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John Waller
Posts: 827
Joined: Thu Apr 20, 2006 9:34 pm
Location: Adelaide, South Australia

Unread post by John Waller »

Looks good Rossco. I like the use of the non-scrolling header in the content area.

I was a little confused by the Nav text links in the top RHS. Wasn't immediately sure of the difference between Previous and Back. I see that "Back" really means "Last Viewed" or "Most Recent".

I suggest renaming Main Menu as Welcome Page or similar since that's what it's called in the TOC and that's the name of the .htm page.

I tend to use angle brackets to indicate direction i.e.
< Prev ^ Back Welcome Page Next >

Waiting list times page
My preference is to put explanatory legends at the top rather than "below the fold" which requires scrolling. They're often missed down there.

Great job overall Rossco and thanks for being brave enough to give us a link to the project.
Regards

John Waller
v.6.2.2 Build 2636
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Dean Whitlock
Posts: 577
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2005 5:59 pm
Location: Thetford Center, Vermont USA
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Unread post by Dean Whitlock »

Hi Rossco,

The site looks very useful and useable. The structure works. I have only minor comments related to style:

1. Underlined text on a web site is assumed to be a link. You can have a link that isn't underlined (indicated by color, font, mouse-over effect, or some other attribute), but as a web convention underlining means "click here." You have some links that are underlined, some that are not underlined, and some non-link text that is underlined. I would recommend being consistent and also matching the web convention. That will make the site easier to navigate and the navigation style easier to learn.

2. On a related style note, I thought you were a bit heavy-handed in trying to emphasize words: too much emphasis and too often. This results in so many bold-all caps-underlined words on some pages that the eye can't follow the text smoothly - it darts from emphasis to emphasis and can't tell what's really important. Pick a standard way to indicate emphasis, and use it sparingly when you really mean it. (Be careful with color for this and for links because up to 20% of the male population has some level of color blindness - e.g., red looks gray or black to some people.)

3. "How to use this Desk File?" is not actually a question so doesn't require a question mark.

I'm afraid I couldn't study the site really closely, but my general impression was very positive. Good job!

Dean
tinat
Posts: 223
Joined: Tue Aug 06, 2002 3:35 pm
Location: Auburn, New York
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Unread post by tinat »

I think the site looks pretty good. This may seem nitpicky, but it's something I noticed. Take it for what it's worth.

On the Clinics page for all 3 areas, under Ophthalmology, it says (Eye's). This should say (Eyes), if I'm understanding it correctly. The apostrophe implies ownership, but I think you're just looking for the plural.
Thanks, Tina
Rossco
Posts: 185
Joined: Tue May 02, 2006 6:43 am
Location: Wellington, New Zealand

Unread post by Rossco »

johnw wrote:Looks good Rossco. I like the use of the non-scrolling header in the content area.
Hi John,
thanks for the feedback...I have made notes below...
I was a little confused by the Nav text links in the top RHS. Wasn't immediately sure of the difference between Previous and Back. I see that "Back" really means "Last Viewed" or "Most Recent".

I suggest renaming Main Menu as Welcome Page or similar since that's what it's called in the TOC and that's the name of the .htm page.
Good point, have started changing that now, although the people I do this for want it all called Main Menu instead of Welcome :) good eyes John...I must have had mine closed ;)
I tend to use angle brackets to indicate direction i.e.
< Prev ^ Back Welcome Page Next >
I like that idea, I managed to get the Back one to show OK, but when I place an angle bracket next to prev or next, the page does not show. So I presume this is something to do with the code as JS uses angle brackets doesn't it? How do you do them?
Waiting list times page
My preference is to put explanatory legends at the top rather than "below the fold" which requires scrolling. They're often missed down there.
Yep, I agree, have moved it now :)
Great job overall Rossco and thanks for being brave enough to give us a link to the project.
Cheers John,
feedback much appreciated

regards
Rossco
Rossco
Posts: 185
Joined: Tue May 02, 2006 6:43 am
Location: Wellington, New Zealand

Unread post by Rossco »

Dean Whitlock wrote:Hi Rossco,

The site looks very useful and useable. The structure works. I have only minor comments related to style:

1. Underlined text on a web site is assumed to be a link. You can have a link that isn't underlined (indicated by color, font, mouse-over effect, or some other attribute), but as a web convention underlining means "click here." You have some links that are underlined, some that are not underlined, and some non-link text that is underlined. I would recommend being consistent and also matching the web convention. That will make the site easier to navigate and the navigation style easier to learn.
Hmm, good point, I will go through the site over the next week and make changes accordingly. Thanks for that :)
2. On a related style note, I thought you were a bit heavy-handed in trying to emphasize words: too much emphasis and too often. This results in so many bold-all caps-underlined words on some pages that the eye can't follow the text smoothly - it darts from emphasis to emphasis and can't tell what's really important. Pick a standard way to indicate emphasis, and use it sparingly when you really mean it. (Be careful with color for this and for links because up to 20% of the male population has some level of color blindness - e.g., red looks gray or black to some people.)
Dean, are you referring to the general information pages? either way, I will go through those too and see if I can make it more flowing etc, maybe just use the hilite boxes and less or no bold/underline ec..
3. "How to use this Desk File?" is not actually a question so doesn't require a question mark.
DOH! thanks Dean, eyes closed again! or should I say, english gone out the window again ;)
I'm afraid I couldn't study the site really closely, but my general impression was very positive. Good job!

Dean
Cheers Dean,
thanks for taking the time :)

regards
Rossco
Rossco
Posts: 185
Joined: Tue May 02, 2006 6:43 am
Location: Wellington, New Zealand

Unread post by Rossco »

tinat wrote:I think the site looks pretty good. This may seem nitpicky, but it's something I noticed. Take it for what it's worth.

On the Clinics page for all 3 areas, under Ophthalmology, it says (Eye's). This should say (Eyes), if I'm understanding it correctly. The apostrophe implies ownership, but I think you're just looking for the plural.
Hi Tina,
thanks for that, my English out the window again!! ;)

good eyes, I will change it accordingly..

Appreciate the comments and NO it is not nitpicky, IMO :)

regards
Rossco
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John Waller
Posts: 827
Joined: Thu Apr 20, 2006 9:34 pm
Location: Adelaide, South Australia

Unread post by John Waller »

although the people I do this for want it all called Main Menu instead of Welcome
I suggest keeping the terminology consistent. If your 'clients' want it called Main Menu then rename the Welcome page accordingly (the text and the .htm file).
I managed to get the Back one to show OK, but when I place an angle bracket next to prev or next, the page does not show. So I presume this is something to do with the code as JS uses angle brackets doesn't it?
Yes it is a code issue but it's simpler than it seems.

Javascript is embedded in HTML pages between <script> and </script> tags which are HTML tags.

A "less than" sign "<" or "greater than" ">" sign should just be rendered by the browser as a text character provided it's in the flow of the page code between the <body>...</body> tags, and is outside any HTML tags (including <script> tags),

viz:

<a id="footerlinks" href="vocal_exercises.htm"> < Prev </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a id="footerlinks" href="vocal_exercises.htm"> Topic Home </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a id="footerlinks" href="starting_on_different_pitches.htm"> Next > </a>
Willy De Vos
Posts: 70
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2005 2:29 pm

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Unread post by Willy De Vos »

Hey,

very good initiative this is. I hope i to get a few hints on how to do it better.
Here is my creation: http://www.tml.be/dbfact/helpfile/dbfactwhelp25.html

The soul purpose of this project is to help our customers with the integration and exploration of oure ERP pakket.

Many thnx,

Willy
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Dean Whitlock
Posts: 577
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2005 5:59 pm
Location: Thetford Center, Vermont USA
Contact:

Unread post by Dean Whitlock »

Hi Willy,

I'm afraid I don't speak Flemish (or is it Dutch?), so I can only comment on the layout and navigation features, which is very easy to understand. (It's based on a good example, yes?) In general, I liked what I saw. Here are a few specific comments.

In the Navigation line at the top of the header, on the first level topics, it shows the statement >>No Topics Above This Level<<. I don't think this is necessary because it's easily understood by the user. Also, it makes it appear as though there is something more - you are drawn to read it, but it's in English. I would take it out of the template or at least change it to the base language.

I like the boxed subheadings. Can you add a little more padding on the left so that the first letter isn't so close to the left border?

I like the formatting of the Pro Tips.

I like the Don't Panic topic. :wink:

I'm not sure how I feel about the faint gray background in the topic pane. I know that a shade like that is supposed to reduce contrast and make reading easier on the eyes, but it also made the page seem a little drab. Will it put users to sleep?

On the DDMS page, just above the Instellingen heading, I noticed two little underlines. It looks like you've used empty paragraphs for spacing but the format in these paragraphs is underlined. I would use standard spacing above headings, set by the heading style instead of by inserting extra lines.

Also on that page (if I remember correctly) and in other places, I saw what looked like new paragraphs with no space between them and the previous paragraph. Again, I would use style settings to specify a standard space above and below paragraphs of the same type.

I stumbled on a table of keyboard shortcuts. The F6 key has a colon after it that should be removed. The table itself looks fine as far as formatting goes.

That's all I can offer after a quick view. I'd say you're well on your way.

Good luck finishing it up,
Dean
Rossco
Posts: 185
Joined: Tue May 02, 2006 6:43 am
Location: Wellington, New Zealand

Unread post by Rossco »

johnw wrote:
viz:

<a id="footerlinks" href="vocal_exercises.htm"> < Prev </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a id="footerlinks" href="vocal_exercises.htm"> Topic Home </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a id="footerlinks" href="starting_on_different_pitches.htm"> Next > </a>
Cheers John,
thanks for that

regards
Rossco
Rossco
Posts: 185
Joined: Tue May 02, 2006 6:43 am
Location: Wellington, New Zealand

Unread post by Rossco »

Hi Willy,
I like it, it looks nice and clear, and I like the faint grey background.

The only comment I would make, and this is purely personal, is the bright RED alerts are really out there! Although in saying that, they are meant to be, to get your attention, they certainly do that ;)

cheers and regards
Rossco
Willy De Vos
Posts: 70
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2005 2:29 pm

Unread post by Willy De Vos »

hey,

thnx for the reactions! i will make some changes.
Greetz,

Willy
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