amature web site what do you think
 

hi there,
im new at building web sites and would like someone to take a look at www.mckillsurfboards.com.au a site i built for a mate of mine in exchange for a new board.
i used dreamweaver and went to create from sample and simply changed thing around a bit.
i have only done a basic html tutorial so im sure the site has problems with the css and maybee the html and if anyone can point them out that would be appreciated.
any tips on creating a neater site would be appreciated keeping in mind im a total amature.
thanks heaps rob:)

Re: amature web site what do you think
 

Your site is not too bad. It's pretty impressive for someone who has never done any web design before.

If you can get rid of the space between the top navigation bar and the main content that would be even better. Or you could maybe put the site's logo there.

Other than that your site seems to serve it's purpose!

Re: amature web site what do you think
 

Nice web site, easy to navigate around it. You have some awesome images on there which i really like. As i am a search engine marketer i like to look at all aspects of websites, I noticed you have good META tagging covering most the areas which spiders look at however if you which to rank really well in search engines and get some decent traffic to your website i recommend that you should review your META Keywords and Description. Search engine rules are strict and you do not break any of then however i noticed you only had 3 Keywords you are allowed up to and including 20 Keywords or 200 Chars which ever comes first, Your description is the same process and you should average around 150 Chars. These are close guide lines to Search engine rules and any more could result in a Search engine classing your site as Spam but you could do to bump up the amount you already have. All in all its a well solid, informative website. WELL DONE!

Re: amature web site what do you think
 

I like it, and like to surf olso, check out mine!
http://www.transformnews.com

Re: amature web site what do you think
 

Users visiting a website for a purpose other than just browsing surely have an expectation of what they're going to see, regardless of the type of site.
I expected to see surfboards, lots of them. Your surfboard new page only shows an image of a man riding a board. Maybe you could have your range of different shaped boards across the page, each image being a link to full description of the board including prices, special offers etc. You could have pages showing various art designs on boards. If you don't have photos of such, make them. Use an art package to put artwork onto board images.
Your profile page is good in terms of content. Your weather links are an excellent idea.
Your images of surfing seem a bit overpowering. I would have them slightly smaller and all the same size, with links to larger ones if required. I would also provide captions for them - 'Here's Dan riding the big one at Bondi' sort of thing.
The overall first image of the site, colour wise, I would want to transport me to the beach, the travel sample page in Dreamweaver should give you an idea of what I mean or you could browse holiday sites for ideas.
In general it's a fine site needing just a few little tweaks.
Regards
Taffd

Re: amature web site what do you think
 

do you design sites as a hobby? If so i need a smal site developed and am not looking to spend a ton, its really a proof of concept.

Re: amature web site what do you think
 

Have just taken a fresh look at the site.

Outstanding!! Well done.

Taffd

@ damiroquai Good Graphics but the positioning of content....
 

@damiroquai : I looked at your transform news. It seems to me that you are trying to use every concept that comes to mind and stick on your page. While the graphics themselves look good the layout is confusing because there is media position everywhere. I am a minimalsit at heart;) I can almost certainly tell the page was designed with columns I can count them because of the red horizontal bar across the top shifts colors through each new column (which to me looks a tad tacky). The links on the right do not look like links and the graphics on the a:hover attribute aren't really needed. A good example would to do a search in google and look how they have their ads to the right and left of the pages. Simple blue links would ad a more polished look to the page. Another suggestion I might have is have the leading news story in your center column, set your center column to 50% of the table and the other 2 columns to 25%. Feature main articles in middle, secondary ones on the left. Most news sites also feature table of contents links across the top horizontally. If you do that and make them bigger that should add a more credible look. These are just suggestion for a layout site. Your color and graphics choice is spot on and you are doing a wonderful job with those so keep the color scheme. Just try not to do so much on one page and you will find that you'll love the site even more. Keep it up. I was happy to check it out.