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1. scottlenger
   Member
   Posted 6 years ago #
   

   Review my blog/website hybrid site:http://www.scottlenger.com

   I'm particularly interested in constructive criticism regarding:

   Overall Presentation
   Use of Colors and Graphics
   Site Navigation

   I'm less interested in:
   Use of WordPress Features, Tools, and Plugins
   (particularly falbum as I'll probably replace it down the road)

   My site already passes the standard validation tests - and does pretty well against the hermish accessibility test for that matter so I'm less interested in Code Validation, but you're welcome to report something that seems out of whack.

   I've got more detailed information about my design decisions here: http://www.scottlenger.com/portfolio/wwwscottlengercom-2007-redesign/ if you're interested.

   Thanks

2. Samuel Wood (Otto)
   Tech Ninja
   Posted 6 years ago #
   

   Looks fine to me. I would remove the wife's website link at the bottom, in order to make the green bar flush with the bottom of the page. Put that website link elsewhere, or just extend the green bar down to cover it as well.

3. ronchicago
   Member
   Posted 6 years ago #
   

   you said brutal, right? well these are my personal things...

   a lot has happened since 2005 = 86 the "www" = not needed anymore. if you notice how nice one of your headlines look. designer means simplify

   don't show underline on links. ok for rollover. color callout seems enough. simplify

   avoid email links = your contact link = spam target. here is a nice plug that is much safer and gives a nice professional look and pretty easy to tweak to fit your style and taste = http://green-beast.com/blog/?page_id=136

   agree with wife comment

4. scottlenger
   Member
   Posted 6 years ago #
   

   thanks, that's what I'm talking about!!

   I'm losing the 'www' that's a no-brainer

   I'm curious why the 'footer' is getting flagged. I feel like the content area gets constrictive when the white area (with my wife's link) is removed. Would it be helpful to put a little bit more content there so it isn't so empty?

   Gmail does a rad job of killing spam so I'm not really concerned about posting my actual address, though if at some point I switch to a domainname address I'll definitely want to use a submission form.

   I'm pretty focused on accessibility so, though I'll concede that underlined links are less pleasant, for the time being they'll be sticking around (at least as long as the link color is green (hard for colorblind users)

   I really do appreciate the feedback, please keep it coming.
   I'd especially like some thoughts on:
   The placement of 'scott/lenger' is it too low?
   Does the picture seemed balanced?
   Is the black left hand column too dark and heavy?
   What initial feelings to you get (warm, cold, light, serious, funny, engaging, academic, edgy)

5. Samuel Wood (Otto)
   Tech Ninja
   Posted 6 years ago #
   

   Regarding the footer:

   You can insert some dead vertical space if you like there, I just think that the site would look better if the green was actually the footer and actually touched the bottom of the page. The extra black/white bar at the bottom is somewhat distracting to me.

   But I also disagree with the avoid email links suggestion above. I have had my email on my website and on dozens of others. I post it freely. It has neither increased nor decreased spam, you get spam either way. Rely on filters to eliminate spam. Gmail does a heck of a job.

   BTW, when you switch to a domain address, sign up for Google Apps for your domain. It rocks. I use it and my ottodestruct.com email account has the gmail interface. :)

6. ronchicago
   Member
   Posted 6 years ago #
   

   i am stuck today and maybe in a contrary mood while waiting for things to sort out. let's use a favorite line in these situations = smart people are allowed to disagree ;-) about the spam thing and as otto points out, there are very good spam filters. this is a site of a web designer who talks about code, validation, sight empaired. the criteria here is a bit different.

   the pop-up email client window: there is little control over what an end user has as an email client. there are sleek/robust contact solutions that can better demonstrate web-savvy expertise. i wish this was the case for registration at this moment.

   aesthetics on your own stuff: these things are personal and things always get better with continous refining. at a certain point either you decide the painting is done or your life partner does.

7. halfbloodprince
   Member
   Posted 6 years ago #
   

   I'm a stickler for these things -- on the left side of your blog, it says "Everything in it's right place". It should be "Everything in its right place". Drop the apostrophe.

   The blog looks pretty cool. I like the colours, but I think the Recent Comments section has too much prominence for my liking.

8. scottlenger
   Member
   Posted 6 years ago #
   

   that halfbloodprince. I think you might be right about the recent comments...

9. Jonathan Landrum
   Member
   Posted 6 years ago #
   

   I really like it. Granted, I'm coming in a little late, but what you've got now definitely catches my fancy. The pic in the header gives a link to its Flickr location; does it change randomly/daily/when-new-ones-arrive? Or is it a permanent fixture?

10. Root
    Member
    Posted 6 years ago #
    

    I am not sure about using xhtml strict. I am interested in your thinking on that.

11. scottlenger
    Member
    Posted 6 years ago #
    

    Hey Root, seems like you're referring to your post The end of XHTML?

    I use XHTML because it helps promote good coding practices

    From WASP:
    XHTML is easier to maintain

    XML syntax rules are far more rigorous than HTML. As a result, XHTML makes authors work more precisely, having to address issues such as:

    • all elements and attribute names must appear in lower case
    • all attribute values must be quoted
    • non-Empty Elements require a closing tag
    • empty elements are terminated using a space and a trailing slash
    • no attribute minimization is allowed
    • in strict XHTML, all inline elements must be contained in a block element

    Also: down the road I want to begin working with API's (like flickr), and it seems that XHTML (being based off xml) is better suited for that.

    I'm glad I checked your post as it helped make me aware of the significance of media types

    I also found this post (The Invisible Design Decision) extremely helpful in sorting out which media type to use with XHTML.

12. scottlenger
    Member
    Posted 6 years ago #
    

    re: jonlandrum

    The homepage images does not rotate (though I've thought about it…and it may in the future)

    It does change based on what section of the site you're in via a php script that assigns a css file based on page or category id. If you click the links in the header nav you'll see what I mean.

13. Root
    Member
    Posted 6 years ago #
    

    Surely by using strict it only needs one error and it wont render at all?

14. Samuel Wood (Otto)
    Tech Ninja
    Posted 6 years ago #
    

    Root: No, strict just means that the syntax is a little more picky. It's even pickier if you move up to 1.1 instead of 1.0.

    I was using 1.1 for a while, but eventually it got to be too annoying to have to find workarounds to make everything valid all the time, so I switched back to 1.0 transitional.

15. drmike
    Member
    Posted 6 years ago #
    

    I like it...

    Had to dig for the Next and previous links within the blog though but what you did with them makes sense.

16. Root
    Member
    Posted 6 years ago #
    

    @ otto42: I am not going to get into this here. :)

17. scottlenger
    Member
    Posted 6 years ago #
    

    Otto: if you're deciding between 1.1 and transitional, I think you'll find this article useful (i had the wrong link above)
    http://fadtastic.net/2006/11/02/the-invisible-design-decision/

18. jackosh
    Member
    Posted 6 years ago #
    

    i really like the hover effect on the album and flickr links!

19. FreyaBletsoe
    Member
    Posted 6 years ago #
    

    Oooh! Now this i liked a lot. It was just really different on the lay out to a lot of the blogs you see. i liked the way the "header" was on the left hand side - unusual, but I think that page was too short for the way the header was laid out so you have to scroll down to catch the rest of your name - but this may just be the piddly little screen I'm looking at this on!
    I liked the colours - they worked well and i was suprised your brother managed to hit that golf ball at all as he seemed to be stood miles away from it and at an odd angle!! (but that just a little observation from a Golf obsessed woman!Lol!) I also like the way you've set out your piccies and music stuff at the bottom too - makes it easy to see what you've got to offer etc. Very user friendly. All in all good layout - fresh and different, clean and easy on the eye. nice one!
    FDB

20. Root
    Member
    Posted 6 years ago #
    

    You guys with your xhtml strict / trans are wasting your time. With the wrong mime type it just posing:). It makes little difference.

21. Jonathan Landrum
    Member
    Posted 6 years ago #
    

    Yes, Root has a valid point. XHTML passed as text/html is wrong. And XHTML passed as text/xml doesn't fly with IE. That's why I'm using HTML 4.01 until Micro$oft formulate a clue.

22. Root
    Member
    Posted 6 years ago #
    

    At Habari they have adopted HTML 4 as standard.

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