My attempt to use CSS layout

Hi there,

We would very much appreciate critique for http://cabellhuntington.org/
- we opted for a CSS layout. We're aware fixed width is far from ideal
but it was requested - very strongly.

Thank you in advance.

Ed

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Paperhat wrote:

to a.h.critique and a.h.css. Is there really an a.h.css?
(No, my newsreader thinks the NG is non-existent because none of my
servers carry it. Posting to a.h.critique only, then.)

We would very much appreciate critique for http://cabellhuntington.org/
- we opted for a CSS layout. We're aware fixed width is far from ideal
but it was requested - very strongly.

The page(s) look clean and neat, lots of info, but not overly cluttered
like a newspaper's site.

Why sites aimed at health care recipients/customers (read: elderly or
having specific health problems) insist on using small typefaces, I just
can't understand. You start with font-size:100% on the body, which is
perfect, but then you apply 70%, 75%, and 80% to numerous elements and
classes.

The flyout menus would look better if they all had the same width on the
second-level list items (at least for each primary item).

The icons in the lower-right area of the header are messed up. I
recognize the RSS goober, but the others look like they belong to
something else than what their titles suggest (but good job on providing
titles). The "high contrast" icon jumps on hover. FF only, didn't try IE
or Opera.

You seem to be doing PHP things (at least for the feeds), so why not get
rid of the "Back to home page" icon on the Home page?

The "Also in this section..." section on the for_physicians page seems
to be in the wrong place; it's up too high and overlaps the other
heading's horizontal rules. Didn't check all your pages though.

It looks like you're assuming your target audience knows where the
hospital is. Even on the "Emergency" page, there's no map. The address
is in small type (even smaller that the body text) on the bottom of
every page, as is the phone number. The Emergency / Trauma Services link
is non-obvious, placed as item #6 in a list of 7, subordinate to the
"Services" menu item. What if I have an emergency? I guess you're
counting on 911 and ambulances.

The "Printer friendly" link is thoughtful, but on the Emergency & Trauma
Services page the "Testimonial" link won't help anyone when it's
printed. More especially, making separate pages for printing is just a
waste of your time (and an extra link for visitors to worry about), when
you can use CSS to hide elements that don't need printing. Look into
display:none and make a separate stylesheet for media="print".

The fixed image background behind the nav menu won't adjust to match the
link text when the fonts are resized.

#menu li:hover ul, #menu li.over ul is a worrisome selector. IE6 and
under won't care about hover on the li, and the li.over looks like a
typo. I didn't find a class="over" on the main page (but maybe it's
elsewhere on the site.

A stylesheet as long as yours makes me nervous, because I think some
items are being over-specified. I also see some position:absolute, which
makes me start to itch. Maybe I should come in for treatment...

GL

--
John
Pondering the value of the UIP: http://improve-usenet.org/

John Hosking wrote:

Why sites aimed at health care recipients/customers (read: elderly or
having specific health problems) insist on using small typefaces, I just
can't understand. You start with font-size:100% on the body, which is
perfect, but then you apply 70%, 75%, and 80% to numerous elements and
classes.

I do agree. Yet, corporate will has priority when they furnish your pay
cheque ;-)

The flyout menus would look better if they all had the same width on the
second-level list items (at least for each primary item).

The icons in the lower-right area of the header are messed up. I
recognize the RSS goober, but the others look like they belong to
something else than what their titles suggest (but good job on providing
titles). The "high contrast" icon jumps on hover. FF only, didn't try IE
or Opera.

You seem to be doing PHP things (at least for the feeds), so why not get
rid of the "Back to home page" icon on the Home page?

The "Also in this section..." section on the for_physicians page seems
to be in the wrong place; it's up too high and overlaps the other
heading's horizontal rules. Didn't check all your pages though.

It looks like you're assuming your target audience knows where the
hospital is. Even on the "Emergency" page, there's no map. The address
is in small type (even smaller that the body text) on the bottom of
every page, as is the phone number. The Emergency / Trauma Services link
is non-obvious, placed as item #6 in a list of 7, subordinate to the
"Services" menu item. What if I have an emergency? I guess you're
counting on 911 and ambulances.

The "Printer friendly" link is thoughtful, but on the Emergency & Trauma
Services page the "Testimonial" link won't help anyone when it's
printed. More especially, making separate pages for printing is just a
waste of your time (and an extra link for visitors to worry about), when
you can use CSS to hide elements that don't need printing. Look into
display:none and make a separate stylesheet for media="print".

The fixed image background behind the nav menu won't adjust to match the
link text when the fonts are resized.

#menu li:hover ul, #menu li.over ul is a worrisome selector. IE6 and
under won't care about hover on the li, and the li.over looks like a
typo. I didn't find a class="over" on the main page (but maybe it's
elsewhere on the site.

A stylesheet as long as yours makes me nervous, because I think some
items are being over-specified. I also see some position:absolute, which
makes me start to itch. Maybe I should come in for treatment...

Very good points, they are much appreciated.

Ed

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Beauregard T. Shagnasty wrote:

John Hosking wrote:

A stylesheet as long as yours makes me nervous, because I think some
items are being over-specified. I also see some position:absolute,
which makes me start to itch. Maybe I should come in for treatment...

The absurdly small font sizes made me itch...

They don't make me itch, nevertheless I do agree they could be larger.
It wasn't an option to display 100% by default (some, higher in the
ranks, insisted on a smaller font size), however as a compromise I did
provide the option to increase font size.

..and can the OP explain how the "style/?layout=3col" works?

A server-side script generates the stylesheet dynamically, so users can
for instance easily choose between 2 or 3 columns when creating pages in
the CMS. Thus, the 'layout' variable tells the script what chunks of
the stylesheet to use depending on individual page settings.


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