opening a thread for webdesigner to upload screenshots of their work, so we can all critique (somebody spell check that) it . am startig with a project i am working on for a state government: a budget process management solution:

**using a fairly large screen, so am reducing d size of d shot, if it does not turn out well, i will repost**

i reposted, hope d download doesnt take too long

Nothing to critique on there buddy. Not legible. FYI Seun limit the size of attached files. Load it to in high resolution and post the thumbnail link here.

was working on it when u posted, hope u see d repost.

demmy:

Nothing to critique on there buddy. Not legible. FYI Seun limit the size of attached files. Load it to in high resolution and post the thumbnail link here.

u can load it to flickr too. it works with ur yahoo id

The screenshot is cool.

Can you explain some of the technology (for the backend) involved in this project.

i use ASP with SQL Server. It is meant to be a Budget Process Management System for use by Government Parastatals and the likes. I use DWX2004+ for nmy design and coding. Would love to give some tutorials if we had a tutorial section.

Good looking Budget Management Software, although we do not have our hands on the functionality bit, you could upload it to a public server so we can critique it completely for you.

You said SQL, what sort of SQL (Structured Query Language ) MySQL, MSSQL?. What is the purpose of the software? It will help use to validate your system.

Generally from GUI perception, 100%.. well done.

I used MSSQL. As per functionality, let me give you a brief run down:

To Submit a Budget *****************************
The Ministries get approval from the Governor for a budget.
After approval, they take it to thebudget office.

To Request Funds *******************************
A request for budget release is made to the budget office.
The Director General checks it out, if the request is valid, approves and sends a release warrant to the accountant general
The AG then releases the funds

Other functions in between Dir Gen, Dir Budget, Sector Heads, Gov, Comm, Perm Sec...

Although you have told us the basic function I personally would need to validate some input and see the error messages your system impose.  Also, I/we would be able to tell you some major short-falls within you working application.  I hope this version is from production environment NOT your deployed environment. 

If so, all we need is the IP address of your production computer assuming the computer is connected to Internet through some network.  example:

from your command line type c:/>ipconfig

[move]
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\administrator>ipconfig

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
       [glow=#3e4fs2,0,50] IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.51[/glow]
        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2

C:\Documents and Settings\administrator>
[/move]

This is how my network settings looks like, all we need is IP Address the one highlighted above.  We can access you application and critique it for you.

If you are behind a network make sure that you router is enabled to allow a virtual host connection to you Host PC (The PC that has the Budget Management System). From above I can see that you webserver is connected to port 80. So map your PC to port 80 on your machine IP address.

You can ignore all this if you really do not want us to critique the underlying functions of the system.

What I could do is host it on a public server. If I can find I dat allows free MSSQL hosting... know any1? Link me

How do you intend to deploy it at the end of the day. Is it going to be on the public internet or on an intranet.

Public hosting, if I can get free MSSQL Hosting

I doubt if you can get that. Hosting is relatively cheap these days. Although i can talk about Windows hosting.

I wouldnt want to link up my server to the web. using dial up, and cant risk all other work on my system. I could try and convert it to Access and upload or look for free MSDE hosting

You can always get a good webhost.

"africanboy":

I wouldnt want to link up my server to the web. using dial up, and can't risk all other work on my system.

That is nonsense, you know that?  Apache is very secure webserver, I wonder why many compnies use it?  Here in nairaland in my opinon 99.9% programmers here are php digitalgurus.  Apache is the main reference container for PHP/MYSQL.

I don't know where you get the idea that using a dial-up would compromise your "other work on the system"?  This is rubbish, you just spoken like none professional IT.  Have you ever had what they call [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewall_%28networking%29]Firewall[/url]?  You can download a firewall or configure your Dail-up Router to block all other ports and allow only your webserver port, by default  is 80.

Port, is the layer 3 of the OSI Model.  Every communication from your PC to any network i.e. LAN, WAN, MAN, VLAN etc MUST pass the process called OSI encapsulation.  A process of converting your data to binary for transportation through the access media.

Apache provides a configuration file in c:/>programe Files/Apache Group/Apache2/conf/httpd.conf in unix /usr/local/conf/httpd.conf

Find this bit and set it to a different partition or hard drive:

[glow=#34ffer3,100,50]

#
# DocumentRoot: The directory out of which you will serve your
# documents. By default, all requests are taken from this directory, but
# symbolic links and aliases may be used to point to other locations.
#
DocumentRoot "C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs"
[/glow]

Mind you someone can NEVER access your directories without logging in as a user.  That person can either tellnet, VPN, SSH, dial-in etc. and supply authentic username and passwd before the shell/kernel and grant resource privilege.

The most secured apache that has NOT received any break-in problem is version 1.3.  It is as secure as you could want it.  Use httpd.conf to further secure your server.

@SBU, do you know that it's not that so easy to stay online here in Nigeria. It's an honor for most people to be online most fo the time.

So hooking his PC to the web 24/7 is not feasible economically. He need to get a host.

@joftech, just for the small period he wants us to help critique his work. I am not saying he should host a web server 24/7. He can allow his computer to be accessed on the WWW for the duration he wants us to critique it, say one hour.

I know you guys are trying, even to get internet access I commend you lot and praise those that made it possible. I thought the post author wanted us to critique his work? Like I said earlier the GUI (Graphical User Interface) is 100%. If he wants I/we to critique the underlying components of his work.

He should plan a time and post when his production web site would be online hence allow people to validate the software specification at the comfort of his internet access rather than paying for a host. That is all I was saying.

But if you think hosting is cheaper then, go ahead.

I now get it.

@sbu, the site is asp based so i use IIS on WinXP SP2. Sometimes, just connecting through my provider has left me infected with worms, now i have taken more precautions, but u know a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

humans are the weakest link in any security setup. will allow access in a couple of days.

wait! checking out no-ip.com

@africanboy, I wish I could come down to you and show you what I mean.  Every networked computer both intranet, extranet, internet should have an updated antivirus.  It is like drving a car without insurance.

Some of the PCs on my network are without antivirus and they are connected to the web.

But i have disabled downloading of files with some extensions (exe, vbs, zip, com, inf, dat etc) at the gateway.