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Fingers crossed... my first ever site

Tomcorbett

By Tomcorbett
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Tomcorbett Newbie

Tomcorbett

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Hi there,I have wanted to create my own website for a while, so after lots of reading at W3schools (excellent site), I have managed to create a few pages.This is my very first attempt which I have coded myself, so I know that there will be things that can be coded better. It's been a good learning experience and I hope to learn alot more from you folks on here.I intend to change the archive page for hopefully some type of blog but need to scratch my head alot before that happens, and I know there will be issueswith IE but will have to learn how to work around these.Would be really good to hear your comments.CheersTomhttp://www.creativecorbo.co.uk

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thescientist w3schools Guru

thescientist

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Welcome!I really like you're site. Very clean, well organized, and validates. (although going Strict would be my only recommendation).The only thing I might suggest is maybe using some sort of repeating pattern to replace all the abundant white space on the left and right of the page. Other than that no complaints.Also, since it seems you have a good grasp on the fundamentals, I would defintely suggest doing some PHP/MySQL reading so you can "automate" your gallery pages by keeping everything stored in a database rather than having to create a new HTML page for every month of pictures. This system will be invaluable for maintaining your archives.Lastly, I really like the Happy Birthday Mr. Rex card. :)

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Tomcorbett Newbie

Tomcorbett

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Thanks so much for your comments, I can't tell ya how chuffed I am you like the site!I'll definately look at the white space point.You've hit the nail on the head with regard to my archiving issue, though to have to learn PHP/MySQL looks pretty difficult and I just wouldn't have a clue where to start!! At the beginning I suppose!, feel like I've just got the basics for HTML sorted. I'll just have to get reading again.

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End User Member

End User

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I like it. The one thing I'd suggest is to obfuscate the email address or use a contact form. If not, expect a flood of spam as the bot and crawlers find it and add it to their email list.

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wirehopper Member

wirehopper

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I like it, too. It's fun, and the artwork is really nice.For the white on the side you might use a horizontal gradient from black (middle) to white (edge) or some other color.My only other suggestion would be to think about using a slideshow or thumbnails to let people find images faster.

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ApocalypeX Member

ApocalypeX

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I like it especially the colour scheme maybe make the white background #BBB or a shade of white not WHITE as it can be a bit blinding. Well especially for me since I spend most of my time on bungie.net lol.

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  • 1 month later...
DizzyDan Member

DizzyDan

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Very interesting graphics in fact I love em! I like the simplicity of it. Functions work, gets the point across.Room for improvement? Yes, but there always is!I did notice that the width of the content either shifts right or changes size when going from the "Our Art" link to the "Photos" link. I am not sure if this is a known issue or if i just happens on my browser. I am using the latest version of IE.The 'photos' page and the 'archives' page seem to have the same content just with different style of linking them.I thought of an idea for the 'photos' page. When you click on a year like 2010, you should keep the option of choosing other years avalible to click. That way you wont have to go back to the top and click photos again to reset it and check out other years.Good luck to ya!

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Tomcorbett Newbie

Tomcorbett

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Thanks for your comments DizzyDan.That's interesting about the content shifting/resizing...! The only time I get to view my site on IE is at work and that is version 6. Unfortunately we're not allowed to install any other version!! I need to partition my mac at home and install microsoft XP so I can view my site on all versions of IE! Always a bonus to see the site in as many browsers as poss!As for the photo and archive duplication, you are right I was just trying different methods of linking and need to replace the archive with something new, but haven't made my mind up.I like your idea for the photos page and will definately look into it when we are in 2011!And very true...always room for improvement!CheersTom

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schumacher Newbie

schumacher

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Okay here we go:Heading tagsHeading tags (h1, h2 etc.), I don't notice much relevant keywords or phrases in the heading tags. Page titlePagetitle, kinda the idea as with the headings it should be <phrase> | <your website> not the way around and again use relevant keywords and phrases. What a relevant keywords or phrases? Well in a nutshell keywords or phrases which people would use as query to find your website on search-engines such as Google, Yahoo or Bing.Meta descriptionMeta description, this is the only meta tag which is important. This description will be shown in the Google SERPs (result page) when a search query is done. I will take as example your meta description of your homepage/index which is:

Hi, we’re the corbos and this is our website. We live in Bristol, England.

The basic idea is to show art and photos right? Shouldn't it be in there then? I mean if I were looking for photos, art or what so ever would I click that webpage? No! Make it attractive like a small advertisement. I also noticed some pages don't have any description at all!URLsThe Corbo URL in the menu is pointing towards: http://www.creativecorbo.co.uk/index.html which should be http://www.creativecorbo.co.uk in the current situation both pages will be indexed differently. When I click on archive and then again archive I get a dead URL.The URL: http://www.creativecorbo.co.uk/mainphoto/o...0mainphoto.html EXAMPLE could be: http://www.creativecorbo.co.uk/photo/october-2010.html or http://www.creativecorbo.co.uk/photo-october-2010.htmlThe URL: http://www.creativecorbo.co.uk/greenhouse/...greenhouse.html EXAMPLE could be: http://www.creativecorbo.co.uk/greenhouse/october-2010.html or http://www.creativecorbo.co.uk/photo/green...tober-2010.htmlWhy? On the way you did it is one long word, by using a dash (-) you separate the words. With complete optimization you will be found for example on: photo greenhouse, greenhouse photo, october 2010 photo etc.I also noticed your website is accessible by using www and no www:- http://www.creativecorbo.co.uk- http://creativecorbo.co.ukAgain search-engines might be indexing both pages separated again. You can use the htaccess file to force one of both, which doesn't matter as long you choose one!No WWW use:

RewriteEngine OnRewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^your-site.com$ [NC]RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://your-site.com/$1 [L,R=301]

Force WWW use:

RewriteEngine OnRewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^your-site.com [NC]RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.your-site.com/$1 [L,R=301]

If your webhost doesn't support htaccess file you can also simply enter your preferences in the Google Webmaster Central. Setting up Google webmaster central right up is a must as webmaster.ImagesWell with images there is not much to optimize just use the same method with the dash when you use multiply words as filename. Also make sure you use good ALT text, on the page: http://www.creativecorbo.co.uk/ourart/2010ourart.htmlI found the following ALT text on a image:

<img class="centre1" src="http://www.creativecorbo.co.uk/images/ourart2010/dino.jpg" border="0" width="250" height="250" alt="dino pic">

While it brings you to: "Card designs and illustrations" shouldn't be the ALT text something like that? I know it doesn't describe the image but it does describe where it is going to. Other option is making from the text: Card designs and illustrations a URL just make sure you put it above the picture!Source codeDidn't checked it at the W3-validator if you didn't you should do it! Also remove the extra white spaces in the source code sometimes it is a lot :)Well till so far my tips :) there are more but those are the most basic ones good luck!

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Tomcorbett Newbie

Tomcorbett

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Many thanks for the tips Schumacher, I will certainly try and make those changes. With the Meta data is it worth carrying on adding in keywords aswell as the description? I suppose it wouldn't hurt. You're right I need to be more descriptive in H1 and 2's and titles, interesting you put phrase before sitename in page titles.With your point

The Corbo URL in the menu is pointing towards: http://www.creativecorbo.co.uk/index.html which should be http://www.creativecorbo.co.uk in the current situation both pages will be indexed differently.
I'm struggling a little to know how to do this. I thought the index.html page was your homepage. Currently I have the index page in public_html on the server with all other files in folders which link to and from index, so not really sure how to get just www.creativecorbo.co.uk without the /index.html that you've mentioned?I might be completely missing your point here, are you suggesting that it is better to have all pages in one folder ie 'photo' for greenhouse, food, sunsets etc.currently I have the pages for categories in specific folders which I find easier to manage? Adding dashes to file names is an excellent suggestion, which I was completely unaware of and how it might effect searches.I am going to scrap the archive altogether, and maybe have a links page. I'm not looking forward to changing all my pages though and also adding dashes like mentioned, but if that will help the site so be it.Once again thanks for taking the time to help out I really appreciate it and everyone else's input on this thread.CheersTom
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schumacher Newbie

schumacher

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From what I know the big three search-engines: Google, Yahoo and Bing don't value meta keywords. If someone would ask me would you use them? I would say no maybe only for the homepage.The most easiest thing to do for the index.html thing is using this:<a href="www.creativecorbo.co.uk">Home</a>Instead of:<a href="www.creativecorbo.co.uk/index.html">Home</a>Home is an example as anchor text.It can also be fixed by using some commands in the htaccess file I don't know it exactly so you should try to Google it if you prefer to fix it by using this method.About the directories, if it is easier to manage then just keep it like that :) how ever dashes are a must have. The weight of a good directory structure isn't much so maybe easier management is more important in your case.

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Rough Divide Newbie

Rough Divide

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The most easiest thing to do for the index.html thing is using this:<a href="www.creativecorbo.co.uk">Home</a>
I think it's a bad idea to use an absolute address for a variety of reasons.The biggest one would probably be if you ever had change the domain name, you'd have to edit every page with the full link.Relative linking on the other hand, in my experience, is certainly the way to go.
<a href="/">Home</a>

That will bring you to the root of your domain. (the home page)Oh, and awesome site TomC73. Clean and simple.

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