Need constructive criticism

[REDeye]

I am working on a website for a music producer. I have never done much web work and have never been formally trained...so please forgive my ignorance.

www.scottmathews.com/scottmathewswebsite/index.html (http://www.scottmathews.com/scottmathewswebsite/index.html)

My client's interests are mainly to have a very strong presencein cyberspace. He wants to be in the top listings on search engines. He also wants it to load fast on low bandwidth and for it to look good.

Please offer your critiques and opinions. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

_______________
REDeye

Post Edited (REDeye) : 3/14/2004 12:08:10 PM GMT

[Zaius]

it looks good... the only thing is that its hard too read the guys name at the top of the page because it is transperent. but besides that i think its pretty good. perffesional but fun. nice job.

http://pdxhosting.com/~z/twiki/pub/Zaius/WebHome/Zaiusbluecloudthing.jpg
Sig best viewed while listning to good music.

[Big Perm-dizzle]

the whole site needs to be tighter (verticle) the bottom is a bit loose....and the logo...which might have been given to you is hard to read....looks good....dont forget alt tags and doctypes....like I am one to talk

"In the past couple of weeks your kids have touched me, and i'm pretty sure i've touched them too" - Jack Black (School of Rock)

[Big Perm-dizzle]

on the hot links page dont make all those rollovers....use CSS.... it seems to load a bit slow also

"In the past couple of weeks your kids have touched me, and i'm pretty sure i've touched them too" - Jack Black (School of Rock)

[D-Frag]

wow, you have done work for a lot of famous people, not only that but you kinda look like Paul Simon too, hehe


http://gallery.cybertarp.com/albums/userpics/13115/Profile_2.jpg

[Ryan8720]

I think he is doing this site for someone else, that isn't him.

I'm on 56K and it doesn't load fast. It is pretty slow actually. The rollovers on the links is too bright for my taste.

The page doesn't have a doctype and you should try to validate it a validator.w3.org (http://validator.w3.org).

http://edgewebdesign.org/ryan2.gif (http://www.edgewebdesign.org)

C:\DOS
C:\DOS\RUN
RUN DOS RUN

[REDeye]

Thank you forthe responses. If this forum activity keeps up, I may have found a new home.
[quote]

Ryan8720 said...

I'm on 56K and it doesn't load fast. It is pretty slow actually. The rollovers on the links is too bright for my taste.

The page doesn't have a doctype and you should try to validate it a validator.w3.org (http://validator.w3.org).
</div>Do you have any suggestions on how I can speed the page up? Please pay no mind to the 'My People' section. Being all-image, I expect it to load slow.

I really wish I did take a web design class because I have no idea how to set a doctype. Please clarify and also explain the validation process.

Does anyone have links to any good tutorials? Especially CSS. All I know about CSS is that it can keep font sizes consistent. I have no idea what else it can do.

Thank you.

________________
secret asian man

REDeye

[Zaius]

to make images smaller use JPG format. its a LOT smaller than anything else and its good quality. as for CSS i have no idea either.

http://pdxhosting.com/~z/twiki/pub/Zaius/WebHome/Zaiusbluecloudthing.jpg
Sig best viewed while listning to good music.

[Ryan8720]

The main reason it is slow is that every page has tons of images to make up the layout. To cut down on those, you could try to use images that can be tiled or you can look into the technique at www.alistapart.com/articles/sprites/ (http://www.alistapart.com/articles/sprites/). Also, try to use the same images from page to page so that you don't have to keep loading new images every time.


Sites on Doctypes:
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/doctype/
www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_doctype.asp

Validation is checking your page for coding errors against a standard. The standard that is used depends on your doctype. To validate, just go to validator.w3.org and put in your web page's URL. Then it will tell you what is wrong.

CSS can be used for layout, text control, and much more. Using CSS for you layout would speed up that site because it requires much less code than tables. Of course you would have to learn it first, which can't be done overnight.

CSS Sites:
http://www.alistapart.com
http://www.glish.com/css - CSS-P stuff
http://www.westciv.com
http://www.richinstyle.com
http://www.w3schools.com/css/default.asp
http://www.csszengarden.com
http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/

http://edgewebdesign.org/ryan2.gif (http://www.edgewebdesign.org)

C:\DOS
C:\DOS\RUN
RUN DOS RUN

[Ryan8720]

Zaius said...
to make images smaller use JPG format. its a LOT smaller than anything else and its good quality.
Not really. For larger pictures and photos with lots of colors, JPG is best. But for smaller images with only a smaller amount of colors, GIF and PNG are better.Plus, you have to be careful with JPG or you will get grainy overcompressed images.

http://edgewebdesign.org/ryan2.gif (http://www.edgewebdesign.org)

C:\DOS
C:\DOS\RUN
RUN DOS RUN

[REDeye]

Cool...I'm off to tutorial-land now. Probably be back next year or so.

Thanks again, Ryan8720. I see now that you're the guy to ask for when it comes to web design. Much props.

[Silence04]

i think its a really fun looking design, good job.
i would make the navigation buttons/text half the size that they are, that would tighten it up some.

Taylor