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My first website.


Question

I have spent a few months re-designing my website. As you can tell, the host is Webs.com(also known as FreeWebs) I know what you guys are probably thinking, "Eww, another FreeWebs site" But what you don't know is that I have fully re-designed it using CSS. Please, take a look at it and give me a mini review.

I will one day switch to PHP probably. Anyhow, the link is in my signature..

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Click to enter? BYE

1.7mb PNG file? BYE

So what part did you code youself?

(PS: I'm not asking or telling anyone about my site, so I don't expect feedback. I'm a professional web developer and the last thing I want to do when I get home is build my own site for free.)

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Click to enter pages are lame, they should be left where they belong...in the 90s

1.7MB for a png is NOT acceptable

I see, what would you suggest to make the size smaller? :p

So what part did you code youself?

(PS: I'm not asking or telling anyone about my site, so I don't expect feedback. I'm a professional web developer and the last thing I want to do when I get home is build my own site for free.)

I did the whole design and layout here... http://www.coasterforum.net/apps/forums/

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I didn't check your site so I can't really comment (I'm at work and they complain about bandwidth all the time so I didn't bother going to see it after lunamonkey's comment). But are you sure you didn't just rename a bmp to png? Maybe try a jpg instead if pixel perfect quality doesn't matter.... or resize it maybe?

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Why don't you ask Cody Risko?

Because he just make the images and such. I tell him what i want, and he will do it(most of the time ;) )

I am just trying to gather ideas on making the site better.

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Thats the issue, because it must stay as a .png because the bottom part is transparent with text on it.

Not sure what software you used to create it but reexport it.... A simple save in Windows Picture and Fax viewer from XP (all I have at work) bruoght it down to 900KB (and I'm sure you could get it around 300-400 easily)

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i agree with that feedback, 1.7mb is kinda big for a splash image, that has no real information.

it may be okay for us, we have fast broadband connections, but a very very large part of the world still averages internet speeds in kbps, not even mbps. if you want the site to be visible more people, you would cut the size of large images.

click to enter pages are okay if you have some real information to impart before people see your page (some instructions, or some specific questions (age verification, etc)) but if its a regular page, the click to enter is just an additional click for me, and for no real reason.

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The reason for the splash page is because we hold weekly contests and the winners the posted on the site's homepage. Plus this homepage looks 10x better then the old one.

I think I will ask him to get rid of the animation. I'm not sure about the image size being smaller tho.

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I've got it down to around 600KB but I still think that's on the big size. I'd recommend you split the image into 2 and save the rollercoaster top half as JPG and the text as PNG with transparent background which would get the whole thing down to around 130KB.

Reduced to 600KB:

http://i.imgur.com/m1jjk.png

And here it is split:

http://imgur.com/OcAke.jpg - Top as JPG to really crunch down the filesize.

http://imgur.com/G6mDb.png - Bottom as PNG.

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Image resizing is easy. You can either crop it smaller or resize it up to 50% smaller in your graphic editor and also you can save the files as jpg in dialog window where you use 'save as'. Look up on tutorials on the internet. Google is your friend.

The bigger image it shows, the page load gets longer delay for visitors which they hate delay crap.

I suggest that you use the files that FlintyV did for you. They would load instantly.

Remember, there are some people who still use dial-up service in case they do not have fast internet service in their area. It could take awhile before dial-up services die down completely.. Some people have dial-up service as backup in case the fast broadband service goes down for hours or days a time.

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Thanks for the help guys! Any tips or tricks for the rest of the site? And don't mention the header, and that its a .gif!

I know its large, but I love it.

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I'd definitely get rid of the splash page. If you want competitions for featured content, stick it on your blog and make the blog the homepage. That's what new users should be shown first anyway.

Also,

>CoasterForum.net was Designed Specifically for Mozilla Firefox

is not acceptable. This just makes you appear too lazy to test on other browsers. You can't expect *all* your visitors to use a specific browser. You should target web standards, not a specific browser.

Just so you know, there's no reason the homepage image has to be a png. It does not need transparency, as the background is always going to be the same shade of grey. Just stick a layer of that solid grey colour underneath everything else in the image, and save it like that. Then it can be a nicely compressed jpg and it'll look exactly the same. (Not that you should need to do this since you're getting rid of the splash page anyway, right ;))

I'd remove the scrolling marquee text at the bottom. This looks unprofessional and and isn't even standard HTML.

Otherwise though... nice site! I'm actually gonna bookmark that. I used to play Roller Coaster Tycoon a *LOT* back when it was 2D. I haven't played anything beyond the second one. It doesn't seem to be featured on your site at all, but I also used to have this nifty rollercoaster building game from Disney called "Ultimate Ride", which was actually pretty damn good. I had a lot of fun with that. Maybe I should get into these games again.....

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Thanks for the help guys! Any tips or tricks for the rest of the site? And don't mention the header, and that its a .gif!

I know its large, but I love it.

gif is no big deal but png is huge but if you want png.. make sure to check the file size and load time for png format.

Most people use jpg, gif, for their websites. Some of them use swf (flash based website which full flash site or for the header)...

Sometimes they use png or gif for their logos with transparent background.

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Thats the issue, because it must stay as a .png because the bottom part is transparent with text on it.

then it's time for a redesign.

Also, websites that are all black backgrounds are very 1990s, too.

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Thanks for all the help guys! I will re-design soon.

@FunkTrooper: You said CoasterForum doesn't feature RCT2 anywhere? Well, it never actually says RCT3, it just says RCT! So this means any of the three games can be posted there. :shifty:

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Not sure if this forum doesn;t allow "double posting" but I'm going to anyhow.

As you guys can see, my site admin and I have worked on some of these issues. Please give us your new thoughts!(link in my signature)

..and no, I will NOT get rid of the splashpage. :devil:

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Not sure if this forum doesn;t allow "double posting" but I'm going to anyhow.

As you guys can see, my site admin and I have worked on some of these issues. Please give us your new thoughts!(link in my signature)

..and no, I will NOT get rid of the splashpage. :devil:

You won't get anywhere if you design the site for yourself.

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You won't get anywhere if you design the site for yourself.

True, true. well, I have my site admin who helps, and you guys give me tips. What more help do I need, or did you have in mind?

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