Hi me again, could do with some help please

If you have a question or comment about the forum or the web site you can post it here.

Moderator: John Smith

User avatar
Richard In Wales
Regular contributor
Regular contributor
Posts: 103
Joined: Fri 16 Jan 2004 7:48 pm
Location: Aberystwyth

Hi me again, could do with some help please

Postby Richard In Wales » Thu 04 Nov 2004 2:56 am

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
http://www.Borg-Zone.co.uk/eyelog.htm Visit My last graft Blog Site

User avatar
John Smith
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 1941
Joined: Thu 08 Jan 2004 12:48 am
Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
Vision: Graft(s) and spectacles
Location: Sidcup, Kent

Postby John Smith » Thu 04 Nov 2004 3:21 pm

[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.
John

User avatar
Richard In Wales
Regular contributor
Regular contributor
Posts: 103
Joined: Fri 16 Jan 2004 7:48 pm
Location: Aberystwyth

Postby Richard In Wales » Thu 04 Nov 2004 11:42 pm

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
http://www.Borg-Zone.co.uk/eyelog.htm Visit My last graft Blog Site

User avatar
Richard In Wales
Regular contributor
Regular contributor
Posts: 103
Joined: Fri 16 Jan 2004 7:48 pm
Location: Aberystwyth

Postby Richard In Wales » Fri 05 Nov 2004 12:25 am

Do you think I should use tables instead then ?
http://www.Borg-Zone.co.uk/eyelog.htm Visit My last graft Blog Site

User avatar
Richard In Wales
Regular contributor
Regular contributor
Posts: 103
Joined: Fri 16 Jan 2004 7:48 pm
Location: Aberystwyth

Postby Richard In Wales » Sun 07 Nov 2004 1:15 am

hows this layout then, only a tester mind

http://www.aberystwytheyecenter.org.uk/two/index.htm
http://www.Borg-Zone.co.uk/eyelog.htm Visit My last graft Blog Site

User avatar
John Smith
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 1941
Joined: Thu 08 Jan 2004 12:48 am
Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
Vision: Graft(s) and spectacles
Location: Sidcup, Kent

Postby John Smith » Sun 07 Nov 2004 5:07 pm

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.
John

User avatar
Richard In Wales
Regular contributor
Regular contributor
Posts: 103
Joined: Fri 16 Jan 2004 7:48 pm
Location: Aberystwyth

Postby Richard In Wales » Sun 07 Nov 2004 9:27 pm

Great stuff many thanks, have PMed you with my e mail addy
http://www.Borg-Zone.co.uk/eyelog.htm Visit My last graft Blog Site

User avatar
Richard In Wales
Regular contributor
Regular contributor
Posts: 103
Joined: Fri 16 Jan 2004 7:48 pm
Location: Aberystwyth

Postby Richard In Wales » Tue 14 Mar 2006 1:24 am

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
http://www.Borg-Zone.co.uk/eyelog.htm Visit My last graft Blog Site


Return to “Help and Advice”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 10 guests