Dreamweaver MX

desie

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Joined
10 Jan 2004
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307
Hi there.

One of the sites I made needs a bit of a face lift.

I'm trying to find a good site that offers free HTML templates for DWMX. Though most of these templates are rubbish because the more content you add the more it f*cks up the graphics.

The site in question is here clickme

I really need to work on it soon.

As well as adding a template, what do you think of the site so far? It's rather basic isn't it?

Do you think any content should be changed, images resized? Thanks if you could give some feedback.
 
When it comes to dreamweaver, why don't you just make your own templates. Its farily straight forward even if you don't know much html.

When it comes to the design of the site, spend less time on adding fancy bevelled backgrounds to the images and more time on presenting the content in an orderly fasion.
 
Hi.

Were getting new pictures soon for the products.

Over the last couple of days I made this frame template. Rather basic but a bit more advances than what it currently is.

Edit, it's gone live!
New Layout

What do you think? Any problems you can fine?
 
looks okay. A little tip I learned over my years as a web designer is to keep all information a potential customer/visitor might want to see as cloase to 3 clicks away as is physically possible. Much more than that and people get irritated and leave for somewhere else.
 
hmmm test page looks better, but what about people without flash?
 
I think the test page is definately better, from both a web admin and a ease of access point of view.

Henyman has made a good point - do you know if all of your target audience is going to have flash? it might sound like a mute point considering its a mainstream utility this day and age, but if its targeted at the public its possible that you will always get the odd person who doesn't have flash on their system and possibly complain.

As you are using Dreamweaver you can control the whole look of the site through style sheet templates (.css) which can really help you keep track of the style and navigation in terms of fonts, size, picture areas and even frame pages in other areas. If you are unsure how to fully use stylesheets then there are a few good manuals around and you even may even want to ask your line manager to book you on an intermediate / advanced Dreamweaver course.

The accessibility rule is also good to follow. The general rule of thumb is that if you cannot find what you are looking for within three clicks then you need to move the information within the site structure to somewhere more accessible, or there is a risk that people will get bored/frustrated looking for the information and leave or complain.

Also, I always think sites always look better if the pictures are strategically dispersed at relevant points rather than globbed together in the middle of a page or strewn about using a scatter gun effect unless this is a deliberate stylistic choice.

Again, Dreamweavers Style Sheets templates can be really helpful at controlling this type of fallout. If you know what visual style you are going to use for a section of your site, you can lock it down as a template which would not only give the site a coherent, consistent look but also make creating new pages for that section a breeze (since most of the basic structure is already in place though the template) and create a strong corporate image at the same time if the design is good.

When I worked on the DWP UK government site we used Dreamweaver templates to the full as there are several different sections which had different layouts / purposes and it would have doubled the work load if each new page was created from scratch.

Having said this, Its a good site with a clean personalised visual design. The navigation bar on the side really adds to the look as well as being functional by aiding customer access to the content.
 
Adobe golive is cool to use also. It's a little hard to get used to, but it is good over all.
 
I agree, the test page is a lot better than the first. All the commets so far have been very constuctive. I'd like to toss one out there for you.

Take a look at the XHTML specification and CSS w/ Divs. Try to avoid Frames if you can. Since table's are on their way out, I won't reccomend them either.

It is a vast improvement though!
 
2nd attempt is well better, coming along nicely ;-) . I would change the centred text to left justified though - centred text is hard to read, particularly if it's a massive page.
 
I'll agree with the comments above... ditch the flash buttons... I use K-meleon run off a flash drive at times and haven't bothered to install flash on it... as such, I cannot see your buttons and am not able to actually browse through your site. People also using older computers, say a P-166 with 32MB RAM on Win95 or 98 may even get somewhat bogged down with lots of flash on a given site....If you want to dress up your links, just use css that way people with old browsers that don't understand all the css will just see a normal link and the people with newer browsers will see the dressed up versions. :)
 
OK thanks for all the comments. This is why the first site wasn't Flash. Though it looked way to baseic. I think what I will do is create a start page and link to the old version (slightly modify the old version to coinside with the new version) for non flash users and make the main link for flash users.

I don't think any pages have more the 3 clicks, there is only a button on the contact page that leads to a map, but that is reasnoble. The links in the center top of the main frame are part of a template.

My Dad has new product images and we will be sorting this layout issue out, and maybe create nice thumbnails or somthing that lead to bigger images.
 
New Layout Well what do you think? I didn't do the thumbnails because it just distorted the images and looked rubbish. Should anything be changed, general feedback welcome.
 
Dublex said:
I think the test page is definately better, from both a web admin and a ease of access point of view.

Henyman has made a good point - do you know if all of your target audience is going to have flash? it might sound like a mute point considering its a mainstream utility this day and age, but if its targeted at the public its possible that you will always get the odd person who doesn't have flash on their system and possibly complain.

<snip>

Why would everyone have flash these days? Its not a web standard, adn thus needs extra items from yet another software company.

This should not be ignored, at my school flash plugin is not installed, and we cant do anything, a lot of sites depends heavily on it, and it just doesnt work, and they have no text versions.

Also, links is a mans best friend, text only browsing, it works, is fast, and has no ads.
 
LordOfLA said:
looks okay. A little tip I learned over my years as a web designer is to keep all information a potential customer/visitor might want to see as cloase to 3 clicks away as is physically possible. Much more than that and people get irritated and leave for somewhere else.
Yeah the 3 clicks rule is quite important, dont have convoluted link patterns to get to information
the KISS principal (Keep It Simple Stupid)
and breadcrumbing which is technique like
OSNN Forums > Software > Coding & Design > Dreamweaver MX
it serves to remind people where they are and if your breadcrumbing is really good, what they are trying to do as well

interbrowser operation and accessibility are important as well
 
Erm, I will make a text link version when I've got the time. However we are in the 21st centurary. Many people have broadband, even people without broadband can download the plugin (which downloads automaticaly...) and it will only take a couple of minutes. I feel sorry for you college guys but should you be viewing this site at the college libary? Anyway I don't think there are more than 3 clicks throughout the site (i know what you mean). Could you give me some feedback about the new layout please. Basicaly as soon as you install Windows the flash plugin should be the first thing you download. Look at www.russellbarnes.co.uk for example. His site is Flash only. And I mean flash only. It would take a very long time to create a text version of his site and many people would just visit the flash version anyway. Doing a text version is a waste of time (although it's good all round compatibilty I know I know) and a waste of server space (thought this isnt an issue for me). So unless the weighing industry starts complaining through emails about a non-flash site then I will do it. Though until then I'm very happy with what is there.
 
desie said:
Basicaly as soon as you install Windows the flash plugin should be the first thing you download.
Dont be that closed minded, there is more than just windows in the world despite the proliferation of it. Also bear in mind that wholey flash based sites cannot be bookmarked for easy retrieval of information and in many cases cant be spidered as well. Text based sites also take up less disk space and use less bandwidth as well, esp is done properly. Flash has its place, and I am glad that it isnt the "new exciting" thing anymore, as I remember that back when it first came out, damn near every site either had or was flash.
 
desie said:
Erm, I will make a text link version when I've got the time. However we are in the 21st centurary. Many people have broadband, even people without broadband can download the plugin (which downloads automaticaly...) and it will only take a couple of minutes. I feel sorry for you college guys but should you be viewing this site at the college libary? Anyway I don't think there are more than 3 clicks throughout the site (i know what you mean). Could you give me some feedback about the new layout please. Basicaly as soon as you install Windows the flash plugin should be the first thing you download. Look at www.russellbarnes.co.uk for example. His site is Flash only. And I mean flash only. It would take a very long time to create a text version of his site and many people would just visit the flash version anyway. Doing a text version is a waste of time (although it's good all round compatibilty I know I know) and a waste of server space (thought this isnt an issue for me). So unless the weighing industry starts complaining through emails about a non-flash site then I will do it. Though until then I'm very happy with what is there.


Downloads automatically, please go install FreeBSD, and look for a download of flash for Firefox. Then get back to me cause Macromedia does not have one for FreeBSD.

Also, you say Windows, well sorry, but Windows is not the standard anymore. There are other OS's out there and not everyone of them gets supported. You can say "Well thats a minority", but most of the time that minority has a bigger voice as it knows what its talking about.

That link you post is actually mostly text, only a few bits and pieces are flash. So it was an extremely bad example.

But whatever, i know that atleast my vote wont go towards your company as you use just flash. Just like i wont give a vote to MS cause of ActiveX required on most pages.
 
desie said:
Hi there.

One of the sites I made needs a bit of a face lift.

I'm trying to find a good site that offers free HTML templates for DWMX. Though most of these templates are rubbish because the more content you add the more it f*cks up the graphics.

The site in question is here clickme

I really need to work on it soon.

As well as adding a template, what do you think of the site so far? It's rather basic isn't it?

Do you think any content should be changed, images resized? Thanks if you could give some feedback.


Get rid of the enter site page, get straight in.

Russelbarnes site, ewww get rid of that lame flash repeating image stuff it's headache material.
You have a lot of spelling errors, poor grammar and punctuation and a no-no, don't split your infinitives.
 
Get rid of the enter site page, get straight in.

Russelbarnes site, ewww get rid of that lame flash repeating image stuff it's headache material.
You have a lot of spelling errors, poor grammar and punctuation and a no-no, it to split your infinitives.

Ok, do most of you think I should get rid of the enter page then? I quiet like it my self, maybe it could be improved?

Downloads automatically, please go install FreeBSD, and look for a download of flash for Firefox. Then get back to me cause Macromedia does not have one for FreeBSD.

Also, you say Windows, well sorry, but Windows is not the standard anymore. There are other OS's out there and not everyone of them gets supported. You can say "Well thats a minority", but most of the time that minority has a bigger voice as it knows what its talking about.

That link you post is actually mostly text, only a few bits and pieces are flash. So it was an extremely bad example.

But whatever, i know that atleast my vote wont go towards your company as you use just flash. Just like i wont give a vote to MS cause of ActiveX required on most pages.

I use Linux from time to time my self. I find it very easy to install flash for mozilla, only takes a couple of commands. Sorry if you use Freebsd.

I know most of Russ site is text but all the headings, buttons and so forth would have to be changed. Ok I admit it was a bad example, but I'm sure there are sites out there that are full of flash.

Dont be that closed minded, there is more than just windows in the world despite the proliferation of it. Also bear in mind that wholey flash based sites cannot be bookmarked for easy retrieval of information and in many cases cant be spidered as well. Text based sites also take up less disk space and use less bandwidth as well, esp is done properly. Flash has its place, and I am glad that it isnt the "new exciting" thing anymore, as I remember that back when it first came out, damn near every site either had or was flash.

I know there are different OS's, but I was asked to make a better layout for the web site. The text version was very, very boring.

Thanks for comments keep them coming.
 
you can make a good looking primarily text site with images which can often look more "flash" than flash itself
 

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