Criticise my website

CarlManchester · Post by **CarlManchester** » June 19th, 2007, 1:19 pm

Hi all,

A while back I decided to make use of an old website I had to store LibriVox files, got a new URL and at the same time thought about making it into some kind of useful website. This has been quite a slow process in terms of being arsed.

Here it is: http://www.carlmanchester.net , and I was wondering if any kind people would let me know if they think it is any use at all.

it consists of:

1) A frontpage, where I've put some links that broadly reflect my interests. What do you think? Is there any point to doing this?

2) Links to philosophy texts: http://www.carlmanchester.net/links/index.html
is this useful, or just giving info that people could get elsewhere? Does it come across too much as if I'm setting myself up as a arbiter of what texts are important in a kind of a pompous way?

3) A list of audio philosophy titles: http://www.carlmanchester.net/audio.htm
Note: when I first joined LibriVox, this wouldn't really of stretched to much, so good work everyone...

4) A translation I did for the Essays in Radical Empiricism project: http://www.carlmanchester.net/James/james.html , which I hereby donate to the world.

Any comments are gratefully received...

Also, not to forget anything about layout etc...

Thanks,
Carl.

Starlite · Post by **Starlite** » June 19th, 2007, 1:34 pm

Its kind of bland.

You need more pictures and graphics. It is very imformative though. Why not put up some pictures of yourself? Or run a weekly podcast of your recordings?

signed,
Just a critic

kri · Post by **kri** » June 20th, 2007, 12:51 pm

I think a lot would be improved with the layout if you line up the sidebar links with the horizontal text links, or with the top of the table of links.

Also, you have a broken <meta> tag in there, missing the end >.

I highly recommend reading up on CSS layer styling, rather than using frames. It takes some tweaking to learn, but is much more flexible and...just better

12makoto · Post by **12makoto** » June 20th, 2007, 3:25 pm

I think the site is a great start. The first thing to start out with a page is a content, and then you add to the layout and format as you think up better ideas later on. Or at least that's how I've always done my pages ^_-

I would echo Kri about getting away from frames. Also by learning CSS, it makes it extremely easy to change your look-and-feel on the fly.

Also, I notice your list of philosophy links are missing some of the audio that LVers have completed:
301-1599
Augustine | The Enchridion | http://librivox.org/the-enchiridion-by-saint-augustine/
1700s
Voltaire | Candide | http://librivox.org/candide-by-voltaire/
1800s
Mill, John Stuart | Political Economy | http://librivox.org/essays-on-political-economy-by-john-stuart-mill/
Nietzsche, Friedrich | The Antichrist | http://librivox.org/the-antichrist-by-nietzsche/
1900s
Einstein, Albert | Relativity: The Special and General Theory | http://librivox.org/relativity-by-albert-einstein/

You have Nietzsche spelled wrong (the i and e are backwards). And we have some recordings of works from Kant, Spencer, Huxley, Nietsche, Freud, Santayana that you don't have listed. Just thought you might want to look those names up in the catalog and see if those works might be worth adding to your fine list ^_^

Sean

thistlechick · Post by **thistlechick** » June 20th, 2007, 3:25 pm

could this thread be moved to "Off Topic"?

Gesine · Post by **Gesine** » June 22nd, 2007, 9:22 am

Yup, I think so. Moving now.

Gesine · Post by **Gesine** » June 22nd, 2007, 9:27 am

Carl, had a very quick look - I suggest you make it clear on the homepage what the site is about. Something like the About section but shorter, snappier. The HP layout is a little confusing - takes time to work out what all the little colour squares are for. Maybe if you put a line on top "Projects I'm working on or that I'm interested in" or something like that.

Gotta run...

Mark Turner · Post by **Mark Turner** » June 22nd, 2007, 9:34 am

As for content, it's your personal site. I think it should reflect what interests you. Share what you like. So, if you want to list links and material that you like, I think it's entirely appropriate. It's no different than if somebody walked up to you and asked for suggested readings or whatever.

Another way to look at it is that including links and info that you like will make you appear in search engines connected to those topics. So, if like minded people search those same topics then they're more likely to find your site. In turn, your site can then lead them to additional similar material.

Planish · Post by **Planish** » June 24th, 2007, 1:58 am

Starlite wrote:Its kind of bland.

This is what I get in Safari:

I can read the source code, and it appears that the frames don't load.

Code: Select all

<META content="[b]Microsoft FrontPage[/b] 5.0" name=GENERATOR>

There's yer problem.

That being said, with Firefox I must be getting what others say they're seeing.

Bland is good. My philosophy is "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." Look at the home page of Sir Tim Berners-Lee - the guy that invented the World Wide Web. Very spartan, but it works.
I'm gradually changing my own site to a sort of "Mosaic Retro" look.

The only two things that bother me are:
- The external links on the main page have much more real estate than your own content.
- It is impossible to bookmark a framed page, unless you Control-click or Right-click it open it in a new window and then bookmark that, but then you lose the navigation. (Even so, I don't think MS Internet Explorer for Windows supports right-clicking to open a frame in a new window.)
I've only ever used a frameset once, and that was to provide clickable access to footnotes within a single document. Check it out - http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/jrose/hingley/hingfset.htm . It's one single file referenced twice within the same frameset, giving separate scroll bars for top and bottom.

Robert Marquardt · Post by **Robert Marquardt** » June 24th, 2007, 3:43 am

Starlite wrote:Its kind of bland. You need more pictures and graphics.

In contrast i like it because it is simple and clean.

Better write "Home About Contact". Keep it consistent.

CarlManchester · Post by **CarlManchester** » June 24th, 2007, 9:50 am

Okay, the story so far...

Starlite wrote:Its kind of bland.

but

Planish wrote:Bland is good.

So this is a matter of taste, yes? Which gives me the freedom to jump either way.

Kri wrote:I think a lot would be improved with the layout if you line up the sidebar links with the horizontal text links, or with the top of the table of links.

I don't know what you mean! Are you saying the two instances of the word "home" should be on the save level? Or something else? Also, is this related to

Robert m wrote:Better write "Home About Contact". Keep it consistent.

, which I also don't understand. Surely that's what it says already(?). Think some of these comments are assuming I understand more about websites than I actually do, so please elaborate.

Robert s wrote:I will take a little more time with your site in the near future and give you a little more feedback....

Yes please!

A few comments about CSS. This I will have to look up. I'm assuming its nothing to do with singing in Portuguese.

Gesine wrote:I suggest you make it clear on the homepage what the site is about. Something like the About section but shorter, snappier.

Okay good point well made, will have a think.

Gesine wrote:The HP layout is a little confusing.

Again, I'll have to look this up. I'm assuming it has nothing to do with British condiments.

Mark Turner wrote:including links and info that you like will make you appear in search engines connected to those topics.

Okay, so if I decide all the links etc aren't so great, I should downgrade them rather than get rid of them, since they will oil my googlewheels (?)

Planish wrote:<META content="Microsoft FrontPage 5.0" name=GENERATOR> There's yer problem.

What does this mean, then? Does Safari just refuse to read sites that carry a Front Page tag? That sounds like bad news for Safari. I guess I can try taking it out of the code though.

Planish wrote:The external links on the main page have much more real estate than your own content.

It sounds like this is a bad thing, but I'm not sure why.

Fair point too about bookmarking (although the links section does have its own index page, for this very reason). Guess this might be related to CSS, whatever it turns out to be (?)

Many thanks everyone,
Carl.

Robert Marquardt · Post by **Robert Marquardt** » June 24th, 2007, 9:58 am

Better write "Home About Contact".
Keep the capitalization consistent. In the left menu you use "About" whereas the other menu uses "about".

Rowen · Post by **Rowen** » June 24th, 2007, 10:02 am

CarlManchester wrote:
Planish wrote:The external links on the main page have much more real estate than your own content.
It sounds like this is a bad thing, but I'm not sure why.

People are just more likely to notice the links that navigate away from your site, than the links that navigate around your site. At least thats what I understand from what Planish said.

If it was me I would probably make a separate link's page and put those links there. Or you could maybe have a slight re-arrange of the main page and make it so that your site navigation links are more in your face than the external links.

Chrisczech · Post by **Chrisczech** » June 24th, 2007, 12:05 pm

Hi CarlManchester.

Regarding CSS, it really is quite easy to get a simple page styled with this.
The W3schools site HERE has a straightforward introduction to it. Basically you are separating the content of your site from the way it looks, and making it easier to change the look of the site.

It is very straightforward to learn how it works.

HTH
Chris