Site review request: www.elac.bc.ca

I'd appreciate any feedback on http://www.elac.bc.ca/
particularly in regards to the stylesheet.
http://www.elac.bc.ca/style.css only has one line:
@import "elac.css";
so the 'real stuff' is in:
http://www.elac.bc.ca/elac.css

The CSS has been validated, but that doesn't
mean I've done things using 'best practices'.

The goal was to rewrite a site that previously had
used frames, had some broken links, and was authored
with frontpage. I had to use the existing content,
and the goal wasn't to "redesign", but to "rewrite".

Note:
I'm going to also ask for a review via postings in:
- comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html, to ask
for feedback in regards to the markup
- comp.infosystems.www.authoring.site-design, to ask
for feedback in regards to the overal design of the site
Please don't let that stop you from posting any comments
you may have as a reply to this posting :-)

Thanks

--
Dave Patton
Canadian Coordinator, Degree Confluence Project
http://www.confluence.org/
My website: http://members.shaw.ca/davepatton/

"Dave Patton" <none (AT) none (DOT) com> wrote

I'd appreciate any feedback on http://www.elac.bc.ca/
particularly in regards to the stylesheet.
http://www.elac.bc.ca/style.css only has one line:
@import "elac.css";
so the 'real stuff' is in:
http://www.elac.bc.ca/elac.css

The CSS has been validated, but that doesn't
mean I've done things using 'best practices'.

The goal was to rewrite a site that previously had
used frames, had some broken links, and was authored
with frontpage. I had to use the existing content,
and the goal wasn't to "redesign", but to "rewrite".

The code is okay, but the design is blah. It looks like a FrontPage site
done by an amateur. I know your goal was not to redesign, but Lord, it
needs it!

The home page is a tad heavy, so will take longer to load than it should.
Reorganizing the site (e.g. dividing the home page into smaller, most
focused pages) will help reduce the size of the page, but some attention has
to be paid to the graphics themselves: e.g. the ELAC logo file is a 22K JPG
file: it should be GIF or PNG, and it would be a LOT smaller in filesize.
I was able to shrink it to a 422 byte PNG file: 2% of the JPG.

"C A Upsdell" <cupsdell0311XXX@-@- (AT) XXXrogers (DOT) com> wrote in
news:H_nHc.817134$Ar.666959 (AT) twister01 (DOT) bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com:

"Dave Patton" <none (AT) none (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:Xns9520BF9479255mrzaphoddirectcaold (AT) 24 (DOT) 71.223.159...
I'd appreciate any feedback on http://www.elac.bc.ca/

The code is okay, but the design is blah. It looks like a FrontPage
site done by an amateur. I know your goal was not to redesign, but
Lord, it needs it!

Well, I hope you would say it's better than the original:
http://www.elac.bc.ca/oldsite/

The home page is a tad heavy, so will take longer to load than it
should. Reorganizing the site (e.g. dividing the home page into
smaller, most focused pages) will help reduce the size of the page

Yes, I undertand that. The only difference from the original
was that I combined the old "mainpage" content, which I felt
was too minimal, with the "about" page. The goal at this point
wasn't, as I said, to "redesign", but to "rewrite". I fully
intend to advise the client that a redesign should be done,
but I told the client from the start that I wasn't a
"designer", and I wouldn't take on a "redesign" job, unless
it was in partnership with a "designer".

but some attention has to be paid to the graphics themselves: e.g.
the ELAC logo file is a 22K JPG file: it should be GIF or PNG, and it
would be a LOT smaller in filesize. I was able to shrink it to a 422
byte PNG file: 2% of the JPG.

Thanks - I'll deal with looking at the image sizes tomorrow.

--
Dave Patton
Canadian Coordinator, Degree Confluence Project
http://www.confluence.org/
My website: http://members.shaw.ca/davepatton/

"C A Upsdell" <cupsdell0311XXX@-@- (AT) XXXrogers (DOT) com> wrote in
news:H_nHc.817134$Ar.666959 (AT) twister01 (DOT) bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com:

"Dave Patton" <none (AT) none (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:Xns9520BF9479255mrzaphoddirectcaold (AT) 24 (DOT) 71.223.159...
I'd appreciate any feedback on http://www.elac.bc.ca/

The home page is a tad heavy, so will take longer to load than it
should. Reorganizing the site (e.g. dividing the home page into
smaller, most focused pages) will help reduce the size of the page

Yes, that will be addressed with the client as a separate step.

but some attention has to be paid to the graphics themselves: e.g.
the ELAC logo file is a 22K JPG file: it should be GIF or PNG, and it
would be a LOT smaller in filesize. I was able to shrink it to a 422
byte PNG file

I've replaced the 22KB JPG:
http://www.elac.bc.ca/images/elaclogo.jpg
with a 336 byte PNG:
http://www.elac.bc.ca/images/elaclogo.png
by using IrfanView to reduce the JPG's color
depth to 2, setting the two palette entries
to Red(255,0,0) and White(255,255,255), and
saving the result as a PNG, with compression
level 9.

Dealing with other image files will be part of
a future project, as some of the images need to
be updated/replaced, or new images added.

--
Dave Patton
Canadian Coordinator, Degree Confluence Project
http://www.confluence.org/
My website: http://members.shaw.ca/davepatton/

"Dave Patton" <none (AT) none (DOT) com> wrote

I'd appreciate any feedback on http://www.elac.bc.ca/
particularly in regards to the stylesheet.

Hello Dave, I am no expert on CSS (I learn through doing) but I've taken a
look at the website anyway. Compared to the old website (which even requires
Java, I hate that, it's for no apparent reason!) the new website is a
quantum leap forward. However, compared to good websites it is still
unacceptable as someone's official presence on the web. You must convince
them to get it redesigned. I don't know how your design skills are, but if
you are any good you could just show them a 10 minute job which would
already be miles better than the current website. When I go looking for a
company to cater to my wishes, I always check their webpresence. I don't
think I am the only modern consumer who checks off companies who do not give
a 'serious' impression through their website. It's one of the few means we
actually do have to select a company. It may not be fair, but that's just
the way it is. It's an ugly website, if that company was on my list it would
definitely be scrapped now. Let them read this message and they will allow
you to take things a LOT further.

Good luck,
Willem