Hi y'all
I just designed this site http://www.futocomm.com what can you say about it
Design and Structure wise.

1) The main graphic seems kind of busy - I was torn b/w reading whatz in the white bubble and the stretching man

2) The different "squares" with varying heights leaves a lot of white space. I would consider making them the same height. Either you set the same number of links per "square" or you give each "square" a fixed height and don't enter content beyond a certain level

3) I think there is a better way to cut your images (main graphic). From a "view source", you have it cut into multiple squares, each having an href associated with it. Out of curiosity, why didn't you just surround all the slices (not that slices are a good thing) with one href? If you have to change the URL in the future, you have to update the URL for each slice. Baaaaad.

4) In Firefox, there is horizontal scroll. Baaaad.

5) Unless you have some page-specific styling (and it doesn't seem to be the case with what you are doing) going on, you should move all your styles into an external style sheet.

6) This one is more of an opinion, though still worthy of listing: I don't like "ad nauseum" animations. At least in your case, it isn't moving as fast as the horse on http://www.unionbankng.com/. Nonetheless, I would consider making that stuff static text. Whenever things move on my screen, I tend to concentrate, to my frustration, on that thing alone and there are probably others just like me.

I hope these help.

my2Cents,
I kind of agree with you about the main graphic but the slices where done to keep the visitor "entertained" while it downloads. I didn't just want to have a big graphic downloading at once. What if I make the graphic a background of the <div> tag, is that a better Idea?

As for the horizontal scroll, it also appears in internet explorer. The Idea of the site is to make it appealling to both those using 800 by 600 resolution and those using 1280 and 1024. Do you have a better way of going about this? I'ld also like to know how the stretching navigation that seem to go into the ends of the screen found in www.gloworld.com are done.

And also note that I have an external CSS sheet. Anyway thanks for your observation. Can anyone else contribute?

but the slices where done to keep the visitor "entertained" while it downloads. I didn't just want to have a big graphic downloading at once

There are many other ways of keeping the user "entertained" without resorting to having so many slices. Back in the day, the slice effect was done because users had slow connections and so smaller graphics ensured that the user doesn't get to wait ad infinitum for an entire graphic to load.

What if I make the graphic a background of the <div> tag, is that a better Idea?

I have an even better suggestion:
[list]
[li]I would have one container div, with position relative.[/li]
[li]I would make a thin strip of the blue portion and via CSS, repeat-x.[/li]
[li]I would then add the image of the man, position absolute and play with positioning till I got him in the right place[/li]
[li]I would do same for "futoite" graphic[/li]
[li]"freedom to express" could be done either as a graphic, again positioned absolute, or as CSS using the opacity attribute[/li]
[li]The white bubble would then be done via CSS (4 corners and a middle section. [/li]
[li]Text in bubble would be actual text, not graphic. If you are concerned with crispness of text, google for "sifr". Sifr renders regular text, via javascript as a flash object. The advantages are that you get crisp text that is still text and accessible for those with disabilities and readable by search engine bots and by screen readers. I have used this technique at www.heavensentfoundation.org for my headers (both the green and the black - the site isn't yet done, I am waiting on content from the client)[/li]
[/list]

As for the horizontal scroll, it also appears in internet explorer. The Idea of the site is to make it appealling to both those using 800 by 600 resolution and those using 1280 and 1024.

Unfortunately, you so many tables which are also mingled with divs that it is hard to tell. Also, there are instances where you have your main content area of 1020px, yet it is surrounded by a table (or cell) with a %age. Right there, this page wouldn't work for 800x600 as you have exceeded the width by 220px.

I will however go out on a limb and say that perhaps it is because, whereas you have %s for the table cells, your graphics are in pixels. If you used my technique above, so that the container div were also a %age, I am sure the scroll would go away. If you visit www.webmastersofafrica.com and view source, I did the same thing you are trying to accomplish with your site, via %ages. The site expands and contracts accordingly with differing resolutions. The trick is, I only apply it to the header, navigation and footer. The inner content is set to 800px, or whatever.

I'ld also like to know how the stretching navigation that seem to go into the ends of the screen

I am afraid I don't understand what you mean here. I could be wrong, but if I do understand, then I think you have already achieved the effect. If you are concerned with centering, you could use "text-align: center;" styling for the red container div. If not, do clarify.

And also note that I have an external CSS sheet.

I did notice that. However, based on your page-level styling, I don't see why you couldn't put that in an external style sheet as well. In other words, those "a:visitor", etc styles aren't page specific. They apply throughout your site. Move them into your external stylesheet. It may be a minor change, but it conforms to web standards.

I hope these help

my2cents, you're a web genieus and a good teacher too. You must have been in this design business for quite a while (i'm just starting commercially tho).

I also found out why I have the horizontal nav. I used negative values for page margin (corrected it)

I kinda applied some things you thought me on www.paulcom.net (eg, the style sheet). You can punch some holes on this site if you find one.


Thanks for your tips I've taken note.

yeah, letz just say I have been in the biz for quite a while. So much so that I am seriously thinking of quitting - it's getting boring and I no longer get excitement from doing it anymore. But hey, don't tell anyone

I kind of applied some things you thought me on www.paulcom.net (eg, the style sheet). You can punch some holes on this site if you find one.

Yeah, I went through your portfolio over the weekend

With respect to paulcom, i would say you should unify the horizontal and vertical navs. They appear to me to be the same thing. I am not a fan of nav dropdown. In my opinion, they confuse the user as atimes they may click the nav bar and expect to be taken to a page. Not all users know that this isn't always the case. Also, if you are dealing with form elements for instance, nav dropdowns, if not properly implemented can "bleed through" such elements. Only a hack can get you around this and I try to avoid hacks at all costs.

If you used the vertical nav, then consider making it "more lively" as well as collapsible. Take "our solutions" for instance. How many more links will you be adding in the future? I would probably use collapsible divs (as in display: block and display: none" that way only the appropriate nav is showing. For some eye candy, I would probably use openrico's accordion effect or one of the scriptaculous combo effects.

my2cents, you're a web genieus and a good teacher too.

I don't know about the genius part but as far as teaching goes, I do like to impart knowledge. For one, it reinforces what I know and it is also possible for the teaching to go both ways. I don't know everything and don't intend to as my brain is finite when it comes to storage. Having said that, I am seriously thinking of organizing some seminars/workshops back in Nigeria in the nearest future. What's holding me back? I need to determine pricing, venues, location (as in Lagos, Abuja, Calabar, etc). Any ideas?

Thanks,

Wow, I can't believe when I'm just starting to get excited about web design and development, someone else is thinking of quitting. Well that's life but to sincere with you, I don't see myself quitting it.

Thanks for the suggestion on the navs I guess I'll have to apply that when I'm working on another website cos I don't intend working on the design of that site anymore else I just want to play with it or I'm paid for doing something on the design (or structure).

I've not really attended any seminar or workshop on web desing and development. As for pricing, I don't think I have an idea about that. For the location, I suggest Lagos cos that's where you find most designers and developers in Nigeria. Since lagos is big (very big), I also suggest you hold the seminar in various areas in lagos. You can send it as a topic on nairaland to get other peoples view about organizing seminars

cmon,

I have been coding for 8 years. One thing I do, which is good though, is store challenging code in libraries. That way, with future projects, I just copy and paste,with a few modifications. Over time, all I end up doing is copy and paste. Unless some new technology comes out, copy and paste it is and for me, it just gets boring.

Thanks for the pointers. I will definitely take them, especially with respect to location, into account.

Thanks once again.

Dude, if you're following a colour theme (and you should), then your hyperlinks being that bright blue colour don't really go.

Also, the top navigation links have a blue underline when hovered over. You should get rid of that.

Then, there's a lot of whitespace between the body and the footer, such that it's completely hidden until someone scrolls down, and considering that the page is not long, you could move it up.

MY2cents already mentioned everything else, really.