Wanted: beta testers for my new website

[sleddog]

If you have a few minutes to spare and would like to help me out by beta-testing my new PHP/mySQL website, please respond here. Your help is appreciated!

[Steve]

I'm here.

What's up?

[mjc]

Ok, sleddog, what do you need?

[Paul Komski]

You're welcome to add me to the list.

[rond36]

What new website?

[sleddog]

Sorry for the delay guys.

We are currently experiencing technical difficulties. Please stand by and do not adjust your sets :)

[sleddog]

My apologies for resurrecting an old thread, but in this case it doesn't seem too evil a thing to do....

You are now invited to test until the wheels fall off at: http://www.smartlabrador.ca/

There is still much to do, but hey, I'm getting there :)

[Budfred]

Looks nice and clean. Anything in particular you want us to check out or comment on???

[Paul Komski]

This is real finickety - but there were a couple of minor errors found on css validation.

Nice work and you have put a great deal of care and effort into it.

Cool :cool:

[Jiggy]

sleddog,

I found the site informative, easy to navigate and easy on the eye, good job. :D

[ErnieK]

Sleddog
You put my attempt to shame. Good fresh feel when the home page opens and easy to navigate. Well done

[classicsoftware]

GREAT!!!!

Well Done

Excellent Work

BTW:

Do you sell your web programming services???????

[sleddog]

Wow! Thanks for all the positive feeedback guys.

Budford: I'm interested in how it looks and "feels" , particularly on different systems and platforms. As well of course anything that just doesn't work :) Though there's more likely to be bugs in the 'user-end' -- all pages in "Project" are completely editable inline and that's kind of fiddly.

Paul - Thanks for taking time to do the validation. There's a lot of CSS work to do yet. One idea I'm toying with is a single colour scheme through all sites and user-selectable "themes" (which would include colours and background images). This would enable you to do things like "turn-off" the background textures if that improved readability for you. So I've let some CSS errors slide until the dust settles :)

Jiggy & ErnieK - thanks, those are indeed encouraging words.

classicsoftware - ditto on the thanks. No I don't sell services. As network administrator for a 40-site WAN plus the related web development stuff, I don't have time for anything else :)

[Paul Komski]

Yep - the css errors/warnings was all background related stuff.

You probably know this already but strict css always likes a background color set for every color used and this also lessens the likelihood of ever using the same color and background color (a feature which can result in being banned from several search engines because text can thus become "invisible"; a method that has been used to increase the number of times keywords were present inside the html).

[malcore]

Very nice sleddog. And interesting too. I'm a St. John's native myself. Strange to read local Newf and Lab news stories from here in Taiwan.

I like this bit of web philosophy too:

web independence, meaning, simply, utilization of the web as it was originally conceived: as a platform- and browser-independent communications vehicle

Nice job.;)

[sleddog]

Thanks malcore. Guess what? I'm a St John's native too! What part of town are you from? I was born on Cashin Avenue but we moved up by the Avalon Mall around when I started school. All new, raw subdivisions then :)

[sleddog]

Originally posted by Paul Komski
Yep - the css errors/warnings was all background related stuff.

You probably know this already but strict css always likes a background color set for every color used and this also lessens the likelihood of ever using the same color and background color (a feature which can result in being banned from several search engines because text can thus become "invisible"; a method that has been used to increase the number of times keywords were present inside the html).

Yes, it's exactly the foreground/background colour combinations (and sometime background images) that need further work and finalization. I have several alternate CSS layouts here on a local LAN webserver that I play with. Eventually I'll get it all figured out and put new CSS up on the website.

But I'm starting 2 weeks holidays, so the priority right now is updating "to-do" lists, so I can remember where I was when I get back :)

[Budfred]

I'm viewing it from Netscape 7.1 and it looks very nice. It is well done in terms of a site that is so text intensive. It remains easy to read and the links offered seem appropriate and enticing. A few photographs scattered among the pages that are so text heavy might make it even more compelling. Overall, I would say it is aesthetically and functionally effective. Good work!!!

[sleddog]

Thanks Budfred. There will be additional photos inserted in those text-heavy pages to relieve them somewhat -- this is near the top of the to-do list. But they'll be keep to a small format -- the real photo collections of course are in the Gallery site.

[malcore]

HeHe, sleddog I started out on Ennis Avenue (pretty new then also) before we moved down the highway to Manuels. Spent my summers at Ocean Pond. Eventually spent a year or so in Cornerbrook(Steadybrook) before leaving in my constant move westward.

Been back many times, but it's been too long now. I sure miss the Rock.
:)

[sleddog]

This gets better and better... I spent a lot of weekends at Ocean Pond at my buddy's cabin :D

Pretty soon we're gonna have to talk about ages :)

[Arowa704]

Hi,
Very nice webpage from a web surfer prospective. Just curious how you learn everything? Through books? Any recommendations? Mainly on creative a webpage. Thanks