like on every browser then you can try these fixes, or use them in the future or whatever.
I also still see the textured background on the front page... and I can't remember whether I sent you a PM with one way of fixing that, or whether I was just thinking of doing that.
Alan, there is probably a way of saving entire webpages... in fact I'm sure there is. You could bookmark the website and check the "make pages available offline" box, which would then download all the files to your computer. But I think they also make programs which do exactly that. I've never done it myself -- I usually just want to figure out how someone has done one particular thing on a page, so I view source and just grab that part for customization.
Cheers!
Kinda funny... I'm female but I was actually named after my grandfather. Brooke is definitely a unisex name!
I usually force captions to appear at the bottom of pictures either by using a mini-table and putting the picture in the top row and the caption in the bottom row, e.g.:
Code: Select all
<TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=0 CELLSPACING=0>
<TR><TD><A HREF="IMAGELINKHERE"><IMG SRC="IMAGEPATHHERE" HEIGHT=Y WIDTH=X BORDER=0></A>
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD>
<!-- Put your caption text on the line after this one, formatted however you wish -->
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
Something else I've done in the past that's simpler than the above but doesn't allow you quite the same placement control is just to put a break tag that looks like this
Code: Select all
<BR CLEAR=ALL>I know that you're using Frontpage and probably not manually editing the code, but if you can't get the results you'd like on every browser then you can try these fixes, or use them in the future or whatever.
I also still see the textured background on the front page... and I can't remember whether I sent you a PM with one way of fixing that, or whether I was just thinking of doing that.
Alan, there is probably a way of saving entire webpages... in fact I'm sure there is. You could bookmark the website and check the "make pages available offline" box, which would then download all the files to your computer. But I think they also make programs which do exactly that. I've never done it myself -- I usually just want to figure out how someone has done one particular thing on a page, so I view source and just grab that part for customization.
Cheers!
Brooke
-
MadDogWoman
- Posts: 63
- Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 2:39 pm
Background colour
Hi Brooke
I too know both male and female Brookes! You did send me a PM including the tags but I could not see what you could see on my HTML page of Frontpage. I have tried anther way by removing the background image so I hope it works. I could not actuallys ee the background on my screen anyway so I am at a bit of a disadvantge to the rest of you.
Nicola
Female name in the UK but male name here in France (when spoken anyway!)
I too know both male and female Brookes! You did send me a PM including the tags but I could not see what you could see on my HTML page of Frontpage. I have tried anther way by removing the background image so I hope it works. I could not actuallys ee the background on my screen anyway so I am at a bit of a disadvantge to the rest of you.
Nicola
Female name in the UK but male name here in France (when spoken anyway!)
Nicola,
It seems like there are a lot of unisex names out there! My husband's name is Casey, so when we write our names together someone who doesn't know us has no idea who is who!
I don't see the background anymore on my screen... so unless others do, I think you're in the clear on that one!
In a way it's too bad I don't have Frontpage installed... but I always manually edit the code, even in Dreamweaver (another popular program). But if I did have it installed it would be so much easier to describe what to do -- ah well, we managed to communicate between us anyway!
-Brooke
It seems like there are a lot of unisex names out there! My husband's name is Casey, so when we write our names together someone who doesn't know us has no idea who is who!
I don't see the background anymore on my screen... so unless others do, I think you're in the clear on that one!
In a way it's too bad I don't have Frontpage installed... but I always manually edit the code, even in Dreamweaver (another popular program). But if I did have it installed it would be so much easier to describe what to do -- ah well, we managed to communicate between us anyway!
-Brooke
Brooke