Website Advice

[Spinal]

So recently I've become very very lazy and pretty much stopped coding any of my websites...

My latest exploit is done 100% in WordPress... frontend, backend, management, everything. I haven't coded anything, just tweaked things as I saw fit...

It's nowhere near finished, and most of the content is just a dump of Wikipedia to hold the space until I find time to fill it out. I've also thrown in some youtube video's to give a feeling of what it will feel like...

I would really appreciate comments, positive, negative, flaming, anything really (constructive preferred, but if you are the destructive type, go ahead, I don't take personal offence)

Oh yeah, the site's URL! Eo, Vita!

M.

 

[Spinal]

I'll start:
- It isn't clear what the Blog Bar (blue one under the images) is. Solution? Maybe put "BLOGS:" to the left? Not sure... it's meant to aggregate the various blogs for the various events that are "ongoing"...

- The images are totally random. It may be nice to see only images relevant to the page you are currently browsing... but I kind of like the randomness... any ideas?

 

[davidjpowell]

Looks ok to me apart from the right toolbar is too far off my screen. Looks like a sandwich between edge of the frame and edge of my screen.

last word of homepage has a typo.

 

[Spinal]

Thanks I assume by right toolbar you mean the floating social media buttons? I've been tempted to remove them altogether... They do see to get in the way...

 

[davidjpowell]

these...

 

[crockers]

I didn't even notice them until mentioned in David's post. If you want to keep them they need to be much higher up the page.

 

[Spinal]

In theory (and I emphasize theory) they "float" and are always in the same relative position to your screen (bottom right). So when you scroll down they will float down and when you scroll up they float up...

That said, they rely on client side scripting, so if your browser isn't IE/FF it probably wont work. Which is why I'm tempted to remove them...

M.

 

[MercFanUk]

In theory (and I emphasize theory) they "float" and are always in the same relative position to your screen (bottom right). So when you scroll down they will float down and when you scroll up they float up...

That said, they rely on client side scripting, so if your browser isn't IE/FF it probably wont work. Which is why I'm tempted to remove them...

M.

FYI They work fine in Chrome

 

[iscaboy]

Wordpress is a good BASE.

Go and get a theme you like.

Go and get some plugins.

All done from the Dashboard.

These two (free) features will utterly transform Wordpress from some generic thing into something very neat, useful and powerful.

 

[Spinal]

Wordpress is a good BASE.

Go and get a theme you like.

Go and get some plugins.

All done from the Dashboard.

These two (free) features will utterly transform Wordpress from some generic thing into something very neat, useful and powerful.

Done that ages ago there are something like 20 plugins on that site, a custom theme, widgets and some other junk I can't even name... (like a document repository, download & visitor tracking, google analytics, etc).

It's not designed as a CMS, clearly... but it seems flexible enough to be one. I'm thinking I may need to design my own user management system as I haven't found a plugin I was happy with; but that's nothing too complex...

M.

 

[iscaboy]

hotscripts.com is your friend.

 

[Spinal]

So is dreamweaver

 

[iscaboy]

So is dreamweaver

UltraEdit and Notepad are acceptable.

Dr**mw**v*r is not, nor is Fr*ntp*g*

SeaMonkey composer ain't bad, for those who remember Netscape Gold 3.0

 

[davidjpowell]

Done that ages ago there are something like 20 plugins on that site, a custom theme, widgets and some other junk I can't even name... (like a document repository, download & visitor tracking, google analytics, etc).

It's not designed as a CMS, clearly... but it seems flexible enough to be one. I'm thinking I may need to design my own user management system as I haven't found a plugin I was happy with; but that's nothing too complex...

M.

All in one SEO and All in one Webmaster seem to be useful. I've also found a Form building plug-in which I actually paid for, as it was very good.

I have just refreshed the Pre-School website which is meant to be Content Managed as the other half leaves the Committee very shortly and do not fancy being the it consultant for ever. www.missonpreschool.co.uk

 

[stevesey]

Car pic links don't work - had to go the site directly to see how my roofbars were looking

Hmm - must fix my sig pic.

 

[Spinal]

UltraEdit and Notepad are acceptable.

Dr**mw**v*r is not, nor is Fr*ntp*g*

SeaMonkey composer ain't bad, for those who remember Netscape Gold 3.0

I use ultraedit at work... notepad I can't stand... pico, nano and VI all the way (in that order too )

Frontpage i gag at... DreamWeaver I quite like actually!!!

All in one SEO and All in one Webmaster seem to be useful. I've also found a Form building plug-in which I actually paid for, as it was very good.

I have just refreshed the Pre-School website which is meant to be Content Managed as the other half leaves the Committee very shortly and do not fancy being the it consultant for ever. www.missonpreschool.co.uk

The template I'm using has that SEO plugin built in The All in one webmaster I'll have a look at tomorrow; thanks. Ironic, I too worked on a school site (ended up using the FROG platform as they wanted the flashy bit with a lot of WYSIWYG in the browser editing by teachrs)

Car pic links don't work - had to go the site directly to see how my roofbars were looking

Hmm - must fix my sig pic.

How odd! Haven't figured why! That's my project for tomorrow! Speaking of roof bars; I couldn't figure out how to fit all 4, so I ended up using 2... (the merc ones I couldn't get the clamps around, and the black ones I ended up drilling to fit bolts through them into the rack). I also made a rack out of an old Vauxhall rack and an old metal bookcase to enlarge and strengthen it... I think it came out quite well I used 4 bolts to secure it, now I plan on welding some strengthening bars to the whole thing to make sure it doesn't break while dune-bashing

Thanks for all the great comments, keep 'em coming!

M.

 

[MercFanUk]

I use notepad++ at work, but then I'm primarily a developer, not designer. I can't stand Dreamweaver, it's so bloated it's unreal - but I can see it's appeal for the non professional, as it allows easy building of what would normally be a complex layout for some.