[thelist] Site review

[Diane Soini]

On Wednesday, March 10, 2004, at 04:00 AM, 
thelist-request at lists.evolt.org wrote:
>>
>> 1. I don't like the initial page. It's is not useful, and it is too 
>> wide. The page that it redirects to should be the initial page.
>
> OK, trying to convince them, they like it though

If you can't convince them, perhaps make it narrower. It gave me a 
horizontal scroll bar. I don't surf the web full size. The other pages 
fit just fine. It would have been consistent if all the pages gave the 
horizontal scroll bar, but it was only that one.

>
>> 2. Personally, I tend to dislike instructions. "To navigate around 
>> the site use the links below..." Using links to navigate is pretty 
>> much understood by now.
>
> The users are not very web facing they mostly smell of tar :)

We've joked where I work that our portal web site home page should have 
nothing but a huge button that says "Log in" and a huge arrow pointing 
to it and a link for help on how to log in. ;) They all smell of oil 
and grease (manufacturers on the shop floor).

>
>> 5. Your personal web log appears to have a more polished design. Any 
>> chance of borrowing from it?
>
> http://www.soton.ac.uk/~johnb ?  or the blog, the XML? blog is self 
> formatting

I meant borrowing some of the layout/look and feel of it, not the 
actual code. Things like the proportional width relationship of your 
left navigation to the main content area, the left nav links set off in 
a colored box, the small footer links, the top navigation links.
>
>> I have to admire you for being able to make web sites for clients.
>
> Thanks, I helps my meagre grant and was once the only source of a 
> small amount of income after a quite nasty nervous breakdown
>
> Are you a teacher in any capacity by any chance?

No, but I'm in the eLearning department. Just started. Was in marketing 
and r&d before. Software work is very soothing in my opinion. I came 
here after teaching independent living skills to schizophrenics (i.e. 
cleaning their houses while they smoked) and being around psychologists 
who were mentally abusive to everyone, including the staff (me). Being 
around people without a manipulative agenda has been very refreshing.

***
Don't be afraid to try something new. An amateur built the ark. 
Professionals built the Titanic. -unknown