site review

Discussion in 'Websites' started by dave78si, Dec 16, 2005.

  1. #1
    What do you think about this site?
    How can I improve it? What don't you like about the page? design, contents? I would really like to here your oppinion about it.
     
    dave78si, Dec 16, 2005 IP
  2. fsmedia

    fsmedia Prominent Member

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    #2
    I like the layout and the ads are integrated well into the site. good use of colors too, I like it.
     
    fsmedia, Dec 16, 2005 IP
  3. dave78si

    dave78si Peon

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    #3
    thanks! Any suggestions to improve it?
    BTW It's best viewed with Firefox.
     
    dave78si, Dec 16, 2005 IP
  4. strivinglife

    strivinglife Peon

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    #4
    Good to develop with Firefox, but unless your stats show otherwise, IE still has 60% of the market (assuming you've got a technical base, which it appears you may likely have, or at least a larger than normal FF base).

    Anywho, I agree with fsmedia.

    To improve, how about grabbing the Web Developer extension for FF and cleaning up your code? It looks like you've got the standard AdSense errors, but your pages have a couple of errors that look fairly easy to fix.

    2) Text colour and size. I'm fine with it, but you may want to try a little darker and larger (a very little bit).

    3) Center the ad on the bottom of the page ;)

    4) The Join now image - I'm presented with a join screen, but nothing about the benefits of joining.

    5) What's up with the Administrator button? Do you want people like me to see it?

    ~
     
    strivinglife, Dec 16, 2005 IP
  5. angelfire

    angelfire Peon

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    #5
    can't open :( site down
     
    angelfire, Dec 17, 2005 IP
  6. dave78si

    dave78si Peon

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    #6
    I know! It's terrible! I am just now looking for a commercial
    (and hopefully more reliable) website hosting service.
    The terrible thing is that I can't do nothing untill monday,
    beside mailing the helpdesk service which usually doesn't
    have a clue what is going on.
     
    dave78si, Dec 17, 2005 IP
  7. Best_luck

    Best_luck Peon

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    #7
    Good use CMS
     
    Best_luck, Dec 17, 2005 IP
  8. Dominicc2003

    Dominicc2003 Peon

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    #8
    the chitika and google ads are intergrated very well!

    Good
     
    Dominicc2003, Dec 17, 2005 IP
  9. strivinglife

    strivinglife Peon

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    #9
    Looking this over again, how about trimming down the number of results on the first page? That's a rather long front page ...
     
    strivinglife, Dec 17, 2005 IP
  10. dave78si

    dave78si Peon

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    #10
    thank you all for great comments about ad placement.
    Especially Strivinglife for all the usefull suggestions.
    I did remove Administrator button (even though it is very practical for me :))
    and center the add on the bottom of the page.

    Strivinglife: how long do you think a front page should be?
    Now I set it up to 15 articles per page, before it was 19. Do you
    think it is still too long?
     
    dave78si, Dec 17, 2005 IP
  11. strivinglife

    strivinglife Peon

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    #11
    'They' say that you want your major content above the fold. In Firefox, at 1024x768, that means that people first see everything from your second news item's header up.

    You've successfully, in my opinion, got all of your major links in this area.

    If I page down once, I see the rest of your right and left side columns, and news items 2 through 6.

    Page down two is just news items, and page down three is the same. At page down four, we reach the end of the page, and the footer.

    From this, I would recommend keeping 5 or 6 articles on the top of your page. It looks like that will cover about a week's worth of news. Even if someone visits twice a week, they'll be able to keep up on news at a pretty comfortable pace.

    If you think news is going to be pushed out a faster pace in the future, I'd still trim it down to no more than 10.

    Administrator link: I can't tell what language your pages are coded in, so I can't be absolutely sure, but if you've got a static IP (not too big of an assumption these days), I would think you could find, or write, something to show that link based upon your IP. Of course, this assumes: a static (or ranged) IP, the right code language.

    I think you could also get away with keeping this, but only as a regular link, and off the top of the page ...

    Another item: "CV" on the profile form = ?
     
    strivinglife, Dec 17, 2005 IP
  12. Fahd

    Fahd Well-Known Member

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    #12
    Honestly, I find the orange a little too glaring on the eyes even with my monitor on the lowest brightness setting.
     
    Fahd, Dec 17, 2005 IP
  13. dave78si

    dave78si Peon

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    #13
    I trimmed down number of items on first page to 10.
    Now I get to the last article with just one pagedown on 1280x1024
    I darkend a bit the color of heading and "written by" text.
    Administrator link will stay hidden, but it is interesting thing if I could make
    it show only to some IPs. How would I do that? Do I have to change the
    apache conf file?
    CV is an acronym for Curriculum Vitae, which means resume of your life achievements.

    Orange is the color of the rising sun, and nuclear fusion is the process which
    happenes on the sun, so I'll keep this glowing orange :eek:

    BTW: You are very welcome to join the club :)
     
    dave78si, Dec 18, 2005 IP
  14. strivinglife

    strivinglife Peon

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    #14
    Well, 10 is better than almost 20.

    Re: Administrator link, what language is this site coded in? Apache brings to mind PHP. If that is the case, then it should be both simple and something that I would be able to do and test ;) Either way (PHP or some other language), let me know. [EDIT: Mambo Server also points to PHP. If it isn't PHP, let me know, otherwise I'll PM something to you by the end of the day for PHP.] [EDIT 2: PM'd - let me know if you have any questions.]

    Re: CV, you may want to spell that out (Curriculum Vitae) on the profile form, either in place of CV, or as a footnote.
     
    strivinglife, Dec 18, 2005 IP
  15. dave78si

    dave78si Peon

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    #15
    It is PHP and it work fine, thanks :)
    I corrected the CV thing, and added the field for publications, but you have to login to fill it in.
     
    dave78si, Dec 18, 2005 IP
  16. Max5

    Max5 Peon

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    #16
    If you want more clicks on google you could try taking your google ads out of the box and change your links to look a little more like the google links. The more similar the links the more clicks you will get.
     
    Max5, Dec 18, 2005 IP
  17. dave78si

    dave78si Peon

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    #17
    Thanks for the tip! I did remove the box around ads, but I think I will keep the
    small difference between google and my links, it seems fair with the visitors.
     
    dave78si, Dec 19, 2005 IP
  18. tonie

    tonie Peon

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    #18
    design is quite ordinary
     
    tonie, Dec 19, 2005 IP
  19. dave78si

    dave78si Peon

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    #19
    yes, it's standard mambo template solarflare_II changed to acommodate my needs. Any other observations?
     
    dave78si, Dec 19, 2005 IP
  20. 313i

    313i hummmmmm. No clue

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    #20
    That is a good Site I like it. Nice colors, good content. Only problem I see(think
    its a problem not sure lol) but isn't it against g's tos to have other contextual
    ads on the same page as adsense? Good Job tho I like it.
     
    313i, Dec 19, 2005 IP