Bluegrassrivals

Full Version: Constructive Criticism and Help Needed
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I have been tinkering with and trying to publish a quality informational and accessible website for the two churches I am the Pastor of.

I am using a free website generator but I know a little html and can edit generated html codes like tables, links, etc..

What I am looking for is basically some constructive criticism and help in making it the best it can be.

http://uniongrider.weebly.com
LWC, you are off to a great start, IMO, but I do have a few suggestions. First, I see the following in the upper left corner of the screen, which is probably supposed to be hidden: "Union Chapel United Methodist Church Grider's Chapel United Methodist Church."

I like to minimize the amount of scrolling that users must do to view basic content. The header image is beautiful but it takes up a lot of real estate. I would consider cropping its top and bottom, overlaying the title onto the image and then changing the font color of the title to maximize contrast with the image. This would give you more room for content.

Other than the items mentioned above, I like the layout of the website. I have only viewed the pages using Google Chrome, and they may appear somewhat different in other browsers - especially Internet Explorer. Both Chrome and Firefox have superior debugging tools available for developing websites. When I can, I prefer developing using Firefox with the Firebug debugger installed and then testing in both Internet Explorer and Firefox. Unfortunately, security concerns at work don't allow me that luxury.
^Thanks Hoot. The things you mentioned are MAJOR pet-peeves of mine. The layout that I chose will not allow you to change the size of the banner, if you do it leaves ugly white space. Why? I guess to make you buy the upgrade to fix it.

I am trying to figure out how to get that text out of the top left and bottom left of the screen, once I figure it out, I will do it.

I, as you do, use Chrome as well.
LWC Wrote:^Thanks Hoot. The things you mentioned are MAJOR pet-peeves of mine. The layout that I chose will not allow you to change the size of the banner, if you do it leaves ugly white space. Why? I guess to make you buy the upgrade to fix it.

I am trying to figure out how to get that text out of the top left and bottom left of the screen, once I figure it out, I will do it.

I, as you do, use Chrome as well.
If you can edit the HTML directly, you could place the text between DIV tags and set the display setting to "none." <DIV style="display:none;">Your text here.</DIV>

There are many free HTML editors available if you have the option of uploading your own pages instead of using the automated process. There are also some very good, relatively cheap programs that will help you learn HTML, CSS, and JavaScript more quickly. I use a program that I bought online from yaldex.com but they also have a free version available.

Is the website on a paid hosted account? If so, then you should have all the control that you need to modify the files. If you are paying to have the website hosted and have limited access to the account, then I would look at a new host. I have an account with Site 5 Web Hosting and their rates start at $4.95/mo.
Hoot Gibson Wrote:If you can edit the HTML directly, you could place the text between DIV tags and set the display setting to "none." <DIV style="display:none;">Your text here.</DIV>

There are many free HTML editors available if you have the option of uploading your own pages instead of using the automated process. There are also some very good, relatively cheap programs that will help you learn HTML, CSS, and JavaScript more quickly. I use a program that I bought online from yaldex.com but they also have a free version available.

Is the website on a paid hosted account? If so, then you should have all the control that you need to modify the files. If you are paying to have the website hosted and have limited access to the account, then I would look at a new host. I have an account with Site 5 Web Hosting and their rates start at $4.95/mo.

I think I fixed the problems. The only one that I can't fix is the size of the banner. I added text inside the banner and took away the titles it helps a little but there is still more space than I would like.

http://uniongrider.weebly.com

If you want, you can see if it looks better.
LWC Wrote:I think I fixed the problems. The only one that I can't fix is the size of the banner. I added text inside the banner and took away the titles it helps a little but there is still more space than I would like.

http://uniongrider.weebly.com

If you want, you can see if it looks better.
It's looking much better, LWC. Sorry that I did not respond sooner but I have been busy working on my resume and other activities related to my job search.

Although I have not taken time to look in depth at the HTML of your website, it looks like the size of the banner is probably set in a CSS style sheet. When I get some time, I will try to take a look and suggest some code that will override what is in the style sheet.
Thanks again!