RE: Web site critique

Hi Susan,

Site critiqued:  http://www.safmc.nmfs.gov
Viewed with a P133, 48kbps, 640x480 @ 32 bit, MSIE 4.0sp1.

Well, for a new developer, you've done quite nicely. IMO, there's a few
things you may want to refine though.

Your image files could stand to go on a diet. I noticed your on a Mac, so I
can't recommend a software package for you, but for PC's, Ulead's Smart
Saver (http://www.ulead.com/) is an excellent program for doing this. I put
2 of your images through it, and was able to reduce the file size of these
images substantially.

Your shem%20creek.GIF was a whopping 54k in size, now it's "just" 31k. Here,
take a look for yourself:
http://www.demitrius.com/hwg/images/shemcreek.gif
You may use this file if you wish.

Also, your crabber.GIF was almost 23k, now it's just 9.8k;
http://www.demitrius.com/hwg/images/crabber.gif
Again, feel free to use this image if you want.

As a rule of thumb, I try to keep my index.htm page down to under 40k when
possible. That's 40k for everything; HTML and images. People's attention
spans are very short and a good way to scare them off is to take forever to
load up a page.

Also, you may wish to check the Gamma setting on your Mac. Your images seem
a bit dark on my PC, and that's a common oversight from people on a Mac when
creating websites; your Gamma settings are different from a PC and as a
result, your images tend to be darker when viewed on a PC. I've seen some
good websites about this issue, you might want to check out Joe Gillespie's
at http://www.wpdfd.com/

You have your table width set at <TABLE WIDTH="724">. Why? My guess is that
your Mac screen rez is 800 x 600 and your website looks fine on your
computer. Not so on a 640 x 480 screen like mine - like many, many average
users have. I get a nasty horizontal scroll bar at this table width which
makes it cumbersome to read. IMO, set your table width to 600. It may look
like a waste of space on your screen, but you'll appeal to a wider audience
(maybe even 540 if you consider the WebTV crowd).

While "Helvetica" is a popular Mac font, it is not common on a PC. You'd be
shocked if you saw the substitute font. A better compromise is to use <FONT
FACE= Helvetica, Verdana> for the benefit of PC viewers. This will render a
more acceptable substitute font on PC machines.

While I am an avid fan of animation (in moderation) I question the use of
your bowl2.gif. Is it really necessary? And at 15k it just further slows
down the page. Ulead also makes a program to reduce the file size of
animation. Check it out.

Your navigation, while well done, is in the wrong image format. IMO, these
should have been GIF files. Saving text graphics in JPEG is a mistake
because text gets distorted by the very nature of JPEG.

JPEG is a *photographic* image format. Use it for photos. Use GIF for text
and solid colors.

I like your background. I like your layout. I like your color scheme.
Overall, very good work!

Best,
Demitrius >I<
--------------------- A. Demitrius Lopez
 W E B S I T E       D E V E L O P E R
           www.demitrius.com
   ----------------->I<---------------

HTML: hwg-critique mailing list archives, maintained by Webmaster @ IWA