₦airaland Forum

Nice one. Would do something to it. And you know Zahymaka, I really felt the contact form having alternating shades was more of an overkill. Now that you've pointed it out to me, I'd do something.

Thanks man, thanks. I'd implement this as soon as I'm through with some work on ground. Most probably next week. Thanks man.

Ah, whose work does it look like then? Did you get the link correctly at all? Just in case you didn't, it's http://www.penhall-consulting.com/ And what did you say you have left everything to? Is that word conscience?

Thanks all the same man, I'd put that OSMI bit in my mind.

Ha, but it really shouldn't get to this now, should it?  But all the same Kazey, my2cents, prodgalson, thanks all.

Larger, which one be that now? No do make I come Lagos oh!  . And how you go tell your the client say na you do am?  You say that again and I'd be in Lagos ASAP, 

Would take logo up, would add search feature (which seems very unlikely  ), would do something about fonts, and a lot more.

Well actually, the site's colour scheme is blue. I felt I used quite a lot of that, cos the client specified that the company's organizational colours were blue and black and he wanted that to be consistent with the site's feel, albeit subtly. Naturally, I strived to achieve that with different shades of blue, maybe it just didn't come off nicely, right?

I can't find red anywhere on any page, could it be the images used on some pages that creates the colour over-kill, Kazey? Would push logo up and see how it goes.

Last time I heard, their lecturers were plain dumb, just good at teaching from big textbooks with fancy covers. 'Cos what they were doing were recruiting guys who blasted their exams even though you and I and them know that dumps from a good site can see you through.

I have a friend who just wrote and passed his OCP (Oracle Certified Professional). They recruited him before anyone could say Larry Ellison, primarily because it was Oracle 10g he blasted. This guy can't tell the difference between the Oracle SQL select command from schema, but there he is, taking people on Oracle 10g and 9i.

IMO, I'd say have some fair knowledge of the specific aspect of IT you want to go into, and then scout around for training centers, preferably in Lagos. NIIT could be fairly OK to some folks, but to many others, the cost isn't worth it, not a dime of it.

Added finishing touches to this site and wanted to get some reviews on it. I did it in a rush, cos I'm over myself with the Enyimba project.

Address is http://www.penhall-consulting.com/

Yes Kazey, animation might work for the site but not too much. And I agree with you that something is missing. Something that I can't place a finger on, that makes it look sort of, bland?

Walemuse, talks are going on about the awareness. They are waiting for the CAF Champions League to kick off in July. Then, all Enyimba matches would be on National TV and so they are hoping to use that medium. I told them about sidecards and all, like someone here pointed out and they've agreed to that.

As to the forum, I was working on that but the Chairman has asked me to put a hold on that first.

Zahymaka, that's hugely funny!

I shouldn't be sticking to any company's site, yes, and I haven't done that here. I was just pointing out that it isn't an entirely awful concept, since it's used by other people. (Note: Still not sticking.)

The Adobe's site, isn't that a design built on the pre-existing Macromedia's site design? Not that it's bad, no. It's a really pleasant site to visit, but if I remember correctly, they used to have their former design flushed left. That was before the acquisition, oh, how I hate that acquisition.

Would move it centre and see anyway.

Brushparke, I go animate some aspects of the site. Too many people don mention that one to me.

Layi, great post! I learnt a thing or two there, even though I felt I knew something about SEO.

Ah, thanks people.

But there's something hugely wrong here, and that's the Subject of this topic that has been altered. I didn't mean to inquire about advertising the site, but rather, advertising on the website. Those two are mutually exclusive, but whoever changed the initial Subject I used didn't seem to have noticed it.

Managment of Enyimba FC simply want to the site to generate revenue. They want to make money out of advert placements on the site, and this is what I'm kind of flustered about. Consequently, it's the sole reason for this post of mine and I'm happy people have responded to it.

Zahymaka, the table has been aligned left, prompting the empty spaces you see at the right. My Acer TravelMate laptop has got its highest resolution at 1280 x 800 and that's how I've worked, using same resolution. Check out IBM's site ( http://www.ibm.com/ ) to see the same huge gap to the right. Or even Computer Associates, http://www.ca.com/

my2cents, I've already copied your post and saved it to my HD. Would be needing it when I start putting those banners.

E-Jaja, thanks for your remarks, but this isn't the medium to express anything that might have transpired between two of us. I'd surely tell the Chairman that. By the way, how do I mail webmasters of big clubs asking them that sort of thing? Remember this is business.

Having worked on and gone far with site design and implementation, the management of Enyimba FC has asked me to start getting involved in the advertising aspect of the project. They had been emphatic about this and now they want this implemented.

Site Advertising

The idea is, the site http://www.enyimbafc.net/ should advertise as much as it can. It's not that they are saying paid adverts should splatter everywhere on the pages, but that there should be adverts, one way or another.

I'm not looking into Google AdSense for now, since traffic isn't very heavy. But I just could give it a shot, if it seems a nifty utility. It's more a banner thing by some popular brand here in Nigeria.

Bright ideas anyone?

(Lest I forget, lots of sections of the site aren't up yet, so don't mention that . As soon as I have the materials on that, I'd do. Again, CSS-Freaks, don't lambast the codes et al. There's so much to do that there's no time building an XHTML 1.0 Transitional compliant site.)

I would just appreciate reviews on appearance and most significantly, the advert thing.

Abeg tell them. Fireworks is a great app. I'm more comfortable working with it than I am with PS, even though PS produces more stunning graphics. I'm not an illustrator, neither do I do real serious image edits. So as far as web graphics go, Fireworks is just the perfect tool for me.

Timmy, where you dey?

By the way mate, don't forget to check up the help section of the WYSIWYG Editor you're currently using. You might wish to check out the forms building section.

Dreamweaver has a comprehensive tut on that, it comes bundled with it. If that would do you any good.

Lastly, google it!

Duh, the site's not it. At least if looked at from the angle that Nigerians are expected to look at it from. The site has got to project a feel that says "oboy welcome o, this site na for Naijas by Naijas, make u quickly register so you go begin enjoy the boku boku things wey full this site oh!" and really, that visitor has got to feel really connected to your site and site's concepts. I'm not saying you should make your welcome note pidgin, but let everything about this site be Nigerian. I think the domain is cool, but it has to go beyond that.

One's got to see pictures of real Nigerians, find names of people in Jos, Port Harcourt, Lagos, Uyo, etc, and not names from Alabama and Missouri. You get my drift? Your testimonies should come from guys in Nigeria, not Atlanta. And at least, throw a splash of pidgin english here and there. Make it typically and uniquely Nigerian, my brother.

Ditch this stuff you've got that's atypically US. Nigerians are not Americans. If you want to get to them, get to them with a branding that screams NIGERIA!.

Demmy you could check this out. www.orjikalu.com

It's more or less the state government's site.

my2cents, I didn't say it didn't count. Not at all. But like I pointed out, it counts within the circles of webdevelopers.

But answer me, if your client and audiences aren't complaining about validation errors, if the site just works fine for them, but some coders around are telling you your site ain't XHTML 2.0 valid et all, why the heck would you want to let that give you migraines?

Indeed.

And BTW, your comments on the overly-hyped importance of SEO is very good, Kris.

Joftech, could you please post links to these CMS that could make this job seem like pie. I'd really want to lay my hands on them, as WordPress and CuteNews have failed in that regard. Contribute too.

Oga Bolaoni, I'd do my best to continue advising them on the benefits of using industry standard technologies in their web project, if they persistently decline to conform, then maybe I just could do the job with whatever tools I've got but yet try to improvise on some areas. I'm looking forward to spicing up my portfolio with this singular project. 

Skima, I sent you an email with the link on your site but it returned; user not found. Perhaps we might want to talk more about your intents, couldn't we?

That's quite interesting to note. I'd be contacting you shortly but my greatest worry right now is an effective, yet free CMS to use. WordPress that Seun pointed out to me seems designed for blogging, CuteNews that a friend told me requires too many scriptings for effective use. Besides, my employers had gone ahead to pay for a Yahoo Web Hosting service which sucks incredibly with its lack of support for many server technology tools.

I'm just stuck in the middle of nowhere and they aren't willing to pay extra just yet for that sort of thing, I mean, going ahead to get a new webhosting package or buying a licensed and effective CMS.

Romeo, thanks for that point, but these people here are so physically-oriented if there's anything like that. They want the images associated with the main stories to have captions on them like they see on magazines. I had argued this but they wouldn't listen. I'd ditch it when I have a report on the main story again. That is, if its that you're singularly referring to.

By the way, who knows anything about CuteNews?

Ah, thanks to all of you though.

@my2cents, The nav bar by the left aren't images, you can't select them to see. As for the banner, I'm going to reduce that in size, thanks for pointing that out to me, I really appreciate your comments, even though you're saying I should pay if I need more.  

@Ynot, The size of the table is 800px and I'm sure that's about right for a webpage table structure. You might be experiencing a very small table size if you increase your screen resolution considerably. Besides, on my acer laptop, the size is really small due to the 17'' size of the LCD but when I preview in other systems or in cafes (which is where a bulk of the fans would be surfing from, it fills the monitor). Thanks all the same man. In the players profile, I could do add the contact link but you see, the club aren't really happy about their players being contacted like that. Considering the fact that the wrong persons could be contacting them.

@bolaoni, Thanks for the compliments. Man, I'd be working alone on the project, no shizzles about that. The stories on the site would be sent in by journalists everyday and during matches. When there's a match being played at the Aba Township Stadium, I've got to be there myself and update in real time, this time no journalists. I'd surely implement a forum later and register for the affiliate too. But all that would be after I'm over the hassles of server technology to implement.

@Vongauche, The club had gone ahead to pay for the domain before I was recruited. Ah, I'd look into the fans singing that song   . I'm sure lots of people, particularly Igbos would appreciate it. I'm ditching the glo logo right this minute. Thanks man.

@skima, Please I need all the PHP support I can get. I'd buzz you up the moment I start having problems.

This was an on-going project, www.enyimbafc.net , had so far done what you've seen.

Needed ideas for back-end development.

You can forget the HTML validation, man. I honestly don't believe sites have got to be 100% compliant to W3C specs. As long as your client and visitors aren't complaining, what the heck should you bother about? For other web developers who think you've got to make your site compliant for just the mention of it? C'mon, give me and others a break.

Moreover, most visitors would be using upgraded browsers that would render pages properly. So, why the nervousness to make pages interoperable among cross-platforms?

Oh yeah,

That's the craziest flash site I've ever come across but the clicklessness of it got to me, somehow, in the end. I think that the action of clicking has become fundamental, primal, inate, to our overall computer usage that not doing it becomes unusually and seriously unaccustomed to.

I'm going to share that link with lots of people in an attempt to find out if they find the clickless art pleasant. Thanks for sharing mate, thanks for sharing.

Hmm, you studied cryptology?

Yes, you can run Windows apps on the mac by using VirtualPC, not exactly like running Win XP on your mac, but at least it comes close. Thanks all the same guys. I've just been to Gafunk and have purchased the Win version. Had a terrible time getting to Lagos and back to PH.

Acer Travelmate 2413 - Linux Os

This might sound a bit dumb, but I'm just curious. I intend picking up the aforementioned notebook but it comes preinstalled with a Linux OS. Fact is, with the Linux, it's 13,000 cheaper than it's Win XP (H) counterpart - so naturally, I shoud be eyeing it.

What I want to find out is, is it going to be a snitchy operation, reinstalling the sh*t with Win XP Pro after purchase? I know it should be fairly easy and straightforward an operation, but I'm just wanting to find out if this singular case of having a presinstalled Linux would cause some problems, since I haven't dealt with such a machine (a one with a preinstalled Linux OS) before.

If it is, I'd forget going for the Linux version and purchase a Win version, but if it would be done easily, I'd be travelling to Lagos fast and picking up the notebook at Gafunk's.

It's finally happened. That which Jobs felt was never going to happen has happened. Windows XP, as at now, can run on the Apple Mac computers with Intel chips. Hackers have managed to get Microsoft's Windows XP operating system running on an Apple Mac computer, and this has caused a huge stir in computing circles around the world.

I think this a great thing, a very remarkable point in technological stand points. Others think this is not pleasant. What do you think? You think this would make you get a Mac sometime soon?

OK. I've gone through every bit of the site. Left out nothing, but sadly, my first impressions still linger.

I'm sorry if you got offended by my comments, but I was just being objective. You wanted a review, that's what I gave. If the reviews didn't sit nicely on you, my heart-felt regrets. My comments about a rookie, masterstroke, et all, was clearly what I had the impression of when I saw your site.

I've learnt from experience that those who are mastering the art of web design make the mistake of trying really hard to make their first works seem highly professional, and then in the end, in ends up looking like what I described. It happened to me, and I'm sure it happened to a lot others out there. If everyone who is striving to master the art, constraint themselves to the boundaries of their skills, but then just push a little further, websites designed by rookies would seem really cool.

I'm not saying you're a rookie, far from that. I'm only saying that somehow, you haven't really mastered the Art of Web Design. But that if you work within your capacity and push further, you'd go there. But if you throw in all you've got in a design, it would end up looking crappy. Just simplicity and functionality.

As regards the link which is my signature, it's a job I did several years ago. It was meant to be a prototype of what the site would seem like, nothing more. It isn't functional. But somehow, in the end, I liked it so much that I regard it as my best work and use it as a signature whenever I can. Maybe someday, I'd complete it. But until then, you can't diss it, cos it isn't meant to serve as a functional site.

All the same pal, no hard feelings, OK?

Ah, all that needs is a technician to fix. Replace the power or something, maybe the battery even, but most importantly, get a tech guy ASAP!