My wife is building a new website for Conder Custom. She's new at it and there are a couple bugs to work out, but she's doing a great job! Drop by and take a look when you have time. We'll be posting the thousand or so photographs, stories and art that's built the shop over the years and this is the starting point. Most of the pictures are links as well as the text, all leading you to friends that I work with or more of our work. Feel free to contact me if you know of some material in print or on the net about the shop that we may be missing, or just want to help us get it tuned up. - Thanks, Tim http://www.condercustom.com
Looks great, but it REALLY needs a "Dial-up users beware" sign! umm.... WOW! This armageddontopfuel site is freaking cool!!!!!!
Yeah you're not gonna get *any* dial-up users - NOBODY has THAT much patience! ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver" Hey old man, have you lived here all your life? "Nope - not yet."
The site will be loaded with LOTS of pictures later so any advise on how to make them load faster will be appreciated. We're keeping the special effects to a minimum and will be focusing on the work of the shop. Whatever you see on the thing is what I do, including ATF. Keep the tech suggestions coming, we build everything in-house and the website's no different! - Thanks, Tim
Just a couple of quick notes. First, get rid of most of the graphics on the opening page. They are much too slow to load and also make the page much too long. Move them to another page or pages. Nice pictures though. Second, when I go to the armageddontopfuel site I leave your site with no way back. Open armageddontopfuel in a new window. Third, on your links page --- WHERE'S THE LINK TO THE H.A.M.B.???? Good luck.
OK, a little critique which I hope will help. You need to select a set of key words, between 5 and fifteen words that customer would use to find your site. Not your business name, but what you do and what customers will put in the search. Ie, "Custom, Bike, Chopper, Harley, Custom, Builder " or something along those lines These should be in your metatags and index page. Google still ranks by keywords in text, along with a lot of other things. Search engines that observe the header text won't rank your site with out them. The other problem is red on black is not a good color combination, nor is green. Colorblind people have a job reading it, and it can be difficult for people with reasonable eyesight if colored text is too small. Thumbnail pictures and compress the entire page. Build up a good linking system, which expands your site content and ranking. Links should be to sites related to what you are about. Avoid linking to mass link pages which have nothing to do with your site. I accept links only to what I figure some of my customers will want to see. The more relevent a site is to what you do, the higher that link will rank, and help your site. Optimise your alt tags with key words, These will all help you along your way. Promote your site to the search engines. I use www.selfpromotion.com First time is slow, easpecially if you have a big site and a lot of pages. But you can sub,it to all the engines, you'll learn about site promotion and keywords, text, etc. from doing it with this outfit, and you get to pay them for the service what you figure it is worth, after you've used it. Can't get much better than that. By the way. your layout is good and navigation appears to be easy, I haven't been right through the site yet. The biggest rules of all keep it simple, keep it interesting, use only good links.
Tim, the site is pretty cool! To keep the loading time to a minimum, use thumbnails which link to a larger photo, or if you must use a large photo, chop it into a few chunks... they'll load seperately, first one will show that it's not a blank page, etc. As for the text in the images, my advice would be to actually use text, since it loads VERY quickly compared to images. For a first website your wife is doing awesome! Ben
Nice site! But Polisher is right, instead of all the big pictures, make a structure on the page with other sub-pages, i.e. gallery, links and what ever is relevant! I think you shall put a lot of effort in to the gallery section, now that you are talking 1000+ pictures! I think that you can make a script so if people upload pictures it will automaticly get your preset size. Else there is a program called AcDSee, it is cheap (Free 30day trial) and it should be good at turning a lot of pictures in to a preferred size in one move! The fewer links the better I say, and it will make the site easier to navigate on. Maximun seven links on the front page, and then divide them up in the sub-pages! But keep up the good work!! BR Mikael
Thanks for the advise...Alyssa re-did the pictures so everything loads faster this morning. We're trying to figure out how to show my work in detail better than the magazines have lately, so we're trying to get the images up big enough to do some good. Each picture on that opening page will have hundreds of gallery pictures to go with them. Rough sketch art on napkins and beer coasters, how-to stuff, and whatever obscure bits of related media stuff we can dig up. My wife is a crazy talented little lust monkey and if I can just convince her to use her talent for GOOD, we're SET.
Don't pay ANYTHING to get your site indexed by the search engines! Register it at dmoz.org. - ALL the search engines use it. http://dmoz.org/ http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/..._Project/Sites_Using_ODP_Data/full-index.html Remember the 3-click rule: your visitors should be able to get to anything on your site from anywhere on your site in 3 clicks. I would offer other suggestions but don't have time for your page to load on my dial-up... Don't know what you're using for editing (god I hope not a WYSIWYG!), but for THE best program (& it's FREE!) go to http://www.evrsoft.com/1stpage/ ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver" You just shot an unarmed man! "Well, he should have armed himself."
Just another idea, this is the way my wife does hers. When you bring your mouse over the top of one of the page links, it changes color, that way the viewer knows where they will be going if they click. The way Ryan has this setup is that it is either underlined or not and it will change when you bring the mouse over it. Just an idea looks good though Farmall
It's a a great idea & I use it, but be aware that you're talking about an I.E. only feature. Also true of scrollbar colors. I think there's still a little over 50% of users using I.E., though. ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver" There is no problem that cannot be solved with the *right application* of high explosives.
Tha Driver, what you said about the "I.E. only feature" is not true. Perfect (and handy example) is the HAMB. Ryan is using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) for the underline on the links at the top. The cool thing about CSS, is that you are still getting the benefit of fast loading by using text, but you can add some effects to the page, to make it more interactive. Ben
Hope I don't get Tim kicked off or something for letting me use his screen name, but I shrank the size of the photos down on the website today, and was hoping someone with dial up could check it. Hopefully it will load a little easier. Oh, and someone mentioned opening the ATF link in a new page, and that sounds fantastic, but I don't know how to do that. If it is a simple html entry, let me know, please. Thanks a heap for all the great tips and I'll work at making the site more user friendly. Keep checking it, as I am working on the gallery and current projects pages daily. Thanks again, Alyssa (Tim's wife)
So what browser are you using? I usually check my sites (& others) in I.E. versions 4.7 up, Netscape V. 4.08 up (which BTW the HAMB causes an "illegal operation" & closes the browser), Mozilla, & Opera on Windoze machines (with OSs '95, '98, 2000, & ME); & Mozilla on Linix & I.E. on the MAC. Unfortunately, most of my machines are not recognizing the modem (long stories) at this time so I'm on the '95 machine. ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver" Easy on the Giggle Cream!
OK: TEN MINITES (I timed it) to load at 46,666 bps! And the pic under the monster garage hadn't loaded by then (timed out to a red X). Your main page needs to load in 15 seconds - 30 MAX. My Advice; loose ALL the pics on the main page except for one. I would make a compilation of several pics in about a 150 x 600 or 800 pixel size for the top of the page. Also, your links don't look much like links, & I don't personally care for the all-caps. You might add a tiny graphic between them (star, paintbrush, or ?) & a line under them (but not nesessarily "underlined" if you don't want). On the main into page simply state what it is you do, your mission/goals, attitude, whatever - in text only. Keep the main page as simple as possible. Put the LINKS to ALL of your pics on other pages (such as a "Gallery", A "Monster Garage", etc.): link to them using SMALL thumbnail images on those pages. ALWAYS have the links to all those pages on every page, including each image page. Try to avoid opening other pages in new windows, except for the links to other websites - then be *sure* to let your users know they will open in a new window. PM me if you want more help. ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver" I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing.
Did you visit the link that lists the search engines that use the dmoz? Yes they compile their own files, but registering with the dmoz is all you need to do to get them started. 3-clicks is still a good rule for every site. If you keep it in mind it's NOT hard to do. I HATE sites where I'm clicking over & over to get to a page that has info that I'm looking for. Some of them have you clicking in CIRCLES (going back to the same pages) trying to find something. Seems to me the more info you have the more important it is... ;^P ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver" You just shot an unarmed man! "Well, he should have armed himself."
Cool site.........I sorta' agree with the opening part of the first page. When I email my pops sites with his "dial-up" he can barely open anything. Make people dig for different pix, kinda' like a junkyard. Oh yea, and just an FYI, when you go to click "Add to Fav's" it lists your site as "Home page". You may list it where it has your name so people don't get your site lost in their "Fav's". Chris Nelson Kansas
Big thanks for all the hints folks, we'll do all of them PLUS we're going to be the first website on earth to be presented in BRAIL! I know we've got some serious work to do but I've got DSL and the site pops right up. If dial up folks lose patience and take off (like my own brother back in Kentucky) I guess I'll have to bring my next chopper or hot rod by their house. The Conder family REALLY APPRECIATES the feedback so keep it comin' - Friendliness, Tim
You DO realise that the blind already have both braile & audio *readers* for their computers.... It's one of the reasons for "alt" text in the images - so that if you have text in an image they can read it. I hope you also realise that most folks still have dialup: & you're eliminating them from your visitor base. OK if you're putting up the website for you friends & family (& your own pleasure) - not good if you expect it to be business related. You're not going to know how many folks bail on you when the site dosen't load. Go to WebMonkey & you'll learn lots about web design; freewarehome.com for any freeware you need to make the site (& as I said before eversoft for their 1st Page html editor - it's fantastic). ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver" Giggle Cream - it makes dessert *funny*!
Thanks Driver, my business is referral only and I do nearly all the work myself. If this website brings me any more work I'm @#$%ed! DANG. I'm already 200 grand into my patents on my Raised Relief Interactive Brail Screen technology. It uses microscopic nano "balloons" I call them, (stationary in a grid) each one expands to 100 times it's size when electromagnetic current is applied. In turn the screen "bubbles" into readable stories right on the screen! Coupled with corresponding sounds as well as smells, the outter screen frame is outfitted with different textures as well that bristle when needed to further enhance the informational experience. My sight challenged Uncle Duck (blinded by a shotgun blast at a honkey tonk in 1961) LOVES my prototype! Also, Conder Custom in no way shape or form intends to insult, alienate, annoy or segregate anyone because they have dial-up...but if one more magazine publishes my work in tiny boxes or sends a photographer who can't shoot metalflake I'm gonna FREAK!!!!! We now resume our somewhat painful exploration of webdesign, thanks again for the tips and business advise. - The Conders
The Jalopy Journal
