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rodaniel
Posts: 10
Joined: 3/6/2005
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2Dolphins Web Site Critique Request - 3/6/2005 21:48:47
Just discovered this forum and thought I'd put out a call for some constructive criticism of my www.2Dolphins.com web site. While this is just a personal site that my wife and I use to keep in touch with friends and family (rather than any kind of business or commercial venture) I'd still like to continue to refine and improve it.
In particular, I've been working on integrating my Blogger journal into the main page. I wondered if the watermark is too faint to even be noticable or if I've managed to make it noticable without being obtrusive or annoying.
Another focal point of my recent efforts has been the "Our House" page that showcases the room-by-room renovations we've been doing to our house over the past few years. You'll find that page listed under the Photos section or go there directly with this link. I worked long and hard to get that drawing to look kind accurate yet sketchy at the same time and have hotspot links to the appropriate room pages.
Lastly, I've been tinking with making the site PocketPC friendly since I recently acquired a Dell Axim with a wi-fi CF adapter. I've managed to get the site to redirect to a simplified version that works nicely in PocketIE on the Axim and I've even seen it work on an older WinCE device with odd-sized landscape-oriented screen.
My wife and I use FrontPage 2003 for most of the web site dev.
Any feedback or suggestions would really be appreciated!
Rob O.
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kevin3442
Posts: 197
Joined: 1/25/2005
From: Nebraska, USA (home of the once-mighty Huskers)
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RE: 2Dolphins Web Site Critique Request - 3/8/2005 2:27:30
Hi Rob,
The watermark seems fine on my screen. It's noticable but not too strong. It's easy to make out when there's no text over it, and doesn't detract from reading when there is text over it. Nice job IMO.
Regarding the photo tour of your house... it's late where I live, and I'm the only one in the office, so maybe I'm feeling a little paranoid... but does anyone else have an uneasy feeling about putting a photo tour of one's home on publicly accessible pages of a personal site?
Call me paranoid...
Kevin
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rodaniel
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RE: 2Dolphins Web Site Critique Request - 3/8/2005 6:05:26
quote:
ORIGINAL: kevin3442
Regarding the photo tour of your house [...] does anyone else have an uneasy feeling about putting a photo tour of one's home on publicly accessible pages of a personal site?
Thanks for the feedback, Kevin! I was a bit apprehensive about the photos revealing a bit too specific info about our whereabouts too. So I've tried to be careful not to show anything that pinpoints our address or exact locale. Still, do you think I've shown too much?
Rob
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kevin3442
Posts: 197
Joined: 1/25/2005
From: Nebraska, USA (home of the once-mighty Huskers)
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RE: 2Dolphins Web Site Critique Request - 3/9/2005 1:11:55
Hi Rob,
It's not so much the pictures that reveal anything about location. The pictures may show stuff that you have that someone else might like to have. If someone decides to relieve you of that stuff, location information might not be too hard to glean from other sources, for someone with a little net savvy (for crooks, many of whom aren't very bright, that may just mean that someone else who is bright showed them how). This is especially true of personal sites, because of the way the domain name is registered. For example, within a few minutes of visiting your site (even without reading your post), I know your name, your wife's name (including last name), her email address, and what may be your phone number and your home address (I don't want to put it here, but maybe just a small bit to illustrate: 52nd).
I'm not trying to creep you out (although I'm creeping myself out a bit!) so please don't take it that way. I'm just offering one person's opinion. But hey... maybe it's just me being paranoid. If you decided to secure that section, you could put it behind a login, then set up accounts for your friends and family to use.
I like the floor plan image BTW. And nice job on the kitchen! Something I dread having to do one day.
Cheers,
Kevin
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rodaniel
Posts: 10
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RE: 2Dolphins Web Site Critique Request - 1/10/2007 4:48:32
Given the date on the original post, you can probably tell that 2Dolphins hadn't had a real update in quite some time. Oh sure, we've added to the content, but the look and navigation of the site had not changed significantly in almost 2 years.
So, with the New Year, we decided it was time for a new look. I'd sure appreciate some feedback on the overhaul!
Rob
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mar0364
Posts: 3036
Joined: 4/5/2002
From: Florida, US
Status: offline
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RE: 2Dolphins Web Site Critique Request - 1/12/2007 16:24:37
I thought it was a site about the Miami Dolphins. Darn.
_____________________________
Easy Web
“Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.”
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Tailslide
Posts: 5927
Joined: 5/10/2005
From: Out here on the raggedy edge
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RE: 2Dolphins Web Site Critique Request - 1/13/2007 4:02:21
I agree with Jaybee about the CSS. It will make it much faster to fix stuff if you do that.
One thing - in Firefox, the header image is about 10px down from the top of the page. If you hunt down your header CSS rules and find this one: border:#ad9b53 0px solid; make the 0px 1px and the problem goes away. I know it's strange - but it works!
Apart from that there's not a lot to say - it's nice. It's not "Wow!" but it's nice. Personally, I'd find a more colourful header image to really make it stand out more - it's such a colourful subject, there must be loads of $1 photos at places like http://www.istockphoto.com.
Oh - just noticed, the nav looks different in IE7 and FF. I think it's how it's meant to be in FF, with rounded corners - but actually it probably looks better without them....
If you're up for it then I've found this to be a real time saver for tab navigation - http://www.highdots.com/css-tab-designer/ It's free too!
_____________________________
"My strategy is so simple an idiot could have devised it"
Little Blue Plane Web Design | Blood, Sweat & Rust - A Land Rover restoration project
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rodaniel
Posts: 10
Joined: 3/6/2005
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RE: 2Dolphins Web Site Critique Request - 1/13/2007 4:04:48
JB, I've been wondering about that, but I'm not at all sure how to go about doing so. I'd certainly appreciate some pointers on linking to an external stylesheet.
I am very keen on the idea of being able to make a single tweak to the layout code and have it apply site-wide.
(I actually thought the loading speed issue was mostly on my end - my DSL connectivity has been kind of pokey lately...)
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Tailslide
Posts: 5927
Joined: 5/10/2005
From: Out here on the raggedy edge
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RE: 2Dolphins Web Site Critique Request - 1/13/2007 6:37:09
I've used it twice this week!!
I tend not to use it exactly as is - but I'll take the images into PS and change their colour etc and then use them. It's very useful because I'm just too lazy to implement the whole "shifting the image up and down" thing by myself.
_____________________________
"My strategy is so simple an idiot could have devised it"
Little Blue Plane Web Design | Blood, Sweat & Rust - A Land Rover restoration project
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rodaniel
Posts: 10
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RE: 2Dolphins Web Site Critique Request - 1/13/2007 10:03:11
JB, there's a "Template" text box where you paste the page code on Blogger. The HTML code is the same as I've used on the other pages except for a <Blogger> chunk within the Body that defines how to present the incoming blog post data.
I have a fair bit (or at least the sense thereof) of control over the environment that Blogger uses...
I'd be happy to email you the code if need be...
Rob
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rodaniel
Posts: 10
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RE: 2Dolphins Web Site Critique Request - 1/13/2007 13:17:35
Okay, well, I've been toying around with the external CSS stuff this morning and I'm kinda wrapping my teensy brain around the concept...
So far, what I've tried works, but some of the positioning is getting hammered in the process. Take a peek at this page to see what I'm getting:
External CSS Test Page
Not arguing that there are certainly other merits to this (significantly cleans up the code!), but I can't tell that moving the CSS to an external file really boosts the page load speed...
Rob
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rodaniel
Posts: 10
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RE: 2Dolphins Web Site Critique Request - 1/14/2007 12:23:32
quote:
ORIGINAL: Tailslide
Apart from that there's not a lot to say - it's nice. It's not "Wow!" but it's nice. Personally, I'd find a more colourful header image to really make it stand out more.
Good advice, Tailslide, I came up with a far better, much less cartoonish, header graphic. Brings the look up a notch, IMO.
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