une autre site de web

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

Just finished (well, finished the first stage, loads still to do) designing a new website, londonimprov.com - fairly self-explanatory title. Has some mp3s of me in case anyone's interested, and also it's just gone public, so it'd be cool to get some feedback from people on here re: usability etc. since, well, frankly you're all picky about every other site that gets mentioned so I'm pretty much guaranteed some decent critical comments (instead of "looks nice" which is all most of the people in London are up to, although that's fine too)

Also, any of you posting machines fancy beefing up the forums in your spare time, feel free. Lois/Moné I'll remove this if it's too cheeky, which it probably is.

[Lazy River]

Don't appear to be able to log in there.
LR

[Cem]

Nat, as I mentioned previously re: your mum's site, you have a knack for this stuff. It looks great! I love the index page. I really like 'the roll-over windows' (?) for events etc. I'll only suggest that you simplify your links page and photos page. If you could make them a little more intuitive, by making many thumbnails and links available, like a root system. Maybe use roll-over windows for info on links...? I really like that you do include info on links. I may add more later. Fwiw, I'll add your site to the links page on my site. It's a great resource!

[Uli]

Need to be able to post pictures.

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

Lazy, do you mean you can't log in (after registration), or you can't get in at all. Some users have experienced difficulty on Safari. I use Mozilla and IE without error, but that's just me. The registration process is a pain in the arse, and that's one long term thing to change - it's an open source CMS, so although it does loads of cool stuff, some of the cool stuff it does is pretty annoying, and hard to switch off if you're not a programmer. If it's just getting into the site, try http://www.londonimprov.com/londonimproved that ought to get you to the main page.

Cem - do you mean have more galleries on the front page, rather than the subgallery system. That's probably a good idea, in fact, I'll do it now - that's the best stuff on the site at the moment.

Links I can't do much about - I think it'll make more sense when there's a lot of links available, but I'm hoping that people will submit their own links/descriptions - I've done over 50, and can't face another few hours of that for a while, that's one area that need serious work. Submit your site Cem if you're linking to us.

Uli, I assume you mean in the forums. I'll look into that. never really do it here, so haven't tried it over there.

[moneyp]

Also, any of you posting machines fancy beefing up the forums in your spare time, feel free. Lois/Moné I'll remove this if it's too cheeky, which it probably is.

The laws governing cheekiness are very mutable.

Congrats on the site, Nat. I was thinking maybe this should be in Speak Out though, yeah?

[Sergio Zamora]

Originally posted by mone peterson
The laws governing cheekiness are very mutable.

It's hard to be tough on a guy who uses the word "cheeky" in regular conversation.

[Ron Thorne]

You've created another handsome site, Nat. Congratulations. You have a natural ability for simple, straightforward design, which I really appreciate. I like the background color you've chosen. It's warm, easy to read text from, and provides nice contrast with the photographic images when juxtaposed. In the genes, perhaps?

One thing I noticed right away is that the left margin (Site Navigation, etc.) is too tight against the edge, at least on my monitor, with the image under Gallery partially bleeding off the page. The fine lines look fine bleeding away, as they do on the right margin, and the text is all there, but barely (perhaps 1/32" to spare). Perhaps that was the look you were after, but for my taste, graphic and photo images need a bit of room to breathe or the impact suffers.

Very nice work, Nat!

I've been interested in creating a website for my wife and me, and one of the unanswered questions is how to find a reliable, affordable domain host. Would you, Cem or others care to offer some advice and/or comments from your experiences? I currently own what I feel is an excellent domain name, but have not activated it. Feel free to PM me if you'd rather not clutter up this thread with responses. Thanks.

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

Ron, I use HasWeb, only my second host but very good so far, and very cheap.

[walto]

Like I always said, that vicar's son got some serious TALENT!

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

Thanks Ron, Walt, and Mone.

Ron, I think you`re suggesting wider margins on each side of the page. I sort of like that, but I also like to use the full width of a monitor otherwise it entails more and more scrolling the more whitespace you have on either side. You use opera right? Don`t have that, so that`s a non-tested browser. Glad the site appears at alll on opera to be honest, it' crashed at least one installation of ie on mac, and wouldn`t work at all on safari (i wasn't present for those occurrences, might not have been the site). I`ll try to download a trial version so I can at least take a look from opera.

Mone, well part of me would like to do that, but I`m keen on keeping a certain amount of distance from my involvement in the site, at least while it starts up, but I guess it wouldn`t hurt. Felt guilty enough posting this in the alley. And of course I have to keep Uli happy.

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

by the way, in case anyone thinks any of the clever stuff is me, it isn't. I used an open-source content management system called postnuke. www.postnuke.com

8mb download - takes ages to work out, but not as long as learning all the php, mysql and javascript that's been put into postnuke over the past of couple years.

[Ron Thorne]

Thanks for the tips regarding web hosting and postnuke.com, Nat. I've sent you a PM.

Actually, I was using Mozilla Firebird when I visited your site today, since I've been encountering problems with JC on Opera for a few days. I just tried to visit your site via Opera without success, Nat. It might work if I instructed Opera to identify as Mozilla, however.

[Lazy River]

Catchpole: I'm REALLY embarrassed. I hadn't registered! When you mentioned that in your oh-so-kind post, I realized what I had NOT done. So it goes...
Lazy River

[Cem]

Originally posted by Nathaniel Catchpole
Cem - do you mean have more galleries on the front page, rather than the subgallery system. That's probably a good idea, in fact, I'll do it now - that's the best stuff on the site at the moment.

Links I can't do much about - I think it'll make more sense when there's a lot of links available, but I'm hoping that people will submit their own links/descriptions - I've done over 50, and can't face another few hours of that for a while, that's one area that need serious work. Submit your site Cem if you're linking to us.

Looks good!

Re: Links...I hear you.I still havent found an easy way to import mine to my site *AND* there's no way to alphabetize in Dreamweaver!!! ...at least, I haven't found it. I have oodles of 'em and I'm too lazy to put'em up one at a time. I figured out a half-assed way via Word, but it's not perfect.

& thanks for the link!

[Cem]

Originally posted by Ron Thorne
I've been interested in creating a website for my wife and me, and one of the unanswered questions is how to find a reliable, affordable domain host. Would you, Cem or others care to offer some advice and/or comments from your experiences? I currently own what I feel is an excellent domain name, but have not activated it. Feel free to PM me if you'd rather not clutter up this thread with responses. Thanks.

I use Webnames.ca, Ron. They're pretty good to deal with. I pay $20 for webhosting, which includes 50MB of space and 1GB traffic. I used to get the next one up, but it isn't necessary. Your ISP may have it included with high-speed connection. I don't think you have high-speed, right?

[Ron Thorne]

Thanks, Cem! I have a lot to learn about all of this. You're correct in saying that I don't have a high-speed connection. I'm still on a sluggish 56K dialup for the present time.

I think there must be a tremendous difference in the type of support* offered between the company used by you and Nat, since the costs are so dramatically different. The company Nat mentioned to me offers only web-based support to keep the cost down. For instance, I could buy a plan which offers 5GB Bandwidth and 250MB Disc Space for $34.95 USD per year! For $5.00 USD per month I could have 20GB/750MB. I'm also intrigued by the FREE Fantastico! software and unlimited e-mail accounts offered by HasWeb.

* I just noted that your host offers toll-free technical support, a major factor in cost comparisons.

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

That's the big difference, I figure if you have to call internationally, why also pay extra to talk to someone on the phone. They return e-mails within an hour or so usually, often with the problem already fixed, but then I like doing that sort of thing via e-mail.

[moneyp]

Ron: for small-scale websites I recommend IPowerWeb (www.ipowerweb.com).

I've opened several accounts with them for small businesses I work with, just to get a website up and running. Just $7.95 a month ($99 for the first year). They're very reliable, the support is fantastic, and the features they have are competitive with similarly-priced hosting providers.

[Cem]

Wow, thanks for all the info guys...looks like I'm getting screwed! Time to switch hosts, I guess...

[Ron Thorne]

Thanks, Moné. It's all a bit intimidating at the moment, but should be very interesting once I get my creative feet wet.