Request for website testers and reviewers...

jerseydevil · 02-23-2004, 12:35 AM

I am hoping to get my new website out on 3/1. It still needs more contect - but I need to see if people can look at it and tell me if they run into any problems with using it. I would rather catch any problems now - instead of seeign people have problems after it goes live.

I know there are problems with netscape 4.7 - but that was a really old browser by todays standards. I probably won't worry about that brower - but please let me know if you are using it.

If you can post here - tell me your screen resolution and what browser you are using and if you had any problems or what you your thoughts are on the site - that would be greatly appreciated. The temporary URL until it goes live is - http://www.AboutNewJersey.com/AboutNJ/index.htm

Thanks -

[EDIT] Also please tell me what page you were looking at that contains the problem.

it will also have a forum - this is an example of what is contained there, it's just a static page - so you can't click on anything on them...

http://www.aboutnewjersey.com/AboutN...index.php.html
http://www.aboutnewjersey.com/AboutN...forum.php.html
http://www.aboutnewjersey.com/AboutN...topic.php.html
http://www.aboutnewjersey.com/AboutN...rlist.php.html

**Nurvingiel** · 02-23-2004, 01:12 AM

I like the layout JD, the only recommendation is to choose a more muted shade of blue for the background in the forum. The cyan blue does add to the fun atmosphere of the site, but I just find it hard to look at. (Personally I feel that reading from a monitor is a bit like staring at a lamp.)

Very nice website though.

I can't really comment on the content, because I don't know anything about New Jersey. However, I trust that you'll do a great job of that.

mithrand1r · 02-23-2004, 02:27 AM

Browser: Firefox
Connection: 56k
Monitor Resolution: 1024x768
Color: 16 bit (65,536 colors)
============================
The loading time of the main page is good about 15 seconds.

Is the site optimized for a certain resolution? (ie 600x800)
I ask because the banner stops about 80% of the screen width.
You may wish to mention this to visitors.

I like the colors chosen: Blue for NJ symbols and yellow background. It reminds me of the colors on the state flag fo NJ (but that is probably why you chose those colors

)

How do you determine if someone is a famous New Jerseyans? Is the list limited to people that were born in NJ or does it include people that became famous while in NJ (ie Albert Einstein)
============================
Notes:

You may want to choose "web safe" colors where possible. These are colors from the 256 color pallette and should display properly in most monitors

On the sport team page, you may wan to consider listing the different sports on the right side. (this would give the page a three column look)

You may want to consider this for other pages as well.

It was not a problem for me since the pictures loaded with no problem, but you may wnat to incude alt information with the images. It would involve some text to the effect "ALT=" I forget the exact syntaxt and I do not have my books readily available.

This has some benefits:
1: While images are loading viewer can have idea what image is

2: If image does not load (some people browse with graphics turned off) viewer can have idea what image is supposed to be

3: the blind do browse the internet with special browers that can read the "ALT" tags and convert it to something usable by the blind.

============================
I really enjoyed the following description:

Abescon Lighthouse, Atlantic City:
hgh gjgh hi igfiyu ujgklrh iouih gfilyu iopui ghr uiuiklfgyiouop gfil yiuiou iflggy ioyiofgy ufy oiyjihyfg iyioy jfgy uiyioy iy ufgyioyiy gfiuy ioy

(I know the site is under construction

)

mithrand1r · 02-23-2004, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Nurvingiel
I like the layout JD, the only recommendation is to choose a more muted shade of blue for the background in the forum. The cyan blue does add to the fun atmosphere of the site, but I just find it hard to look at. (Personally I feel that reading from a monitor is a bit like staring at a lamp.)

Very nice website though.

I can't really comment on the content, because I don't know anything about New Jersey. However, I trust that you'll do a great job of that.

JerseyDevil,

I agree with Nurvingiel about the cyan blue background. A less intense blue would be easier on the eyes. Otherwise I do think it looks very good. You may wish to consider borrowing from Entmoot in using alternating colors between posts. I do not know if this involves much extra work in programming.

This web page will give a list of web safe (ie non-dithering colors)
Web Safe Colors

brownjenkins · 02-23-2004, 09:57 PM

good job... i will try to look through it more tomorrow... i lived in jersey for a bit as a child, so it will be fun

one minor thing... i'd lose the flashing "your ad here"... it's kind of distracting

edit: i remember reading a few years back about the ellis island contraversy... whether it was part of NY or NJ and such... what ever happened with that? and what's the save thing about?

Arien the Maia · 02-23-2004, 10:04 PM

as a web designer myself, what software did you use? all in all, it was a nice site

good job!

jerseydevil · 02-23-2004, 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mithrand1r
This web page will give a list of web safe (ie non-dithering colors)
Web Safe Colors

Thanks - I'm using Dreamweaver - the blue is a websafe colors. So that's not an issue. As for the alternating colors - I need to see if there is a way of doing that in PHPBB or else I have to code it - or buy VBulletin. I don't really have the time to do the coding.

Arien the Maia - For website design I use Macromedia products - especially Dreamweaver MX and Fireworks MX.

BrownJenkins - The Save Ellis Island thing is for SaveEllisIsland.org. They are trying to refurbish the other buildings - such as the hospital wings and so forth. I will have this linked once the site is out there.

As for what the outcome of the Lawsuit NJ had against NY - NJ won 22 acres of the island and NY got the 5 acres that NJ had sold to them in the early 1800's. As it stands though - Ellis Island is STILL in NJ waters. Tourists would prefer for NJ to get the full amount - since currently the gift shop is on NY's side of the island and they have to pay 8.5% sales tax - versus New Jersey's 6% sales tax.

New Jersey also has a lower income tax than NY - and supposedly after the ruling - people were trying to rearrange their desks so they were in NJ - not NY.

Thanks everyone for taking a look at it.

Arien the Maia · 02-23-2004, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jerseydevil
Thanks - I'm using Dreamweaver - the blue is a websafe colors. So that's not an issue. As for the ulternating colors - I need to see if there is a way of doing that in PHPBB or else I have to code it - or buy VBulletin. I don't really have the time to do the coding.

Arien the Maia - For website design I use Macromedia products - especially Dreamweaver MX and Fireworks MX.

That's what I have used in the past (I used Dreamweaver and Flash MX to build by my website....The Two Trees I also used Frontpage when I had an intership with an IT department this past summer (BORING!!!!) I wish I knew some Javascript or VB so that I could do really cool, things without buggint comupter scientists (like my stepdad) all the time

do you know Photoshop or anything like that? (I'ma a curious little Graphic Designer

)

**Nurvingiel** · 02-23-2004, 11:37 PM

If you need this data, I viewed your website with Internet Explorer 5, cookies enabled, on a Pentium 4 with a broadband connection from a network.

The Two Trees is your website Arien! I love that site! Nice work.

Arien the Maia · 02-24-2004, 12:26 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Nurvingiel
If you need this data, I viewed your website with Internet Explorer 5, cookies enabled, on a Pentium 4 with a broadband connection from a network.

The Two Trees is your website Arien! I love that site! Nice work.

YEA!!!! thanks!

JD I viewd your site using Internet Explorer with dial up internet...it didn't take really long at all to load

jerseydevil · 02-24-2004, 02:00 AM

Thanks again for the information. Inbetween working on my site - I'm trying to answer questions.

mithrand1r - to answer your question about famous New Jerseyans - it's people who had lived in New Jersey, whether they were born here or not - who became famous. I think all of them on the list were either born here - or became famous while living here.

Edison was born in Ohio - but all his inventions were invented in New Jersey. Christopher Reeve was born here - and lived in Princeton. I hope to include where they lived and a short biography. There are a lot of "famous" people who aren't really well known - but their inventions are.

Bombadillo · 02-25-2004, 02:38 PM

Nice site! (I knew most of it.

) I had no problems with it, except you may get compaints about your itty bitty font size.

jerseydevil · 02-25-2004, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bombadillo
Nice site! (I knew most of it. ) I had no problems with it, except you may get compaints about your itty bitty font size.

What resolution and size monitor are using?

I compared my font size to other sites - but I have found plenty of sites that use the same size. For instance - Cafe Press uses the same size.

Jonathan had the same problem - but then SGH doesn't have any problems and she's legally blind. I was using SGH has my reference on the font size and she hasn't once complained or said she was unable to read it. She has a huge monitor though.

johnnyrod · 02-25-2004, 07:23 PM

I found Dreamweaver and that sort of thing too hung up on physical formatting which isn't what it's all about, hence the comments above about it not filling the screen. Also make sure you're not using features that will prevent older browsers and slower connections from getting the full benefit of your site (it loaded quickly enough on my crappy modem connection though, but some sites are totally heavy on graphics, i.e. rubbish design).

Get a Hitbox stats counter from hitbox.com, they're free and you get a huge number of stats, including browser type and version, screen rez and depth, plus info on how they found your page whichis invaluable as you need ot know how your punters are finding their way there - links, search engines, which keywords. I've foudn this to be very useful to me. I'm sure other things are available, whatever, you need it.

Well done with the navigation bars on every page (text ones), this is a good thing for spanners. They're everywhere.

jerseydevil · 02-25-2004, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by johnnyrod
I found Dreamweaver and that sort of thing too hung up on physical formatting which isn't what it's all about, hence the comments above about it not filling the screen.

Depending on the resolution the person is using - it's not going to fill up the screen. My resolution is set at 1280x1024. Not many people use a resolution this high or higher. My website is geared to work on a 800x600 resolution - but preverably on a 1024x768 resolution. I modeled my design by CNN.com where they use a 700 pixel width - this works for 800x600 screen systems - but of course leaves a lot of blank space to the right of the content.

Quote:

Also make sure you're not using features that will prevent older browsers and slower connections from getting the full benefit of your site (it loaded quickly enough on my crappy modem connection though, but some sites are totally heavy on graphics, i.e. rubbish design).

There are some older browsers that it will not work on - such as Netscape 4.7. That is like 2% of internet users. There is a point where people should download the latest versions of browsers if they want to view the latest websites. It's like trying run Civilization III on a Windows 3.1 system.

As for slower connection - not many people have a slower connection than mine - which is 56k.

Quote:

Get a Hitbox stats counter from hitbox.com, they're free and you get a huge number of stats, including browser type and version, screen rez and depth, plus info on how they found your page whichis invaluable as you need ot know how your punters are finding their way there - links, search engines, which keywords. I've foudn this to be very useful to me. I'm sure other things are available, whatever, you need it.

That information can be provided by the hosting company also. I don't really want a Hitbox thing on the site.

Quote:

Well done with the navigation bars on every page (text ones), this is a good thing for spanners. They're everywhere.

Thanks for the comments.

**Nurvingiel** · 02-25-2004, 08:02 PM

Does Hitbox.com have a good guest book?

Bombadillo · 02-26-2004, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jerseydevil
What resolution and size monitor are using?

I compared my font size to other sites - but I have found plenty of sites that use the same size. For instance - Cafe Press uses the same size.

Jonathan had the same problem - but then SGH doesn't have any problems and she's legally blind. I was using SGH has my reference on the font size and she hasn't once complained or said she was unable to read it. She has a huge monitor though.

I'm at 1024 x 768 ona 12" monitor. It's okay for me to read, but I'd imagine it would be hard for other people, maybe. It's smaller than Entmoot. Like this small almost.

gimli7410 · 02-27-2004, 01:57 AM

it wont load for me but i geuss you must be updating it or somethin

jerseydevil · 02-27-2004, 02:44 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by gimli7410
it wont load for me but i geuss you must be updating it or somethin

Actually I think they are having server problems.

johnnyrod · 02-27-2004, 03:51 AM

Nurv, thre's no guestbook on Hitbox I think, it's only a stats tool to help web developers. There are lots of free ones around, though. Try this one, it has an extra level of funkiness:

http://www.24fun.com/gmap/gmaptest.html

And the "world" view can include Middle Earth I think.

JD, my advice for the screen size thing is to fix the column width (in pixels) on the left so that the images fit, and leave everything else to fill up the rest of the screen, the browser will sort out the formatting for you and it'll always look okay. To be honest, a notice on a site that says "optimised for IE v.xx screen rez this x that" means that the developer hasn't given sufficient thought to what it is they're trying to do, even though this is the sort of thing you see on a lot of sites.

02-23-2004, 12:35 AM	#1
jerseydevil I am Freddie/UNDERCOVER/ Founder of The Great Continent of Entmoot Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Plainsboro, NJ Posts: 9,431	Request for website testers and reviewers... I am hoping to get my new website out on 3/1. It still needs more contect - but I need to see if people can look at it and tell me if they run into any problems with using it. I would rather catch any problems now - instead of seeign people have problems after it goes live. I know there are problems with netscape 4.7 - but that was a really old browser by todays standards. I probably won't worry about that brower - but please let me know if you are using it. If you can post here - tell me your screen resolution and what browser you are using and if you had any problems or what you your thoughts are on the site - that would be greatly appreciated. The temporary URL until it goes live is - http://www.AboutNewJersey.com/AboutNJ/index.htm Thanks - [EDIT] Also please tell me what page you were looking at that contains the problem. it will also have a forum - this is an example of what is contained there, it's just a static page - so you can't click on anything on them... http://www.aboutnewjersey.com/AboutN...index.php.html http://www.aboutnewjersey.com/AboutN...forum.php.html http://www.aboutnewjersey.com/AboutN...topic.php.html http://www.aboutnewjersey.com/AboutN...rlist.php.html __________________ Come back! Come back! To Mordor we will take you! "The only thing better than a great plan is implementing a great plan" - JerseyDevil "If everyone agreed with me all the time, everything would be just fine"- JerseyDevil AboutNewJersey.com New Jersey MessageBoard Another Tolkien Forum Memorial to the Twin Towers New Jersey Map Fellowship of the Messageboard Legend of the Jersey Devil Support New Jersey's Liberty Tower Peacefire.org AboutNewJersey.com - New Jersey Travel and Tourism Guide Last edited by jerseydevil : 02-23-2004 at 01:14 AM.

02-23-2004, 02:27 AM	#3
mithrand1r Cyber Elf Lord Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Left of Rock, Right of Hard Place Posts: 986	Browser: Firefox Connection: 56k Monitor Resolution: 1024x768 Color: 16 bit (65,536 colors) ============================ The loading time of the main page is good about 15 seconds. Is the site optimized for a certain resolution? (ie 600x800) I ask because the banner stops about 80% of the screen width. You may wish to mention this to visitors. I like the colors chosen: Blue for NJ symbols and yellow background. It reminds me of the colors on the state flag fo NJ (but that is probably why you chose those colors ) How do you determine if someone is a famous New Jerseyans? Is the list limited to people that were born in NJ or does it include people that became famous while in NJ (ie Albert Einstein) ============================ Notes: You may want to choose "web safe" colors where possible. These are colors from the 256 color pallette and should display properly in most monitors On the sport team page, you may wan to consider listing the different sports on the right side. (this would give the page a three column look) You may want to consider this for other pages as well. It was not a problem for me since the pictures loaded with no problem, but you may wnat to incude alt information with the images. It would involve some text to the effect "ALT=" I forget the exact syntaxt and I do not have my books readily available. This has some benefits: 1: While images are loading viewer can have idea what image is 2: If image does not load (some people browse with graphics turned off) viewer can have idea what image is supposed to be 3: the blind do browse the internet with special browers that can read the "ALT" tags and convert it to something usable by the blind. ============================ I really enjoyed the following description: Abescon Lighthouse, Atlantic City: hgh gjgh hi igfiyu ujgklrh iouih gfilyu iopui ghr uiuiklfgyiouop gfil yiuiou iflggy ioyiofgy ufy oiyjihyfg iyioy jfgy uiyioy iy ufgyioyiy gfiuy ioy (I know the site is under construction ) __________________ Sincerely, Anthony 'Many are my names in many countries,' he said. 'Mithrandir among the Elves, Tharkûn to the Drarves; Olórin I was in my youth in the West that is forgotten, in the South Incánus, in the North Gandalf; to the East I go not.' Faramir What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of the man who instructs the rising generation? Cicero (106BC-43BC)

02-23-2004, 09:57 PM	#5
brownjenkins Advocatus Diaboli Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Reality Posts: 3,767	good job... i will try to look through it more tomorrow... i lived in jersey for a bit as a child, so it will be fun one minor thing... i'd lose the flashing "your ad here"... it's kind of distracting edit: i remember reading a few years back about the ellis island contraversy... whether it was part of NY or NJ and such... what ever happened with that? and what's the save thing about? __________________ Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever. Last edited by brownjenkins : 02-23-2004 at 10:01 PM.

02-24-2004, 02:00 AM	#11
jerseydevil I am Freddie/UNDERCOVER/ Founder of The Great Continent of Entmoot Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Plainsboro, NJ Posts: 9,431	Thanks again for the information. Inbetween working on my site - I'm trying to answer questions. mithrand1r - to answer your question about famous New Jerseyans - it's people who had lived in New Jersey, whether they were born here or not - who became famous. I think all of them on the list were either born here - or became famous while living here. Edison was born in Ohio - but all his inventions were invented in New Jersey. Christopher Reeve was born here - and lived in Princeton. I hope to include where they lived and a short biography. There are a lot of "famous" people who aren't really well known - but their inventions are. __________________ Come back! Come back! To Mordor we will take you! "The only thing better than a great plan is implementing a great plan" - JerseyDevil "If everyone agreed with me all the time, everything would be just fine"- JerseyDevil AboutNewJersey.com New Jersey MessageBoard Another Tolkien Forum Memorial to the Twin Towers New Jersey Map Fellowship of the Messageboard Legend of the Jersey Devil Support New Jersey's Liberty Tower Peacefire.org AboutNewJersey.com - New Jersey Travel and Tourism Guide

02-25-2004, 02:38 PM	#12
Bombadillo "The Bomb" Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: all over the place Posts: 1,601	Nice site! (I knew most of it. ) I had no problems with it, except you may get compaints about your itty bitty font size. __________________ Could it be that one path to enlightenment leads through insanity?

02-23-2004, 10:04 PM	#6
Arien the Maia Fëanáro's Fire Mistress Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Indiana, USA Posts: 1,423	as a web designer myself, what software did you use? all in all, it was a nice site good job!

02-25-2004, 07:23 PM	#14
johnnyrod Elven Warrior Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Scunthorpe, UK Posts: 166	I found Dreamweaver and that sort of thing too hung up on physical formatting which isn't what it's all about, hence the comments above about it not filling the screen. Also make sure you're not using features that will prevent older browsers and slower connections from getting the full benefit of your site (it loaded quickly enough on my crappy modem connection though, but some sites are totally heavy on graphics, i.e. rubbish design). Get a Hitbox stats counter from hitbox.com, they're free and you get a huge number of stats, including browser type and version, screen rez and depth, plus info on how they found your page whichis invaluable as you need ot know how your punters are finding their way there - links, search engines, which keywords. I've foudn this to be very useful to me. I'm sure other things are available, whatever, you need it. Well done with the navigation bars on every page (text ones), this is a good thing for spanners. They're everywhere. __________________ Frodo Lives!

02-27-2004, 01:57 AM	#18
gimli7410 the dumb stoner canuck Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: canada Posts: 2,542	it wont load for me but i geuss you must be updating it or somethin __________________ -"Down with the system"-Serj tankian of system of a down -“Humans have been on the earth for millions of years, yet we don’t believe man began thinking until he started building walls. And what good have these walls ever done us?”-Serj tankian of soad -"stupid people do stupid things"-Serj tankian of soad "Trying is the first step to failure" Homer Simpson "It isn't going to be easy"-jerseydevil "only the good die young" I AM CANADIAN If the people lead, the leaders will follow.

02-27-2004, 03:51 AM	#20
johnnyrod Elven Warrior Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Scunthorpe, UK Posts: 166	Nurv, thre's no guestbook on Hitbox I think, it's only a stats tool to help web developers. There are lots of free ones around, though. Try this one, it has an extra level of funkiness: http://www.24fun.com/gmap/gmaptest.html And the "world" view can include Middle Earth I think. JD, my advice for the screen size thing is to fix the column width (in pixels) on the left so that the images fit, and leave everything else to fill up the rest of the screen, the browser will sort out the formatting for you and it'll always look okay. To be honest, a notice on a site that says "optimised for IE v.xx screen rez this x that" means that the developer hasn't given sufficient thought to what it is they're trying to do, even though this is the sort of thing you see on a lot of sites. __________________ Frodo Lives!