SITE REVIEW: Azoundria - Reviews still appreciated

I have redone the site and am again looking for input. Check the last page for the relevant replies.

http://www.azoundria.com/welcome.php

Thanks.

Topic has been unlocked. Please resume reviewing.

Where to start, where to start..... Well first of all, your index reaks of web design newbie. Basic fonts, basic colors, basic layout, no graphics, just no appeal what so ever. More so, you have a selection of 3 "versions" of your site? Thats the first time I've seen something like that for a site so basic. You usually have that for sites using high-res graphics or flash to give 56k'ers a break. Suggestion one, re-do your whole index, its looks like something you'd find on geocities.

Ok man, the difference between your 3 versions is ridiculous. Is there even a difference at all? You're better off scrapping your "Ok" and "Shrunk" version. Reviewing your "Full" version, wow, I'm actually at a loss for words on the quality of the graphics. They're bad man, really really bad. The structure of your site is awful, the colors are dreadful, the visual appearance is just such a turn off. You can hardly make out what the menu options say. Wow..... I'm actually going to force myself to stop my review right now because it would just end up being a novel. I'll try and comment later tonight if I have time. You've got a lot of work ahead of you.

Like I told you earlier... enough with the frames. The look of the site makes up for the having to update every page every time you update the links or title. I'm sure there's a solution for that.

M y friend is going to teach me PHP and then i think I can get rid of the frames.

Well about the versions I guess I'll get rid of them. It just takes a while to load everything on my 56k but I think that was because of the banners geocities imposed on me when I was using them before.

I really wish I could make better menu graphics but I'm not that good with it. Can anyone suggest where I should start? I dont know where to start to redo it. If you think its bad now you should see it when I first did it.

giving me a 403 forbidden... you must be switching servers

Yes I was working on it for a second and must have been replacing the main page at the time. Try it again please.

Well honestly your graphics are as stated, very horrible. If you are not good at making graphics on your own, there are literally thosands of free graphics you can google easily.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=free+web+graphics

Don't give up, rome wasn't built in a day. I don't think anyone instantly picked up webdesign and where pros overnight

My website is almost 2 years old but I guess Rome wasnt built in two years either. Ill look into it later.

I have nothing better to do, so I'll add a few more comments. Good to see you got rid of your other versions, its a positive start. Now you need to ditch the frames. You mentioned your friend is going to teach you PHP then you'll get rid of the frames....... you dont need to know PHP to get rid of the frames. I dont see why thats an excuse. Framesets should be used rarely, and in cases like your site, not at all, simply because its not necessary. Just create a normal menu with normal content and a simple layout.

To the nitty gritty. Your counter... its on the top left hand side of your page and nearly as big as your site's logo. Stick with generic placements. Page counters are usually found at the bottom (footer) of the page and are of a reduced size than what you have. And why is it titled "population"? Does your site contain a colony of people? The black font also contrasts your header's white background, it looks bad.

Your logo is possibly the most horrible thing on your site, simply because it reflects you and is the "name tag" for your site. Looking into it, and all your other images, I noticed they're bmp's. Wow, thats bad. Not only are bmp files larger in size than other graphic formats, but they're older than the internet itself. You'd be wise to convert those images to either jpeg or more appropriately gif format. Your games, links, and jokes images under your azoundria logo are virtually impossible to read, and to add to the frustration, they're all different colors. Look at the games link, you can barely read it, bad. I dont know what that azoundria messages thing you have below that is, frankly, I dont even want to find out.

That (unnecessary) marquee scroll thing you have below that, horrible. First there's a green background which clashes badly with your site. Then you put a yellow font (one of the hardest fonts for the eye to digest) as your text color. Add to the fact that the text is scrolling at light speed, I dont know what you're trying to accomplish with that.

Your menu, again, the images, bad. If you're not yet comfortable creating your own crisp and clear graphics, then dont use any. Simple, plain links, without any images, always do the trick. Straight forward. Especially considering the graphics you have on now, ditch the images, just write out the word and link it. You've also introduced yet another color into your maze of website colors. Lets see, we have black, white, green, yellow, red, blue, a different shade of blue, brown houses and links and gray images.

To your actual content, you've squished your logo and made it into an ugly looking graphic withint your content. Then you stretch the games and homework pictures to make them look even worse. Clicking on the homework link, your font size is too big. Your link for continue is barely smaller than your site's logo, thats not good. I havent a clue what just happened when I clicked on your games link. I now have 3 frames in the middle of my screen, I'm speechless. Your products page baffles me. Your math page apparently has some affiliation to geocities.

Using the menu links on the left frame, I'm going to the contact page. Big font. I have no idea what Custom Homepage is. Your jokes page actually made me angry. Why would you purposely hide links? Thats the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen.

One thing is for sure, you like frames. Ditch 'em. Think of a layout that doesnt involve frames, instead use tables. Even the most simplest of layout could boost your sites appearance beyond your imagination. When create a layout for a site, I simply take out a piece of paper and pencil and draw out how I want it to look. In your case I'd suggest something as simple as:

-------------------------------------

HEADER IMAGE

-------------------------------------
MENU MENU MENU MENU
-------------------------------------

CONTENT
-------------------------------------
FOOTER

Easy! Nothing to it. Thats a simple table right there. Pick a constant background color, font color, link color, and stick with it. Drop the horrible images and stick with word links. You can definitely turn this site around if you put some effort into it. You dont need PHP to do that, basic HTML is all you'll need. Keep at it and start visualizing a site without frames. You'll have more than enough support from Ozzu members to accomplish your goals. Best of luck.

(I knew I'd be writing a novel for this one ).

I had no idea. You werent kidding about the novel part. I had no idea so much could be suggested. I had a few comments on your replies.

What should I say instead of population? I have no idea how to get the population counter out of the frameset. I use it from geocities and dont know how to make my own.

I use bmps because I have been using the computer for a long time. I'm used to working with them. I guess ill modify them once I get good graphics.

By the way the message thing is part of the marquee. If you press the buttons it changes the marquee message. I didnt know the green background clashed badly with my site. I guess ill make it slower.

So basically I shouldnt have a lot of colours on my website.

I dont know what else I was suppose dto put for a picture of my updates in the main page. Most of those other things you mentioned are wierd. Im looking into them.

Custom Homepage is basically a page you set your homepage to so you can go to all your favorite sites by just clicking on them.

The Jokes page is made so you get a random joke depending where you click. I dont know how else to work it.

Anyways I guess my site went from bad to worse right from the start. You make the work ahead seem easy. Remember I have about 50 pages on my website.

Well, when I read through the reviews, and saw how your site was being bashed, I felt sorry for you. It couldn't possibly be that bad!? Then I had a look.
I'm sorry to say that it is that bad. For some reason it reminded me of a 1990 PC... A 286 perhaps? Or an IBM XT? Square graphics, terrible (and basic) colours, awful fonts. What I'm trying to say is the general appearance are ancient - if I can put it that way. Unrounded. Old. No-one uses BMP's anymore. There is nothing wrong with the content of the page. And the links. That's fine.
I suggest you get yourself a decent web-design package, and push the content through a new design.
I think Daremedy gave you enough to work with. Good luck!
PS. Get rid of the frames and that horrible "population" counter in the left top corner.

Change "population" to "hits" if you must. Or just do what I do: don't lable it. If they see a number, people assume it's a counter.

And if you need one just search google. Here's a few randomly:

http://www.statcounter.com/
http://freelogs.com/
http://www.123counters.com/