Hi Philip,

>http://members.tripod.com/~aekinskald/index.html
>This is a site dedicated to a faction in a play-by-electronic-mail 
>game. Please critique both the techniques used and the feel of a 
>medieval era chronicle.

I'm reviewing your site specifically because I have an interest in the
medieval world myself. I looked it at with NN4.06 on NT4.

Home page:

I like the copy, and also the way you've incorporated the links seamlessly
without any of that "click here" nonsense. It could be a problem though,
that the very first link takes you out of the site! Try changing the font
to Arial/Helvetica or Verdana.

The background doesn't do much for me. It doesn't interfere with the
legibility of the text, but it doesn't contribute anything to the look and
feel. I would go for a parchmenty background instead, since this is meant
to mimic a medieval chronicle. And use the same bg on *all* your pages! It
shortens download time and maintains continuity.

The images are a bit of a problem. They don't appear to have been
anti-aliased for a grey bg, rather for a white one. Also, it seems that
somebody got a bit carried away when making them transparent. The text on
the Goods button is larger and a different yellow than the others. The
pseudo-medieval spelling of Lynks looks like a typo because everything
else is spelt in standard modern english.

Aha! I see that your images came from a freebie site. If you're going to
use pre-made images, I suggest you choose a set that were designed to work
together. Have a look at
http://mysticpc.com/graphicsets/html/medieval.html and
http://mysticpc.com/featuresetdk/html/ornametal.html - if you don't like
these look at http://customcreate.com/FreeGraphics.htm

Whatever images you use, remember to optimise them - try the single page
analysis at http://www.websitegarage.com/ for this.

Oh yes, dump the animated IE gif. Does it enhance your site or convey
information? No. Is it a waste of space and bandwidth? Yes.

Hope this helps.

Lynnsey


l y n n s e y   s k l i r o s
                      m o b i l e   t e l e p h o n e   n e t w o r k s

The mind of the bigot is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you
pour upon it, the more it will contract. -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

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