Site Ratings & Reviews - Critique please

Author

Critique please

TreatmentPlant

2006-03-19, 6:23 pm

I have been asked a favour by a friend to update his website...

http://www.rentals2000.com.au/

Other than starting from scratch! What do you recommend?

My list so far:
1. The banner graphic needs to be redone
2. The background is too dark and gloomy
3. The site navigation is poor
4. There is not a good 'corporate feel' over the entire site
5. Needs judicious use of valid css
6. Need to get the HTML to validate
7. Need to ditch the js

Any more? Please?

This is going to be ongoing project over a short while. I am a relative
newbie; I can write HTML, css etc but have never undertaken a commercial
project (I normally just write informative pages, presentations and
stuff) I am not getting paid for this either - its just a favour for a
friend and his family's business.

TIA

Scott

Chaddy2222

2006-03-19, 6:23 pm

TreatmentPlant wrote:
> I have been asked a favour by a friend to update his website...
>
> http://www.rentals2000.com.au/
>
> Other than starting from scratch! What do you recommend?
>
> My list so far:
> 1. The banner graphic needs to be redone
> 2. The background is too dark and gloomy
> 3. The site navigation is poor
> 4. There is not a good 'corporate feel' over the entire site
> 5. Needs judicious use of valid css
> 6. Need to get the HTML to validate
> 7. Need to ditch the js
>
> Any more? Please?
Hmmm, all I can suggest is that you need to add some alt text to a few
of those images. You may also want to place some more text on the fron
/ main page of the site. All those images won't do the SE ranking any
good. Google can't read alt text on images (as far as I know).
I hope this helps.
--
Regards Chad. http://home.primus.com.au/kellykk/freewebdesignonline

Nije Nego

2006-03-19, 6:23 pm

On Sun, 19 Mar 2006 20:19:28 +0800, TreatmentPlant wrote:

> I have been asked a favour by a friend to update his website...
>
> http://www.rentals2000.com.au/
>
> Other than starting from scratch! What do you recommend?
>
> My list so far:
> 1. The banner graphic needs to be redone
> 2. The background is too dark and gloomy
> 3. The site navigation is poor
> 4. There is not a good 'corporate feel' over the entire site
> 5. Needs judicious use of valid css
> 6. Need to get the HTML to validate
> 7. Need to ditch the js
>
> Any more? Please?
>
> This is going to be ongoing project over a short while. I am a relative
> newbie; I can write HTML, css etc but have never undertaken a commercial
> project (I normally just write informative pages, presentations and
> stuff) I am not getting paid for this either - its just a favour for a
> friend and his family's business.
>
>
> TIA
>
> Scott

How on earth do you think to repair this ugly site,
<TD></TD>
</TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP ALIGN=LEFT>
<TD HEIGHT=40></TD>

<TD COLSPAN=5></TD>
</TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP ALIGN=LEFT>
<TD COLSPAN=8 HEIGHT=6></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>

my recomendation would be to start over, beyond zero.

--
o'tom po'tom

kchayka

2006-03-19, 6:23 pm

TreatmentPlant wrote:
> I have been asked a favour by a friend to update his website...
>
> http://www.rentals2000.com.au/
>
> Other than starting from scratch! What do you recommend?

Your only real choice is to start over from scratch. The existing code
is too awful to work with.

> My list so far:

I think you covered the bases pretty well. :) When you get to those data
tables, be sure to mark them up with proper captions and headers.

> This is going to be ongoing project over a short while.

You'll probably get it done *much* quicker if you rewrite it from
scratch. You can copy/paste text from the rendered web page (without
markup), which may save you some time. Do get rid of the all-caps text,
though.

If your editor has macro and/or extended search and replace
capabilities, that will come in handy, too.

Good luck. :)

--
Reply email address is a bottomless spam bucket.
Please reply to the group so everyone can share.

TreatmentPlant

2006-03-20, 6:34 pm

<snip>

I have had my first crack at rebuilding the site from (almost) scratch.
My mate, the client has not seen it yet, but anyway, I am interested
to see the comments from you all as to where I should be taking the site
next. What would you suggest, I recommend to the client?

I have used PHP to build the pages, each page has validated html and
css. The site has no "contents" yet, but I have included a demo table
on the 'specials' page.

I am interested in your comments and suggestions.

[Hopefully, you think is an improvement over the original
http://www.rentals2000.com.au/ ]

Scott

TreatmentPlant

2006-03-20, 6:34 pm

TreatmentPlant

2006-03-20, 6:34 pm

TreatmentPlant wrote:
> <snip>
>
> I have had my first crack at rebuilding the site from (almost) scratch.
> My mate, the client has not seen it yet, but anyway, I am interested
> to see the comments from you all as to where I should be taking the site
> next. What would you suggest, I recommend to the client?
>
> I have used PHP to build the pages, each page has validated html and
> css. The site has no "contents" yet, but I have included a demo table
> on the 'specials' page.
>
> I am interested in your comments and suggestions.
>
> [Hopefully, you think is an improvement over the original
> http://www.rentals2000.com.au/ ]
>
> The new site is (temporarily) at
> http://members.iinet.net.au/~wabbit/r2/index.php
>
>
>
> Scott

Mea Culpa,

I have just noticed a mistake...

The Date last modified is in the footer.inc file instead of the page
files, so does not change as each page is updated; it will only change
when the footer.inc file is updated. I will rectify this before it goes
live, sometime.... oneday.... when its finished!

Scott

kchayka

2006-03-20, 6:34 pm

TreatmentPlant wrote:
>
> I have had my first crack at rebuilding the site from (almost) scratch.
>
> [Hopefully, you think is an improvement over the original
> http://www.rentals2000.com.au/ ]
>
> http://members.iinet.net.au/~wabbit/r2/index.php

A million times better, in every conceivable way, methinks. :) Now if
they would only go for a nicer logo...

Something you should consider is using list markup instead of paragraphs
for the navigation menus. Lots of styling possibilities are to be found at:
<URL:http://css.maxdesign.com.au/listamatic/>

Good job, so far.

--
Reply email address is a bottomless spam bucket.
Please reply to the group so everyone can share.

Jim Moe

2006-03-20, 6:34 pm

TreatmentPlant wrote:
>
> [Hopefully, you think is an improvement over the original
> http://www.rentals2000.com.au/ ]
>
> The new site is (temporarily) at
> http://members.iinet.net.au/~wabbit/r2/index.php
>
A vast improvement. The only word for the original is "UGLY!"
The color scheme is still very, er, primary. Are those the colors the
company normally uses for advertisements and correspondence?

--
jmm (hyphen) list (at) sohnen-moe (dot) com
(Remove .AXSPAMGN for email)

Nije Nego

2006-03-20, 6:34 pm

On Mon, 20 Mar 2006 22:04:03 +0800, TreatmentPlant wrote:

> <snip>
>
> I have had my first crack at rebuilding the site from (almost) scratch.
> My mate, the client has not seen it yet, but anyway, I am interested
> to see the comments from you all as to where I should be taking the site
> next. What would you suggest, I recommend to the client?
>
> I have used PHP to build the pages, each page has validated html and
> css. The site has no "contents" yet, but I have included a demo table
> on the 'specials' page.
>
> I am interested in your comments and suggestions.
>
> [Hopefully, you think is an improvement over the original
> http://www.rentals2000.com.au/ ]
>
>
> Scott

On of the things you may consider
http://css.maxdesign.com.au/listamatic/
--
o'tom po'tom

TreatmentPlant

2006-03-21, 3:15 am

kchayka wrote:
> TreatmentPlant wrote:
>
>
>
> A million times better, in every conceivable way, methinks. :) Now if
> they would only go for a nicer logo...
>
> Something you should consider is using list markup instead of paragraphs
> for the navigation menus. Lots of styling possibilities are to be found at:
> <URL:http://css.maxdesign.com.au/listamatic/>
>
> Good job, so far.
>

Thanks for the input. I will discuss the logo and the colour scheme
with the client tonight.

TreatmentPlant

2006-03-21, 3:15 am

Jim Moe wrote:
> TreatmentPlant wrote:
>
>
> A vast improvement. The only word for the original is "UGLY!"
> The color scheme is still very, er, primary. Are those the colors the
> company normally uses for advertisements and correspondence?
>
I will discuss the colour scheme with the client tonight.