Every single site I made didn't make me satisfied, so it encouraged me to make
another one. And so on, I spent many weekends experimenting with CSS. Basics of
PHP were also helpful.
Don't hesitate to try new things! If you backup properly, they can only do
better!
Ah, it's all right for a start, but there is a lot to be fixed up.
Two absolutely critical things, is that you have a huge home page, and all of
the main content on the home page (your links to the rest of your site and your
welcome) are below what is referred to as the "fold" (the bottom of
the screen), so people have to scroll down to get to them. In successful web
design, that is a huge no-no.
EDIT: the following paragraph does not apply (I had JavaScript disabled, so it
changed how the site worked). Even so, it is good practice for designing a web
site.
Browsing around your site, the forum link should simply take you to the forum,
instead of having a second link to get there (unless you want to put a little
bit of info on the page, such as rules or what you would like to see your forums
become). Also, your forum replaces your site in the window. Another big thing in
successful web design is keeping people on your site. Even moving to a forum for
your site is taking a large risk in having them click away from the site.
Instead of having it open in the same window, on the forum's link, add
Code:
target="_blank"
to the href element. In non-tabbed
browsers, that will open your forum in a new window, and in tabbed browsers, it
depends on the user's settings (either opening in a new tab or opening in new
window).
Correction: After enabling JavaScript, however, I see the above is not an issue.
Ignore that for the current site, but it's good information to remember for
future reference.
Moving on, those butterflies. Cute? Yes. Very, very bad? Very, very yes.
Moving and animated things like those butterflies are generally frowned on with
major sites, and in some cases, users (myself included) will not even bother
with a site if we see stuff like those butterflies. Even if they can be hid in a
single click, they are annoying, at best, and distracting, at worst (or is that
distracting at best, and annoying at worst? In web design, it is a debate about
what is worse: distractions or annoyance).
The flashing, glittery picture is similar, but not as bad as the butterflies. It
is distracting, but since there isn't much text to be read near it, it isn't too
bad of an issue at this time.
Obviously, the same goes for all pages with animated backgrounds (such as the
About Me page).
Anime Pictures: Unless they are your own, probably not a great idea to have them
on your site. At the very least, you should make note if they are not yours, and
make it quite obvious that you are simply displaying them because you like them.
If you know who made them, link back to their site. Who knows, they may even
notice any traffic you send them from that, and give you a link in return
(assuming they aren't upset about having their work displayed without their
knowledge).
My other gripe about the anime pictures, is that they are barely visible. Most
are so large, that the scaled version that is displayed is badly mangled and
quite ugly. If you can, you should have them a little bit larger.
About your book: Sad, but very much a reality, there are people who wouldn't
think twice about ripping anything you write and claiming it as their own before
you have a chance to put it out. I don't know if you intend to put the entire
thing online, but I would strongly advise against it, unless it is actually
published (or copyrighted, but since that is a bit expensive, it probably isn't
feasible for you at this time).
A summary would be great, but not the entire thing -- just give the visitors
enough to whet their appetite.
Also, butterflies...
Songs: Oh, blessed Death, those colors are hideous. I'm sorry, but I /cannot/
sugar-coat something like that. Lime green, yellow, cyan and magenta... My eyes
just want to burst open and bleed. I *strongly* encourage you to Google for a
color compatibility wheel. I would give you a few links to some good ones, but
being able to search for information and things you are unsure of is one of the
key abilities needed to be able to build a web site (I've been doing it for
several years now, and still find myself turning to Google once or twice a week
for various problems, and I know people who have been in the business since the
earliest versions of the Internet who need to search for info regularly, as
well, so skillful searching is not just a passing need).
EDIT: Upon further thinking, I come to Minitokyo but rarely any more, so I'll
give you a good link for a color scheme assistant. This site is
one of my favorite color scheme generators.
You should try doing searches for one anyway, though, if you are unsure about
your searching skills. Also, I apologize if this part sounds like the whole
"RTFM" lines people so often say, but it is something I cannot stress
the importance of enough: being skilled in searching is a critical component of
web design, if only to see what your competitors and co-conspirators are doing.
Now, for a few useful links.
Firstly, I see you used a WYSIWYG editor. They are all right, but they add a
huge amount of unneeded text, making your site several time larger than it needs
to be (size really /does/ matter in this case).
If I may, I would suggest taking a look at HTML Goodies for a nice beginner's site
on HTML. If you want to get into HTML seriously, I would suggest looking into
some of the books by O'Reiley's to continue your training (and I will advise
against the HTML for Dummies book. I've read it, and compared to other books on
the market, it is a ridiculous waste of money. Some of the for Dummies books are
pretty good, but their HTML book is strongly advised against because of their
lack of in-depth explanation about why certain things are important. They'll
give you the basics, which amounts to the code, but they won't explain anything
such as why a certain type of layout is better than another, nor do they get
very much into colors and color safety, and they don't mention multiple
platforms [Windows, Mac and *nix] at all).
Finally (wasn't it "finally" before?) I would suggest learning to
build a site by hand (that is, entering everything on your own). Dreamweaver is
nice, but there are many limitations that it has (size, especially) that can
only be tended to by hand-coding. Notepad (not wordpad or Word or Works, those
are the worst editors you can use for HTML) is good, but if you want something
that has syntax highlighting like Dreamweaver has, I would recommend Notepad++. It is an
advanced version of notepad (free, so no worries about money) that offers
excellent syntax highlighting (and several other features you'll find you'll
love if you get deeply in the world of web design).
(Not exactly an after-thought, but not critical to beginning web designers, CSS
[cascading style sheets] are also something you want to learn if you continue in
web design, but since you can't do anything with CSS until you have a solid
grasp on HTML, learning CSS is a secondary concern to HTML. It might be fun to
look at as you progress, though. Also, the single best way to learn HTML is by
looking at other web sites that you like, and seeing how they were made. You can
code the stuff until your finger are raw, but nothing beats a good example of
what you like and want to do.)
I apologize for this being such a long post, but I figured that if a person was
looking for a critique and was interested in web design, babying around and
simply saying "it's good" would have been a great disservice. You have
a very solid start on it, so keep it up and don't stop! You're still young, so
you have plenty of time to really get your skills down. Good luck with the web
designing! I hope to see more of your work in the future!
Hey,
Can you see if my website is good.
Heres the website.
www.freewebs.com/immortalprincessroxy
Thanks hope you like it.
Thanks
Angel
It's kind of ugly... just a bunch of tables and images.
dreamweaver =/= success. you're better off scripting the whole thing. imo, look into div tables. good start, needs more cowbell.
messy.. /./
You should check some tutorials and stuff. It's messy,just like rika said...
Here's a good resource: http://www.glish.com/css/
If you want to keep your site tidy, you should start with a template made in e.g photoshop. It's a good way to keep everything on place, you know.
For example, I made this one(and forgot to finish it, but it's a school site, so I have still a month
)
http://kakobe.edl.pl/barela/dwojka/darkslategray/
Every single site I made didn't make me satisfied, so it encouraged me to make another one. And so on, I spent many weekends experimenting with CSS. Basics of PHP were also helpful.
Don't hesitate to try new things! If you backup properly, they can only do better!
Ah, it's all right for a start, but there is a lot to be fixed up.
Two absolutely critical things, is that you have a huge home page, and all of the main content on the home page (your links to the rest of your site and your welcome) are below what is referred to as the "fold" (the bottom of the screen), so people have to scroll down to get to them. In successful web design, that is a huge no-no.
EDIT: the following paragraph does not apply (I had JavaScript disabled, so it changed how the site worked). Even so, it is good practice for designing a web site.
Browsing around your site, the forum link should simply take you to the forum, instead of having a second link to get there (unless you want to put a little bit of info on the page, such as rules or what you would like to see your forums become). Also, your forum replaces your site in the window. Another big thing in successful web design is keeping people on your site. Even moving to a forum for your site is taking a large risk in having them click away from the site. Instead of having it open in the same window, on the forum's link, add
to the href element. In non-tabbed browsers, that will open your forum in a new window, and in tabbed browsers, it depends on the user's settings (either opening in a new tab or opening in new window).
Correction: After enabling JavaScript, however, I see the above is not an issue. Ignore that for the current site, but it's good information to remember for future reference.
Moving on, those butterflies. Cute? Yes. Very, very bad? Very, very yes.
Moving and animated things like those butterflies are generally frowned on with major sites, and in some cases, users (myself included) will not even bother with a site if we see stuff like those butterflies. Even if they can be hid in a single click, they are annoying, at best, and distracting, at worst (or is that distracting at best, and annoying at worst? In web design, it is a debate about what is worse: distractions or annoyance).
The flashing, glittery picture is similar, but not as bad as the butterflies. It is distracting, but since there isn't much text to be read near it, it isn't too bad of an issue at this time.
Obviously, the same goes for all pages with animated backgrounds (such as the About Me page).
Anime Pictures: Unless they are your own, probably not a great idea to have them on your site. At the very least, you should make note if they are not yours, and make it quite obvious that you are simply displaying them because you like them. If you know who made them, link back to their site. Who knows, they may even notice any traffic you send them from that, and give you a link in return (assuming they aren't upset about having their work displayed without their knowledge).
My other gripe about the anime pictures, is that they are barely visible. Most are so large, that the scaled version that is displayed is badly mangled and quite ugly. If you can, you should have them a little bit larger.
About your book: Sad, but very much a reality, there are people who wouldn't think twice about ripping anything you write and claiming it as their own before you have a chance to put it out. I don't know if you intend to put the entire thing online, but I would strongly advise against it, unless it is actually published (or copyrighted, but since that is a bit expensive, it probably isn't feasible for you at this time).
A summary would be great, but not the entire thing -- just give the visitors enough to whet their appetite.
Also, butterflies...
Songs: Oh, blessed Death, those colors are hideous. I'm sorry, but I /cannot/ sugar-coat something like that. Lime green, yellow, cyan and magenta... My eyes just want to burst open and bleed. I *strongly* encourage you to Google for a color compatibility wheel. I would give you a few links to some good ones, but being able to search for information and things you are unsure of is one of the key abilities needed to be able to build a web site (I've been doing it for several years now, and still find myself turning to Google once or twice a week for various problems, and I know people who have been in the business since the earliest versions of the Internet who need to search for info regularly, as well, so skillful searching is not just a passing need).
EDIT: Upon further thinking, I come to Minitokyo but rarely any more, so I'll give you a good link for a color scheme assistant. This site is one of my favorite color scheme generators.
You should try doing searches for one anyway, though, if you are unsure about your searching skills. Also, I apologize if this part sounds like the whole "RTFM" lines people so often say, but it is something I cannot stress the importance of enough: being skilled in searching is a critical component of web design, if only to see what your competitors and co-conspirators are doing.
Now, for a few useful links.
Firstly, I see you used a WYSIWYG editor. They are all right, but they add a huge amount of unneeded text, making your site several time larger than it needs to be (size really /does/ matter in this case).
If I may, I would suggest taking a look at HTML Goodies for a nice beginner's site on HTML. If you want to get into HTML seriously, I would suggest looking into some of the books by O'Reiley's to continue your training (and I will advise against the HTML for Dummies book. I've read it, and compared to other books on the market, it is a ridiculous waste of money. Some of the for Dummies books are pretty good, but their HTML book is strongly advised against because of their lack of in-depth explanation about why certain things are important. They'll give you the basics, which amounts to the code, but they won't explain anything such as why a certain type of layout is better than another, nor do they get very much into colors and color safety, and they don't mention multiple platforms [Windows, Mac and *nix] at all).
Finally (wasn't it "finally" before?) I would suggest learning to build a site by hand (that is, entering everything on your own). Dreamweaver is nice, but there are many limitations that it has (size, especially) that can only be tended to by hand-coding. Notepad (not wordpad or Word or Works, those are the worst editors you can use for HTML) is good, but if you want something that has syntax highlighting like Dreamweaver has, I would recommend Notepad++. It is an advanced version of notepad (free, so no worries about money) that offers excellent syntax highlighting (and several other features you'll find you'll love if you get deeply in the world of web design).
(Not exactly an after-thought, but not critical to beginning web designers, CSS [cascading style sheets] are also something you want to learn if you continue in web design, but since you can't do anything with CSS until you have a solid grasp on HTML, learning CSS is a secondary concern to HTML. It might be fun to look at as you progress, though. Also, the single best way to learn HTML is by looking at other web sites that you like, and seeing how they were made. You can code the stuff until your finger are raw, but nothing beats a good example of what you like and want to do.)
I apologize for this being such a long post, but I figured that if a person was looking for a critique and was interested in web design, babying around and simply saying "it's good" would have been a great disservice. You have a very solid start on it, so keep it up and don't stop! You're still young, so you have plenty of time to really get your skills down. Good luck with the web designing! I hope to see more of your work in the future!