[thelist] Critique please (http://squalidnet.port5.com)

Dave Stevens squalid at libertysurf.co.uk
Sun Aug 13 12:37:17 CDT 2000


> Choice of blue is pretty decent (anyone who doesn't use 0000ff (bleargh!) wins
> points with me).

My fave colour, dontcha know!

> Why is the title (as in the image, not the <title>) "squalidnet.com", when the
> band's name is "Squalid"? You need to make every visitor know that name...

Now thats a valid point - I'll prob. swap it for the band logo - that
would make sense.

> Top photo is dark and blurred - very, very poor choice for a key image.

Well I wanted a live action photo on the main page and we're a new band
who don't play much so that was the only choice really cos it had most
of the band visible.

> Sorry dude, but that mouseover "go home" thing that others have mentioned is
> fucking horrible. Not quite eye-raping, but pretty bad.

Its going, don't worry - the "go home" thing was an in-joke in the band
anyway - no one else understands it. If you spend any time with us, yea
it would be funny but most visitors won't. Tis being removed soon.

> If a band site needs a "site help" section, then you've screwed it up. You
> shouldn't need one. If you need an area to point to downloads of media streaming
> plugins or something, then only link that when required.

This has already been removed in the next update - I came to the same
conclusion.

> The image pop-ups in a whole new window are pretty lazy (I know - I do it
> sometimes too), but if this is your band, then you have no excuse but to do it
> properly and size the window at least, and provide a close/next/previous link or
> something.

I'll give this some thought

> While you're doing that, throw in some title attributes on your links (text and
> image).

could someone explain what this does? Sorry....

> Layout wise, the site rates pretty poorly. You have zero alignment. No
> structure. The whitespace is great but your text aligns with nothing. 
pictures maybe? like on the band page? good idea? bad idea?

>Your nav
> just floats. The top key image is just sitting there.
I just wanted it to be simple to find the navigation. 

> While I'm awake, I'll check it in Netscape4 without images, JS, CSS, or Java.
> This is how I surf most sites (reading news, etc) to save on bandwidth. You're
> missing a few ALT tags - they're easy to throw in, so don't be cheap. Will do - laziness on my part.

>Apart from
> that, the content is all there and readable. Good to see that you're relying on
> CSS to do the showy stuff, and not using javascript for anything essential.

Years with a pitiful computer (before I got this) led me to learn not to
be too flash with the JavaScript. 

> Do you really need a chatroom? Could you not better serve existing fans by
> allowing them to find out when next to catch you playing?

Well...no....but we don't get many gigs - this is Britain you must
understand....no excuse I know but....

>From a content perspective, I'd start by using a more casual writing >style.

Do i sound a bit formal then? Thats not what I'm wanting....

>And record a CD and get some mp3s up there.
> Prospective fans are not going to come back to hear the real mp3s - they want
> your best efforts now. 

We're recording a CD in 3 weeks - this should be a problem that goes...

> Make the frontdoor more interesting - something like this is really cool:
>         http://www.rogertheband.com/news.htm

I've been experimenting with a few ideas to jazz up the home page...I'll
post again when I finish and publish the site.

> Hopefully something amongst this helps you out - even if it only helps convince
> you that the "go home" image is a terrible idea... ;)

Yes, yes I realise that now.....I'll never hold my head high again.

You've obviously spent a good while checking the site, so thanks!

Mr "back to the drawing board" Dave




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