₦airaland Forum

google for one.  By the way, there is no difference, site-wise, b/w a bank site and a microfinance bank site. It's all about the services offered to the customer

good luck!

Please read this before reading my review: https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-295593.0.html

1) too dark
2) too crowded
3) Broken links (Example: Click "my contact" from home page)
4) Photo gallery page: not all thumbnails are bringing up images, images too large, I think there are better ways to implement slide shows.

yawatide at yahoo dot com

convert the mock up into an actual site and we will talk

Moreover we all paid to have access here

Really? How much?

it might be the latest craze tomorrow who knows? but it definitely does not make you as a developer crazy if you don't use it.

Good talk. There was a time, pre-forms, that just posting the literal email address was the norm. It got replaced by someone who came up with a form and it caught on. For me, I guess it is a matter of time. To me, it is much quicker to fill a form and hit "send", than to copy, open a mail client, and paste (what if I don't copy it completely? then I wonder why I didn't get a response). who knows what will happen tomorrow as you said?

Sure, you don't have to wear jeans if everyone else is but you have to admit, you will be the odd one out

I have a client with the same issues with her yahoo account.  I just did her site and I know she has money and knew she was in the states so I found it suspicious when I got an email from "her" saying she was in Nigeria for an AIDS conference.  The email went on to say that she lost her purse in a cab and wanted me to wire to her via western union, $3,000 which she would pay upon return.

Pretty much you are screwed.  At best, you can only set up a new account and email all those you know off-head and have them do same to your mutual friends.  From that point on, do like me when you use any computer that isn't yours:

1) Delete all cache and cookies before leaving the place
2) Delete browser history
3) Close the browser
4) Reopen browser and make sure nothing is left tying you to that computer

One time, I even went as far as disabling images.  Might sound ridiculous but I bow for some of my naija brethren.  I pay my bills online at cybercafes when in the country.  Who knows? the person probably just went to your history and/or clicked the back button, if you forgot to close the browser.

sorry about your situation and good luck as you try to rebuild.

remo:
Not all but tis the norm. That's like saying not all go the clicking of portfolio page on a developer's site so it isn't mandatory to add such a page. Though yes, it isn't mandatory, it is now the norm for a developer to have such a page.

I hope I make sense.

my last response to sley on the matter:

I wrote the post, so sorry I get to choose what I emphasize, not you. To that effect, I choose to emphasize "Might", not "ban".

Either way, you have been warned and will be watched.

Thanks,

no problem, dhtml.

Alternatively, if you use firefox, you can get the colorzilla add-on:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/271

Tis neat and I like the color combo, however:

1) top nav: as you click from page to page, notice that "contact us" changes position. It needs to be consistent in placement. Also, certain pages appear to be "jumping" when you flip from page to page. I suspect you aren't using includes which would allow you to code the nav once and then reuse.

2) Layout of "our services" page is different from the rest - bad

3) No contact form - why?

4) portfolio page: There are some funky characters on the page ("line decor" and "ges". Make the images on this page more interactive. I was hoping I could click them and see more. Again, layout is inconsistent with other pages. Same goes for all pages in the left nav - again, bad

sley: Let's read my post again, shall we?

Please refrain from posting your question(s) under non-related posts. You can always create a thread for this.

It is imperative that you follow this advice or else, you might find yourself banned. Of course, you could sign up as someone else but again, you will get banned and the vicious circle will continue Wink

Now, forget all the other words and zoom in on the bolded one. Get it now?

Geez, I can't believe this is still going on, at least one year since posting

It seems many on here are forgetting those very early lessons they had in economics and commerce classes - money and time management.

Manage the 2 aforementioned well and believe me, you can have a personal, social and "geek" life all at the same time.  Having said that, they say birds of the same feather flock together.  No one can convince me that out of all the girls/boys in a particular place that there isn't at least one who doesn't like going out with someone in a particular trade.  Will it take time to find such? sure but that doesn't mean you should give up.  If you can't find, keep searching.  Don't let oyibo culture influence you into believing that if you are by yourself that something is wrong with you.  "Distractions" can often prevent us from utilizing our talents in full

Good luck!

@all: Thanks for your comments/post of the url.  Interestingly, prior to posing this question, I read this same article

I also have read 3 or 4 more where people said they put up the link, and linkstar did in fact pay.  I think the author of the article posted here even says that they aren't doing anything illegal but wonders why they are secretive.

My instincts? After thinking about it for a week, I have decided to add the link.  Worse case, if I don't get paid within 72 hours, I will take the link out.  Here is the link, to show how harmless it appears to be, including the site being advertised (their ad is embedded in one of the paragraphs and for the purpose of this post, has been bolded):

My text on my site here,followed by — the same qualities that made (with link to their client here, opening in the same page) standout in the insurance industry. By incorporating these factors, we hope to accomplish our objective and mission.

My only concern is that the advertised site opens in the same window and under their terms and conditions, I can't modify it to open in another window. They are so secretive - I can't even post my own paragraph or mention the site promoted. I figure sha, $150 for 12 months is free money

I will keep you all posted.

I would go a step further, for the purposes of readability and maintenance to rewrite the above like so:

<style>
#textBgColor { color: #f00; background-color: #00f; }
</style>

<div id="textBgColor">Hello World</div>

1) FONT tag is deprecated in XHTML

2) Always use the hex codes for colors and not the words, in case you meet some browser out there that doesn't interpret the words.

3) My way might seem "complex" but tis best, from personal experience, to delve into the deep end of the pool at once, as opposed to skirting around the fringes. Tis best to know the proper standards up-front than to memorize the bad ways and then re-orient yourself to the good.

Good luck!

sley4life:
Please refrain from posting your question(s) under non-related posts. You can always create a thread for this.

It is imperative that you follow this advice or else, you might find yourself banned. Of course, you could sign up as someone else but again, you will get banned and the vicious circle will continue

Toodles.

sley, I don't know how via ie but I know how via meebo: Just visit meebo.com, sign in with your initial yahoo address. Once signed in, click the "yahoo" link and sign in to as many yahoo (or other services like aol, gtalk, etc) accounts as you want.

I use meebo at work as my employers have blocked access to YIm et al.

Good luck!

The form validates your product/registration key from my db (not joomla db) and then gives you an activation code to unlock the shareware. It also integrates with 2 sms APIs to send an sms containing your activation code to ur phone.

This is probably the problem. There might be tutorials online featuring how to keep non-joomla DBs secure on joomla sites or maybe even components/modules to that effect. You probably already know this but just in case, visit extensions.joomla.org

Good luck!

onye:
Thanks for the info. This one however, is a company based in the UK: http://www.linkstar.co.uk/

Hmm, not that I trust joomla and/or its installable components 100% but I would imagine that if they went through the trouble to code a registration form, then they made sure, for legal reasons, that it is as secure as possible. What did you need done that required a custom registration form?

Depending on what you need done with your form, maybe you should try, if not already, the free component, Community Builder. I recently used it on a project and it is powerful from what I can tell. For one, it allowed me to define my own registration questions (like date of birth, year of graduation, etc) which is better than the (boring) registration form that comes standard with joomla.

I hope this helps.

I just got contacted by someone who works there asking that for some money, they post a text ad on my site. I have done some massive google research and haven't found anything -ve about them other than that they are very secretive about their clients. The interesting thing is, and this is what got me worried, after they sent their initial offer, I rejected it, asking for a higher price. They sent me something lower and again, I rejected. They finally agreed.

The ad is to be on my site for 1 yr. It is text and is to be embedded (it is a sentence, with a link to a paying client, I guess. I also checked out the site is is referring to and it is legit) in the middle of a sentence, in one of the paragraphs on the page in question.

The site in question doesn't rank high and I am wondering how my site of the millions out there met their criteria, hence the question.

Anyone heard of them or better yet, dealt with them? Do share please.

Thanks.

If you haven't already, please read: https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-295593.0.html

Show no mercy!

Interesting 

For the record, I like http://www.westrendltd.com/ better - the layout is neater, IMHO.   The other looks crowded to me.  I give both sites 9.5 out of 10 (just because I don't believe that anyone, including myself is 100% good at anything  )

Also, I see both sites are using html files.  This leads me to suspect that you aren't taking advantage of includes.  For example, if I decided to make you change background color of 4 of your pages, I am suspecting (I stand corrected) you will have to make that change 4 times, as opposed to within one include file.  I personally like to divide my pages into the following includes (at a minimum), thus leaving only the content visible per page: header, footer, left column, right column, navigation.  Basically, anything that appears on more than one page deserves an include.  It just makes maintenance easier.

http://www.westrendltd.com/
1) contact field: "one or more fields are required".  Why not specify which field?

2) Numbers above top nav items: what's the purpose of those? I don't think they are necessary

3) I would increase page width to 965px which is what the Yahoo Group recommend for 1024x768 sites. This allows for more content.

4) http://www.westrendltd.com/about-westrend-ltd.htm - I would bring the map up so that people see this as the first thing.  I don't think you have to make it that big either.  Again, 965px page width would have helped here.  This applies to all other pages as well.

5) There is a disconnect b/w the top nav and left nav. They should be consistent.  To increase real estate, I would remove the left nav and move the items under "services".  Also, why is "home" green and others aren't when on those pages?  This needs to be corrected.  This will also bring the content below the left nav up, to the fore, and I want to believe that especially for the testimonials, you would want potential customers to see that first, considering we read from left to right.

6) Our team: Probably would be nice to have their photos on there.

7) FAQ: The norm is to have the links to the questions at the top and then when you click, via intra-linking, you are taken to the answer, which also should have a "back to top" link, back to the linked questions.

8 )  You are a Webmasters of Africa Member? Interesting 

9) At bottom of left column, I see, "for more testimonials".  This would lead me to believe that if I click the link, I am taken to a separate page.  However, especially if I am on another page, I am taken back to the home page and to the top of the document.  Since the testimonials appear on every page, take that line out.  Or create a testimonials page and redirect people there.

10) I know you are using xhtml transitional but you could have presented your content without resorting to tables.  Except you are presenting strictly tabular data, use floated divs (like at the bottom of the home page).

11) Move your styles and javascript, unless they are absolutely specific to the page, to external files.  This helps reduce page weight.

12) http://www.westrendltd.com/clientele.htm - you could have used UL/LI and not nbsp and "-", to make your code semantically correct.

http://www.dinresourcecentre.org/ (this one's still not fully completed yet - awaiting content from the client)
since it isn't complete, I would just say to make sure you inculcate advice from above website to this site as well.

Again, very well done.  Just correct the other issues and na you I go dey bow to, he he.

They got in through a backdoor you created obviously. For example, how are you guarding against SQL injections> How do you capture your form fields? Good thing is, you have backups.

Nitation, a fellow forumite is pretty good at this stuff and I am sure wouldn't mind sharing with us all strategies to prevent such hacking.

HTML 4.1 is old news. XHTML is the future. It's code structure ensures that pages (in theory) will be displayed similarly across all browsers. Unlike HTML where you could get away without closing tags, for instance, XHTML isn't as forgiving.

If you are new to the game and are wondering where to start, go straight to XHTML.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

webdezzi:

Na so una and ur ilk dey take style deviate from main issue

I have read it 3 times and since as I have always maintained, I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer, tell me, oh wise one, what I can't seem to figure out, that you have.

Thanks,

Solution already provided: https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-296796.0.html

What is wrong?  You asked for it  

1) I click "contact", form overlay pops up, fair enough. I then enter bad email address and get "error: fill form properly".  Assuming I didn't know what I did wrong, I was expecting a message by the part(s) I didn't fill correctly.  Anyways, I filled the proper email address but still got the message.  After 10 clicks, it turns out it was because I had "test" in comments and I guess it was too short.  Please specify how many characters minimum.  Also consider putting red asterisks by required data.

2) Free quote form: same as #1 with addition that when I did enter good data, I was expecting, ala ajax, that the area would refresh saying "thanks, etc".  Rather I get overlay popup (again, fair enough) though the form wasn't refreshed to blank out the fields.

3) I clicked "free quote" and actually loved that rather than go to another page, the form blinked to show me it was there all along. Problem? Assuming I stood up from my seat and someone else took over my computer and clicked same link, the form didn't blink again after the first click.

By too much content, i meant too many forums, sorry about that.

I wouldn't remove the sponsored links. I assume your plan is to make money right? Make it a 728x90 ad and display it horizontally at the top and bottom.

For an example of uncluttered forum, check out nairaland's home page - Excluding the "featured links" part, every main topic is neatly laid out and you only get sub-forums if you click the main forum.

Make sense?

Sorry bros, but still too much content. Also, I would expect the sponsored link to be at the top where it can be easily seen and clicked (which will result in more google ad sense revenue ).

Maybe you will need to study the site over time and weed out the boards with the least traffic. Either that or you set up a poll on your site asking your forumites to tell you what they want gone.

Good luck!

Hello there, it's me, the boring lady again 

was getting bored and so I decided to do some random googling for Nigerian state house of assemblies.  I basically did "<state> house of assembly".  If the site didn't appear on page 1, then it's not worth looking at, IMHO.

Here is what I came up with:
http://www.riversassembly.org/
http://www.lagoshouseofassembly.gov.ng/
http://www.edostatehouseofassembly.org/index.php
http://www.anambrahouseofassembly.org/
http://www.edostatehouseofassembly.org/
http://kanohouseofassembly.org/
http://www.akwaibomlegislature.gov.ng (down)

First and foremost, I would expect more states than these to have sites for their HOAs.  Anyways, how do you see the above sites (less Akwa Ibom, as it is down)?  Rank not only based on design/layout but also on seo, code structure, load times, etc.

I have my choice, but I will wait to hear from you.  Also, please note that I am not saying any of the above are necessarily the best.  What I am saying is that of the group above, a few are better than others 

Bros, not a matter of winning. I am an "if-then-else" kind of person. No answer to me is cut-and-dry. To me, it all depends. I also don't take people's words for it. I question everything. You have to convince me before I fall for you. Sorry if I appear pest-like, granted I think it is for your own good

Geek? Far from it. In fact, I HATE the term. I am just your average olufunmi

If you wanted average pricing, then guess what? You should have said so. Then maybe then, it wouldn't have taken 5 posts. Also, are you honestly going to make a decision based on my response alone? what of others are lower/higher? What if I am lying?