Check Out My Website Please!

[Shaun.P]

Hey guys,

I've been working hard the last week to make my website.

I was wondering if anyone could offer their opinions as I feel the website is lacking a personal touch. It was created using rapid weaver.

I would welcome any ideas on additional links I could add, or cool graphics to brighten it up.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[rendezvouscp]

Your website is surprisingly nice. Hm, let's see:

Valid XHTML Strict! Check.

External CSS and JS? Check.

Good-looking interface? Check.

Easy to use contact form? Check.

Semantic XHTML? Just about there.

Easy to follow site? Just about there.

I could list more stuff to check off, but those are the ones that made a first impression. Why do I say just about there for the last two? Well, for semantic XHTML, you have extra (what I assume are) <div> hooks that don't have to be there, but that's just the nit-pick in me. As you familiarize yourself with XHTML, you'll see how to eliminate some of those hooks.

The only thing I would change is how you've named the pages. Instead of using /page2 for your photography section, I'd change the location of the page to /photography or something similar. However, your use of the bread-crumb at the top of the page is very handy.

There's one more thing I just noticed: apparently you can comment on the site (seeing the RSS feed tells me that), but there's no clear way of how to actually comment.

I know, it's more like I'm critiquing the template than anything else, but if you do start to play with the code, those are things I'd change. Overall though, great job.
-Chase

 

[Shaun.P]

Thanks! RapidWeaver does most of the work..I just basically type in the content. One thing that I do find annoying is, yes, the name of the pages. I'm going to change them so they are more meaningful.

Do you have any ideas to what I could add?

 

[munkle]

Nice site. I like the template, very much like the theme I use on NetNewsWire!

Just a few things:

-Maybe add clickable mini thumbnails of your photo albums onto the main photography page, rather than having to navigate to them via the sidebar.

-Little thing, instead of saying "contact me using the link on right", consider just giving the link. Example, "contact me using the contact form".

-Provide a permalink to each article, this will allow people to easily link back to a specific article on your site.

-The graphic for the iPod mini is very blurry.

Important thing now is to add good content!

Good job with the site, I'm impressed that you managed to get it up in a day! I've been tinkering with my site for months and am barely close to finishing it!

Edit: Just realised you haven't got an archives page, you might want to plan ahead and think about how your going to store your old posts.

 

[dornoforpyros]

very clean and cool.

I like the iTunes music inclusion as well. If you don't mind my asking how did you output that from iTunes and format it for web so cleanly?

 

[Shaun.P]

You maybe shouldn't visit my website for about 10 minutes because I'm re-uploading it with the more appropriate names for folders and stuff.

Hey dorno, I used a program called 'iTunes XHTML Playlist'. You basically go into iTunes, click on your library and export song list, and import your song list in iTunes XHTML Playlist, and it'll do all the work for you. There is a variety of styles available, and other settings you can change.

 

[dornoforpyros]

Sweet thanks!

 

[mnkeybsness]

I get pretty annoyed of templates. I've seen that RapidWeaver template around the block a few times... templates take all the fun out of web design.

A nice logo in place of "Shaun's Website!" would be nice (and maybe a more clever title). And, as much as your are proud of your computer and iPod, it's kind of a pointless little addition to the site and if you REALLY want to include it, add it to the "about me" section.

From an IA/Usability perspective, change "my blog/news" to either "Weblog", "Blog" or "News"... or better yet, put it as the front page. New content is what people will return to your site for, and the less clicks they have to get there, the better.

Loading of pages and content seems a bit sluggish.. :-\

 

[Shaun.P]

I've made the text on the site smaller and I switched down to 1024x768 and I thought the text looked too big.

Anybody have any thoughts to additional content and cool stuff I could add?

 

[Shaun.P]

Thank you for your ideas I'm going to take them onboard. Please visit again shortly to view the updates!

 

[Shaun.P]

Do you have any ideas for a title? I'm not really creatve (hence why I used a template in the first place !).

 

[dornoforpyros]

eh man when I click your name at the buttom in your copy right notice I get a 404 error.

 

[Shaun.P]

ok, I'm just gonna fix it!

 

[dubbz]

^^

Ok, this is kind of funny considering your last post, but the layout/site is too small. There's too much whitespace on both sides (and beneath).

The height of the site is adjusted dynamically so that it use more of the screen for all pages (which is nice), *except* for the iTunes Library list. I get a scrollbar instead on that page, and tons of whitespace beneath (which is not so nice).

I'm running at 1680x1050, though. A few weeks ago I whouldn't have noticed.

Other than that, the site looks nice. (Firefox 1.0.5)

 

[Shaun.P]

This is a nested iFrame page. I had to specify how 'long' to make the page. I will try and make it longer.

 

[Shaun.P]

Ok, everyone have a look now to see what you think.

 

[pubwvj]

Nice and simple. Good job!

 

[virus1]

if you want it personal, use fireworks and dreamweaver, not rapidweaver.