[thelist] Site Review (please, please) www.coeville.com

aardvark roselli at earthlink.net
Sat Jul 8 20:16:42 CDT 2000


as a rule i've cut back on my site reviews... my clients have to pay, so giving them away for 
free isn't exactly a good idea... also, i usually type them so fast, and am so pressed for time, 
that they sometimes get a little hard to follow... finally, people tend to take them personally... i 
wish they wouldn't...

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rachell Coe
> 
> I didn't understand all of your comments. For 
> instance, one of them says 
> that the 'TO' links look bad -- which links are 
> these and on which  page? 

sorry, that should have read 'TOP' links... the links to the top of the page from all your anchors...

> talking about.)  Also, you mention that all of my 
> caps are from IE/win -- 
> the main font for the headings is Agaramond.

sorry, i meant screen cap(ture)s, as elkay suggest...

but i did notice that you used some specific fonts, but since you cascaded through a number of 
options, it didn't affect me (the only one in that list i have is Times New Roman)...

> 1. I realize that I have a lot of images, but I 
> have made sure to keep them 
> simple and to optimize them so that most of my 
> pages weigh in at under 35k.

actually, i was praising the small file sizes... you did a very good job... but i did want to mention 
that 60 some images on the front page can still slow things down a bit, no matter how small the 
images, because of the time lag involved in establishing and negotiating 60 unique 
connections...

> 2. Because I used a background image in the far 
> right table cell of my 
> internal pages, the image won't tile until over 
> 1300 pixels.

ok... my mention was more rhetorical... i wasn't expecting an answer...

> 3. I added resource links to my site because I am 
> constantly being asked 
> for design, search engine, and graphic links from 
> the many lists I'm on as 
> well as from my clients -- it just seemed easier 
> to put them on my web site 
> so that everyone can use them.

makes sense... you'll note that on the algonquinstudios.com site, i actually post articles... only 
because clients have asked over and over... posting links (i found) didn't do anything for them 
because they didn't want to look the stuff, they wanted me, as their vendor, to tell them 
answers to their questions instead of giving them homework...

> 4. Also, I wouldn't consider links to evolt.org, 
> monkeyjunkies, and so 
> forth a poor choice of links that make you want 
> to look for what I'm not 
> listing.  Just take the resources for what they 
> are -- and if you have 
> better ones, then why don't you share them?  I'm 
> always looking for better  resources.

erm, i think you are confusing my critique with my own opinions about what links you should 
have... my comment was that some people may expect certain links, and if you don't have 
them, they may think you aren't up to speed... i remember some guy once asked me if i had 
ever been to buildingtheweb.com, because he heard it was *the* premier site for developers... 
when i said 'no,' he thought i wasn't a true web developer... when i checked the site, i laughed 
my ass off and decided not to use it, but... this client-guy thought that *he* knew, even though 
he was nuts... my ommission made him feel i had no clue... make sense?

i really don't care what you link to there, and i didn't even look at the links... hell, i didn't even 
look to see if you linked to evolt.org...

> 5. As to thinking that I don't know all there is 
> to know ... who does?  It 

erm, again, you misunderstood my comments... i tried to frame them as coming from someone 
who is either clueless, or misinformed, which IME, is many a client... take them as such, they 
are not actual comments about you, just possible perspectives some may have based on the 
content you provide...

> 6. I am confident in the links that I have 
> selected, and if I have missed 
> some good ones, then please let me know so that I 
> can update my information.

see above and above that...

> 7. I do use Dreamweaver for much of my coding 
> only because I don't have 
> time to hand code all of my pages.  However, most 
> of my pages are a mix of 
> WSYSIWYG and hand coding -- how else could I have 
> achieved the liquidity of 
> my site in most browser and computer platforms 
> without getting my hands dirty with the coding?

again, my only comment was that i wasn't going to into the HTML since it's clear it's not all by 
your doing... i did not qualify the use of a WYSIWYG as good or bad... please don't attribute 
either to it in this context...

> 8. I don't have my outside links open new windows 
> because with my sheer 
> volume of outside links, a viewer could have 
> multiple new windows open up 
> before they know it.  According to Jacob Nielson 
> (considered an authority 
> on usability) this is not a good idea, and I 
> would have to agree.

actually, he suggests you have them open in the same new window... so if you use 
target="coe_new", for example, in all your links, they will all open in the window 'coe_new', 
which for the first time a link is clicked, will be a new window... re-read his stuff on that point... 
sometimes you have to merge his arguments to address specific circumstances that aren't 
covered directly from his points...

but in the end, if you decide that you don't mind a user leaving your site through one of those 
links, that's your decision...






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