Re: Site Critique

        Hey Jason,

As always, these are just my personal opinions. Use at your own risk. :)

Powermac 275mhz  64Mb Ram  24-bit color 832x624 res
33.6 dial-up connection   NN 4.03, NN 3.01, IE 3.01

1: The "kansas.gif" on the main page is *very* fuzzy. As best as I can
tell, there's a man in a chef's hat walking through a field of sunflowers
with a wall of hay behind him. (?) The title is also difficult to read,
especially since it's *bl*  *ink*  *ing*.
2: I would suggest adding links to the blue text blocks to further simplify
navigation. The buttons are ok, but it's even simpler to read the text and
click on the one you want.
3: Your code specifies "Brushface BT" as the font face for the blue text
blocks. Since I don't have the font in my computer, the text reverted to
the browser default font (Times, in my case). The Brushface font sounds a
little unusual, so I wouldn't expect the majority of your visitors to be
seeing the site the same way you do. Perhaps you could adjust the font to a
more common type?
4: Clicking on the "Today" and "Local" brought me to a page titled "News
This Week In Kansas". However, the single short article on the page
discussed the US military's decision to vaccinate troops against anthrax.
There was no mention of Kansas anywhere within the article. How does this
relate to Kansas? I'd also consider citing your sources for the
information. If *you* wrote the article, then don't be afraid to say so. :)
Otherwise, give credit to whoever did write the article.
5: Clicking on the "back" button from the previously mentioned page results
in a 404 for the following url:

      http://www.cjnetworks.com/~lison/kansas/ie40/today\today.html

6: When I clicked on the Local button on the
~lison/kansas/ie40/today/today.html  page, I got a blank white page. ???
7: Overall, the navigation for this site is a bit convoluted. I would
suggest adding an overview link system (ie, "main page" "national news"
"local news" "weather" links to each page).
8: The "Subject" code used in your mailto code doesn't work with all
browsers. It's also helpful to provide a text version of your address for
those who print out the page or wish to copy the address for later use.
9: Don't forget ALT, HEIGHT, and WIDTH tags on all of your images.

        I think this covers my initial suggestions. Overall, I'd suggest
rethinking the general idea for this site. Is this intended to be a
hometown news site? If so, consider adding more local interest articles and
hometown "feel" to the site. Links to local Kansas websites would be nice,
as would more graphics emphasizing the beauty/history/economy/people of
Kansas. Right now, the site feels like a roughly sketched version of a
national newspaper, IMHO.
        If you'd like more suggestions, feel free to ask. I hope this
helps. Good luck!

                                                                Will Bower

>If someone would give me their opinion of a site that I have created I
>would appreciate it.  If you could also report any bugs, or things that
>you think should be improved or changed.  Here is the address:
>http://www.cjnetworks.com/~lison/index.htm
>Jason Webb

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