Web Page Help

[Trimoor]

My web page sucks.  Plain and simple.
Can anyone help me make it better?

I'm pretty sure it needs to be completely redone.
Should I use frames? PHP?

Can anyone give me an idea for the layout?

Something easy to update.

I have lots of projects I want to document (MAME cabs and the like), but I don't want to write it all up just to have more to redo later.

Here is the site:
www.trimoor.com

Thanks all!

[Buddabing]

No, it doesn't. It's simple and to the point. More sites should be like yours.

That said, you might try "view source" on sites you like to see how they do things.

[Trimoor]

Yeah, I coded everything by hand, but it is quickly becoming a pain in the ass.
I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't know how to make a decent layout on a specific page.

Should I have tables to arrange the text and pics?
Should I use small thumbnails that link to bigger images?

Should I alternate text and images side to side like this page?:
http://www.trimoor.com/mame_cab/controls/index.htm

What about the color scheme?

The only problem I see with frames is that you lose the sidebar if you directly link to a page.
(Anyone know a way around this?)

[zaphod]

Should I have tables to arrange the text and pics?

Yes!  Tables are your friend. 

Should I use small thumbnails that link to bigger images?

If you have more than a few pics per page, yes.  Nothing more annoying than waiting for 20 large pics to download.  By using thumbnails (or at least smaller versions of the pics) you also conserve your bandwidth.

Should I alternate text and images side to side like this page?:
http://www.trimoor.com/mame_cab/controls/index.htm

You could.  Tables would make the layout on this example a lot more pleasing to the eye, though.

What about the color scheme?

The yellow is a tad bright for my tastes but the text is plenty readable on it.  The left frame's background makes my eyes work too hard.  I'd recommend changing it.

The only problem I see with frames is that you lose the sidebar if you directly link to a page.
(Anyone know a way around this?)

Personally I dislike frames for the very reason you mention.  But if you like them, it's your site- do what makes you happy. 

Why code by hand?  There are plenty of free web tools out there that will make your life a LOT easier.

[DYNAGOD]

yea , my eyes are bleeding from the yellow.. 

[Snarbald]

I recomend html kit. http://www.chami.com/html-kit/

[Magnet_Eye]

maybe try using a PHP Nuke or MAMBO server or something that has a ready to go theme for you...they have a lot of them out there, and it might suit you better.

[HaRuMaN]

I hate to say...  but your site is fugly, lol. 

Why don't you just use a nice WYSIWYG editor...  Mozilla comes bundled with a decent one, for free, no less.

[Trimoor]

I tried the mozilla editor, but it keeps screwing up my links, and I have to fix them by hand.

I might give phpnuke or mambo a try, but they just seem to be too difficult to use.

When you say "fugly", what exactly do you mean?  Is this page and better than the others??:
http://www.trimoor.com/rotary_joystick/index.htm

What do you reccomend changing?

[Shape D.]

When you say "fugly", what exactly do you mean?

FUGLY

Adjective
Deffinition= F 'n Ugly

[HaRuMaN]

When you say "fugly", what exactly do you mean?  Is this page and better than the others??:
http://www.trimoor.com/rotary_joystick/index.htm

What do you reccomend changing?

Well, for one, the background color.  While it is nice for readability, it is hard on the eyes.

I think if your site had a nice, unifying theme throughout, it would greatly improve it.  It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just something to make it look better.  Maybe a textured background, and a side navigation bar. 

[HaRuMaN]

Here is an example of what I mean...  I took your page, and edited it.  I hosted on my webspace...

http://filebox.vt.edu/users/rspeer/trimoor/

[Snarbald]

I wouldn't use frames and instead of having all the images on individual pages, I would just halve the dimensions and have them link to the full resolution images. Maybe use some horizontle rules to break things up a bit.

[Trimoor]

The email notification decided to stop working again...
I added a background, but I still have to change the link colors. (they were matched to the solid orange)

Thanks HarumaN, but I think that type of page is less intuitive.  It forces you do do a whole lot more clicking.  Plus, dark background with light text is really hard on the eyes, especially late at night.

I'm stuck with frames until I can find a better way to do the side menu.  I don't want to include it in every single page, because this makes it a pain to edit.

I'll consider the thumbnails, but it means a lot more work, plus more clicking for the user. (believe me, clicking can get really annoying on large sites)

Thanks everyone.

[shadowdrak]

WYSIWYG editors are for wussies IMO .  Besides that WYSIWYG is a stupid acronym.  The main reason I hate them so scornfully is that they produce extremely bloated source code(10 times what is needed).  And they are entirely un-editible by hand to any great extent.  For the most part, I would say tables are the way to go.  PHP is pretty neat if you want an easy way to update your content.  You can do most anything with notepad, tables, cascading-style sheets, and some java-script.  As long as you keep yourself organised it is pretty simple not to get lost.  When it comes down to it, I just don't trust a computer program to do it properly.  I used to use a website htmlgoodies.com; I don't remember how good it is though.  I would say just pick up a book and use it as a reference.

As for the layout, It is pretty easy to do the same sidebar on every page,  If you are using tables, just group the table tags for the menu all together, then leave space for the body, then put all of the closing tags and such in another block.

Maybe I am just an old fashioned type nerd.

[Trimoor]

Ack! what's wrong with the notification?  The last post was 3 days ago, and it never sent me an email!  It works for other threads...

I hate WYSIWYG editors for the same reasons you listed, plus it forces me to use absolute links, and screws up any existing links. (  "../%a../%simage.png" what the hell is that?)

How can I use php for easy updates?

Putting a sidebar in every page is easy, but incredibly tedious.  If I want to change anything on the sidebar, I have to change every single page.  That is, unless you know of a better way.  (possibly linking to a seperate file?)

I already use css (gotta love it), a few tables, and a little bit of PHP and Java (I hate Java for some reason)  I will try to use more tables for the main content.
Does anyone know how to center objects/text in an entire column?  Or do I have to do it <td> by </td>?

Does anyone know of an alternative text editor?  Something that automatically colors commands and tags?  Something not made by micro$oft.....

[Snarbald]

Does anyone know of an alternative text editor?  Something that automatically colors commands and tags?  Something not made by micro$oft.....

I'll reiterate:
http://www.chami.com/html-kit/

[Crazy Cooter]

Use FrontPage 98.

It's old enough to not bloat everything (too bad), and handles page includes.  You just make a menu page and embed it in every page.  Update that menu and it will update all the pages.  Almost every hosting company will allow this.

To start, find a page you like and use a screen capture program to get a pic of it.  Then open that image in a paint program.  You can grab colors and crap from it to create your own page in FP98.  Use a table to line stuff up and you're done.

[Trimoor]

I would think FrontPage 98 would be the worst, if only because it's a MS program...
They tend to generate IE only code.
I have too much of a grudge against MS..........

[zaphod]

I use Frontpage and like it.  It can get you 90% of the way with minimal effort.  Then you can go in and tweak the code by hand, if you'd like.  Just be sure to test the result in several browsers (Mozilla and IE, perhaps).

If you stay away from adding in the "extra features" that Frontpage offers, you won't see any IE-only code.  FP also makes global changes across all your pages very easy.  Downside: FP does generate somewhat bloated pages at times, but I consider that a decent tradeoff in time saved building the pages.

It does not "force" you to use absolute links, either.