Re: St. Louis Old & New Website

by "Lynnsey Skliros" <skliro_l(at)mtn.co.za>

 Date:  Thu, 01 Oct 1998 13:36:50 +0200
 To:  PMorris86(at)aol.com,
hwg-critique(at)hwg.org
 References:  aol
  todo: View Thread, Original
Hi,

>The URL is:  http://members.tripod.com/~Vide_Poche/ 

Answering your last question first, you should also install Netscape 3.x
and perhaps Opera. Opera is a relatively new browser, very small (fits on
a stiffy disk) and fast. For those reasons it's becoming quite popular.
Look at http://opera.nta.no/

Other suggestions for previewing your site: try different screen
resolutions and colour depths; switch image-loading off and make sure the
site still makes sense.

I agree with everyone else on the counter issue. It's hard to read, and
should be at the bottom of the page, if you're going to keep it at all. I
think they're a pointless exercise myself. The entire first paragraph
should be moved to the bottom of the page or onto a separate page - it's
not vital info or the most interesting part of the site. The home page is
actually much too long and contains plenty of non-vital stuff that should
be moved to different pages. The links at the bottom for example - move
them to a links page. You don't want people leaving as soon as they
arrive. That's what I did in fact: when I saw the Ancestry.com search
form, I tried it out and hey presto! I was on someone else's site.

The building pics are cute and look as though they download quickly. I was
confused by the museum/court house ones though - they look like buttons -
must be the writing! Try moving them to the top of the page on either side
of the pic that's already up there - I think that would look rather nice.
The background is a little odd - I kept trying to read it. I recommend you
change the default font to a sans-serif font, it's easier to read
on-screen.

The list is rather long. You can probably find ways to present it more
compactly, for example, horizontally instead of vertically:
[<a href>Asylums</a>] [<a href>Barbers</a>] [<a href>Churches</a>]
and compress some of the related items:
[Cemetaries: <a href>1870</a>|<a href>1884</a>|<a href>1884</a>]

I don't think it's necessary to use frames. Many people use frames instead
of designing proper navigation. They make it impossible to bookmark the
page you're on, which is a nuisance on a primarily informational site.
Your site would benefit greatly from some sort of search function.

The Churches page: you have a typo: "CHURCES IN ST. LOUIS - 1897". I
recommend you don't use underlining (easily confused with links) or all
caps (hard to read). The list would look nice using a bulletted list
(<ul><li>item<li>item</ul>). There's a broken image on the Monasteries
page. You might also want to change Churches to something more generic
like Places of Worship or Religious Institutions.

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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