Layout Suggestions

@benjaminNov 10.2003

My new website is ~~[URL=http://www.joffe.tk/]~~www.joffe.tk[/URL] and i was hoping that somebody would be able to verify that layout works well in mozilla netscape etc and to tell me what the hell is wrong with the search page? it works when on my computer but not when tried online?

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Full-stack Developer

14 Comments(s) _↴

@benjaminauthorNov 10.2003 — #please

@toicontienNov 10.2003 — #First, I really dig the extreme horizontal layout if it can be done properly. The band Marvelous 3 had a site designed in that way. There is a downside to this type of design: Smaller screen resolutions will need to scroll both side-to-side and up-and-down. Your site looks fine on 1024 X 768, but on anything less, your header and footer get cut off.

I would get rid of the footer and shrink the main content area to give you enough height on 800 X 600. And you can't count on a specific height because the amount of buttons and menus in a web browser's display will vary from person to person.

The ideal way would be to have three frames:

1. Top blank frame that's expandable with no scroll bars

2. Middle content frame set to a certain height that will display only horizontal scroll bars on most displays.

3. Bottom frame that is blank and expandable.

The top and bottom frames would then make up the left-over height from the content frame.

If you do want a header and footer, make sure it is no taller than a single line of default font-size text.

Backgrounds are [i]OK[/i] in areas outside of the main text area. If you want to keep the BG images (as they don't seem to clash [i]too[/i] much with the text), at least make them seamless images so that you can't tell when the images repeats.

I'll write more (and perhaps more coherent sentences) later today. I's almost 3 in the AM where I'm at. I just got outta work ?

@Paul_JrNov 10.2003 — #In Mozilla 1.4, none of your menu rollovers work. The link is not highlighted, the text does not show up next to the site logo, and the background of the link corresponding to the page you are on is not any different, the little music box is no where to be seen. The "Test Your Reflexes" does not work, "Buzz Words" also does not work.

That's what I caught...

P.S., I like your text-link rollovers, where the link keeps changing colors.

@benjaminauthorNov 10.2003 — #I dont know if i am repeating myself as i just wrote this message and i think it may not have sent, here goes anyway ill type it again.

Should I not use a frameset and instead use a <div> with style=overflow:auto for my main scrolling section?

Also you may not have realised but index.htm is a referrer page which redirects users with smaller screens than 1024 x 768 to a different frameset which shrinks the header and footer to 100 pixcels in height and makes the main area stretch in height to fit the screen. However this makes scrollbars up-down and left-right it keeps the page legible, is that a sensible thing to do?

@benjaminauthorNov 12.2003 — #please

@spufiNov 12.2003 — #I'll agree on the repeated backgorund image thing. The repeats need to flow better and it wouldn't hurt really if you didn't use as many. Maybe the top and bottom parts could use a normal colored background except for your logo.

Oh yeah, don't use JavaScript to tell me I can't right click. Being able to right click and then open a new tab in the background is a feature I use whenever I click on a link.

@Sux0rZh_jc0rzNov 12.2003 — #anti-right click is useless for protecting your images and your source. just trust me in this. it's been debated all over for years and years and there is no way to keep ur images or source private.

(only ServerSideSource is hidden. the output is still sent though.)

@benjaminauthorNov 16.2003 — #how should i make it more user friendly for small screens and i will get around to removing that right click thing, more than a hundred have viewed this and only 4 replies come on ya lazy bums help me!

@toicontienNov 16.2003 — #Whenever possible, use the standard DOM in javascripts. I noticed a couple of tests for document.all and nothing for document.getElementById (though I know it's because you were using filters that only IE supports).

There are some spelling errors on the miscellaneous page. The Insanity Test box has a misspelled word: weather. In the way you use it, it should be whether. I've edited this post a couple of times already because I've found spelling errors here. Nothing can discredit a professional more than spelling errors.

The floating music box also sometimes covers up content in the background. It's advisable to allow users to minimize it from view or move it.

Random animated GIFs really make a site look amateurish. I realize you want to show people what you can do graphically, but those images don't add anything to the design.

Once you get your graphics section up, by all means, put up the animated GIFs, but also add blurbs of info about how you created the images and for what purpose.

The contact page should be another HTML file that loads in your content frame. Many users find pop-ups of any sort annoying, mostly because of pop-up ads (not your fault).

You speak of a form-to-email contact page for your customers' web sites, but there is none on your site. The best place for this would be on your contact page that loads in the content frame, along with your other contact info.

Having a working example of what you can do is the only way to prove to people you can do it.

Concerning the background images, use CSS to fix the image to the body of the HTML document. [b]bgproperties="fixed"[/b] is a non-standard attribute that is not guaranteed to be supported in the future. In fact, IE is the only browser that supports it.

THE CSS:

[code=php]
 body {
 background-attachment: fixed;
 }
 [/code]

That should do it.

[b]Learn Standards Compliant Markup and CSS[/b]

http://www.alistapart.com/

http://www.w3schools.com/

http://www.w3.org/

There's still nothing illegal about using tables to lay out a site, just know there are better ways of doing it. Many customers will still want a table-based site. Give it to them, after, they are footing the bill. But whenever possible, use standards compliant design.

Also see a related post in this forum:

http://forums.webdeveloper.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10167&highlight=table

@PeOfEoNov 16.2003 — #
Affordability

Getting your website designed by other professionals can cost you thousands of dollars. My prices however are much cheaper. The average site will cost about $400, larger and more complex sites will attract a higher cost. Contact me for a price estimate. [/quote] heh. You are not charging a low price btw and you are charging this much and you do not even use valid html 4.01? Where is the doc type? Furthermore you rely too much on client side scripts. Your site has tons of scripts that only work in ie6. The menus does not work properly in ns and the background craps out. Also that music scrolling box only works in ie6, not ns ie5.5 or ie5. Make your sites accessable. Use server side technologies before you charge large sums of cash.

EDIT: sorry if that came off harsh, but your rates are pretty high and you are relying too much on client side scripting and not using valid layouts.

@benjaminauthorNov 17.2003 — #Should i move the music bar to a fixed position on one of the top or bottom frames?

By the way, that $400 is Australian money and is only half to three quarters the value of $US.

@benjaminauthorNov 17.2003 — #my email is currently at hotmail, in what way could i have a form to send emails to my account there without have hotmail delete it cause it is trying to block spam using its new filter?

@Sux0rZh_jc0rzNov 17.2003 — #make a new folder and direct all incoming emails from "[email protected]" to that folder. search around. you'll find out how. i think it's in an email hotmail sent you on how to make the new folder. the email was sent out like.. 2 weeks ago i believe. this will take all the spam filters off it but i dont know if it will work or not.

@PeOfEoNov 17.2003 — #[i]Originally posted by benjamin [/i]

[B]Should i move the music bar to a fixed position on one of the top or bottom frames?

By the way, that $400 is Australian money and is only half to three quarters the value of $US. [/B][/QUOTE] that is still very expencive. Designers that host the site as well as provide server side scripting etc here in the states do not charge that much.