A few layout problems

speed1972

I've just finished my website, first one I've done so its far from perfect. I've just looked at my site on my daughters laptop and some of the layout is off compared to when i look at it on my machine. If you could just answer me 3 questions it will help me work out how bad the problem is. Oh and if anyone has solutions to my problems it would be much appreciated.

What colour are the boxes around the portfolio pic, what coulour do they change to when you mouse over them and does a box come up with a descripion of the pic? No pic description should come up and the border around the pics should be light grey and black when mouse over. http://www.elitetradesmen.com/
Does the image of the map fit in the page or does it look like it overlaps beyond the bottom of the page body? http://elitetradesmen.com/areas.html
Is my logo in the left hand grey part in at the bottom of the page or half way down? It should be at the bottom of the page. http://elitetradesmen.com/policies.html

dagon

i would suggest you validate the html and css

http://validator.w3.org/

there will always be colour issues between monitors

amy_damnit

speed1972;10921286 wrote:
I've just finished my website, first one I've done so its far from perfect.

Looks cool to me. (I'm a newbie, and bet it must feel rewarding to see the fruits of your labor online?! Good job!)

I've just looked at my site on my daughters laptop and some of the layout is off
compared to when i look at it on my machine. If you could just answer

What colour are the boxes around the portfolio pic

On the home page I see grey

what coulour do they change to when you mouse over them

When I click on portfolio there are no border boxes or hover over text, but i do see hover over text on the home page.

Does the image of the map fit in the page

Yes

Is my logo in the left hand grey part in at the bottom of the page or half way
down?

Bottom

I agree in using the W3C validator.

I'm using Firefox on a MacBook.

Amy

amy_damnit

I like your tabs.

I know you didn't ask, but if it were me, I would...

Add more pictures
Make it so when you click ona thumbnail you get an enlarge picture so people can really see how good you are!
Maybe add pictures of the real tradesman. (The one on the homepage looks like mass-media clip-art which detracts from your genuine website design.)
I would add a bio of the tradesman if possible. (Personally I want to know WHO is coming into my place. The more I know the more I'll trust you in my home.)
Make your page wider. The left quarter and right quarter of my page is dead white. You are not utilizing 50% of my screen.

I like your site and hope my thoughts may help make it even better.

Just my 2 cents,

Amy

amy_damnit

Maybe this link with FireFox add-ons will help too?!

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search?q=web+developer&cat=all

Amy

speed1972

Thanks for all the help and suggestions:

Validator - i've been on that page before and i'm sure it is very useful, the only thing is when i tried to use it i have no doubt that it cleaned up my code etc but being new to all of this it changed a lot of my code. This would be great for anyone else but as it changed so much I then didn't understand my own pages so when i wanted to make changes i didn't know how to. At the moment i've just had to lay everything out so i understand it until i get my head round this web building a bit better.

Click on a thumbnail makes it larger - great idea, what will be the best and most effective way of doing this. Would it be a good idea for a larger image to appear when i mouse over one.

Add pictures of real tradesmen - as this business is 100% new i have no one as yet registered to the site. As things progress i will be replacing all the images on the site with genuine ones, for now they are only really there for layout purposes.

Make page wider - This is something i was going do but then thought i would have to change all my layout etc but now i have decided to use the white space to insert a column / box either side for advertising space which will be used for builders merchants etc who let me put flyers in there showrooms. If the business takes off hopefully i may be able in the future to charge these businesses for this advertising. What would be the best way to ad these columns without having to completely start again, i think i need something subtle that won't detract from my actual site but will provide good space for links to builders yards etc.

Thanks again for all the suggestions and all your help is much appreciated.

amy_damnit

speed1972;10921352 wrote:
Thanks for all the help and suggestions:

Validator - i've been on that page before and i'm sure it is very useful, the only thing is when i tried to use it i have no doubt that it cleaned up my code etc but being new to all of this it changed a lot of my code. This would be great for anyone else but as it changed so much I then didn't understand my own pages so when i wanted to make changes i didn't know how to. At the moment i've just had to lay everything out so i understand it until i get my head round this web building a bit better.

After you are up and running, I would buy a good book(s) on CSS and learn how to build a better site using more modern and simpler techniques.

I, personally, would also do things in a Text Editor and AVOID WYSIWYG editors as they just make learning GOOD web development harder - which might be your issue with W3C. (For instance, HTML Tables are BAD.)

Click on a thumbnail makes it larger - great idea, what will be the best and most effective way of doing this. Would it be a good idea for a larger image to appear when i mouse over one.

Ask the experts on here...

You could use a pop-up window, although lots of people have that feature disabled in their browser these days.

You could open another full sized window, redirect to a new page, or use pop up windows.

Again, ask someone who knows more than me!

Add pictures of real tradesmen - as this business is 100% new i have no one as yet registered to the site. As things progress i will be replacing all the images on the site with genuine ones, for now they are only really there for layout purposes.

Sounds reasonable.

Make page wider - This is something i was going do but then thought i would have to change all my layout etc but now i have decided to use the white space to insert a column / box either side for advertising space which will be used for builders merchants etc who let me put flyers in there showrooms. If the business takes off hopefully i may be able in the future to charge these businesses for this advertising.

If you did this in CSS, it would be easy to change. If you used HTML tables it will be much harder.

What would be the best way to ad these columns without having to completely start again, i think i need something subtle that won't detract from my actual site but will provide good space for links to builders yards etc.

My opinion is that advertising on a site is bad unless you are Yahoo.

Personally, I would make any "advertising" look INTEGRATED into your site versus something thrown up that looks like it just...

Fills dead space
Support your "real" business because you can't make your "real" business succeed
(Harsh, but true. You'd be amazed at how many sites advertise their visitors away...)

Why not make a tab that lists all tradesman

Maybe have another that lists "featured" tradesman (i.e. new or interesting)

Have a tab for "Premium/Certified/Really Really Good Tradesman"

But, IMO, make everything thing fit together into YOUR BUSINESS MODEL and don't just put up banner ads because 99% of websites do.

But then what do I know?! 🙂

Amy