My website, what do you think??????????

Anyone want to check out my site. It is something new for me with no ad support and I enjoy doing it. It contains news, entertainment, sports, conspiracies, computer stuff and much much more. I have not updated all my pages to have the same theme in looks but I am slowly working on it.
my site is Web-Insider.us, We bring the world to you.

Is this your first attempt at creating a website? If so, then it's good Well done.

A couple of things I would recommend you remove are:
* The DHTML effect when you load up the page (the page folding out effect).
* The date at the bottom of the status bar is a bit weird.

Now, the main problem, is the navigation bar at the top. It relies heavily on Internet Explorer - it doesn't function properly on Mozilla (and other web browsers I would guess).

Either, write some cross-platform code that works in both Mozilla and IE (those being the main browsers of choice these days).

Or, write a browser-detection script, which detects what browser the user is using. This way, if the user is using IE - your script will know, and can dynamically write the code to produce the navigation bar you have now - if, on the other hand; the user is not using IE, your script could dynamically write the code to produce a different type of navigation bar - which works on all other browsers (stick to plain HTML tables maybe?).

I would advice using the second suggestion... But the choice is upto you. In case you're thinking "I'll just stick with what it is now, and tell my users to use IE" - this is not good. Users do not like to be told what they have to use - it's your job to accommodate everyones browsing platform - this way you will recieve more hits, and what's important - people coming back

Hope my advice is of some good, lol - if not, tell me to shut up

Originally posted by MetalHead
Now, the main problem, is the navigation bar at the top. It relies heavily on Internet Explorer - it doesn't function properly on Mozilla (and other web browsers I would guess).

Works just fine in FireFox...bit slow tho.

Your site is friggin slow...even on my 3.5mbps cable connection it takes a while to load. Fix something...make the images a lower quality...turn the navigation bar into Flash...something....Me thinks its the nav bar causing the slow down in FireFox...since the site is fast in IE.

Get rid of the popups...when opened in IE i got 3 popups...I DONT WANT NO DAMNED MORTGAGE...

The edges dont line up on the right side....also either center the whole thing or bring it all the way over to the right side to fill it up.

As MetalHead stated get rid of the effect as its loading....very displeasing.

That date and time in the status bar is just plain stupid...they just gotta look over about 10 inches and look at the clock and see the time...and hover over it to get hte date.

Being a geek I look over at your Computer section....yikes. All the stuff from Leo and TTV...or G4TTV as I should call it....is bad. None of it looks like your own stuff...looks as if you just copied and pasted from other sites. Thats a big no no....Atleast make it GOOD stuff...alot of that stuff is random # from no names that barely get updated and hardly work. Many of your Tips in the Tips Archive were stolen from other pages...if not all. From "WorldStart.com"...thats plagiarizing...an even BIGGER no no....

I cant believe you have the nerve to say thats all copyrighted by yourself...I dont see how you can call it yours...besides the fact that its on your server and you own the domain name.

I could go on...but decide to hold myself back.

All in all I think it gets in F in overall information...and a D- in the actual layout.

Sorry for any harshness....just tellin it like it is.

Just to satisfy my curiosity....how much of that site is original material by YOU??

[Edited on 18-7-2004 by dreamlandmafia]

Same here, being a massive geek I looked at the Computer Section. Is any of it your own stuff?

Something you must ALWAYS do when you create a website (goes for many other things too) - DO NOT copy others. Always come up with your own content, even if the computer articles have been written many times before - you could still at least write them in your own manner; trying to make them easier to understand for beginners. Write more articles too, different ones.

dreamlandmafia, I was using FireFox 0.9 when browsing the website, and although the navigation bar 'worked', when I clicked links - they didn't load. My Internet connection isn't as fast as yours, but isn't slow either (576kbps DSL).
It worked fine in IE though.

Even a lot of the code is not written by yourself, there are copyright notices (from other people obviously) in the source.

Like dreamlandmafia said, change the images - at least increase the compression with the JPEG images - or even better, change them to PNGs instead (and still keep the size down obviously).

Another thing... I don't know if this is as important as the stuff above, but front-page is so long! Users will need to scroll a long way to read all of it. One of the first things I try and stress to people, is to keep the page sizes down, split them up into several pages if needed.

My last comment... At the bottom of the front-page, there are light-blue tables, with dark-blue text; not very pretty. Not easy on the eyes - try and make it more casual on the eyes. And get rid of that darn marquee at the top!

That is all, sorry to rant - I will stop now. Though if I come accross anymore 'bad things' - I will post them.

[Edited on 18-7-2004 by MetalHead]

Thanks for all the input on my site.
None of you were too harsh and most of the stuff i have are xml feeds. I have two editorial writers who send me stuff and NONE of the stuff on my site is mine, especially the computer section, I'm so knew at computers and probably don't know squat(only what I have read on the websites I got the info from).
I guess i should tone down my site since I don't have time to write or update much of the stuff my self.
Just thought that getting informational news to people was all i wanted to do. Not doing it for money or for a search rating.
Thanks for all your input and ADVICE and I'll work on it.
One more thing, are XML feeds free to use either in a reader or your own website?
Thanks Bunches..
Rodger

Yeah the sites a little slow and laggy... i am using firefox... have u tested it in a large number of browsers... i am a web designer and testing.... testing and testing some more is REALLY important... you have a max of 2, 3 seconds to "hook" the users or they will go elsewhere... something to think about...