Website Review and Suggestions

**Spacyjane** · 03-29-2007, 07:50 AM

We took it to heart and redesigned our website. This site is invaluable for webmasters to learn the art of promotion and advertising their site. Please review my site and offer any further constructive critisism? regarding layout, colors, ease of navigation etc.. all those important things
http://www.modernabode.com

JP

**travelagent** · 03-29-2007, 09:31 AM

...scratching my head...HUH??? Why / how would an ART SITE be invaluable to learn Website promotion and Advertising? Selling art has no bearing on that whatsoever.

But, alas - I see you didn't take my advice from the first round about starting your site off with the mandatory <!DOCTYPE Declaration> ... so, here's your 109 code warnings to clean up...

Code:

line 3 column 1 - Warning: missing <!DOCTYPE> declaration
line 3 column 1 - Warning: <script> isn't allowed in <html> elements
line 105 column 62 - Warning: discarding unexpected </font>
line 105 column 69 - Warning: replacing <p> by <br>
line 105 column 69 - Warning: inserting implicit <br>
line 107 column 1 - Warning: discarding unexpected </center>
line 129 column 1 - Warning: replacing <p> by <br>
line 129 column 1 - Warning: inserting implicit <br>
line 131 column 1 - Warning: discarding unexpected </font>
line 134 column 1 - Warning: discarding unexpected </center>
line 132 column 112 - Warning: missing </font> before </td>
line 23 column 3 - Warning: content occurs after end of body
line 23 column 3 - Warning: content occurs after end of body
line 23 column 3 - Warning: content occurs after end of body
line 17 column 1 - Warning: <script> inserting "type" attribute
line 23 column 3 - Warning: <body> proprietary attribute "onresize"
line 23 column 3 - Warning: <body> proprietary attribute "marginheight"
line 23 column 3 - Warning: <body> proprietary attribute "marginwidth"
line 23 column 3 - Warning: <body> proprietary attribute "topmargin"
line 23 column 3 - Warning: <body> proprietary attribute "leftmargin"
line 23 column 3 - Warning: <body> proprietary attribute "hspace"
line 23 column 3 - Warning: <body> proprietary attribute "vspace"
line 24 column 5 - Warning: <table> proprietary attribute "height"
line 46 column 165 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 538 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 775 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 1010 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 1469 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 1817 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 1951 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 2300 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 2642 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 2990 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 3446 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 3795 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 4138 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 4480 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 4823 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 5167 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 5540 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 6021 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 6391 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 6758 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 7123 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 7487 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 54 column 7616 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 58 column 146 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 60 column 202 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 60 column 237 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 60 column 272 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 60 column 366 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 60 column 409 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 60 column 448 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 60 column 485 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 60 column 726 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 60 column 763 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 60 column 1029 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 60 column 1065 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 60 column 1105 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 60 column 1142 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 60 column 1182 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 60 column 1216 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 101 column 77 - Warning: <table> proprietary attribute "height"
line 102 column 83 - Warning: <table> proprietary attribute "height"
line 120 column 9 - Warning: <a> anchor "navwebring3" already defined
line 121 column 9 - Warning: <a> anchor "navwebring3" already defined
line 122 column 9 - Warning: <a> anchor "navwebring3" already defined
line 123 column 9 - Warning: <a> anchor "navwebring3" already defined
line 148 column 346 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 148 column 420 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 185 column 95 - Warning: <table> proprietary attribute "height"
line 186 column 79 - Warning: <table> proprietary attribute "height"
line 192 column 120 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 199 column 79 - Warning: <table> proprietary attribute "height"
line 212 column 79 - Warning: <table> proprietary attribute "height"
line 218 column 118 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 225 column 79 - Warning: <table> proprietary attribute "height"
line 231 column 118 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 238 column 79 - Warning: <table> proprietary attribute "height"
line 244 column 122 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 251 column 79 - Warning: <table> proprietary attribute "height"
line 257 column 120 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 264 column 79 - Warning: <table> proprietary attribute "height"
line 270 column 122 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 277 column 79 - Warning: <table> proprietary attribute "height"
line 283 column 120 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 296 column 135 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 307 column 275 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 307 column 422 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 311 column 93 - Warning: <table> proprietary attribute "height"
line 312 column 144 - Warning: <table> proprietary attribute "height"
line 312 column 342 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 313 column 144 - Warning: <table> proprietary attribute "height"
line 313 column 342 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 313 column 357 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 314 column 144 - Warning: <table> proprietary attribute "height"
line 314 column 349 - Warning: <br> proprietary attribute "soft"
line 318 column 232 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 321 column 103 - Warning: <script> inserting "type" attribute
line 321 column 190 - Warning: <script> inserting "type" attribute
line 83 column 5746 - Warning: trimming empty <tr>
line 131 column 12 - Warning: trimming empty <center>
line 303 column 3372 - Warning: trimming empty <tr>

**wdwp** · 03-29-2007, 11:22 AM

The text on rounded buttons (dark gray on another dark gray) is almost entirely unreadable, so are dark gray signs over dark red.

**DOTCOM1** · 03-29-2007, 11:41 AM

Nice site, maybe have a search bar so people can find products quick and easy.

**Spacyjane** · 03-29-2007, 12:13 PM

hi travelagent,
i did insert it but sitebuilder wouldn't save it. maybe there is some other way. i went to notepad, inserted it, saved it and then published it. it came out the same with the sitebuilder salutation at the top and the doc type not there.

my site sells art but isn't just about art, its mid century modern items such as glass, pottery, furnishings art and much more.

if you mind letting me know how to insert the doc type and make it stick, i'd appreciate it.
JP

**robthebuilder** · 01:44 PM

My suggestion, use Sitebuilder to shape it, then never use it again. Go into File Manager and play around with the html. From File Manager, you can remove the Sitebuilder code and enter in the <!DOCTYPE Declaration>

. Then save it, and you should be okay. It is important that you never to go back to using Sitebuilder. I would spend a day or a couple of days playing around with your site in File Manager, because if you use Sitebuilder again to publish your site, it will overwrite any previous work, ALL OF IT, which in this case would include the <!DOCTYPE Declaration>. Btw, there is no such tag <br soft>, only <br>, which would fix a quarter of your errors.

**Spacyjane** · 03-29-2007, 02:25 PM

So I can go to file manager and open and page, change it, save it and then publish it from file manager without going into the sitebuilder program? If this is true, that doesn't sound too bad. I'm using sitebuilder, as you would guess, because i'm really a novice in website management. i took a short course in html but that's all. its scary because i don't want to screw up what i have already done but i'll play around with it.
JP
thanks for your comments

**robthebuilder** · 03-29-2007, 02:38 PM

Yep, that's right. I didn't take a course in html

, but I just read and read different articles til I got the hang of certain things. Be sure to read articles on the w3c's website on proper html coding. There are many websites out there with improper tags. Always place an alt="" line in your <img src> tag. See ya!

**travelagent** · 03-29-2007, 02:43 PM

Jane - your safest bet is to try a few free HTML Editors and pick one you feel comfortable with; once you do that, just copy / paste all of your code; remove all of the SiteBuilder syntax; and upload to your own server (domain name).

**sabin** · 03-29-2007, 05:39 PM

Little to crowded for my tastes and def. too wide. A double digit percent of my overall visitors are still running 800x600, and scrolling side to side just to read is quite a pain. I'd go a bit more minimalist, but perhaps that isn't your style? :/

**vangogh** · 03-29-2007, 10:56 PM

Jane here's a page listing some free html editors. I use HTML Kit myself and I've also found PSPad to be easy to use.

Don't let the code intimidate you at all. I can understand not wanting to ruin what you've already done, but an easy way to set your mind at ease is to make a copy of a file and work on the copy. Then even if you make a mistake you still have the original file.

**Spacyjane** · 03-30-2007, 07:21 AM

Whats the advantage of ditching sitebuilder. There are errors but will this give me better ratings? Because of these errors do my pages not load property for some browsers. Before I take the plunge to html can you give me some good reasons why I should? thanks in advance
Jane

**robthebuilder** · 03-30-2007, 10:11 AM

For all of the previous posters, Yahoo offers an html editor with their package. For Jane, to be honest, I am not sure if it would cause errors in other browsers. There are some elements I could not add to my website if I used strictly Sitebuilder, the WSYISYG editor over the html editor. So I chose the html editor for flexibility and the learning process.

**vangogh** · 03-30-2007, 10:13 PM

Getting back to the review of the site I like the way it looks. I'd prefer to see it centered within the browser. The text on the home page would look better if it was aligned either to the left or the right instead of being centered. I see that in a few places throughout the site too.

There are a lot of links on the home page and all the buttons could get confusing. It might work better to have all the links at the bottom of the page under one category and just have that one link on the home page.

on the about us page the main links at the top are gone and the links that are there are hard to read against the background. I also notice that some pages have a darker background than some others. It's harder to read the text on the darker background and I think the site would benefit by being more consistent in the background colors.

Hope that helps.

**travelagent** · 03-30-2007, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spacyjane

Whats the advantage of ditching sitebuilder. There are errors but will this give me better ratings? Because of these errors do my pages not load property for some browsers. Before I take the plunge to html can you give me some good reasons why I should? thanks in advance
Jane

1. Sitebuilder is like MS FrontPage - it throws in lines of useless code.

2. Errors have nothing to do with ratings (I think you mean ranking).

3. Not having proper validated code can often display your site wonderfully in one browser, while the other browsers won't treat your code the same way, therefore not displaying important elements.

4. It's to your advantage to learn HTML, because one of these days, you may tire of the current design and want to completely re-do it ... I've re-done over 200 of my sites during the past 14 years for that very reason.

**Spacyjane** · 03-31-2007, 08:19 AM

thanks travelagent. your a gem. i have noticed that when i looked up my website on different computers while out and see errors.
I have checked out filemanager and it doesn't look too too bad so i'm going to start fiddling with it.
Jane