Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: SparklingWC on September 29, 2007, 11:23:27 am
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Hi all. i have finally got round to stating work on building myself a website.
i have this so far; www.sparklingwindows.co.uk - no text has been added as of yet.
anyone using browsers other than firefox? would like comments from people using IE and anything else as i dont have these browsers installed. and cant be 100% sure that i have the code right to work with them properly (i think it is though). what is the loading time like for you guys? (servers are in america so may not be super fast, but the images may be to large etc. and sometimes the servers appear to have periods where they slow down,s o it may be slower still.)
and to Luke Johnson: thanks for the logo, i have used it on this site. and it really looks good - so if you cant make one that is as good with the extra i text i mentioned...dont worry, i think it is good as it is - Thank You.
what do you think as of yet?
thanks for any comments.
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'Q' WindowWashers.
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I would change the front of the text.
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Very funny Jeff.
I use ie and it came up fine. Looked very good.
Main thing is to have one, people will go on to check you out, don't worry if it's not brilliant. A photo of you plus van, you plus pressure washer etc would be good.
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thanks for the comments so far.
im not scared of windowwashers :)
part of the reason i want this site to look good is to add to a portfolio of websites i have done, to use when i am asked to design others - so though it does not need to be brilliant for its main purpose, but for its second purpose it does need to be.
which font would you change dave0123? the reason the links are different is just to take it away from being standard text, if it was all verdana or times new roman or what ever. then the site would be bland, so the other fonts are only for the links and the title at the top of each page...'welcome' for example. and will not be used for the main text of the website.
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Am not sure what i would change it to.
Maybe your logo font? just dont think that text is good for each page as there going be links. Maybe something bold
Play about.
Dave
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any links used in the web pages will be different to those links on the navigation. CSS can set different perameters for different things :)
(if that is what you mean)
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I no. iv built a few sites in my time to.
but i just think the links text isnt too good mate. but do a page see what its like and if its not what u wanted have a mess.
BTW what are you using to build the site?
Dave
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i'm using notepad.
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thanks for the comments so far.
im not scared of windowwashers :)
part of the reason i want this site to look good is to add to a portfolio of websites i have done, to use when i am asked to design others - so though it does not need to be brilliant for its main purpose, but for its second purpose it does need to be.
which font would you change dave0123? the reason the links are different is just to take it away from being standard text, if it was all verdana or times new roman or what ever. then the site would be bland, so the other fonts are only for the links and the title at the top of each page...'welcome' for example. and will not be used for the main text of the website.
A website IMO should be read like a sales letter. Sales letters are usually in new roman or occasionally in verdana.
So the fancy text doesn't do it any favours.
Have a look on google and search out some other sites and see how many have text like yours. I bet there isn't many.
Just my opinion, hope it helped
Arthur
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i know that. and having read these comments i might change the text of the links to something more 'basic' and just have the text at the top of each page..'welcome' or whatever... be in the current font.
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I am using IE and the site seems to appear quickly and without any problems. I hope the font of your links and other text is only temporary because it doesn't look good next to the great logo.
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no it isnt. i have decided to change the font of the links.
thanks for commenting about the IE thing, sometimes IE dosent load things like firefox and has all weird things happen. even as far as colours loading wrong (grey as green) so needed that input
thanks guys :)
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The most readable font for websites is verdana.
Andy
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Ian, you computer techie people haven't got a clue about the basics. I'm not having a go, but I've got frontpage, and most normal people= not web designers- would have got way further and done much better.
Notebook? what's that? I've got a programme called onenote and another called publisher, talk about doing things the hard way. I'll admitt someone gave me dreamweaver and I couldn/t figure it out.
With all the templates around I don't think that people can really use the phrase 'I'm a website designer' and not expect to get laughed at.
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what is notebook?
go to start > all programs ? accessories
notebook should be in the list. click it. now make a website using it.
there are now templates involved in my website, no software like dream weaver, front page or anything else. no drag and drop, draw lines and write in text boxes.
the whole website is done through codeing with text and getting it to work correctly. to me, that is what being a website designer is about, doing something that others cant do themselves. this day in age it is very easy to create a website using power point if you wanted to! but it isnt good and are slow to load.
when you have to type the code, proof read it for errors, check it again when a mistake is made...you only ever code what is needed - this makes them fast to load. unlike dream weaver or anything else. i have done a few websites using notepad, and had better result than trying ot use publisher when asked to do a project at school, or dream weaver when playing around.
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that just insn't true SparklingWC!
doesn't matter what application you use, its all down to the size of your images and movies depending on how quick your page loads.
a simple design like you've produced will load quickly no matter how you've created it!!!
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I am no web master but I like the title text and would keep that for the navigation as well
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that just insn't true SparklingWC!
doesn't matter what application you use, its all down to the size of your images and movies depending on how quick your page loads.
a simple design like you've produced will load quickly no matter how you've created it!!!
yes i know that. but a design similar will load slower when bogged down with loads of unnecessary code. there isnt too much on a small simple website like mine...because only a few things are there. but it would be slower - just probably not noticeably slower.
thanks John Garnett - do you mean you'd keep it for the links, or just for the text at the top saying 'navigation'?
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that just insn't true SparklingWC!
doesn't matter what application you use, its all down to the size of your images and movies depending on how quick your page loads.
a simple design like you've produced will load quickly no matter how you've created it!!!
yes i know that. but a design similar will load slower when bogged down with loads of unnecessary code. there isnt too much on a small simple website like mine...because only a few things are there. but it would be slower - just probably not noticeably slower.
thanks John Garnett - do you mean you'd keep it for the links, or just for the text at the top saying 'navigation'?
you may wanna reduce your top image slightly, you could get it to load quicker without losing the quality probably 0000.1 second quicker, about the same time difference between your creation from code and a different applications version ;)
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I'm not good with computers that why I always have the biggest best and superior programmes. But without knowing any codes I could have done that page in about thirty seconds and included pictures.
I pay £50 a year and have server extensions so i can alter the site from my computer.
Take no notice of me , I thought (wrongly) that Ian w was Ian Wicks aka window washers. When you say check it for errors that's a laugh, I haven't seen one of yet who even knows how to spell.
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I would use the same text as Proffesional Window Cleaner
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The main thing with any website is to keep each page quick loading, informative and pleasing to the eye. Always more difficult than you would think.
You then need to ensure that the site can be found easily on the search engines. This is the difficult part because you are competing against other sites.
I am involved with 2 sites from my previous occupation and it has been a nightmare trying to get all this done, and this involved a lot of professionals (not me - I just told them what we wanted ;D ).
If you are doing this on your own then don't expect miracles, but you will have fun putting everything together.
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How could you confuse me and Ian Wicks! :o ;D
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nat: i didn't say i used notepad purely because it can help speed things up, i enjoy having to write the website, and being able to do something that most people can't do. it may take a bit longer, but it gets a better result. using applications it is very easy to add effects and bits that just take the website away from being professional. it is annoying when using notepad something wnot load correctly, and you have to spend agse researching and recoding for how to get ti to work. but once you have it working you get a great feeling of accomplishment and success, which in my opinion you just cant get in the same way from using a drag and drop sort of application.
VG Window Cleaners: the design didn't take me very long, but it's simplicity is what i was looking for. an over complicated design looks naff and people will exit your web page. but something simple where you can see everything instantly and doesn't take ages to load is best. i never wait long for a web page to load..if it's too slow i'll go back and find something else that i cant get the same information or product from but it wont take ages each time i click a link. the website can be altered from my computer, or in fact anywhere i go as long as i have internet access and notepad (virtually every PC has it) because i have ftp and web ftp. my website costs me less than £15 a year. the biggest and most superior software aren't always the best. everyone has windows or mac, but some people swear by linux or some of the others. only one can be the best, and that isn't necessarily the most used or most advertised.
John Garnett: thanks, i'll have a play around maybe tomorrow and see what looks best :)
Ian W; all of my web page should be fast loading as they al use one CSS script, one background image and one logo image. the rest will just be text (except for small images which should be fast enough anyway). the search engines isn't going to be a worry for now until i get the site finished and ready to be used. i don't expect miracles. the search engines is going to be hard i know, and without wanting to pay big money i don't know yet how successful i can be getting a decent listing location - but even if the website only serves the purpose of communicating with my current customers they extra things we do, then i will be pleased. i have one website on line which was created very early on when i didn't know all that much about web design. but the owner still gets emails from it now, and that had no promotion put into it.
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nat: i didn't say i used notepad purely because it can help speed things up, i enjoy having to write the website, and being able to do something that most people can't do. it may take a bit longer, but it gets a better result. using applications it is very easy to add effects and bits that just take the website away from being professional. it is annoying when using notepad something wnot load correctly, and you have to spend agse researching and recoding for how to get ti to work. but once you have it working you get a great feeling of accomplishment and success, which in my opinion you just cant get in the same way from using a drag and drop sort of application.
Thankyou for your comments SparklingWC, you may be able to write from scratch that is good, but i hope you can take some constructive critizim because i'm going to give you some.
That website is poor, it doesn't look proffessional, it looks like something that was created around the mid nineties, wether you made it up using your own html or any other application it is not very slick. I'm sorry to say that, i don't mean to be disrespectful nor antaganising just being truthful.
If you write it from scratch you can still create pages that look good and load quickly, the days of pure HTML and no images has long gone.
Don't mean to sound harsh but i believe it to be true, sorry :-\
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Hi
I have just had my website updated by a web design company. I thought my previous website that i built myself looked professional until i saw my new one. I have had some experience in building websites for other cleaning companies but in my opinion it goes to show if you are up to date with the new techniques etc you can produce great looking sites compared to people who just dip in and out of it.
thanks
karl
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The only people I expect to look on mine are those that have had a leaflet through their door.
He say's he's local, who is he then? oh. I've seen his van about.... I'll give him a ring.
That's all I'm looking for. Loading times, sleek lines, search engine rankings- don't care. In six months I've got almost 200 accounts- some big ones- from a standing start. By the end of my year this figure will be 500.
I care about marketing.
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thanks nat:
what would you change to make it look more professional then? i am happy for the criticism, it gives me options to look at, if i like them I'll use them..if i don't..I'll just think 'that's one person who doesn't like it but most people think its ok'. and, you can never please everyone so some comments will have to be ignored.
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1) i would get rid of the gradient background
2) i would select a different type face for the links and titles and get them to line up properly
3) i would reduce the size of the top image
4) i would use a san serif type face like verdena
5) i would add more images, don't have to be big, they will load quick
6) use a smaller type face for the bottom text
7) Re design it!!
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Show me the money!
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thanks for the comments so far.
im not scared of windowwashers :)
part of the reason i want this site to look good is to add to a portfolio of websites i have done, to use when i am asked to design others - so though it does not need to be brilliant for its main purpose, but for its second purpose it does need to be.
which font would you change dave0123? the reason the links are different is just to take it away from being standard text, if it was all verdana or times new roman or what ever. then the site would be bland, so the other fonts are only for the links and the title at the top of each page...'welcome' for example. and will not be used for the main text of the website.
I should hope your not scared of me m8, I liked your logo, and you have my email address should you need help on other matters we talked about, this is one of the best places to have your site slated which I find great as it helps. if you wanted me to say something about the site it would be the background, colour is nice but a bit much, thats IMO.
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oh come on window washer, if you design sites to a good standard you can see that its a little more than just the background. am i missing something here? :)