Hi me again, could do with some help please

[Richard In Wales]

I have made a web site as a present for the Aberystwyth Eye Clinic as they couldn't get the funding for one.

Its URL will be

http://www.aberystwytheyeclinic.org.uk

which should be 'live' soon.

the test url is

http://www.abereye.dipsy.cyberprog.net/

which is working.

Now I'm not a web expert I just like to play and I want to make this site usable. I would like a few ideas, a links page for general information about eye problems would be nice, nothing to heavy though but enough to make it useful.

Also the colour layout. The greenie colour has to stay as that's the colour of the local Heath Trust logos and kite as you can see. Its the main page, I don't like white as it can be to bright to some ppl and a dark colour is just as bad. I've tried a slightly off white colour but is this OK?

Any other comments very welcome please.

Thanks

[John Smith]

[Topic moved to "Help yourself" to keep the General forum on-topic]

Hi Dave,

Well done for helping your clinic out. My comments are below. Please feel free to ignore any or all of them!

Firstly - you're using frames. They are quite a big no-no in modern web design, as search engines find indexing them difficult, and if a user does find a non-home page, they are stuck there without the navigation to move to a different page. You should better use a template so that the navigation appears consistantly on every page. You should also consider that as the nav bar doesn't scroll, I can't see the links at the bottom of it when using a small screen res and/or large fonts.

Your "Feedback form" link is actually two links. Click on "Feedback", and it's colour changes to the visited link colour, but not the "form". You should make this a single link; put a "<br>" tag within the link if you must.

The home page's main frame doesn't really say anything, so visitors may not be tempted to click further.

The location page only uses an image for the map and the text. This is really bad, especially for a site for people with eye problems; you should make the text text, and edit the image so it is just the map. Excellent that you've put ALT text on the map though!

The "links" link goes to the map, but I'm sure you know that. You should either remove the link from the navigation, or make it go somewhere. Visitors will think that the site is broken, and may well then leave.

It's good to see you've got a feedback form, but it's also worth providing a real e-mail link, especially considering the target market of the site. People with screen readers will probably find their own email client easier to use than a web form.

The links to the NHS sites shouldn't really open in your window whilst your nav-bar is there. Some sites take legal action against this, so if you do want to keep your content on-screen, consider opening a new window for the NHS stuff.


Please don't get disheartened by all this though - we all had to start in this business somewhere!!

Feel free to get in touch if you want to chat.

[Richard In Wales]

brilliant, yes I know the frames are a pain, but I will learn the CSS style soon

Yes there's no links as yet so I had to just point it to somewhere.

The NHS pages will open on their own that was a mistake ooops

Feedback form has changed and they clinic want to test it first before being allowed to add their contact details so it all has to come back to me for now.

As I said I have to wait now and see what the Clinic wants adding or removing but this is good feedback many thanks

[Richard In Wales]

Do you think I should use tables instead then ?

[Richard In Wales]

hows this layout then, only a tester mind

http://www.aberystwytheyecenter.org.uk/two/index.htm

[John Smith]

Hi Dave,

This looks a lot better now. My only reservation is that the "Emergency" headline is underlined - this is a visual cue to say "this is a link". I'd highlight the emergency section in a one-cell table with a red background. It would really stand out, but not look like a link.

You can use CSS or tables to lay things out. I admit I ought to brush up my CSS, but tables are still commonly used, and they do work in slightly more places. You can easily use CSS on the navbar to provide highlighting of links though. I'll send you some details if you want to mail me.

J.

[Richard In Wales]

Great stuff many thanks, have PMed you with my e mail addy

[Richard In Wales]

site closed down. I offered it to the Hospital and they didn't take it. The eye clinic are not happy with the Hospital IT department