My website.

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Hey all,

I have started to build a website for the fu** of it.
It's not quite finished yet, but the majority is completed.
Of all the things i've done I think that I need to get some php on there, I would really appreciate it if you guys, could take a look
and give me some all important feedback and suggestions.
Please don't be too harsh as I am completely new to this and have no experience or certs, here's the link :
http://nailbomb-web-design.tripod.com/index.htm

Hope you like it and if you don't please take the time to tell me why!

 

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Move it onto your own web space, all the adverts and popups are annoying.

Perhaps a better logo may work better:

 

Call me old fashioned Nailbomb if you will but I honestly believe that the content of any site is of paramount importance when one is seriously trying to attract visitors. Your site boasts a lot but gives very little. I do realise that this is just the early stages but a site should not be uploaded until it is ready.

You offer a download for a Java installer. I would be very careful about hosting software that is likely to change version over time. It is far better to offer a link to the original web site download page, so that your files don't go out of date.

A huge part of successful web design is the graphic look, yours IMHO does not really capture my imagination, it is a bit lack lustre, unimaginative and boring.

I could be wrong but it seems to me that you have a long way to go before you will be ready to offer a professional web design service. The competition is good, they use expensive software (Macromedia etc), they incorporate eCommerce and active content.

Sorry if that is not what you wanted to hear but you did ask and I am not being harsh

Good luck

Pete

 

On webdesign, I have recently found mambo www.mamboserver.com
A Open Source CMS system with add ons, forums, payment systems and more. A friend of mine (web dev, PHP, MySQL) gave up on a lot of his personal projects when he found this, prefering to just set them up in mambo's because "its done all the boring work!"
I have an empty shell at
www.thekingcorp.com/Moobs/
Jam.

 

Generally speaking, you can have two types of website.
One looks stunning but is a bit shallow, they usually pop up in advertising campaigns or to promote the release of a new hollywood blockbuster.
Then you get the technical ones that look a bit drab but are rich in content which is why people use them.

There are of course variations of these, but you need to decide what the point of your website is. People aren't going to visit it as a favour.

As a CIW student it's an excellent idea to have a website so that you can practice new skills as you learn them, but I wouldn't make it public and I wouldn't try to pretend it offered a service as people won't take you seriously.

Keep going though!

 

I have to agree with the others here, the pop ups are annoying and I think a better logo would be nice. Web space isn't expensive anymore.

 

hey, that's not a very nice thing to say about certforums. http://nailbomb-web-design.tripod.com/resources.htm

anyway, about your website. i agree with si that if you're going to sell or promote your services on your web site that eventually you'll have to move to a different host, one without all those ads and banners.

one of your links is called world wide web consortium, but you're linking to w3schools (which is actually a great resource). the consortium is at http://www.w3.org/

since you already know w3schools you will learn there that it is recommended to seperate your content from your design. granted, you haven't got much design yet, but since you seem to be new to web development, you might as well abandon html 4.0 while you are still in early learning stages, and go straight to xhtml and css.
as an example of the power of xhtml and css, and the seperation of content and design, pay a visit to http://www.csszengarden.com/. just browse through the designs and be aware that the underlying content (xhtml source code) is always the same.

furthermore i would like to stress the importance of planning your site. you will save yourself a lot of energy and agony if you plan your content, your design, file/folder structure, navigation, maybe even a little bit of your coding. you don't have to lock yourself down completely, there's always room for experiments, but a good site rarely just grows out of nothing, or out of constant trial and error. plan ahead.

i've also recently started working on my own web site again, and i know it can be frustrating if you have a lot of ideas. but just take it one step at a time. make a list of the things you want to do, or the functionality that you want to have, and take it from there. don't start working on a gazillion things all at once, because believe me, you won't finish them.

 

I have to add that if this site is intended for the public then 'Nailbomb Web Design' probably isn't the best name to go with. In the current world climate it either comes across as childish or insensitive.

People searching the Web for 'nailbomb' are unlikely to be interested in having design work done...

Thinking of a decent name (one that hasn't been taken) is one of the planning stages you have to go through. Like I said before though, if you're just using this for practice then it doesn't matter.

 

I have to agree with Jonny on that! Also I'm surprised that the mods and admins have allowed the name "Nailbomb" to be used as a user's forum name? I'm somewhat uncomfortable with it to be honest as I imagine quite a few others are too!

Please don't be too offended by what I've written, it's just that ,as Jonny said, not the best of names in light of recent events!

 

Hmm, well as were british and adult, I personally couldnt find any reason bar pure censoreship shite to make his name change, he could be called 'Londonb00mb00mman' for all i care, we are adults, we have the ability to move on, and be light hearted about things that happen to us, thats what makes us strong, if we want to sit around and mope and make people censor names, logos, anything that might 'offend' us, then why bother? they have already won, they have made us change our way of life, and i personally will not stand for that

its like I said after september the 11th to some friends (I knew some people in the towers)
I would rather of died in the towers knowing that my children will still be free, rather than survived and live in the nanny overprotective state we are moving ever closer to

many people expect freedom these days, they dont quite understand that at some point, all over the world, people were willing to fight against unimaginable odds for it, and we just hand it back over on a plate and say please dont let the bad man hurt me

anyway, i have no issue with his name, bad taste is not a reason for censorship im afraid

anyway Back on topic

D-Fak:
he must be talking about me when he says were harsh, im a plain talking to the point person, and i take no prisoners

 

I agree with what you are saying Pheonix and I share your opinions (although in a rather watered-down way in comparison).

My point about the name of the website is that if you're putting something out to the general public then you have to consider that there are an awful lot of people out there who are not so open minded, and if you want to do business then you can't afford to offend any potential customers.

 

We're all adults? I don't think an "adult" would choose a name such as "Nailbomb".

 

Indeed Johnny, I was more gearing it towards Drum_Dudes censored way of thinking

Again, Bad taste is also not limited to those under 18, so perhaps we can drop the issue at hand and get back to his original topic


I agree, the name of the site will effect visitors more than you imagine, so perhaps a rethink on that would be positive

 

Guys, can we steer this back round to the topic in hand, as the thread seems to be heading towards a mixture of personal comments (which usually only leads in one direction) and political opinionating ?

There are other threads where some of these issues have been under discussion. Members are also free to start new threads for that, but in the meantime, this particular thread was asking for opinions on a website.

Let's bring it back to that. Thanks

 

I guess the only thing I really have to say is that the site reflects the attitude that the designer says he has about why he designed a site.

 

Nail on the head, I was trying to think of the words to sum that up and you got them just right.

On a serious note, take the advice that d-Faktor gave about xhtml and css, you may want to check out http://www.mezzoblue.com aswell as the css Zen Garden.

 

Hey,

Thanks for all of your feedback, although this whole thing about the name has annoyed me quite a bit 'childish' 'bad taste'?

To say that I am childish for having chosen a name you might not have chosen is just damn wrong, let's take Google for example.
Is this a particularly mature name? I think not Yahoo!? Nope not that either.

I am actually above eighteen years of age and the reson I chose Nailbomb, just like my profile name, is because; one of my favorite bands is Nailbomb, they were a thrash metal band that wrote very political hard-hitting tracks!

Believe it or not, this website isn't really open to the public,as the only way you will find it is by accidently typing the Url. Which isn't very likely is it?

On the whole thanks for the feedback, but You haven't really helped that much. I was kindda looking for constructive critisism and suggestions.

Never mind.

 

I do believe I gave you some constructive criticism and suggestions, before you do any more work on the site get some web space and get some with support for scripts such as Perl, php, asp and a SQL database at the minimum then we can help you prepare for designing something.

 

To follow on from Si's suggestions above, try looking at THIS THREAD for recent ideas about web hosts ( and I genuinely have no self-interest in that Thread) It is an un-disputed true-ism about Forums that you will occasionally ask a question and get replies that you do not like.

I can assure you Nailbomb - our Members will always give 100% to help others.

 

You mentioned yahoo and Google, well they spider/robot most sites even if the URL has not been manually submitted. So the chances of your site being returned in a search engine somewhere is pretty high and will get higher over time.

I read plenty of constructive criticism, I learnt quite a lot from the postings in this thread.

I was not offended in the least by your chosen handle, though I do agree that it isn't a good choice for a company name.

Calm down a bit and take more notice of the other pointers!

Pete