[thelist] Look ma, no tables. Check please?

[Jackson Yee]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Daniel Medley" <dm at lgcy.com>
To: <thelist at lists.evolt.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 13, 2002 18:26
Subject: [thelist] Look ma, no tables. Check please?


> I've reworked my personal site: http://www.lobowalk.com making it completely
> table free using css for the layout using a modified Glish style sheet. I've
> checked it in IE5 and Mozilla 1.0 win98se and everything seems to be okay.
> I'm wondering about other operating systems and other browsers. Also, any
> comment about the basic layout, colors, coding etc, anything would be most
> helpful. I'm a novice on the loose.

Looks good in IE6, NS6, and Opera 5 on Windows 2000.  I can tell that you
weren't designing for Netscape 4.x though.  ;-)  Take a look at the rendered
result at

http://216.12.34.199/lobowalk.png

You don't seem to have a complicated layout, so if you wanted to take the time
to make the site render right in Netscape 4.x, you can use the good old
fashioned @import trick combined with the border: 0.1px trick.  Take a look at

http://www.mako4css.com/csstwo.htm

for some good tips on how to get Netscape 4.x to do what you want it to do.
This is what I've done on my site, and except for background images not
showing through and a couple of margin differences, it looks exactly the same
in Netscape 4 as it does in the more modern browsers.  Feel free to e-mail me
off-list if you need some specific help.

And now, some general comments:

You have a nice, contrasting color scheme, but be aware that reddish-orange
tones can cause fatigue on the eyes for prolonged reading.  Bright white or
bright black will do the same thing much more quickly, but adding some more
distinguishing colors such as blue, green, or black will help the site to seem
less bland to the eyes.

You're fitting a *lot* of stuff into the sidebar for having it be the same on
every page.  It could be good if you changed it based upon the context (e.g.
have the list of book reviews in the sidebar for the books section, have a
list of links to places in the trippin' section, and so forth), or simply have
only the top part of  each section and have a "See more" link at the end of
the synposis.

I like having the navigation both at the top and bottom of the both.  Many
sites, especially those with long articles, miss out on this user interface
enhancement.

Beware of opening new windows, especially with JavaScript.  We actually had
this discussion on this list a while back, but many people, including myself,
really dislike sites opening new windows for us.  It works wonderfully when
you have JavaScript enabled, but for those user agents who either have
JavaScript disabled or don't support JavaScript at all, they'll end up with a
new screen with no navigational elements at all and no clue as to why they
can't use the back button to return to your site.  Try disabling JavaScript in
Internet Explorer under Tools -> Internet Options -> Security -> Custom Level
-> Scripting -> Active Scripting, click on a link on your site, and you'll see
what I mean.

Overall, a very nice site with good layout and topics.  Welcome to the world
of CSS layouts.  Table still make some things easier, but for fluidity and
ease of changing your design, CSS is definitely the way to go.

Regards,
Jackson Yee
jyee at vt.edu
http://www.jacksonyee.com/