New Website Design

[UncleDave]

Anyone have any comments? Improvements?
A lot of changes needed and a lot to add, new layout only just uploaded to the web!

Going to add a few edited TVR photos on the Photo Editing page..! Someone is going to have extra coverage of their P&J :D

The quote request form is down - a problem with PHP scripts unfortunately.

[b]www.uncle-dave.co.uk[/b]

Thanks!
Dave.

[roadsweeper]

I like the navigation buttons, but your logo looks a bit amateur IMHO. (No offence meant). Also, you need some more content on the pages and some graphics would be nice.

[UncleDave]

I know what you mean about the logo, no probs..! Was trying to keep it as simple as possible. (It's not as bad as the old one ) And yes will gradually be adding more content when I get my hands on it.

Thanks,
Dave.

[Don]

Dave,

On a couple of pages the images don't load. Nowt looks worse than that as a "professionalism" thing.

You also need to proof read the whole site and sort out the spelling - typos and spelling mistakes ruin any web-site's attempt at credibility.

I wouldn't have chosen Times New Roman as a font either - its a tad on the "Default" side of things.

Hope any of the above helps.

[SlidingSideways]

When you click for a quote, it directs the browser to http://quote.uncle-dave.co.uk is this intentional, rather than just to another page?
If it's meant to, then the logo's don't display on the quote page.

[UncleDave]

I am having a few problems with images yes.. and the quote page is on a subdomain intentionally yes..

About the font, it isn't actually Times New Roman but another strange font that probably nobody will have installed! I will have to find a way around this...

Anyone know a way, please post here.

Thanks!
Dave.

[_dobbo_]

UncleDave said:

I am having a few problems with images yes.. and the quote page is on a subdomain intentionally yes.. About the font, it isn't actually Times New Roman but another strange font that probably nobody will have installed! I will have to find a way around this... Anyone know a way, please post here. Thanks! Dave.

Depends on how you specify your font. Assuming it's plain HTML you can daisy-chain font declarations so that if a browser doesn't have the first, it will fail over to the second;

eg:

font face="verdana,tahoma,arial"

If it's CSS based fonts:

font:9pt verdana,tahoma,arial;

[TangoAlpha]

There's a lot of white areas which make the pages look a bit empty/sparse.

Centred text is a bit "homepage"-ish (IMHO)

Once saw a survey that said 80% (or something) of people will not scroll down a page. Most of your content seems overly stetched vertically if you see what I mean.

Lack of navigation between pages...seem to only be able to go to a page and then back to the homepage. Can't navigate from "web design" to "photo editing" without going back to the homepage.

Might want try a different font. "Times New Roman" (default for most browsers) is not particularly pretty (IMHO), maybe Arial/Verdana/Tahoma instead?
Just looked at the source and you list "Maximal Beasts" as the font...I don't have it so I see everything as "Times New Roman". A quick google for fonts that are available across platforms might be a good idea.

Some of your image sources are "file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Dave/Desktop/Web/blank.gif" which won't work. They need to be absolute addresses ( src = "h ttp://w ww.uncle-dave.co.uk/blank.gif" ) or relative addresses ( src = "/blank.gif" ) as your "Documents and Settings" folder is on your local machine and unavailable to the internet.

Hope this helps.


Edited to fix Ted's auto url "fixing" ggrrrrrrr


>> Edited by TangoAlpha on Monday 18th July 16:59

[TangoAlpha]

UncleDave said:

About the font, it isn't actually Times New Roman but another strange font that probably nobody will have installed! I will have to find a way around this...

There is a way around this by embedding the font in the web page but this will probably only work for MSIE. It used to work in IE 5.0 but might not work at all now (IE version 6.0 with 7.0 arriving soon).

Simplest way is to use a standard font and maybe give a visitor the option of downloading and installing the "ideal" font. Do make sure you have the rights to distribute the font. You will also need fairly detailed instructions on how to do this as a high proportion of internet users are clueless

[UncleDave]

The images on the local machine got linked there accidentally.. I think most of the pages are OK.. just the quote pages as far as I know..
I will move the directory on my computer so i get the same view as everyone else..

And have found a way of embedding fonts..

Dave.

[Cyberhuss]

Argh..

<style type="text/css">
<!--
body {
background-color: #FFFFFF;
}
-->
</style>

***Put that under this

<html><head>
<meta name="Author" content="">
<meta name="Generator" content="Paint Shop Pro 9">
<title>Uncle-Dave.co.uk Designs</title>

***So it looks like this

<html><head>
<meta name="Author" content="">
<meta name="Generator" content="Paint Shop Pro 9">
<title>Uncle-Dave.co.uk Designs</title>
<style type="text/css">
<!--
body {
background-color: #FFFFFF;
}
-->
</style>
</head>

***Will look nicer for people who don't have white as the default bg or who have themes / modified themes.

Mmm..

[UncleDave]

Aah never thought about that.. Thanks!!

I tell you what It looks a lot worse with that font than the one I can see

I'm trying to embed it now..

Thanks!


EDIT: I think the font has been embedded into the INDEX page... can someone have a look and let me know.. You might have to refresh. Thanks!!

>> Edited by UncleDave on Monday 18th July 17:26

[_dobbo_]

UncleDave said:

EDIT: I think the font has been embedded into the INDEX page... can someone have a look and let me know.. You might have to refresh. Thanks!!

Doesn't work for me in either Firefox or IE 6..... Sorry!

[UncleDave]

D'oh oh well..
Looks like I might be knackered. I'll keep trying -- I'll let you know if I get any improvements.

Dave.

[Cyberhuss]

Ok first of all you have put

<!-- @font-face { font-family: “MRV Code39MA”;

you need to move "@font-face { font-family: “MRV Code39MA”;" on to the next line!

As having this infront of it <!-- will make it useless

I don't know what your trying to achieve with the font thing but it doesn't seem to be working..

Text will only appear in your chosen font if it is installed on the PC viewing the page..

So people who do not have the font "Maximal Beasts" installed on there pc which you have chosen will not see it on your main page it will be replaced with something like Arial, Verdana etc

What you can do is;

a) put all the text into graphic form
b) design your webpage in Flash
c) put a download link to the font so people can dl it and view you page correctly (i don't think they will bother tho)

[UncleDave]

DOH
Tried to do it quickly and messed it up... Haha Fixed now..

Someone give it a go and hope it works!

It's on the Index page again, and may need to refresh.

Thanks
Dave.

[Cyberhuss]

UncleDave said:

Someone give it a go and hope it works! It's on the Index page again, and may need to refresh. Thanks Dave.

Cyberhuss said:

Text will only appear in your chosen font if it is installed on the PC viewing the page.. So people who do not have the font "Maximal Beasts" installed on there pc which you have chosen, will not see it on your main page it will be replaced with something like Arial, Verdana etc

No offence, just trying to show you why it is not working.

[UncleDave]

Yep see exactly what you mean.. Think i'll leave it for a while now haha

The font file that is linked to in the Head of the page is supposedly an embedded font file so anyone viewing the page will automatically have the font downloaded..

Oh well...
Thanks anyway!!
Dave.

[_dobbo_]

UncleDave said:

Yep see exactly what you mean.. Think i'll leave it for a while now haha The font file that is linked to in the Head of the page is supposedly an embedded font file so anyone viewing the page will automatically have the font downloaded.. Oh well... Thanks anyway!! Dave.

Still would avoid times new roman, it's horrible and really cheapens your site - see my earlier post on how to specify more than one font.

[docevi1]

Trying to read text in Flash in the most part is a horrible experience! Then of course you have people like me who block most Flash objects anyway - they rarely serve a purpose. The only way to do it IMO if you are adament on using a weird font is to put it as an image.

As for the site I would make the following changes:

* Put a navigation bar somewhere, either side or top and keep it there.
* get rid of the spelling mistakes.
* get rid of the white space. Maybe do something like I do by changing the colour of the background of your table cells to target attention?
* Don't center the text, it looks terrible and is hard to read.
* On the text front, not many people read that much text so try and split it up with some images (not clipart mind). What about a nice picture of a CD etc in data recovery?
* The Portfolio should not be "random" selections, it should be targetted per section with testamonials if required (i.e. it'd be hard to have a portfolio of data recovery). Be proud of your work and if you haven't got a portfolio, make on up - there is nothing stopping you making a new design for a popular website and having it on your site as a vision (although I'd check for permission first).
* Why not have something to pull the clients in? Tutorials on photo manipulation for example - take something simple that most people can do as standard (say tweak colour levels) and give a step by step explanation. If people like me come along to look at your tutorial then I might be instilled with confidence and ask you to do some work for me.
* Could you put your contact details on every page, say along the bottom? It's nice when you don't have to click things to get a telephone number.
* Make damned sure what you view is the same as everyone else (the font is the perfect example). Does Firefox doesn't pander to the MS way of doing things so follows standards for a start. Then you have Opera, Safari... Lesson? Follow the standards set out by www.w3.org and then test it throughly.

Worst thing tho?
"Or maybe you would just like us to create a novely photograph and turn you into a bodybuider or celebrity!"...

There is no reason at all I'd visit your site other than if you told me as a prospective client. In that light it should ooze class by it's simplicity. If you are trying to sell your services, sell them don't hide them behind a personal homepage.

Don't take it as insult, just ideas for improvement. And before someone comments on my site, 2 things. One I aint selling anything - it's a personal site which I do as a hobby. Two, I've got a new version sitting in the background getting tested & checked

Sorry Dave.

edit:: w3.org not w3.com

>> Edited by docevi1 on Monday 18th July 21:23