Critique of template please

Hi all,

I'm pretty new to building pages and have just switched
across from using tables to using Divs. and .CSS
A quick critique of
http://www.sim64.co.uk/fps.html
would be appreciated.
Not all the links are set up yet, and please judge the overall
layout rather than the content.
My main priority is to create a standardised very basic and
simple template which I can use for other pages.
TIA.

"saz" <saz1958 (AT) nospammersexcite (DOT) com> wrote

In article <ctj9hh$rvj$1 (AT) news6 (DOT) svr.pol.co.uk>, no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid says...
Hi all,

I'm pretty new to building pages and have just switched
across from using tables to using Divs. and .CSS
A quick critique of
http://www.sim64.co.uk/fps.html
would be appreciated.
Not all the links are set up yet, and please judge the overall
layout rather than the content.
My main priority is to create a standardised very basic and
simple template which I can use for other pages.
TIA.



Not bad. Easy to navigate.

One suggestion, reduce the size of the images on the page. 59kb of
images on top, along with the rest of the images on the page gives you a
total of 153 kb. That will make for a very slow download on a dial-up
connection.

By optimizing each image, you could easily cut this by 1/3 or more.

Thanks for looking,
What is actually meant by optimizing an image?
Does it just mean lowering the quality?
I don't have any photo editing software, but just make do
with paint and IrfanView.
Is it just a case of saving the image in a lower quality?
I saved the top image at about 50% quality which reduced it from
35kb to 26kb but it is slightly blurry.
is it just a case of setting it to the lowest quality I am happy with.
Apologies for my newbie question, but imaging is something
I have never worked with before, any advice on where to learn
more would be appreciated.

"T.J." <no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid> wrote

"saz" <saz1958 (AT) nospammersexcite (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1c670636c8d3f40f9896f4 (AT) news (DOT) comcast.giganews.com...
In article <ctj9hh$rvj$1 (AT) news6 (DOT) svr.pol.co.uk>, no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid says...
Hi all,

I'm pretty new to building pages and have just switched
across from using tables to using Divs. and .CSS
A quick critique of
http://www.sim64.co.uk/fps.html
would be appreciated.
Not all the links are set up yet, and please judge the overall
layout rather than the content.
My main priority is to create a standardised very basic and
simple template which I can use for other pages.
TIA.



Not bad. Easy to navigate.

One suggestion, reduce the size of the images on the page. 59kb of
images on top, along with the rest of the images on the page gives you a
total of 153 kb. That will make for a very slow download on a dial-up
connection.

By optimizing each image, you could easily cut this by 1/3 or more.

Thanks for looking,
What is actually meant by optimizing an image?
Does it just mean lowering the quality?
I don't have any photo editing software, but just make do
with paint and IrfanView.
Is it just a case of saving the image in a lower quality?
I saved the top image at about 50% quality which reduced it from
35kb to 26kb but it is slightly blurry.
is it just a case of setting it to the lowest quality I am happy with.
Apologies for my newbie question, but imaging is something
I have never worked with before, any advice on where to learn
more would be appreciated.
Sorry to follow on from my own post, but I have now reduced the

quality of all the images to 70% of their original using IrfanView,
is this what is meant by optimizing a picture, and should I reduce
the quality of the smaller images more?

"saz" <saz1958 (AT) nospammersexcite (DOT) com> wrote

In article <ctjk09$idi$1 (AT) newsg2 (DOT) svr.pol.co.uk>, no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid says...

"T.J." <no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid> wrote in message
news:ctjit6$jv0$1 (AT) newsg1 (DOT) svr.pol.co.uk...

"saz" <saz1958 (AT) nospammersexcite (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1c670636c8d3f40f9896f4 (AT) news (DOT) comcast.giganews.com...
In article <ctj9hh$rvj$1 (AT) news6 (DOT) svr.pol.co.uk>, no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid
says...
Hi all,

I'm pretty new to building pages and have just switched
across from using tables to using Divs. and .CSS
A quick critique of
http://www.sim64.co.uk/fps.html
would be appreciated.
Not all the links are set up yet, and please judge the overall
layout rather than the content.
My main priority is to create a standardised very basic and
simple template which I can use for other pages.
TIA.



Not bad. Easy to navigate.

One suggestion, reduce the size of the images on the page. 59kb of
images on top, along with the rest of the images on the page gives you
a
total of 153 kb. That will make for a very slow download on a dial-up
connection.

By optimizing each image, you could easily cut this by 1/3 or more.

Thanks for looking,
What is actually meant by optimizing an image?
Does it just mean lowering the quality?
I don't have any photo editing software, but just make do
with paint and IrfanView.
Is it just a case of saving the image in a lower quality?
I saved the top image at about 50% quality which reduced it from
35kb to 26kb but it is slightly blurry.
is it just a case of setting it to the lowest quality I am happy with.
Apologies for my newbie question, but imaging is something
I have never worked with before, any advice on where to learn
more would be appreciated.
Sorry to follow on from my own post, but I have now reduced the
quality of all the images to 70% of their original using IrfanView,
is this what is meant by optimizing a picture, and should I reduce
the quality of the smaller images more?



Irfanview is a good editor. For what you are doing, it has everything
you need. I would also recommend xnview - I use both, along with
Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro, depending on what I'm trying to achieve.

That is exactly what I mean by optimizing - lower the quality to the
point right before it gets blurry. 80 - 90% is typically the proper
setting for web viewing. I always start at 85%, that seems to work best
for my eyes. Cropping the image, even just a little can save another
10% in file size. It may not seem like much, but if you cut 5 kb/image
with 8 images, you saved 40kb, or 8 seconds in load time on a dial-up.

Thanks again,
I've had a play around.
Because the top image was made up from 2 or 3 others
I reduced the quality of it to 20% of the original and then
pasted a higher quality logo on the left hand side of it.
the fact that the rest of it is slightly blurry adds to the effect
(that's my story anyway ;o) )
All the other images I reduced by 50%.
When you say cut, do you actually mean trim the edges of the
images, or reduce the size slightly.
Do you think I have reduced the quality too much, or are they
about right?

"T.J." <no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid> wrote

"saz" <saz1958 (AT) nospammersexcite (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1c6715933fa414369896f5 (AT) news (DOT) comcast.giganews.com...
In article <ctjk09$idi$1 (AT) newsg2 (DOT) svr.pol.co.uk>, no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid says...

"T.J." <no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid> wrote in message
news:ctjit6$jv0$1 (AT) newsg1 (DOT) svr.pol.co.uk...

"saz" <saz1958 (AT) nospammersexcite (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1c670636c8d3f40f9896f4 (AT) news (DOT) comcast.giganews.com...
In article <ctj9hh$rvj$1 (AT) news6 (DOT) svr.pol.co.uk>, no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid
says...
Hi all,

I'm pretty new to building pages and have just switched
across from using tables to using Divs. and .CSS
A quick critique of
http://www.sim64.co.uk/fps.html
would be appreciated.
Not all the links are set up yet, and please judge the overall
layout rather than the content.
My main priority is to create a standardised very basic and
simple template which I can use for other pages.
TIA.



Not bad. Easy to navigate.

One suggestion, reduce the size of the images on the page. 59kb of
images on top, along with the rest of the images on the page gives
you
a
total of 153 kb. That will make for a very slow download on a
dial-up
connection.

By optimizing each image, you could easily cut this by 1/3 or more.

Thanks for looking,
What is actually meant by optimizing an image?
Does it just mean lowering the quality?
I don't have any photo editing software, but just make do
with paint and IrfanView.
Is it just a case of saving the image in a lower quality?
I saved the top image at about 50% quality which reduced it from
35kb to 26kb but it is slightly blurry.
is it just a case of setting it to the lowest quality I am happy
with.
Apologies for my newbie question, but imaging is something
I have never worked with before, any advice on where to learn
more would be appreciated.
Sorry to follow on from my own post, but I have now reduced the
quality of all the images to 70% of their original using IrfanView,
is this what is meant by optimizing a picture, and should I reduce
the quality of the smaller images more?



Irfanview is a good editor. For what you are doing, it has everything
you need. I would also recommend xnview - I use both, along with
Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro, depending on what I'm trying to achieve.

That is exactly what I mean by optimizing - lower the quality to the
point right before it gets blurry. 80 - 90% is typically the proper
setting for web viewing. I always start at 85%, that seems to work best
for my eyes. Cropping the image, even just a little can save another
10% in file size. It may not seem like much, but if you cut 5 kb/image
with 8 images, you saved 40kb, or 8 seconds in load time on a dial-up.

Thanks again,
I've had a play around.
Because the top image was made up from 2 or 3 others
I reduced the quality of it to 20% of the original and then
pasted a higher quality logo on the left hand side of it.
the fact that the rest of it is slightly blurry adds to the effect
(that's my story anyway ;o) )
All the other images I reduced by 50%.
When you say cut, do you actually mean trim the edges of the
images, or reduce the size slightly.
Do you think I have reduced the quality too much, or are they
about right?
================================

You can go to http://netmechanic.com/GIFBot/optimize-graphic.htm and submit
your image and it will show you different percentages of reduction of your
image to save download time and then you can right click and save whichever
image they have optimized for you that still looks good enough to put on
your site.
It's simple and free!!

"Virginia" <missjoker97 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

"T.J." <no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid> wrote in message
news:ctjnit$apr$1 (AT) news7 (DOT) svr.pol.co.uk...

<Snipped>

Do you think I have reduced the quality too much, or are they
about right?
================================

You can go to http://netmechanic.com/GIFBot/optimize-graphic.htm and
submit
your image and it will show you different percentages of reduction of your
image to save download time and then you can right click and save
whichever
image they have optimized for you that still looks good enough to put on
your site.
It's simple and free!!


Wow,

That's amazing, thanks for the link.

"T.J." <no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid> wrote

"Virginia" <missjoker97 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:NPdLd.223985$6l.208548 (AT) pd7tw2no (DOT) ..

"T.J." <no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid> wrote in message
news:ctjnit$apr$1 (AT) news7 (DOT) svr.pol.co.uk...


Snipped

Do you think I have reduced the quality too much, or are they
about right?
================================

You can go to http://netmechanic.com/GIFBot/optimize-graphic.htm and
submit
your image and it will show you different percentages of reduction of
your
image to save download time and then you can right click and save
whichever
image they have optimized for you that still looks good enough to put on
your site.
It's simple and free!!


Wow,
That's amazing, thanks for the link.

==================

I am glad I could be of some help to you TJ. You are very welcome! :-)
I am surprised no one has mentioned this to you earlier, and saved you some
trouble.

Netmechanic has A LOT of free (Try it Programs) online tools a person can
use!

"Virginia" <missjoker97 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

"T.J." <no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid> wrote in message
news:ctjqog$9fq$1 (AT) news8 (DOT) svr.pol.co.uk...

"Virginia" <missjoker97 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:NPdLd.223985$6l.208548 (AT) pd7tw2no (DOT) ..

"T.J." <no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid> wrote in message
news:ctjnit$apr$1 (AT) news7 (DOT) svr.pol.co.uk...


Snipped

Do you think I have reduced the quality too much, or are they
about right?
================================

You can go to http://netmechanic.com/GIFBot/optimize-graphic.htm and
submit
your image and it will show you different percentages of reduction of
your
image to save download time and then you can right click and save
whichever
image they have optimized for you that still looks good enough to put
on
your site.
It's simple and free!!


Wow,
That's amazing, thanks for the link.

==================

I am glad I could be of some help to you TJ. You are very welcome! :-)
I am surprised no one has mentioned this to you earlier, and saved you
some
trouble.

Netmechanic has A LOT of free (Try it Programs) online tools a person can
use!


Yes, I had a good look around there.

The trouble is, I'm not going to get any proper work done
for the next couple of days now, I'll be too busy checking out
and reducing my images LOL
Thanks again, that's the best site I have seen in a long time.
T.J.

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 00:21:29 -0000, "T.J." <no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid> wrote:

"Virginia" <missjoker97 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:QceLd.222639$8l.100212 (AT) pd7tw1no (DOT) ..

"T.J." <no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid> wrote in message
news:ctjqog$9fq$1 (AT) news8 (DOT) svr.pol.co.uk...

"Virginia" <missjoker97 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:NPdLd.223985$6l.208548 (AT) pd7tw2no (DOT) ..

"T.J." <no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid> wrote in message
news:ctjnit$apr$1 (AT) news7 (DOT) svr.pol.co.uk...


Snipped

Do you think I have reduced the quality too much, or are they
about right?
================================

You can go to http://netmechanic.com/GIFBot/optimize-graphic.htm and
submit
your image and it will show you different percentages of reduction of
your
image to save download time and then you can right click and save
whichever
image they have optimized for you that still looks good enough to put
on
your site.
It's simple and free!!


Wow,
That's amazing, thanks for the link.

Hi T.J.

You may want to use SLR - Space and Line Remover from
http://www.bewebmaster.com/tools/

Handy little prog which will decrease your html
HTH
plh
Paul

"saz" <saz1958 (AT) nospammersexcite (DOT) com> wrote

In article <ctjnit$apr$1 (AT) news7 (DOT) svr.pol.co.uk>, no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid says...

"saz" <saz1958 (AT) nospammersexcite (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1c6715933fa414369896f5 (AT) news (DOT) comcast.giganews.com...
In article <ctjk09$idi$1 (AT) newsg2 (DOT) svr.pol.co.uk>, no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid
says...

"T.J." <no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid> wrote in message
news:ctjit6$jv0$1 (AT) newsg1 (DOT) svr.pol.co.uk...

"saz" <saz1958 (AT) nospammersexcite (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1c670636c8d3f40f9896f4 (AT) news (DOT) comcast.giganews.com...
In article <ctj9hh$rvj$1 (AT) news6 (DOT) svr.pol.co.uk>, no1 (AT) home (DOT) invalid
says...
Hi all,

I'm pretty new to building pages and have just switched
across from using tables to using Divs. and .CSS
A quick critique of
http://www.sim64.co.uk/fps.html
would be appreciated.
Not all the links are set up yet, and please judge the overall
layout rather than the content.
My main priority is to create a standardised very basic and
simple template which I can use for other pages.
TIA.



Not bad. Easy to navigate.

One suggestion, reduce the size of the images on the page. 59kb of
images on top, along with the rest of the images on the page gives
you
a
total of 153 kb. That will make for a very slow download on a
dial-up
connection.

By optimizing each image, you could easily cut this by 1/3 or more.

Thanks for looking,
What is actually meant by optimizing an image?
Does it just mean lowering the quality?
I don't have any photo editing software, but just make do
with paint and IrfanView.
Is it just a case of saving the image in a lower quality?
I saved the top image at about 50% quality which reduced it from
35kb to 26kb but it is slightly blurry.
is it just a case of setting it to the lowest quality I am happy
with.
Apologies for my newbie question, but imaging is something
I have never worked with before, any advice on where to learn
more would be appreciated.
Sorry to follow on from my own post, but I have now reduced the
quality of all the images to 70% of their original using IrfanView,
is this what is meant by optimizing a picture, and should I reduce
the quality of the smaller images more?



Irfanview is a good editor. For what you are doing, it has everything
you need. I would also recommend xnview - I use both, along with
Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro, depending on what I'm trying to achieve.

That is exactly what I mean by optimizing - lower the quality to the
point right before it gets blurry. 80 - 90% is typically the proper
setting for web viewing. I always start at 85%, that seems to work
best
for my eyes. Cropping the image, even just a little can save another
10% in file size. It may not seem like much, but if you cut 5 kb/image
with 8 images, you saved 40kb, or 8 seconds in load time on a dial-up.

Thanks again,
I've had a play around.
Because the top image was made up from 2 or 3 others
I reduced the quality of it to 20% of the original and then
pasted a higher quality logo on the left hand side of it.
the fact that the rest of it is slightly blurry adds to the effect
(that's my story anyway ;o) )
All the other images I reduced by 50%.
When you say cut, do you actually mean trim the edges of the
images, or reduce the size slightly.
Do you think I have reduced the quality too much, or are they
about right?



I think you may have gone a little too far. They all look blurry now.

You can crop the edges of the image - cutting it out.

I've left the quality of the images as they are at the moment and
removed 4 unnecessary ones, but it's still a bit slow.
Is there a way to force the top image (background) to load first?
(I will ask in alt.html as well)