New website for your scrutiny

Jeff Hendricks · April 26th, 2006, 11:26 AM

Hi,
Thank you all for the very constructive criticism...it really means a lot to me as I want to convey a very classy and professional image with my website. Keep them comming...

I hope to get some good criticism about my video samples as well (there will be more sortly).

As for Keith...I can not say enough good things about him...he is working his butt off for me and all for a very reasonable price!! Thank you again Keith!!!

Jeff

Mark Bournes · April 26th, 2006, 11:54 AM

Nice website, straight to the point. Very easy to navigate, well done!

Mark

Dan Euritt · April 26th, 2006, 12:49 PM

i don't understand why the pages are all chopped off at the bottom, with no scroll bar on the side... that is totally dysfunctional, and it needs to be fixed asap, because you can't see all of the page.

i'm looking at the site with windows explorer 6.0.2800.1106.

also get rid of the "tahoe starr video productions" in the title bar, because we already know who you are, and it's only going to hurt your search engine rankings... the rest of the title bar is o.k., but you should tweak the wording to be specific to each page, *never* duplicate the title bar text from page to page.

i was finally able to get to the video samples page, but i don't understand the encoding... the video clip was done at 640x480, but the player window is set to display 320x240?? if that is the case, it's a waste of bandwidth.

since we can't easily view the actual html, it's difficult to see if you are using the correct version of the windows media player... the video clip itself is clean, and loads well, but i would not use a script font for any website or web video offering, because it's simply too difficult to read.

overall, i'm with the earlier recommendation to use css... the frames vs. css argument goes on forever, but i personally will never use frames for any of the new sites that i do... if you look at the gif on the home page, it just doesn't fit, because there is no border or anything to blend it into the page.

on the contact page... you don't need to display your email address for everyone to see, just put it up as a live link behind your name text, because it'll look a lot more professional that way... there are too many different fonts and font colors on that page.

Mike F Smith · April 26th, 2006, 06:44 PM

I couldn't play your video samples on my mac or pc.

Mike

K. Forman · April 26th, 2006, 08:05 PM

Mike- What browsers are you using?

Giroud Francois · April 27th, 2006, 01:45 AM

it is already a lot better.
i think if you want absolutely show the lake tahoe title somewhere you can make an home page with the picture you use already (just bigger ), or a special page
with just some picture of "best place of taohe".
This way you can get rid of the title in the other pages, so you got more space to display the information.
you should encode the video for the size of display in you page.
display 320x240 is ok but try to get higher quality (at 1 mbps you surely can).
If your designer need some code on how to display clean media player look at one of my web site. you can freely grab the code as needed.
http://www.imagidee.ch/image2/pagevideo/main.asp

this page has been designed to be evolutive (you can add video easily in the list) and focus on the video (no media player visible)

Pat Sherman · April 28th, 2006, 09:00 AM

I would suggest embedding your videos with javascript and a .js file to bypass the new IE patch that makes a user click the object first.

Just my 2 cents..

Keith Loh · April 28th, 2006, 09:42 AM

Indeed. That patch thing has turned out to be a nightmare.

Chris Davis · April 28th, 2006, 12:07 PM

Jeff/Keith, I am also not seeing scroll bars in IE 6.0.29. I checked the source and saw that the <html></html> tags and <head></head> tags were missing in the source, as well as the <body> tag not being closed.

Once I added those, it rendered as intended in IE.

Pat Sherman · April 28th, 2006, 12:23 PM

You can always check your page at http://validator.w3.org/

April 26th, 2006, 11:26 AM	#16
Jeff Hendricks Major Player Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: The Carson Valley, Nevada Posts: 248	Thank you for all of the comments Hi, Thank you all for the very constructive criticism...it really means a lot to me as I want to convey a very classy and professional image with my website. Keep them comming... I hope to get some good criticism about my video samples as well (there will be more sortly). As for Keith...I can not say enough good things about him...he is working his butt off for me and all for a very reasonable price!! Thank you again Keith!!! Jeff __________________ www.tahoestarr.com

April 26th, 2006, 08:05 PM	#20
K. Forman Capt. Quirk Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Middle of the woods in Georgia Posts: 3,596	Mike- What browsers are you using? __________________ www.SmokeWagonLeather.us

April 28th, 2006, 09:42 AM	#23
Keith Loh Air China Pilot Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Posts: 2,389	Indeed. That patch thing has turned out to be a nightmare. __________________ -- Visit http://www.KeithLoh.com \| stuff about living in Vancouver \| My Flickr photo gallery

April 26th, 2006, 11:54 AM	#17
Mark Bournes Major Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Jupiter, FL Posts: 565	Nice website, straight to the point. Very easy to navigate, well done! Mark

April 26th, 2006, 12:49 PM	#18
Dan Euritt Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Carlsbad CA Posts: 1,132	i don't understand why the pages are all chopped off at the bottom, with no scroll bar on the side... that is totally dysfunctional, and it needs to be fixed asap, because you can't see all of the page. i'm looking at the site with windows explorer 6.0.2800.1106. also get rid of the "tahoe starr video productions" in the title bar, because we already know who you are, and it's only going to hurt your search engine rankings... the rest of the title bar is o.k., but you should tweak the wording to be specific to each page, never duplicate the title bar text from page to page. i was finally able to get to the video samples page, but i don't understand the encoding... the video clip was done at 640x480, but the player window is set to display 320x240?? if that is the case, it's a waste of bandwidth. since we can't easily view the actual html, it's difficult to see if you are using the correct version of the windows media player... the video clip itself is clean, and loads well, but i would not use a script font for any website or web video offering, because it's simply too difficult to read. overall, i'm with the earlier recommendation to use css... the frames vs. css argument goes on forever, but i personally will never use frames for any of the new sites that i do... if you look at the gif on the home page, it just doesn't fit, because there is no border or anything to blend it into the page. on the contact page... you don't need to display your email address for everyone to see, just put it up as a live link behind your name text, because it'll look a lot more professional that way... there are too many different fonts and font colors on that page.

April 26th, 2006, 06:44 PM	#19
Mike F Smith Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 156	I couldn't play your video samples on my mac or pc. Mike

April 27th, 2006, 01:45 AM	#21
Giroud Francois Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: switzerland Posts: 2,133	it is already a lot better. i think if you want absolutely show the lake tahoe title somewhere you can make an home page with the picture you use already (just bigger ), or a special page with just some picture of "best place of taohe". This way you can get rid of the title in the other pages, so you got more space to display the information. you should encode the video for the size of display in you page. display 320x240 is ok but try to get higher quality (at 1 mbps you surely can). If your designer need some code on how to display clean media player look at one of my web site. you can freely grab the code as needed. http://www.imagidee.ch/image2/pagevideo/main.asp this page has been designed to be evolutive (you can add video easily in the list) and focus on the video (no media player visible)

April 28th, 2006, 09:00 AM	#22
Pat Sherman Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: DuPont, Wa Posts: 325	I would suggest embedding your videos with javascript and a .js file to bypass the new IE patch that makes a user click the object first. Just my 2 cents..

April 28th, 2006, 12:07 PM	#24
Chris Davis Trustee Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Willmar, MN Posts: 1,400	Jeff/Keith, I am also not seeing scroll bars in IE 6.0.29. I checked the source and saw that the <html></html> tags and <head></head> tags were missing in the source, as well as the <body> tag not being closed. Once I added those, it rendered as intended in IE.

April 28th, 2006, 12:23 PM	#25
Pat Sherman Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: DuPont, Wa Posts: 325	You can always check your page at http://validator.w3.org/