Site Check, Please! :-)

On Oct 12, 10:47 am, David Hennessy <da....TakeThisOut@maidix.com> wrote:
> David Hennessy wrote:
> > Hi! I've just made a site for my friend's therapeutic massage practice.
> > I'd be interested to know what you all think! *puts on thick skin*
>
> Wow. I'm glad I put my thick skin on now.
>
> *ahem* The URL is:http://midnightsun.maidix.com/
>
> --
> Namaste,
> David

Well, loaded okay here, but I also have some weird fonts appearing -
however the font it fairly suitable, so it looks ok. It would probably
look terrible on a machine with few fonts installed.

Is: "Web site by David Hennessy. Made from 100% post-consumer recycled
photons. Powered by osWiki CMS." something you really want on a
commercial site? It really doesn't fit the subject matter at all.
Visitors to your site wont care at all what it was created in, or who
created it, or about the photon thing... it's a bit of a geeky way to
tail the page. It'd drop the whole lot, it's not needed.
 >> Stay informed about: Site Check, Please! :-) 

> *ahem* The URL is:http://midnightsun.maidix.com/

Get rid of this smartish:

<style·type="text/css">(CR)(LF)
h1·{(CR)(LF)
··display:·none;(CR)(LF)
}(CR)(LF)
</style>(CR)(LF)

I know you override it, but it's still likely to generate a false
positive.
 >> Stay informed about: Site Check, Please! :-) 

> And the colour scheme! Blue blue blue == cold cold cold. This isn't a
> chiropractor's office, it's a massage practice; you need warm colours into
> which customers will want to relax and curl up.

Old, but IMO never beaten. I was made to sit down and read it from
cover to cover when I started in marketing:

http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/top3mset/ce33719cedf06271.html

Think peach.
 >> Stay informed about: Site Check, Please! :-) 

And lo, David Hennessy didst speak in alt.www.webmaster:

> David Hennessy wrote:
>
>> Hi! I've just made a site for my friend's therapeutic massage practice.
>> I'd be interested to know what you all think! *puts on thick skin*
>
> Wow. I'm glad I put my thick skin on now.
>
> *ahem* The URL is: http://midnightsun.maidix.com/

For advertising a service which is supposed to be relaxing, comforting and
generally intimate, the site sure looks sterile and uninviting.

And the colour scheme! Blue blue blue == cold cold cold. This isn't a
chiropractor's office, it's a massage practice; you need warm colours into
which customers will want to relax and curl up. Images of softly lit and
inviting massage tables with pillows and blankets wouldn't hurt either.
But don't overdo it; you want to *keep* the feeling of simplicity from the
current design while dumping the barrenness.

And, as you know, a midnight sun isn't a sun which appears in the dead of
night, it's when, due to the earth's axial tilt and being near the
geographic north and south poles, the sun never sinks below the horizon,
so even at midnight everything is still bright as day. Thus I don't
understand the moon-ish imagery and the blue-black nighttime gradient.

Grey

--
The technical axiom that nothing is impossible sinisterly implies the
pitfall corollary that nothing is ridiculous.
- http://www.greywyvern.com/orca#search - Orca Search: Full-featured
spider and site-search engine
 >> Stay informed about: Site Check, Please! :-) 

David Hennessy <david DeleteThis @maidix.com> wrote in
news:9NCdnVrQmuAc35LanZ2dnUVZ_qjinZ2d@comcast.com:

> David Hennessy wrote:
>> Hi! I've just made a site for my friend's therapeutic massage
practice.
>> I'd be interested to know what you all think! *puts on thick skin*
>>
>
>
> Wow. I'm glad I put my thick skin on now.
>
> *ahem* The URL is: http://midnightsun.maidix.com/
>

No link to "Home" in the main menu. Yeah, I see that "home" link in the
breadcrumb because that doesn't count.

This is actually a more serious issue than it seems. It is pretty basic
Gestalt stuff. See, the main menu is "global", operating to navigate
sitewide whereas the location of the breadcrumb gives the impression that
it is "local". Therefore, the "Home" link should NOT be in the
breadcrumb but rather in the main menu. Additionally, there's no need to
place the current location in the breadcrumb, because people are already
given that clue by the heading.

Also, in your main menu, you link to the page you're currently on. That
link should not exist and, visually speaking, should look disabled as
well.

I hated having to use my back button to go back & forth between the menu
of services and the individual types of service. I think the pages for
each type of service should link to each other.

On the main services page, the price list seems rather obvious: pay those
prices for any of the services above. But I don't think that would be
obvious to everyone and probably should be explained right under the
"Price List" heading.

Add some pictures!!! At the very least, there should be a picture of Dana
on the page that talks about her. But IMO, there should be pictures of
her actually performing therapy all over this site, especially the pages
for each indiv. therapy type

Karl
 >> Stay informed about: Site Check, Please! :-) 

David Hennessy schreef:
> David Hennessy wrote:
>> Hi! I've just made a site for my friend's therapeutic massage
>> practice. I'd be interested to know what you all think! *puts on thick
>> skin*
>>
>
>
> Wow. I'm glad I put my thick skin on now.
>
> *ahem* The URL is: http://midnightsun.maidix.com/
>

For the body font-family you chose "fantasy".

In all my browsers (IE, FF and Opera) that meant that most of the text
was unreadable,
because it was rendered in the font Algerian.
I didn't even know that they were configured this way
but at least I knew how to quickly change this in Opera.

A lot of visitors will not know this,
and will leave the site and never come back.
--
Rob Waaijenberg
 >> Stay informed about: Site Check, Please! :-) 

Rob Waaijenberg wrote:
> David Hennessy schreef:
>> David Hennessy wrote:
>>> Hi! I've just made a site for my friend's therapeutic massage
>>> practice. I'd be interested to know what you all think! *puts on
>>> thick skin*
>>>
>>
>>
>> Wow. I'm glad I put my thick skin on now.
>>
>> *ahem* The URL is: http://midnightsun.maidix.com/
>>
>
> For the body font-family you chose "fantasy".
>
> In all my browsers (IE, FF and Opera) that meant that most of the text
> was unreadable,
> because it was rendered in the font Algerian.
> I didn't even know that they were configured this way
> but at least I knew how to quickly change this in Opera.
>
> A lot of visitors will not know this,
> and will leave the site and never come back.

It renders here just fine. However, I agree - you shouldn't be using
rare fonts, even if they do look good.

The site looks kinda plain, also. Mostly black on white. A little
color would help.

It's fixed width; when I make my window smaller I get a horizontal
scroll bar. A larger screen has even more white space on both sides.
Fluid designs are much better.

Personally, I don't like google maps on a site. Address and directions
from major roads/highways. Maps are ok, but just an image of the area
with the location marked.

--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex DeleteThis @attglobal.net
==================
 >> Stay informed about: Site Check, Please! :-) 

Jerry Stuckle schreef:
> Rob Waaijenberg wrote:
>> David Hennessy schreef:
>>> *ahem* The URL is: http://midnightsun.maidix.com/
>>
>> For the body font-family you chose "fantasy".
>>
>> In all my browsers (IE, FF and Opera) that meant that most of the text
>> was unreadable,
>> because it was rendered in the font Algerian.
>> I didn't even know that they were configured this way
>> but at least I knew how to quickly change this in Opera.
>>
>> A lot of visitors will not know this,
>> and will leave the site and never come back.
>
> It renders here just fine. However, I agree - you shouldn't be using
> rare fonts, even if they do look good.
>

You´re right ofcourse.

but in this case the OP didn´t even specify a particular font
he just declared "font-family: fantasy".
That means he has no control at all over which font will be used. In
your case it worked out all right.


--
Rob Waaijenberg
 >> Stay informed about: Site Check, Please! :-) 

Rob Waaijenberg wrote:
> Jerry Stuckle schreef:
>> Rob Waaijenberg wrote:
>>> David Hennessy schreef:
>>>> *ahem* The URL is: http://midnightsun.maidix.com/
>>>
>>> For the body font-family you chose "fantasy".
>>>
>>> In all my browsers (IE, FF and Opera) that meant that most of the
>>> text was unreadable,
>>> because it was rendered in the font Algerian.
>>> I didn't even know that they were configured this way
>>> but at least I knew how to quickly change this in Opera.
>>>
>>> A lot of visitors will not know this,
>>> and will leave the site and never come back.
>>
>> It renders here just fine. However, I agree - you shouldn't be using
>> rare fonts, even if they do look good.
>>
>
> You´re right ofcourse.
>
> but in this case the OP didn´t even specify a particular font
> he just declared "font-family: fantasy".
> That means he has no control at all over which font will be used. In
> your case it worked out all right.
>
>


Thanks for the feedback! I've made some changes to the CSS to make it
liquid, using % instead of em for page width. I've also addressed the
font issue, and added some complimentary colors. I think I like it
better now. Thanks guys!

--
Namaste,
David
 >> Stay informed about: Site Check, Please! :-) 

Jerry Stuckle wrote:
> Rob Waaijenberg wrote:
>> David Hennessy schreef:
>>> David Hennessy wrote:
>>>> Hi! I've just made a site for my friend's therapeutic massage
>>>> practice. I'd be interested to know what you all think! *puts on
>>>> thick skin*
>>>>
>>>
>>> *ahem* The URL is: http://midnightsun.maidix.com/
>>>
>>
>> For the body font-family you chose "fantasy".
>>
>> In all my browsers (IE, FF and Opera) that meant that most of the text
>> was unreadable,
>> because it was rendered in the font Algerian.
>> I didn't even know that they were configured this way
>> but at least I knew how to quickly change this in Opera.

In FF I get some sort of quasi-italic, semi-legible sans-serif font. In
IE6 I get a "computer" 7-segment display font. Neither of these match
the graphics used for the headers very well, but they're *very* hard to
read in paragaphs, as on the massage description pages.

The texts are a little small by default (especially for such simple
pages), so that doesn't help.

>
> The site looks kinda plain, also. Mostly black on white. A little
> color would help.

Actually, it's got lots of colors. I see my default blue with red text
on FF, I see my default green on yellow in IE6. Both combinations are
rather ugly; David needs to specify fg and bg colors (since the
"headings" are black-on-white graphics).

The actual rates are a little too far left in relation to the "Rates"
header graphic.

It looks like the rates on the rate apply to kinds of massages on the
left, but on closer inspection, they don't. Maybe add thin or subtle
borders to each section?

>
> It's fixed width; when I make my window smaller I get a horizontal
> scroll bar. A larger screen has even more white space on both sides.
> Fluid designs are much better.

Agree.

On the "About Dana Davis" page:
I'd change the B.S. abbr to title="Bachelor of Science" with no "s".
She's only one person, and I presume she has only one such degree.

"... my student's bodies ..." should be "... my students' bodies...".


I tried cutting out the coupons on the Specials page, and now I have to
go buy a new monitor.

--
John
Pondering the value of the UIP: http://improve-usenet.org/
 >> Stay informed about: Site Check, Please! :-) 

John Hosking wrote:
> Jerry Stuckle wrote:
>> Rob Waaijenberg wrote:
>>> David Hennessy schreef:
>>>> David Hennessy wrote:
>>>>> Hi! I've just made a site for my friend's therapeutic massage
>>>>> practice. I'd be interested to know what you all think! *puts on
>>>>> thick skin*
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> *ahem* The URL is: http://midnightsun.maidix.com/
>>>>
>>>
>>> For the body font-family you chose "fantasy".
>>>
>>> In all my browsers (IE, FF and Opera) that meant that most of the
>>> text was unreadable,
>>> because it was rendered in the font Algerian.
>>> I didn't even know that they were configured this way
>>> but at least I knew how to quickly change this in Opera.
>
> In FF I get some sort of quasi-italic, semi-legible sans-serif font. In
> IE6 I get a "computer" 7-segment display font. Neither of these match
> the graphics used for the headers very well, but they're *very* hard to
> read in paragaphs, as on the massage description pages.
>
> The texts are a little small by default (especially for such simple
> pages), so that doesn't help.
>
>>
>> The site looks kinda plain, also. Mostly black on white. A little
>> color would help.
>
> Actually, it's got lots of colors. I see my default blue with red text
> on FF, I see my default green on yellow in IE6. Both combinations are
> rather ugly; David needs to specify fg and bg colors (since the
> "headings" are black-on-white graphics).
>
> The actual rates are a little too far left in relation to the "Rates"
> header graphic.
>
> It looks like the rates on the rate apply to kinds of massages on the
> left, but on closer inspection, they don't. Maybe add thin or subtle
> borders to each section?
>
>>
>> It's fixed width; when I make my window smaller I get a horizontal
>> scroll bar. A larger screen has even more white space on both sides.
>> Fluid designs are much better.
>
> Agree.
>
> On the "About Dana Davis" page:
> I'd change the B.S. abbr to title="Bachelor of Science" with no "s".
> She's only one person, and I presume she has only one such degree.
>
> "... my student's bodies ..." should be "... my students' bodies...".
>


Thank you for the advice! I will put it to work. I've uploaded a bunch
of changes already.


>
> I tried cutting out the coupons on the Specials page, and now I have to
> go buy a new monitor.
>


If you use rubber cement, you should be able to get it back together.

--
Namaste,
David
 >> Stay informed about: Site Check, Please! :-) 

Jerry Stuckle wrote:

> Personally, I don't like google maps on a site. Address and directions
> from major roads/highways. Maps are ok, but just an image of the area
> with the location marked.

My problem is that there *aren't* any roads.

http://blinkynet.net/sharks/blinkysat.html


--
Blinky RLU 297263
Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project - http://improve-usenet.org
 >> Stay informed about: Site Check, Please! :-) 

And lo, Blinky the Shark didst speak in alt.www.webmaster:

> Jerry Stuckle wrote:
>
>> Personally, I don't like google maps on a site. Address and directions
>> from major roads/highways. Maps are ok, but just an image of the area
>> with the location marked.
>
> My problem is that there *aren't* any roads.
>
> http://blinkynet.net/sharks/blinkysat.html

Roads? Pfft. Where we're going, we don't need roads.

Grey

--
The technical axiom that nothing is impossible sinisterly implies the
pitfall corollary that nothing is ridiculous.
- http://www.greywyvern.com/orca#search - Orca Search: Full-featured
spider and site-search engine
 >> Stay informed about: Site Check, Please! :-)