SITE REVIEW: Webmaster Search

WebmasterSearch

Hi everyone! I would like to introduce you all to my new site. Webmaster Search

It has not fully launched yet, and is in beta. I am aware of the problems in IE6. (real webmasters use firefox!)

Try searching for some common phrases!
- http://www.webmastersearch.co.cc?search=help
- http://www.webmastersearch.co.cc?search=hire
- http://www.webmastersearch.co.cc?search=ads

Notice how they all return results geared towards webmasters?

If you like this site, please give it a bookmark! If it gets enough popularity I will add a free directory as well.

Thanks for the interest!

Personally, I can't say I would use it on a regular basis, as I'm a creature of habit, and I just use Google, or, for more specific searches, another search engine that I can use in my Firefox search bar. However, that's just me - I'm sure for some people this would be useful - that is, once the kinks are worked out.

The kinks: First off, the obligatory validation rant: you've got 7 errors in your markup, and 5 errors in your CSS. The good news is, they are all very small errors and should only take a minute or two to fix.

Looking at your site in Firefox 2, everything look fine with one execption - the search button is not aligned with the search box - vertically, it's a few pixels low, horizontally, it overlaps the box slightly, so if you use a long enough search query, your typing extends out onto the button itself. The same problem applies to both Netscape 9 and Safari for Windows (Beta 3).

If you visit your site in Opera 9, you'll get a similar problem, except with the button vertically above the box, rather than below it.

In Internet Explorer 7 and Maxthon 2, the search button appears one and a half times - the first button is completely inside the search box, and the second appears outside the box directly after it. On the bright side, they are aligned perfectly. However, in addition to the button's problems, the three icons from across the bottom appear one above the other, below right of the search box - without the horizontal rule in sight.

In Internet Explorer 6, the search button experiences the same problems as in 7. The icons, however, are even worse - only the magnifying glass is displayed, and it appears on the left side of, and partially covering, the search box. In addition, the PNG transparency breaks (since IE6 doesn't support it), so you get a large white block behind the icon.

In Lynx, all you see is one unlabelled link, the words "Webmaster Search," an input box with a submit button, and a horizontal rule. It's rather hard to tell what's the page is.

Last of all, I'm not sure what I think of the icons at the bottom. After all, though they look like links at first, further investigation shows that they don't seem to, well, do anything. Are they really necessary?

Overall, I think the concept is fine - some people are sure to find it useful. However, there are just so many kinks right now that it feels more like an "alpha" than a "beta." And while I agree the Firefox is a far superior browser, that's no excuse for not supporting the others - at the very least Internet Explorer (6 and 7) and Safari. Plus, you could use a bit more description on the site, both for clarification and accessibility (hey, there are blind webmasters, too).

Yes, it probably is more like alpha stage - or maybe "open source beta" stage... lol

Thanks for the detailed review. I do need to sort out the cross-browser problems. I was experimenting with having the search button blend in better with the search box, But the only way I can do it is changing the pixel margins which is interpreted differently in different browsers. If anyone knows a way to do this it would be great if you could point me in the right direction.

The images - I was planning on making them links, maybe a "help" link, "about" link, and "directory" link. Do you know how I can get divs to display horizontally in all browsers? Or should I just use a table?

Thanks

-- Jack Singleton

Like you say, you already know about the I.E problem, But I have to say something about the comments saying " real webmasters use firefox "

That is not the case, Still IE is more popular!

I have fixed the ie problems. Finally just said screw tableless design, and put the images and search box/button in tables.

This is still on my local server though, I will update the online site tonight.

"That is not the case, Still IE is more popular!"

Ill let you know my stats when the site gets some visitors

Also, I did not mean I was not going to support ie, i probably worded that wrong. I meant I had not got round to fixing the ie problems.

Phew, just cleaned up all my errors except for one - and if you gota problem with that: Go here

lol jk, thanks for the input.

It mostly works in IE now too. Just the search button is thinner. I guess ill fix that with some ie conditionals...

No more input?

I had a play with that google thing a while ago but I couldn't think of a use good enough to tempt people away from the mainstream search engines.

so although your site looks nice I couldn't see me ever using it

There is one feature I would like to see in a search engine though
, the ability to build an "ignore list" that would be cool.

when you go to a site which is obviously not what you are looking for like bloody directories that seem to get to the top of SERPs.

Say you are looking for a local builder so you type in builder <your town> and it like page 20 before you get to the poor ol builders website.

I would just like to click a button and never see anything from that url again.

That is a really good idea. Although, I couldn't do it with google...

Have you ever used http://www.pandora.com? That would be so cool to have a search engine like that - you could rate results and it would learn what kind of results you like.

I may just steal that idea if I have time

Hey - I finally went back to your site and am glad to see it looks good across the whole range of browsers mentioned in my previous post - except Lynx. I'm sure somebody will gripe about the tables sooner or later, but honestly I think it looks pretty darn good as is. I'd still add some more text of some sort, at the very least until you get the images across the bottom linking to their respective pages, because it is still rather hard to tell what your site actually is in text-based browsers (Lynx), but otherwise it's much better!

You've still got a couple errors in your CSS though - you oughtta' kill them off, they're simple.

there should be a contact us button the home page

It is nice to know that Google has errors too. I like the site and I found a really cool site on it when I searched for CSS menus

http://cssmenumaker.com/index.php

Updated the site a little. Opinions? (hint: click on one of those pictures)

IE is more used, but isn't more popular!!! Surfers uses IE mostly because people slowly change habits. As a webmaster I use IE only if I have to check, does something work in IE correctly, for example popup windows based on the JavaScript.
My favorite browser is FireFox! Its really more functional and a lot more fancy than IE...


Sorry!!!

Are you saying that every search results returned by this has been reviewed by a human? That is a daunting task, isn't it?