Site Ratings & Reviews - Critique this site, please

Author

Critique this site, please

Jim Moe

2005-08-14, 11:18 pm

Hello,
Okay, now it's your turn. I've critiqued a number of sites here,
sometimes a bit harshly.

<http://www.theethicsoftouch.com/>

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Spartanicus

2005-08-14, 11:18 pm

Jim Moe <jmm-list.AXSPAMGN@sohnen-moe.com> wrote:

><http://www.theethicsoftouch.com/>

1) The colours don't go together well.
2) Odd choice of background colour, or any other colour for that matter.
3) Overlapping: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/spartanicus/Image1.png
4) I let my eye wonder over the index page for about 5 seconds, still
didn't have a clue what the site is about.
5) Incorrect and/or non sensible alt content. The title of the
site/index page is contained in a graphic with the text "The ethics of
touch", that exact phrase should thus be the alt content, and it should
be the h1.
6) "Welcome to The Ethics of Touch site!" the fact that users are
welcome is a given, explicitly stating it is sooo "My first home page"
(same goes for the "welcome" in the title).
7) The body text size is uncomfortably smaller than my configured
default.
8) When you specify one colour, specify them all. My default link colour
is showing, the legibility against your specified background colour is
very poor.
9) Inefficient usage of my viewport width, there is a significant
wastage of unused space on the right.
10) "Processing time: 0.004 seconds" why do you think a user knows what
this refers to, or why this would be of any interest to a user?
11) <li class="nav2-sepr"> </li> bogus content/markup.
12) Useless nonsense:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Script-Type" content="text/javascript">
<meta name="MSSmartTagsPreventParsing" content="TRUE">
13) <div id="nav2"><ul> ... </ul></div> needless usage of a div, style
the ul.
14) Non justifiable use of a table for layout (summary="Intro to TEoT"
table)
15) <hr> used as presentational markup, use CSS instead.
16) Inappropriate usage of the <cite> markup element.
17) Inline CSS, externalize it.
18) Inappropriate multiple h1s. Use proper header descendence.
19) More bogus content and markup: <p> </p>
20) News and Announcements
14-Aug-2005 Today is a great day!
No it's not, my cat just peed outside his litter box, and now someone
has to clean it up (me probably). (I get the feeling you are an
American)

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Blinky the Shark

2005-08-15, 4:26 am

Spartanicus wrote:
> 14-Aug-2005 Today is a great day!
> No it's not, my cat just peed outside his litter box, and now someone
> has to clean it up (me probably). (I get the feeling you are an
> American)

Wow! I've heard of reading tea leaves, but reading cat piss is a new
one on me.

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Jim Moe

2005-08-15, 4:26 am

Spartanicus wrote:
>
> 3) Overlapping: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/spartanicus/Image1.png
>
Yes, that is a result of one of things I do not yet understand. How do
I float:left two divs so that one does not wrap under the other when the
viewport is shrunk?
>
> 7) The body text size is uncomfortably smaller than my configured
> default.
>
I am not sure where you are talking about. The News on the index page
is at 88%; almost all of the rest of the text is 100%.
>
> 11) <li class="nav2-sepr"> </li> bogus content/markup.
>
What do you recommend for a spacer markup?
>
> 19) More bogus content and markup: <p> </p>
>
The one that got away.

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Spartanicus

2005-08-15, 7:57 pm

Jim Moe <jmm-list.AXSPAMGN@sohnen-moe.com> wrote:

[color=darkred]
> Yes, that is a result of one of things I do not yet understand. How do
>I float:left two divs so that one does not wrap under the other when the
>viewport is shrunk?

I don't have the time to try and fully understand your poor code,
banner0 container having a fixed height contributes to the problem.

> I am not sure where you are talking about. The News on the index page
>is at 88%; almost all of the rest of the text is 100%.

The smaller than comfortable text size results from your usage of a
serif font for the body text. Due to the difference in x-height between
serif and sans serif fonts users who have configured a sans serif font
will see author specified serif fonts smaller than their configured
size.

> What do you recommend for a spacer markup?

Spacing in this example is styling:
http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/box.html#margin-properties

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Jim Moe

2005-08-15, 7:57 pm

Spartanicus wrote:
>
>
> The smaller than comfortable text size results from your usage of a
> serif font for the body text. Due to the difference in x-height between
> serif and sans serif fonts users who have configured a sans serif font
> will see author specified serif fonts smaller than their configured
> size.
>
So you have chosen a serif font that is hard to read? Where is this my
problem?

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Spartanicus

2005-08-15, 7:57 pm

Jim Moe <jmm-list.AXSPAMGN@sohnen-moe.com> wrote:

> So you have chosen a serif font that is hard to read?

I've chosen a sans serif font, but your site insists on using a serif
font.

>Where is this my problem?

If I'm not reviewing a site difficult to read text results in exercising
the back feature of my browser.

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Spartanicus

Chris Beall

2005-08-15, 7:57 pm

Jim Moe wrote:

> Hello,
> Okay, now it's your turn. I've critiqued a number of sites here,
> sometimes a bit harshly.
>
> <http://www.theethicsoftouch.com/>
>

Jim,

General:
Most of the text is justified, which I find hard to read, especially
when you allow long line lengths. I prefer a ragged-right margin with
line length limited to about 30em.
The amount of material above the navigation means that on my setup
the last navigation link I can see, without vertical scrolling, is
"Authors".
I like the subdued color scheme, though it does reduce
text-to-background contrast a bit. I had no trouble reading the text.

Home:
Click HERE for... should be reworded such that the link text
describes where the link will go. "Here" doesn't tell me anything.
Imagine that I can only see the actual link text.
I'm dubious about the 'News and Announcements'. Most of the
information is about updates you've made to the site. Do you expect
lots of folks to check back often to see what changes you've made? This
doesn't seem like that sort of site to me, but perhaps I'm wrong.

Description:
"Detailed information is available HERE." Why not make the link
describe what it links to: "DETAILED INFORMATION is available."

Reviews:
I was confused by the layout of this section. Each page replicates
the index of reviews and each page contains multiple reviews under that
index, but I detected no structure regarding which reviews were on which
page. I wouldn't have noticed, except I clicked on a link, the next
page took a while to load, and I was then positioned in the middle of
that page. Curious, I scrolled to the top and saw what looked like the
page I had just come from, which made me think I WAS still on that page,
just farther in, but then I realized that wouldn't have taken much time
to get to and.... As I say, I got confused.

Schools list:
This is just a list, so I don't get the 4-across boxed layout.
Whenever I see something like this, I'm initially confused as to whether
it is alphabetical using row-priority or column-priority. I'd just use
a list, perhaps with a delimiter whenever the initial letter changes,
ex: from F to G.

Home Study Courses:
Navigational inconsistency. This is not a separate page, as were all
prior links, but a midpoint on the Description page. So you click on
"Home Study Courses", then later scroll up and see that the highlighted
navigation link (showing which page you are on) isn't the one you
clicked on...

Codes of Ethics:
Same odd page structure as Reviews.
The font used in the index is bigger, bolder, or both than appears
elsewhere. One of the advantages of CSS is that you can get consistency
across the site, yet you don't seem to be taking advantage of that.

Teacher's Corner:
The first 4 links: Description, Preview... represent a set of steps.
To follow those steps, however, you must go to each page, then go
"Back" with the browser, then click on the next step. I'd put "next
step" (appropriately titled) links at the bottom of each of these pages,
so you can go directly. In the case of the library card form, if the
form is processed in real time, then the 'thank you' response screen
should contain a link to Enter the teacher's library. (I didn't test that).

Resources:
Out of the blue, a not-elsewhere-used sans-serif font in the left
column of the table. Why?

Chris Beall

Jim Moe

2005-08-15, 7:57 pm

Spartanicus wrote:
>
> I've chosen a sans serif font, but your site insists on using a serif
> font.
>
For the body text all I have specified is "font-family:serif", that is,
use whatever you have chosen for a serif font. If you have chosen a
sans-serif font wherever "serif" is the indicated, why would my site
override that?

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Spartanicus

2005-08-15, 11:48 pm

Jim Moe <jmm-list.AXSPAMGN@sohnen-moe.com> wrote:

> For the body text all I have specified is "font-family:serif", that is,
>use whatever you have chosen for a serif font. If you have chosen a
>sans-serif font wherever "serif" is the indicated, why would my site
>override that?

It seems that you don't understand what happens when a user changes
between a serif and a sans serif font as the user preferred font.

I have configured my preferred font to be a sans serif font, not by
configuring my browser to substitute a sans serif for author suggested
serif fonts.

--
Spartanicus

Jim Moe

2005-08-16, 4:37 am

Spartanicus wrote:
>
> It seems that you don't understand what happens when a user changes
> between a serif and a sans serif font as the user preferred font.
>
I have never encountered this feature in a browser. Or do not recognize
it as you describe it.
Which browser do you use?

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Jim Moe

2005-08-16, 4:37 am

Chris Beall wrote:
>
> General:
> Most of the text is justified, which I find hard to read, especially
> when you allow long line lengths. I prefer a ragged-right margin with
> line length limited to about 30em.
> The amount of material above the navigation means that on my setup the
> last navigation link I can see, without vertical scrolling, is "Authors".
> I like the subdued color scheme, though it does reduce
> text-to-background contrast a bit. I had no trouble reading the text.
>
The text justification is client-specified. I too find full justified
text unpleasant on a low resolution monitor.
Something really needs to fill that space. I've reduced it and on the
index page there is a blank spot just begging for something. Maybe a
background image....
I have been ambivalent about the color scheme for a while. I wanted
something that would stand out a bit from the standard white background.
Finding a suitable light/pale/pastel background color that is not wretched
is quite the challenge. Especially when there is such variation in color
balance for monitors.
I finally decided to lighten the background to a nearly white color.

> Home:
> I'm dubious about the 'News and Announcements'. Most of the
> information is about updates you've made to the site. Do you expect
> lots of folks to check back often to see what changes you've made? This
> doesn't seem like that sort of site to me, but perhaps I'm wrong.
>
The product is a book, a text book at that. Not very dynamic. The main
point of interest is for schools to see which other schools are using the
text. Actually the point of listing the customers is a bit lost on me.
But dropping the News section would leave the first page mostly blank.
Maybe that's desirable. Hmm.

> Reviews:
> I was confused by the layout of this section. Each page replicates
> the index of reviews and each page contains multiple reviews under that
> index, but I detected no structure regarding which reviews were on which
> page. [...]
>
They are ordered in descending chronology. Would have putting the
publication date ("Spring 2005") first made it more obvious?
The reviews take up a lot of space and I wanted to keep the page size
down below 20KB yet have it look like a single page. I apparently did not
succeed.
>
> Home Study Courses:
> Navigational inconsistency. [...]
>
Yes, well. It was worse. It used to link to another site altogether.
That was weird. I have not properly highlighted the Study Courses.

> Teacher's Corner:
> The first 4 links: Description, Preview... represent a set of steps.
> To follow those steps, however, you must go to each page, then go
> "Back" with the browser, then click on the next step. I'd put "next
> step" (appropriately titled) links at the bottom of each of these pages,
> so you can go directly. In the case of the library card form, if the
> form is processed in real time, then the 'thank you' response screen
> should contain a link to Enter the teacher's library. (I didn't test that).
>
That is a good idea. Thanks.

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Spartanicus

2005-08-16, 4:37 am

Jim Moe <jmm-list.AXSPAMGN@sohnen-moe.com> wrote:

> I have never encountered this feature in a browser. Or do not recognize
>it as you describe it.
> Which browser do you use?

The phenomena is the same in any browser. The cause is the difference in
x-height between serif and sans serif fonts.

To cut a long story short, to avoid body text size problems specifying
100%/1em body text size isn't enough, only if you also don't specify a
font family for body text will you avoid all small text problems.

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Chris Beall

2005-08-16, 11:24 pm

Jim Moe wrote:
> Chris Beall wrote:
(snip)
> They are ordered in descending chronology. Would have putting the
> publication date ("Spring 2005") first made it more obvious?
> The reviews take up a lot of space and I wanted to keep the page size
> down below 20KB yet have it look like a single page. I apparently did
> not succeed.

Jim,
My preference would be one page for EACH review with either:
- the index repeated on each page or
- the index on a separate page, with a "Back" link following each
review.

I maintain one site which has a "Press clippings" section. The main
page is just a chronological (most recent first) listing of the
clippings, and each clipping is on it's own page. Among other things,
this allows each page to have appropriate styling, without a jumble of
styles on a single page. Each page also has a link back to the source
(in this case newspapers), primarily as a quid pro quo, since these
papers don't have archives on their own sites and I've had to copy their
text onto my own pages.

Cheers,
Chris Beall

Jim Moe

2005-08-17, 4:26 am

Spartanicus wrote:
>
> The phenomena is the same in any browser. The cause is the difference in
> x-height between serif and sans serif fonts.
>
> To cut a long story short, to avoid body text size problems specifying
> 100%/1em body text size isn't enough, only if you also don't specify a
> font family for body text will you avoid all small text problems.
>
Ah! I understand.

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Jim Moe

2005-08-17, 4:26 am

Spartanicus wrote:
>
>
Okay, I've incorporated most of your comments.
>
> 12) Useless nonsense:
> <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css">
> <meta http-equiv="Content-Script-Type" content="text/javascript">
> <meta name="MSSmartTagsPreventParsing" content="TRUE">
>
The "MSSmart..." meta is spurious. Why are the other ones useless?
>
> 15) <hr> used as presentational markup, use CSS instead.
>
Hm. What is its use then?
>
> 20) News and Announcements
> 14-Aug-2005 Today is a great day!
> No it's not, my cat just peed outside his litter box, and now someone
> has to clean it up (me probably). (I get the feeling you are an
> American)
>
Ah. You took it literally. Irony is hard to convey in text.

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Jim Moe

2005-08-17, 4:26 am

Chris Beall wrote:
>
> My preference would be one page for EACH review with either:
> - the index repeated on each page or
> - the index on a separate page, with a "Back" link following each
> review.
>
I see your point. I groan at creating a separate page for each review.

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Spartanicus

2005-08-17, 7:39 pm

Jim Moe <jmm-list.AXSPAMGN@sohnen-moe.com> wrote:

> The "MSSmart..." meta is spurious. Why are the other ones useless?

1) It assumes that the server parses the html document and does
something with it, this is most unlikely.
2) In the very unlikely event that the server is setup to parse html and
do something with this data, it is very inefficient.
3) In the very unlikely event that the server is setup to parse html and
do something with this data, declaring a http header in one document for
another document is ludicrous.

> Hm. What is its use then?

It's use in modern markup is rarely justified, if it is to be used at
all it should be used to markup a structural division (semantic markup
such as header or paragraph elements are much more suitable to
structurally divide a document in virtually all cases).

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