what do you think of my site? [Archive]

suffeks

01-05-2004, 05:00 AM

hello,

this is my 2nd or 3rd php site, its url is www.servfiles.com

it allows people to easily share files on the internet. i kind of made it for fun/practice. i used this site and another to learn php, my previous knowledge is small, pascal and java. php is the best imo.

let me know what you think, i should change, etc?!

thanks

leatherback

01-05-2004, 06:39 AM

Hi,

You have set your font-size in pixels. It is perhaps wiser to use percentage or points.

-> Pixels will result in very small letters on high-resolution screens (Like mine: 17'' at 1600*1200 px)

-> Using precentage will allow people to adjust the overall font-size on a site. Which is especially handy for people with eye-problems

-> points: Will result in fontsizes based on screen size, or inches / cm's, thus always giving appr. the same font-size, independent of the resolution.

In general I'd try to setthe sizes etc to %-ages where possible, to allow for changes in screen-size / resolutions.

Just my .02

J.

stolzyboy

01-05-2004, 11:06 AM

I do agree the font size is way too small, but I don't think pixels are a bad idea in most cases.

800x600 and 1024x768 have almost 90% of the resolution market...

There are very few that have their resolution over 1024, but if they are, they certainly aren't at 1600x1200. Now this is for most people, there will be exceptions.

This will always differ depending on your target audience as well.

So, I do think your font size is too small, but I don't think you have to shy away from pixels.

stolzyboy

leatherback

01-05-2004, 11:11 AM

Hehe,

Stolzy: Mine actually IS at that resolution: I work a lot on digital image processing (Remote sensing) an dthen it is nice to waste very little space on menubars etc..

I know here in the institute most people use *very* high resolutions.

stolzyboy

01-05-2004, 11:14 AM

That's why I said...

Now this is for most people, there will be exceptions.

But, look at the stats, they usually don't lie, and there will be obvious exceptions in your case, etc... Even where I work, the graphics guys work with huge monitors and high resolutions, but for the average person, it'll be usually 1024 at most!

Weedpacket

01-05-2004, 03:50 PM

Originally posted by stolzyboy
That's why I said...

But, look at the stats, they usually don't lie, and there will be obvious exceptions in your case, etc... Even where I work, the graphics guys work with huge monitors and high resolutions, but for the average person, it'll be usually 1024 at most! I'm not an average person (my working res is 1280x1024, but only my monitor can't go higher), but even at 1024x768 there's a fair bit of real estate given over to the red background (the width of the table (yes! the table used for layout!) is fixed at 650px).

suffeks

01-05-2004, 03:56 PM

Originally posted by leatherback
Hi,

...

Just my .02

J.

thanks, i will check that out. i myself use 1600x1200, and thats what i made it on. its made for someone who uses minimum 1024x768. i guess i'm the type of person who doesn't mind small text, i guess its a design thing, lol.

leatherback

01-05-2004, 03:58 PM

Hehe it is design thing?

<jokingly>
I always thought websites were built for content.. silly me
</jokingly>

:D

LordShryku

01-05-2004, 04:06 PM

Small suggestion: You may want to run that stuff through The Validator (http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.servfiles.com%2Fregister.php)

suffeks

01-05-2004, 04:10 PM

Originally posted by LordShryku
Small suggestion: You may want to run that stuff through The Validator (http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.servfiles.com%2Fregister.php)

my biggest problem was making the page fit height of 100%, i needed that, looks much better. however, there were two ways for me to do this:

take out this:

1: <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
2: "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">

and then by inline stylesheet does not work, or keep the above and add in:

16: height: 100%;

so i had to opt for the second option. there are no errors generated anywhere, except what you have pointed out by a validator. i "think" i'm ok with it for now.

Norman Graham

01-05-2004, 04:51 PM

Hi Suffeks

The site looks nice, although the text is v. small.

I suggest you offer some information and visuals about what the site actually offers before making people register. I have so many names and passwords in the net that I NEVER register for anything unless I'm sure I want it. I think I may not be alone in this attitude. The first stop on the <TOUR> is enforced registration, to which my response is normally to go visit another site. It's not a guided tour if you have to agree to join first.

HTH

Norm

suffeks

01-05-2004, 04:57 PM

Originally posted by Norman Graham
Hi Suffeks

The site looks nice, although the text is v. small.

I suggest you offer some information and visuals about what the site actually offers before making people register. I have so many names and passwords in the net that I NEVER register for anything unless I'm sure I want it. I think I may not be alone in this attitude. The first stop on the <TOUR> is enforced registration, to which my response is normally to go visit another site. It's not a guided tour if you have to agree to join first.

HTH

Norm

hmm ok, perhaps i can setup a temp account, so everyone can try it out and get a feel for it, before getting their own account?

something like test@servfiles.com / test

say files are only good for 5 mins, etc etc.

good idea, that way they can really see whats going on.

LordShryku

01-05-2004, 05:04 PM

Originally posted by suffeks
there are no errors generated anywhere, except what you have pointed out by a validator. i "think" i'm ok with it for now.
Every page that I checked has errors on it. Your image tags don't have alt attributes, your javascript tags don't have type attributes, etc, etc. It's not a neccesary step, and I'm probably one of the least zealous "HTML standards" people around here, but I do still think it's best to design to one of the standards

goldbug

01-05-2004, 05:04 PM

Your screenshots in the tour need work. Try zooming in on only the relevant portion of the page for each shot.
Your resized/reduced shots currently are pointless, since the reduced text/graphics are way too small and unreadable to be meaningful.

Also, it's a good idea to crop out as many vendor-specific widgets/toolbars/etc... as possible. People who aren't computer-savvy (who *is* the target market, anyway?), might think that they *need* outlook express, or internet explorer, or windows, or...... you get the picture.

suffeks

01-05-2004, 05:10 PM

Originally posted by goldbug
Your screenshots in the tour need work. Try zooming in on only the relevant portion of the page for each shot.
Your resized/reduced shots currently are pointless, since the reduced text/graphics are way too small and unreadable to be meaningful.

Also, it's a good idea to crop out as much vendor-specific widgets/toolbars/etc... as possible. People who aren't computer-savvy (who *is* the target market, anyway?), might think that they *need* outlook express, or internet explorer, or windows, or...... you get the picture.

Ok, thanks, i will make them clickable, and offer a fullsize image, for easier viewing.

LordShryku: obviously i didnt make it in notepad, but dreamweaver, i am not an html expert, and know very little on it. otherwise i would have included what was missing. its macromedia's fault, lol.

suffeks

01-05-2004, 06:54 PM

what do you guys think about me charging for this? how do you find the prices?

i'm thinking about just making everything free, perhaps i would attract users that way much faster?

i guess advertising would help somewhere too, but i'm not good at that kind of stuff.

LordShryku

01-05-2004, 07:22 PM

Well, depends what kind of files are being shared really. You really need to be careful with this sort of this or you may have the RIAA, MPAA, whoever trying to sue you for allowing copywrited material to be shared on your site. What kind of content are you looking to allow people to share?

suffeks

01-05-2004, 07:26 PM

i have a tos people need to agree to.

basically only legal stuff, and i will be checking...

LordShryku

01-05-2004, 07:31 PM

Well, really I don't know if I'd charge for this or not. If you think about it, there's a lot of file-sharing programs out there already that are free, so most people probably won't pay anyway when they can just download it on Kazaa. OTOH, you see so many music-type online download services prospering from this. Of course they have to get lots of legal clearances and have a stringent TOS, plus embedded software. Really, it's a toss up
:confused:

suffeks

01-05-2004, 07:36 PM

lol, not file sharing as in kazaa, file hosting. upload files, and post them anywhere on the internet.

its like web hosting, but minus the ftp and complicated stuff....

DXL

02-07-2004, 10:57 PM

Norman Graham...

why dont you just store the usernames,passwords, and the site they go to, into a notepad file, and just save it as .css?

thatll at least keep out stupid people on your computer, and u can forget your password!

or, like i said about the css thing, keep it in some folder that is in a bunch of other folders, and use the "Run..." to open it?

or, on your website, u can have your own password thing, where u input certain things, and bing all of your passwords are up!

these r just ideas

Norman Graham

02-08-2004, 07:32 AM

Thanks for the suggestions, DXL

I do have a password manager - I just don't like adding passwords all the time in cases where I feel it's unnecessary.

I wanted to explain to Suffeks why I think it is unfair to offer a guided tour which you have to register for, simply because you can't find out whether you want to register without going on the guided tour. This seems to me to be a semantic principle of the term 'guided tour'. It seems Suffeks agreed with me.

However, as I say, thanks for the good suggestions as to how to manage passwords.

Best wishes

Norm

jebster

02-08-2004, 07:53 AM

Originally posted by DXL
Norman Graham...

why dont you just store the usernames,passwords, and the site they go to, into a notepad file, and just save it as .css?

thatll at least keep out stupid people on your computer, and u can forget your password!

or, like i said about the css thing, keep it in some folder that is in a bunch of other folders, and use the "Run..." to open it?

or, on your website, u can have your own password thing, where u input certain things, and bing all of your passwords are up!

these r just ideas

Better idea --> http://www.schneier.com/passsafe.html ;)

drawmack

02-08-2004, 12:30 PM

1) You're using html 4.01 instead of xhtml
2) You're page is not valid html 4.01 transitional
3) I have a large screen and it shows more red then white. You should do some kind of dynamic resizing.
4) You confirm my password but not my email, what if I mistyped my email?
5) Your registration page does not have a link on it back to the main page or to the login page
6) You thank me for logging in then provide me with a single link, why make me click? Just forward me to the damn page.
7) Some of the style information is embedded while other information is in a linked sheet.
8) Your css validates but it has warnings.

10 minutes and I found 8 problems, I'd give the site an F

Useful URLs for you
http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
http://www.w3schools.com/css/
http://validator.w3.org/
http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml2/