Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Yahoo`s Sitebuilder will add tons of extra code that isn`t necessarily beneficial. I just got done redesigning the site for another member here who had used Sitebuilder, and the code size now is much smaller, as well as being cleaner and SEO friendly. Although these programs are ok for beginners, there are drawbacks that people new to web design won`t be aware of.

One suggestion; if you`re going to stay with Sitebuilder, create a template, then use that template to create all of your other pages. As it is now, when you make a new page, you are trying to reproduce other pages ( i.e., get the same layout in every page ), and it is almost impossible to get them all exactly the same; this is obvious when browsing through the site, and some things seem to "jump" out of place a little bit.

You also need a consistent menu that appears on all pages.

I noticed that, in the list along the left side, some are links and some aren`t. I don`t see a benefit of having items listed there if they aren`t all links, as it may confuse viewers.

For your background image, one thing you could do is to have a fixed width on your pages, and create a background that is sized for that width....just a thought.


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M Hall
Website Critique Community
International Society of Curmudgeons

Thanks Webline for your comments

I`m actually using pagebuilder - which is basically the same as Sitebuilder. I feel the drawbacks everytime I try to do something that these programs don`t offer.  I`m only a beginner.

You are right, I am trying to reproduce other pages - I will take your advice and create a template to use for all my pages.

Thanks again Webline

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Zai

Zai,
Now that you`ve used PageBuilder, having a sense of what`s going on with HTML, you should take a look at Nvu. It`s a free download, very powerful, and there are a couple of nice tutorials on the web. It`s a whole lot easier to get into the code to see what`s going on. Plus, you can do something, see what happens, and learn that way.

Because of her web hosting arrangement... she may be limited as to what html editor she can use.

~Roland

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Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

Oh yah....I forgot. Zounds!

Webworld is right, I can`t use any thing else. I will eventually go with another web hosting company, because Yahoo as too many restrictions.

Thanks anyway CraigL for Nvu, I will try it though just to get some practice.

Zai

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Zai

Zai,
If you work with Nvu, and save the files on your drive someplace, you can use the "Browse" feature (magnifying glass on the toolbar). That`ll open up your Browser (default, whichever one) and read the HTML from the file. It`ll show you everything, and be "live" with links etc.

Not only can you preview your file with an Nvu tab, in the program, you also can see it as it would appear in your actual browser. This, to me, is a way to learn a whole bunch about what works in HTML and what doesn`t. I`m one of those "try it and see" kinds of folks... :-D

Point is you can learn with Nvu and not have anything go anywhere on the Web or to a hosting server. It`s all on only your own computer. Then, someday, when you`re ready to actually put something up on the web, you`ll have a solid understanding of what`s going on and how it works.

CraigL

Thanks for the advice, I am going to give Nvu a try and see how it works. I`m the type of person that likes to try and see things as well.

Zai

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Zai