www.leafspage.com - help wanted

hi

I have just started a ROTS gallery, and also want to do a star wars article magazine. Is anyone interested in writing pieces about being a starwars fan, or what starwars means to them? If you have a site already, and want me to link to your site, let me know, as am very eager to gain new starwars freinds.

Leafy

 

My initial thoughts and advice:
- Check your website in multiple browsers. Some of the things don't appear to be loading in the right places in Firefox (images are covering text, text and titles aren't within the nice boxes, etc.)
- Don't use any of the Star Wars fonts on your website. Not everyone has the fonts downloaded, and in terms of fonts, I think they're pretty crude. If you (for some reason) see the need to use a SW font for something, make it an image, so you can be guaranteed that it will load the same for everyone.
- Both places that it says "Click Here" on the main page do not appear to be links.

 

Thankyou for your comments. This is my first site i have built, and am always looking for tips. Content wise do you think it's a good idea? Did you read the articles section, coz that is where i initially need help.

As for blleding writing in to boxes and links not working, i am usin serif web page builder. I am not fluent in html( although have worked out how to get the banners from affiliates going) Would you have any suggestions?

 

I personally would suggest learning HTML, and not using web page builders. But that's just my personal preference.

The word "Articles" does not appear to be clickable. But clicking the "Collecting" link seems to bring up the articles section.

The articles section is hard to comment on, since there are only a few articles so far.

One thing that will get annoying or confusing is simply naming all your pages "page56.html", etc. Give them creative names, or else it'll be harder to know that you're linking to the correct page.

 

OK... am not sure how to reply to this... Considering i have no html knowledge, and have software that enables me to build a web page that seems to run on the most common browsers, are you there fore saying i should stop now, and that what i am doing is pointless if i can not write a site in html? I asked you to read a particular article to gain the idea of what i wanted to do with the site, and that was what this thread was about. I do not wish to sound rude, and have taken your comments about fonts on board very seriously. But as to the links not running properly in friefox, if i don't know how to write in html, and only have the serif software, how would you suggest i go on from here? My site is supposed to be a hobby for me to do when i am not at work. It is not to enable me to build web pages and make mega bucks. It is about me building a site to form different opinions about the star wars phenomena.

I look forward to your comments

Leaf

 

Hi Leaf,

I have just looked at your site, and it is looking cracking to me!! I can see that it is in its early stages of development, but what there is, appears jolly good.

I have to say that the whole thing loaded fine on my computer, I had no problems at all, so I am somewhat lost as to what YodaJeff is whinging about.

Personally, I find your fonts fine. Although they may be 'crude' to some viewing the site, for those of us able to appreciate the spirit that the site was designed in, I find them unproblematic. Equally, all of the links seem to work just fine, I could not find any that didnt perform.

As is both obvious, and as you have conceeded, this site is simply a hobby for you, and as such it is an admirable one. I for one, certainly enjoy what you are attempting. Perhaps it is a pity that not all of us seem able to view things for what they are, rather than what we would have chosen to make them. Whatever means you have to create this page, I suggest that if you are happy using them, then continue to do so. In my opinion, the results do not engender any degree of criticism, much less malignant computer snobbery. I like your site, and will certainly consider contributing to it. Please continue to maintain it, and above all enjoy it as you do so.

 

As I stated, learning HTML is just my personal preference. I realize that not everyone has the time to learn it, nor do they care to. I'm not saying that you should stop now, or that your work is pointless because you can't write HTML by yourself. I'm saying that things look terrible and do not work correctly in Firefox, and that is enough to make me personally not want to visit the site.

Forgive me for being blunt, but this "serif" software that you are using is complete crap. I have no idea why they put a transparent image over text to make a link, instead of just linking with the text itself. After viewing the source of the page, I personally think that it's full of a lot of garbage. The page is not compatible with browsers other than Internet Explorer, which now has less than 90% of the browser market. Sure, that's still a large number, but unless you want to annoy at least one out of ten visitors, you really should find a program that supports and works with multiple browsers. You're right, for the most part, everything lines up and looks 10 times better in Internet Explorer than in Firefox. But that ignores the fact that most people aren't going to try a site in multiple browsers, they'll just leave.

I know exactly what you mean about having a website that is a hobby for your free time, and isn't meant to be a source of money. I've put far more money into my website than I'll ever see in return, but I do it because I enjoy it, and because people seem to enjoy my site.

 

Thankyou for your comments. 90% of the web will suit my hobby.

 

Suit yourself, since the number of IE users has been rapidly dropping. With that said, I'm going to stop giving you feedback, since I'm obviously not part of your target market.

 

Lets try again. LOL. Does anyone wish to help write an article, or constructively help me with my website?

 

I would put the content of your site in tables, about 618 pix in length, as this avoids users having to scroll along the bottom of the page. It also lets people print out articles etc without having a load of text and images missed off.

Apart from that, I think that your site looks great. I'd also try to limit the amount of images that you have on a page - they might look great but can make it take a long time to download. For the same reason, I'd avoid using flash and animated gifs.

As for content, why not add a fan fiction section? I see that you already have one for fan art.

As for html, I know nothing of it accept how to do meta tags, etc and I've designed my site without it looking crude. I thought YodaJeff's comments were pretty harsh - you have designed it quite well for a hobby. At least there aren't any background images and you've not used times new roman or courier as your main text, which always look outdated unless you use them just for links.

 

For the record, many of the things I complained about have since been changed or improved.

 

Yes, and a huge appology for my initial panic reaction... Your comments have helped no end, even though i still don't know how to get it to work in fire fox.

 

I will gladly add a fan fiction section, if some one submits some fan fiction... so if you know of any body who does that kind of thing, get them to get in contact with me. 618 pixcels... that is obviously going to have to be my next piece of problem solving...

Thanx for the input.

 

While it isn't perfect, it does look better in Firefox now than it did before. Changing the navigation links on the top left to regular text helped a lot.

 

Use Bravenet's Webtools - At No Cost! I Use Them Lot's, And They're Good!
URL: http://www.bravenet.com
My URL: http://www.geocities.com/jamesehomepage

 

If you ever do decide to write in HTML, here's some site to get you started. I have a website, and I do it all in HTML. After doing it for awhile, it will become second nature to you.

http://lissaexplains.com/
http://funky-chickens.com/
http://htmlclinic.com/
http://htmlgoodies.com/

 

I write fan fiction so I might send you a couple just to start it off. If you do decide to host fan fiction, then it would be best to only have stories rated G-PG-13, as George Lucas and his related companies ignore that, as long as they aren't just a copy of a novel that has already been published.

It'll probably take a while for you to get a decent archive of them though as my website has been up for just over a year and most of the stories on there are my own, with a couple from people who helped start it off.

One other piece of advice is get to people to affiliate with you - that way you increase your visitors no end. Check out the Spam Continuum as you can post a link to your site there, but I'd be careful about posting a link anywhere else as they don't usually like that sort of thing and you're likely to have it deleted or whatever.

Have you put metatags for title, keywords and site discription at the top of your home page yet? You can get these generated for you at bravenet and they are important so that search engines can list your page. All you need to do once you've got them done is copy and paste them into the html editor of your web design software, if it has one. Bravenet also has a search engine submission facility. Once you've got an account with them you can find them all in the Template Gallery Resource Center and then go to the mini tools section. That's the only way your site will listed in yahoo, google etc for free.

If you want a forum for your site, then I suggest you go to Jedi Girl - ignore the name - as it's always looking for people to take over forums that people don't want anymore and because they are already established, the fan base comes with it. One of the problems I've found with setting up new boards is that people tend not to stay around because there aren't any messages already there, I found that out with the forum on my site. I've also found that a forum with a purpose, for example fan art, fan fiction gets better messages than a social forum (people don't tend to post pointless messages or flame other people.)but it's up to you what you do with that.

 

Thankyou ever so much for your words... that has been the most helpful information i have had to date in any of the threads i have placed in forums. I don't have much time this week with work to look into it all, but rest assured over the next two weeks i will be heeding your advice. Thankyou ever so much.

Leafy