which front page works best?

adi wrote:
 > Hi all,
 >
 > We're in the process of redesigning our home page. The original
<font color=purple> > design is at <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.webvideo4u.co.uk</font" target="_blank">http://www.webvideo4u.co.uk</font</a>>
 >
 > Our initial redesign can be found at
<font color=purple> > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.webvideo4u.co.uk/index2.php</font" target="_blank">http://www.webvideo4u.co.uk/index2.php</font</a>>
 >
 > Any thoughts on the two designs would be greatfully receieved.
 >
 > All the best,
 >

I prefer the second (new) design. If you plan to move over the images Or
add new ones, do it with a more suitable size than those on the original
(old) page. The total size of the images there is 82439 bytes, far more
than it should be.

The "itsupport.jpg" image alone is 48000 bytes. 200x200 pixels is
displayed but the image is realy 300x400 pixel, with gives a lot of
unnecessery extra bytes to it. Same goes for "delxchat.gif" on the new
page, no need to upload larger images than needed for display.

Center the content on the screen, it's better that way. Don't use pixels
for font size, IE-users can't resize it if they need to before reading.
The lightblue font color may bee to light for some, with the white
background color.

And you should start with adding a DOCTYPE, validate it and correct the
errors so it can render in standard mode.
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.webvideo4u.co.uk%2Findex2.php" target="_blank">http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.webvideo4u.co.uk%2Findex2.php</a>

Check out also
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://validator.w3.org/docs/help.html" target="_blank">http://validator.w3.org/docs/help.html</a>
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/doctype.html" target="_blank">http://htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/doctype.html</a>

--
Arne
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://w1.978.telia.com/~u97802964/" target="_blank">http://w1.978.telia.com/~u97802964/</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: which front page works best? 

Charles Sweeney wrote:

 >
 > I prefer the first one, it's more punchy, nice chick too.

Nice but to big, in kB and pixels that is

--
Arne<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: which front page works best? 

Arne wrote:

 > Charles Sweeney wrote:
 >
  >>
  >> I prefer the first one, it's more punchy, nice chick too.
 >
 > Nice but to big, in kB and pixels that is

Looks like I am getting too used to the broadband!

--
Charles Sweeney
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://CharlesSweeney.com" target="_blank">http://CharlesSweeney.com</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: which front page works best? 

Charles Sweeney wrote:

 > Arne wrote:
 >
 >
  >>Charles Sweeney wrote:
  >>
  >>
   >>>I prefer the first one, it's more punchy, nice chick too.
  >>
  >>Nice but to big, in kB and pixels that is
 >
 >
 > Looks like I am getting too used to the broadband!
 >

Yeah, many webmasters on broadband get used to that and forget all
others.

Maybee I am to demanding, but the "old" page loads in over 19 sec. and
the "new" one in less than 8 sec. with 56K dial up.

On faster connections the download is not bad, but it's always better to
make the first page as fast as possible. Visitors on broadband get used
to fast downloads and every second is to much in the end. My page loads
in less than 5 sec.

But the main thing with the images is that they don't display correctly
if you use for example a 300x400 pixels image to to display it in
200x200 pixels. Even worse with GIF images. Useless waste of bandwidth
is an other thing of cause.

--
Arne
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://w1.978.telia.com/~u97802964/" target="_blank">http://w1.978.telia.com/~u97802964/</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: which front page works best? 

Arne <arne RemoveThis @luras.nu> wrote in message news:<q67Sc.205$d5.1757@newsb.telia.net>...
 > adi wrote:
  > > Hi all,
  > >
  > > We're in the process of redesigning our home page. The original
<font color=green>  > > design is at <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.webvideo4u.co.uk</font" target="_blank">http://www.webvideo4u.co.uk</font</a>>
  > >
  > > Our initial redesign can be found at
<font color=green>  > > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.webvideo4u.co.uk/index2.php</font" target="_blank">http://www.webvideo4u.co.uk/index2.php</font</a>>
  > >
  > > Any thoughts on the two designs would be greatfully receieved.
  > >
  > > All the best,
  > >
 >
 > I prefer the second (new) design. If you plan to move over the images Or
 > add new ones, do it with a more suitable size than those on the original
 > (old) page. The total size of the images there is 82439 bytes, far more
 > than it should be.
 >
 > The "itsupport.jpg" image alone is 48000 bytes. 200x200 pixels is
 > displayed but the image is realy 300x400 pixel, with gives a lot of
 > unnecessery extra bytes to it. Same goes for "delxchat.gif" on the new
 > page, no need to upload larger images than needed for display.
 >
 > Center the content on the screen, it's better that way. Don't use pixels
 > for font size, IE-users can't resize it if they need to before reading.
 > The lightblue font color may bee to light for some, with the white
 > background color.
 >
 > And you should start with adding a DOCTYPE, validate it and correct the
 > errors so it can render in standard mode.
<font color=purple> > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.webvideo4u.co.uk%2Findex2.php</font" target="_blank">http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.webvideo4u.co.uk%2F...ex2.php</a>>
 >
 > Check out also
<font color=purple> > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://validator.w3.org/docs/help.html</font" target="_blank">http://validator.w3.org/docs/help.html</font</a>>
<font color=purple> > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/doctype.html</font" target="_blank">http://htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/doctype.html</font</a>>

OK, I've centered the content, added the girl for Charles and made the
images more suitable sizes.

Any better?<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: which front page works best? 

adi wrote:

 > Arne <arne.RemoveThis@luras.nu> wrote in message
 > news:<q67Sc.205$d5.1757@newsb.telia.net>...
  >> adi wrote:
   >> > Hi all,
   >> >
   >> > We're in the process of redesigning our home page. The original
<font color=brown>   >> > design is at <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.webvideo4u.co.uk</font" target="_blank">http://www.webvideo4u.co.uk</font</a>>
   >> >
   >> > Our initial redesign can be found at
<font color=brown>   >> > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.webvideo4u.co.uk/index2.php</font" target="_blank">http://www.webvideo4u.co.uk/index2.php</font</a>>
   >> >
   >> > Any thoughts on the two designs would be greatfully receieved.
   >> >
   >> > All the best,
   >> >
  >>
  >> I prefer the second (new) design. If you plan to move over the images
  >> Or add new ones, do it with a more suitable size than those on the
  >> original (old) page. The total size of the images there is 82439
  >> bytes, far more than it should be.
  >>
  >> The "itsupport.jpg" image alone is 48000 bytes. 200x200 pixels is
  >> displayed but the image is realy 300x400 pixel, with gives a lot of
  >> unnecessery extra bytes to it. Same goes for "delxchat.gif" on the
  >> new page, no need to upload larger images than needed for display.
  >>
  >> Center the content on the screen, it's better that way. Don't use
  >> pixels for font size, IE-users can't resize it if they need to before
  >> reading. The lightblue font color may bee to light for some, with
  >> the white background color.
  >>
  >> And you should start with adding a DOCTYPE, validate it and correct
  >> the errors so it can render in standard mode.
<font color=green>  >> <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.webvideo4u.co.uk%2F</font" target="_blank">http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.webvideo4u.co.uk%2F</font</a>>
  >> index2.php
  >>
  >> Check out also
<font color=green>  >> <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://validator.w3.org/docs/help.html</font" target="_blank">http://validator.w3.org/docs/help.html</font</a>>
<font color=green>  >> <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/doctype.html</font" target="_blank">http://htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/doctype.html</font</a>>
 >
 > OK, I've centered the content, added the girl for Charles and made the
 > images more suitable sizes.
 >
 > Any better?

Thanks!

Looks much better.

Still lacks the punchieness of the original.

Rather than wordy descriptons, I would bullet-point what you are about,
and the benefit visitors get from you.

The original achievied this with the three pics.

There is limitless space elsewhere to write great long descriptions if
need be.

--
Charles Sweeney
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://CharlesSweeney.com" target="_blank">http://CharlesSweeney.com</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: which front page works best? 

adi wrote:

 > Arne <arne.TakeThisOut@luras.nu> wrote in message news:<q67Sc.205$d5.1757@newsb.telia.net>...
 >
  >>adi wrote:
  >>
   >>>Hi all,
   >>>
   >>>We're in the process of redesigning our home page. The original
<font color=brown>   >>>design is at <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.webvideo4u.co.uk</font" target="_blank">http://www.webvideo4u.co.uk</font</a>>
   >>>
   >>>Our initial redesign can be found at
   >>>http://www.webvideo4u.co.uk/index2.php
   >>>
   >>>Any thoughts on the two designs would be greatfully receieved.
   >>>
   >>>All the best,
   >>>
  >>
  >>I prefer the second (new) design. If you plan to move over the images Or
  >>add new ones, do it with a more suitable size than those on the original
  >>(old) page. The total size of the images there is 82439 bytes, far more
  >>than it should be.
  >>
  >>The "itsupport.jpg" image alone is 48000 bytes. 200x200 pixels is
  >>displayed but the image is realy 300x400 pixel, with gives a lot of
  >>unnecessery extra bytes to it. Same goes for "delxchat.gif" on the new
  >>page, no need to upload larger images than needed for display.
  >>
  >>Center the content on the screen, it's better that way. Don't use pixels
  >>for font size, IE-users can't resize it if they need to before reading.
  >>The lightblue font color may bee to light for some, with the white
  >>background color.
  >>
  >>And you should start with adding a DOCTYPE, validate it and correct the
  >>errors so it can render in standard mode.
  >>http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.webvideo4u.co.uk%2Findex2.php
  >>
  >>Check out also
  >>http://validator.w3.org/docs/help.html
  >>http://htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/doctype.html
 >
 >
 > OK, I've centered the content, added the girl for Charles and made the
 > images more suitable sizes.
 >
 > Any better?

Yes, looks good. But .....

The girl (image) is still unnecessery large with 41820 bytes. You have a
displayed size of 174x180 pixels but it's still 300x400 pixels in real.

Setting the pixels in the HTML code to other numbers don't change what
the uploaded image realy is. Resize it to 174x180 before uploading and
it will be much less bytes also.

And if you (hopefully) want to keep the aspect ratio for width/height,
the 300x400 should be resized to 174x232 pixels. You can always cut the
canvas size in height to 180 pixels after the resize, if you like. Then
it will be even smaller in bytes.

About the content, bullet-points of the most importent things what you
are about, and the benefit visitors get from you, is a good idea as
Charles suggested. Still I don't think you should leave the front page
with to little text, because the Search Engines like to find text to
index.

--
Arne
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://w1.978.telia.com/~u97802964/" target="_blank">http://w1.978.telia.com/~u97802964/</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: which front page works best?