₦airaland Forum

Layout is crisp, simple and clean. A few pointers:

1) "Our mission" and "our vision" images are 57K each. I bet you if you used CSS and made the text parts of that image actual text and sprinkled in image optimization, you could have reduced the size of those 2 images by at least half. As you know, such images will waste the little time I have at a cybercafe, courtesy of high download times.

2) I assume, ", Performance Starts Here" is your tagline. Regardless, it is way to small and seems "alone in the wilderness. I would put it under your logo.

3) I liked how your form gave me immediate validation format. Having said that, what would be nicer is showing me (asssume I am a JJC intenet surfer. Yes, they do exist) an example of a valid format as well. By the way, your phone number field doesn't validate properly - i entered "44" and it accepted. You just got your mailbox bloated by 1 more useless email, courtesy of moi Also, y is there a large space b/w the text and the form?

4) On some pages, the "our services" links are linkable and on others, they are not. This leads me to believe that you aren't using SSIs. For your sanity's sake, you really should.

5) Link your logo to your home page.

That's it from me. IMHO, it looks pretty good.

@nic

I am not a DBA but you might want to try the following "down and dirty" technique:

1) have a DB with keywords that you think people will most likely search for.

2) Map these keywords to a URL and description.  In essence your DB will have at least 3 columns: keyword, URL, and Description

3) Capture the keyword in a textfied

4) Strip out all spaces and, if you are using PHP, use I blv removeslashes() (or whatever it is called)

5) query the DB with a "like" keyword (example: SELECT * FROM DB_NAME WHERE word LIKE keyword_goes_here). If the keyword searched on exists, you spit out the necessary fields, else you say something like, "your search didn't return any results, please search for something else". OR

6) Have results returned for similar keywords. In this case, you modify your DB based on 1 and 2 above, to account for the similar words and return those similar word results to the user.

Again, I am not a DBA but that is one "down and dirty" way of going about it.

@Mustay
Make you ask webdezzi o. He seems to forget that the sin men commit live long after them. On a thread, he accused me of being ITK. Not that I go around following him but whenever I see what I perceive as hypocritical comments from him, I have to let him have it.

Bottomline, if he says he was wrong, it is a truce but if he doesn't (and trust the typical naija man not to accept when he is wrong), if ever I see hypocritical comments from him, I will call him on it.

By the way, I have better things to do than follow him around. He ain't all that, and a bag of chips

boring and predictable. you actually will hurt a girl's feelings?

Yeah right! if you think I am, then congratulations, you walked straight into my fly trap. The less you know about me, the better.

Neptune: no yawa, as long as you do it on future projects. As far as being lazy is concerned, I am sure you will agree that laziness never took anyone anywhere. Spend the time upfront and do the right thing. Besides, if you are like me, with every new project, you maintain a code library. that way, for your next project, you simply copy and paste from old to new

webdezzi:
I don't have to print out geeky code (after all i have never considered myself a geek and will never) to prove to myself and others how good I am. I let my words do that. If you can't spk in layman's terms, it's a shame

@webdezzi

or else wetin? nothing dey. o o ni power

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2008/10/03/dlscreen103.xml

Researchers have demonstrated a flexible television screen which could result in people folding up their computer and putting it in their pocket.

The design could be used for television and posters, as well as computers, while it could also pave the way for the development of newspaper display technology which would allow readers to upload daily news to an easy-to-carry display contraption.

The concept demo was unveiled by researchers from Sony and the Max Planck Institute in Germany who believe "Rigid television screens, bulky laptops and still image posters are to be a thing of the past".

It is all organic, flexible and transparent with an extremely low energy requirement, while it has an almost unlimited viewing angle and high efficiency.

There is no need for a backlight and response times are up to 10 times fast than LCDs (liquid crystal displays), meaning ultra-smooth motion without blurring.

Due to the transparency, it is thought multiple layers can be stacked possibly for some types of 3D effects.

Previous attempts at flexible screens are hampered by size and resolution problems, while the image was also affected when the screen was folded.

Moving images on posters, seen in films such as Minority Report could also be a possibility, as well as cereal boxes with talking images.

Researchers told the Journal of Physics: "The displays have excellent brightness and are transparent, bendable and flexible.

"There are practically no display size limitations and they could be produced relatively easily and cheaply compared to today's screens."

In 2006, Sony demonstrated an earlier version of this work, but technical, mechanical and design issues prevented them from mass producing the previous model.

hmmmm, webdezzi

Considering your latest comments, I am forced to ask, "b/w me and u, whose comments appear more offensive? whose comments come off as ITK?"

Just asking. You might want to take the plank out of your own eye next time.

Pretty good Neptune.

All I would say in your case is:

1) Make use of white spaces - in particular on contact page, note how, cos your form fields are too small, there is a large white gap in the middle

2) Small font size: I see this over and over on many "Made in Nigeria" websites. People like me find it hard to read such tiny font. It gives me headaches, honestly.

3) You need to do better with your page names. What is "wwa" or "ss".html? I assume you want search engines to index your pages quickly and rank them high.

4) It would be nice if you highlighted the appropriate nav item for each page I am on.

5) For PDFs, it is a good practice to provide a link to adobe's site where users without reader can download it. Also, adding the file size wouldn't hurt so that users can determine if they want to bother downloading it or if they will read it on screen.

That's a quick review of your site. I hope you find it helpful.

@bugs
I think I have said all that needs to be said about HTML SSIs. The key again is to ask your host to see if they support it.  If they do, you can use my example above, as-is.  Bottomline, SSIs are the way to go, with respect to logically organizing similar content that will appear globally throughout your site.

Per site review, to add to cmon (the scrolling part only though ):

1) I think the home page is too busy.  It would be nice for it to look like this:
http://www.nethomesng.com/register.php

2) the first thing I wanted to do was contact you for details.  It took me a while to find the "contact us" link.  Perhaps you need to make it more visible.

3) It would be nice to offer a better message, when a record is not found, than "NO Record fund!!!."  It sounded like you were yelling at me.  Either way, correct "fund" to "found"

4) http://www.nethomesng.com/register.php - I think it is backwards to have me fill out a form, then ask me to log in before proceeding. It begs the question, "why even bother logging in, in the first place?"  Speaking of forms, when validating long forms, it helps to offer a visual cue around fields that weren't filled out properly.  That way, I don't hv to scroll ad infinitum.

5) I also am of the opinion that increasing the font size by just 1 or 2 pixels wdnt hurt anything.  I had to squint for information

6) I don't know if you test your sites at the local cybercafe.  I say this to say that you might want to think about optimizing some of your files. To mention but a few:
a) http://www.nethomesng.com/homeflash.swf - 89KB (yet it looks so small where you have it playing)
b) http://www.nethomesng.com/images/el.jpg 0 46KB
c) http://www.nethomesng.com/images/forsale2.jpg - 36KB

7) You have a total of 34 images on the home page alone.  This again affects download times and isn't suitable for those browsing with PDAs.


8 ) The top and bottom portions of your code are not indented.  Might seem fine and dandy to you but imagine I were the one who did it then I left the job and you took over.  Can you imagine how hard it would be to find that one missing TD or TR?

9) Try to move to web standards (CSS, XHTML). The use of tables and nested tables adds significantly to page weight, not to mention, it makes it harder to find stuff.  Use tables strictly for tabular data. Your horizontal scroll issue would hv been very easy to fix using CSS. With tables, you actually have to go into each page (if you aren't using SSIs) and manually change table and cell widths. After a while, I am sure u will agree with me that it will get frustrating.

Other than that, nice concept.

@webdezzi

he he, u c y i say certain things the way I do and y i feel i need to impart what i hv learnt to others?

I don't blv in blowing my own trumpet. I like to let wat I say or do speak for itself. Hopefully with time, others will see it that way instead of criticizing me for "criticizing"

whoops! I knew I was going to get this question

I haven't done this since 1999, just before backend languages became the norm, which is why I said you might want to google this one. Webdezzi, no, I am not talking about javascript/iframes. Having said that, here is the little I remember:

The code would look like so: <!--#include virtual="insertthisfile.html" -->

The important thing is to make sure your server supports it. If the html extension doesn't work, then try shtml. Again the first thing to do would be to ask your host to make sure their servers support it.

webdezzi:
I feel your pain about having to name your files with PHP extensions just for a 5-page (or whatever) website. I have been down that road too. But let's face it, the web is moving more towards web apps and so you might as well name all your files PHP (or whatever backend language). The HTML SSI doesn't allow for backend logic, just pure raw HTMLso again, you might as well.

I would go with #1 (looks more professional to me, for a consultancy firm) but as dezzi has said, from experience, tis best for u to show them all at once. In addition to giving them many choices, it also makes them think that they have only 4 choices to choose from and will hv u make modifications based on what u show them, as opposed to what they have in mind.

Good luck!

@design:

If you did compactcom, then I will say well done! To me, it is better than the other 2. A few observations though:

1) Just do the flash on the home page. Then use a regular graphic for the rest. The flashing is too much for me (and perhaps others). I got the message the first time.

2) It seems you don't have that much content per page and further more, it appears you have set a fixed height per page thus lving a large portion of the white area empty. I would suggest you fill it up for balance.

3) It would be nice to have photos of the BODs. That is how many corporate sites do it.

Thanks,

In reviewing at least 3 sites over the past 24 hours on here, I have come to realize that perhaps some of us do not know of Server side includes (SSIs). I will attempt to explain the concept here.

If you already know about SSIs and/or won't have anything constructive to say here, please close this thread and return no more. Otherwise:

In lay mans terms, an SSI is a logical way of grouping similar items of a web page that will appear GLOBALLY throughout the site. Since there are many backend languages out there (it could also be done in HTML but I won't go there, at least not this time as you really need to think in terms of PHP et al), I won't go into specifics as you can always grab the necessary code from a book. I will just discuss the theory. Sorry.

Take a typical web page. Such a page will always be a header, footer, and navigation sections. Of course, there could be others but for brevity's sake, I will stick to these 3. Now, let's take a 100-page website (they do exist ). Assuming no content on each page, you could easily copy and paste the same code into those 100 pages. Fine and dandy but let's suppose I ask you to make a change to the logo in the header. Now you start to rip your hair off. Why? because you have to make the change 100 times. How do you avoid this? Read on please.

By using SSIs, you just include say, the header include code, in all 100 pages. But you ask, "if I need to make a change, I will have to touch all 100 pages." Nope, unless you need to change the name of the include. All you have to do is open the header include file, make the change(s) ONCE and see that change on all 100 pages instantly! Pretty cool right?

CONCLUSION:
- Take advantage of SSIs. They are a definite time saver.
- Website architecture is key to any successful web project, no matter how small. Tis best to spend 80% of your time planning properly and 20% of your time coding than the other way around.

yep, I would agree on the white space thing. Try adding a black border around the content. Other than that:

1) Your contact page looks a little weird, sorry but it just does.

2) Contact forms on home page and contact page: i clicked the button but nothin happened. Do you intend to take the user to another page (for the home page form) or use AJAX so the user can stay on the home page? I would do the latter, IMHO

3) Events page. Might have looked good if you implemented a slideshow

4) On some pages, "events" link i active and on others it is not. This leads me to believe you aren't taking advantage of server side includes.

5) use consistent fonts.

webdezzi et al, wey una dey? C as designguru took my comments?

to the playa-haters of yawa in the house:

make una follow kehers/gamine dem hear o!

@logica
ROFLMAO! Well, based on past experience where I have been accused of "charging in American dollars", I have since stopped placing bids on nairaland. Nowadays, I am only here to learn and to teach

so wat is TBS?

@basking

Again, it is about making you a better person.  The truth isn't something you take with panadol.  It has to be taken/received as is.  Sorry.  Being proactive/reactive don't apply here at all. Perhaps you meant constructive/destructive criticisms? If so, I belong to the former.

I will see what I can do regarding, "softening things up" but if the truth slips out, as you said, there is nothing I can do.

Round 2 - gbosa!!

@basking, I can't afford to get boxed in a corner when I know I am right. If I am wrong, different story. I admit immediately. In a country where there are few women in web dev in particular and IT in general, I have noticed the stereotypical looks and comments. Though I don't want to go as far as to assume that many on here are doing same, I can't help but wonder.

I have to stand up for my compatriots in Nigeria. As I have said, I notice the looks/comments when I am in Nigeria and I have sworn not to stop representing till the day I retire from this game.

In general:

I am a simplicity zealot myself.  Research has shown that people want content on a site.  Wowing them with flash etc comes second.  Having said that:

1) You need to get rid of those flash intros.  Research shows that people find them distracting.  Don't even bother adding a "skip intro". Just get rid of them altogether.

2) Your sites are too "sharp".  Try, especially with images, rounded corners

3) You need to step up ur game and use a backend language like PHP.  This will enable you to, for example, do form processing. Based on what I have seen, you are using HTML.  This will make me assume that you are not even taking advantage of server side includes which would come in handy for grouping components that appear globally (header, footer, etc)

4) Your page headers hv a theme - orange band.  Nothing wrong with that but try adding margins to them as they look skinny presently.

5) Move your CSS/Javascript code from the page into files and reference them with the appropriate tags. This will reduce download times and help separate content from presentation, 2 cornerstones of web standards.

6) Learn to optimize your images, again to reduce download times.  Hv you tried accessing your site(s) from the average cyber cafe where you are paying per hour?  Speed is key to me at least. For example, the followign image is 64KB:
http://www.leadwaygroup.net/image/contact-bar.jpg - cd b smaller.

I hope these help.

p.s. to all those who say I am doing poorly with respect to criticisms and that I am hiding behind my "expo", how would you rank this one?  I am dying to know 

@basking

I find it rather interesting that you say, in effect, that I am selfish when it comes to teaching.  I would strongly advise that you go through my postings, as early as feb/march this year when I joined.  Hint:

1) I have posted a free ebook
2) I have posted numerous threads on web design/development
3) I have posted numerous reviews of various websites

What more am I to do?  Post a youtube video of me walking around naked?  I don tire o! 

p.s. I momentarily logged on to YIM to see who was out there.  one guy immediately logged on saying, "I have an ax to grind with you". Na I'm I answer am, "what ax? y not cutlass?" The bobo no answer me since so I logged off.

As I have said over and over, just contact me privately and I will show you my works, which by the way, is not the same as not teaching you anything.  As I have said above, just do a search here on NL and see what I have contributed to the forum.  I am a slow learner and as a result, when I teach, I overly water it down because I know how it is trying to grab something over and over before you finally get it.  Some people c it as talking down on people. I c it as teaching to a 5-yr old - Some ppl, like me, can only learn like a baby. But once ppl like us get it, watch out! cos it sticks. We don't cram, we actually understand.

aaaah! Free Market Capitalism. thatz y i love it - breeds competition, though nasty at times.

for the umpteenth time, I WILL NOT show my works here.  I didn't come here for publicity but to learn and to teach.  My contact info is in the public domain on this forum.  All you have to do is contact me.  Seek, and ye shall find

Criticism is supposed to hurt.  If it doesn't then it doesn't serve its purpose.  If you feel it is bad because it hurts your precious feelings, too bad.  It is the only way you learn.  I expect the best out of people and myself so I always push myself and others I deal with hard.  No need in producing sub-par/half-baked products when I know myself and others are capable of doing more.

Honestly, it beats me that despite my challenge, no more than 5 people have taken me up on it.  It does say a lot, if you ask me.  Una dey fear strong, independent woman?

@webdezzi

ROFLMAO!  Softly softly on the guy o

yeah @post, just edit your <TITLE> tag.

I am so happy you are the commenter.  At least I can't be the one accused of being ITK and of sounding negative always 


hmmm, i wonder who those ppl might be, hmmmmmmm.

candylips, different topic but IMHO those who ruined the markets didnt do so because they think they r too smart but because of greed.

SAMMY_MILLA, my maaaaaan !

r u listening

@chessguru

Didnt u mean justicenigeriA (as opposed to justicenigeriS).com?

just curious

@chessguru

I think you should visit the URL and leave your comments below the article. I seriously doubt the author of the article visits Nairaland to know how you feel