Website critique

In article <4a0194d8$0$29930$703f8584 (AT) news (DOT) kpn.nl>,
"Samuel van Laere" <webkluns (AT) webkluns (DOT) com> wrote:

I've just finished the layout and markup of
http://www.fietsennaarlourdes.be/index
Please give me your thoughts, ideas and critique about this website.

Get rid of the isolated pictures on the malfunctioning and hardly needed
anyway outer columns and just have one whole page with the pictures
inside the main body. It will look and be much nicer.

--
dorayme

Thank you all for your feedback.
To be honest I didn't know that comments above the doctype makes IE use
quirksmode.
I'm not sure if that is a bad thing in my either in this case;
the website will be only online for a year after that the domain wil
exspire.
the project runs in the summer
it seems to work good enough under IE, removing the comments ruins the
layout completely I noticed.
I'll look into that other 3-layout example, and will even consider getting
those image inside the content somewhere.
There's some nice comments been made by you people most a rather usefull.
Its not my website though, the person who ask me to help realise this
website is a blind woman from Belgian.
We made that website for the Belgian Centre for Guide Dogs, for no charge.
I'm not sure if its wurth the effort to fix this quirks thingy let alone use
another layout.

What would you do knowing all of the above?

Cheers,
Samuel

"edgy" <hotmail (AT) notmail (DOT) com> schreef in bericht
newsan.2009.05.08.20.11.08.115892 (AT) notmail (DOT) com...

On Wed, 06 May 2009 15:46:59 +0200, Samuel van Laere wrote:

I've just finished the layout and markup of
http://www.fietsennaarlourdes.be/index
Please give me your thoughts, ideas and critique about this website.

Cheers,
Samuel

Hi Samuel,

As others have suggested, you might want to look at a good 3 -column
layout. This one is popular and I have used it before:

http://matthewjamestaylor.com/blog/perfect-3-column.htm

My dutch isn't great, but I gather you are on a pilgrimage, which is also
a fundraiser for a seeing-eye dog organization.

Well kind of , 4 bikers are going to travel to Lourdes (France) starting
from Tongeren (Belgian)
they are fundraising for the Belgian Centre for Guide Dogs, it cost a lot
money to train those dogs.

I think a map would be nice on the Parcours page.

I agree yes, I will suggest it.

You might look at integrating a CMS like wordpress for the dagboek.

I'm allready working on a simple but effective and save script for this.
I believe wordpress is overkill for such a thing, but that is my opinion.

Actually, now that I think about it, perhaps you may be happier without a
3-column layout anyways. Just put the pictures into the body. Unless you
are going to add something in those columns later.

I'll suggest it.

I might jazz up the sponsors page a bit - try to sell more on the "goede
doel" aspect instead of just getting a link on the page.

That would be rather nice, though they have some sponsors allready.

Also, having the site available in French (and even English) would
probably increase the number of potential sponsors/visitors.

I agree again, i've asked about the French specially since Belgian has also
a French spoken part..
But for now there seems no need for this, I disagree, but its not my website
and i'm not in charge of this project. :}


Cheers,
Samuel

"dorayme" <doraymeRidThis (AT) optusnet (DOT) com.au> schreef in bericht
news:doraymeRidThis-DFBABD.08365009052009 (AT) news (DOT) albasani.net...

In article <4a0194d8$0$29930$703f8584 (AT) news (DOT) kpn.nl>,
"Samuel van Laere" <webkluns (AT) webkluns (DOT) com> wrote:

I've just finished the layout and markup of
http://www.fietsennaarlourdes.be/index
Please give me your thoughts, ideas and critique about this website.


Get rid of the isolated pictures on the malfunctioning and hardly needed
anyway outer columns and just have one whole page with the pictures
inside the main body. It will look and be much nicer.

Yes I agree, I will think about a better solution.
Thanks.

cheers,
Samuel

"rf" <rf@z.invalid> schreef in bericht
news:9NgMl.9058$y61.4056 (AT) news-server (DOT) bigpond.net.au...

Samuel van Laere wrote:
I've just finished the layout and markup of
http://www.fietsennaarlourdes.be/index
Please give me your thoughts, ideas and critique about this website.

Make your browser window a bit narrower, say 900 pixels. Admire how the
content overlaps the left hand image. Also note the permanent horizontal
scroll bar.

Google for three column layout but basically, float the left column left,
float the right right and give the middle one margins in pixels the same
size as the images. Get rid of all that absolute positioning.

Its not a great layout because of the images on the sides.
Perhaps indeed its better to move them to a better place
and use that space for sponsor links or something.
Its not suitable for images i think.

Cheers,
Samuel

Sorry for the Nieuwsgroepen name, my mistake

cheers,
Samuel

On May 8, 6:32*pm, dorayme <doraymeRidT... (AT) optusnet (DOT) com.au> wrote:

In article <76j6hsF1dbuo... (AT) mid (DOT) individual.net>,



*Bergamot <berga... (AT) visi (DOT) com> wrote:
Chris F.A. Johnson wrote:
On 2009-05-07, Bergamot wrote:
Chris F.A. Johnson wrote:
On 2009-05-06, Bergamot wrote:
Samuel van Laere wrote:
http://www.fietsennaarlourdes.be/index
In your stylesheet:
* {
* margin: 0;
* padding: 0;
}

This is a poor practice, even though it seems to be favored by
dee-ziners. It means having to explicitly set margin and/or padding on
every element, which only bloats the CSS with unnecessary junk.

No, it does not necessarily mean this at all. The website maker might
just put in the margins and paddings that he wants more than zero for
just those elements he employs. It does not follow that there are a
gazillion of these, maybe there are only a few.

Not likely. CSS "resets" are backwards. It is no wonder that
designers see them as necessities.

* *Sometimes it's just the opposite: setting "margin: 0; padding: 0;"
* *leads to a leaner stylesheet. If they are not there, I sometimes
* *find myself having to constantly change inappropriate defaults.
Like what, for example?

* *Any element that has a default margin or padding, e.g., <p>, <h1>.
* *<h2>, etc....

So, you set everything to margin:0; padding:0; then leave it that way?
Sounds like an unreadable blob of text to me.

However, if you then go and set new margin/padding values on all these
elements, then I see no advantage to setting them to 0 up front. ...

That depends on the website and the author, sometimes some people find
it easier to get stuck into a job knowing all the margins and paddings
are zeroed and not lurking places to bite them in some complicated or
new layout they are trying out.

Paranoia induced by ignorance.

For my part, I use this only for temporary diagnostic purposes but I can
easily imagine others might find a more permanent use for it in some
limited circumstances. Or in all circumstances I suppose where they have
their own and therefore well known and understood "full" alternative to
the big defaults of the different browsers.

Providing a "full" alternative is counterproductive.

This latter might even help to maintain a greater level of consistency
across browsers. Who knows what margins and paddings different browsers
set to *all* the elements?

Of course, needlessly stepping on default (or user) styles is a
backwards thing to do. The goal is not to make everything look
exactly the same in every installed browser. Never has been.

In article
<ed08ed47-5006-49ab-a152-51f1349738cf (AT) g19g2000vbi (DOT) googlegroups.com>,
David Mark <dmark.cinsoft (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

On May 8, 6:32*pm, dorayme:

... The website maker might
just put in the margins and paddings that he wants more than zero for
just those elements he employs. It does not follow that there are a
gazillion of these, maybe there are only a few.

Not likely. CSS "resets" are backwards. It is no wonder that
designers see them as necessities.

What is not likely? That an author might make a page with very few
elements?

...sometimes some people find
it easier to get stuck into a job knowing all the margins and paddings
are zeroed and not lurking places to bite them in some complicated or
new layout they are trying out.

Paranoia induced by ignorance.

Do you know this to be the case or are you *guessing* that every time

any author does this, he has a psychological condition and a particular
ignorance not shared by you and Bergamot?

For my part, I use this only for temporary diagnostic purposes but I can
easily imagine others might find a more permanent use for it in some
limited circumstances. Or in all circumstances I suppose where they have
their own and therefore well known and understood "full" alternative to
the big defaults of the different browsers.

Providing a "full" alternative is counterproductive.

How can it be this? If an author has studied the matter and once made
(by modifying a regular default one) his own, he might use it for the
rest of his life as the starting basis.

This latter might even help to maintain a greater level of consistency
across browsers. Who knows what margins and paddings different browsers
set to *all* the elements?

Of course, needlessly stepping on default (or user) styles is a
backwards thing to do.

What does this really mean?

The goal is not to make everything look
exactly the same in every installed browser. Never has been.

How can a goal be not something? <g>

The author who zeroes margins might also not have this as a goal.
Perhaps he is happy if his efforts cause the major browsers to be more
consistent than they would otherwise be. that is not the goal of making
everything "exactly" the same nor is it the only goal an author might
have. He might have the greater goal of marking up as semantically as
possible at the same time. Doing two things at once is possible, old
boy! <g>

--
dorayme

"David Mark" <dmark.cinsoft (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

On May 8, 6:32 pm, dorayme <doraymeRidT... (AT) optusnet (DOT) com.au> wrote:
<snip>

Of course, needlessly stepping on default (or user) styles is a
backwards thing to do. The goal is not to make everything look
exactly the same in every installed browser. Never has been.

I'm going to bite on this.

It's quite tedious reading this idealistic position again and again and
feeling like the word "design" is being turned into a pejorative. How many
users even know they can define their own styles? In your world, maybe a
fair percentage; in the larger world, a tiny number. If these uber-users
insist their styles are better than those that are defined by a web designer
then I'm sure they know which technologies they can use to override those
styles. The rest of the world will have to make do with me trying to foist
an attractive, usable and accessible website on them.

To take your argument to its ludicrous conclusion, you'd be happy for Bono
to quit singing those damned U2 songs in the way he chooses and for the rest
of the band just to provide backing for you to implement your own styles?

--
+mrcakey
www.dreamberry.co.uk

On May 13, 10:35*am, "+mrcakey" <webmas... (AT) listyblue (DOT) com> wrote:

"David Mark" <dmark.cins... (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote in message

news:ed08ed47-5006-49ab-a152-51f1349738cf (AT) g19g2000vbi (DOT) googlegroups.com...
On May 8, 6:32 pm, dorayme <doraymeRidT... (AT) optusnet (DOT) com.au> wrote:
snip

Of course, needlessly stepping on default (or user) styles is a
backwards thing to do. *The goal is not to make everything look
exactly the same in every installed browser. *Never has been.

I'm going to bite on this.

Okay. Thanks for the heads up.

It's quite tedious reading this idealistic position again and again and

Oh here we go.

feeling like the word "design" is being turned into a pejorative. How many

That word doesn't appear in your cite. (?)

users even know they can define their own styles? In your world, maybe a

Notice how the word "user" is an afterthought? Not the point.

fair percentage; in the larger world, a tiny number. If these uber-users

WTF larger world are you talking about?

insist their styles are better than those that are defined by a web designer
then I'm sure they know which technologies they can use to override those
styles. The rest of the world will have to make do with me trying to foist
an attractive, usable and accessible website on them.

Are you still going on about user style sheets? You missed the main
point.

To take your argument to its ludicrous conclusion, you'd be happy for Bono
to quit singing those damned U2 songs in the way he chooses and for the rest
of the band just to provide backing for you to implement your own styles?

You bit off way more than you could chew. Just spit it out.