SimplyFreeware

As you may of guessed from the name this is my site giving reviews of the best freeware on the web.
I no that there are not many articles on it at the moment but i am doing my best with the little free time that I have, and please excuse any stupid mistakes as the site has only been online for about a day and to be honest i am not the best web designer.

Please feel free to criticise(constructivly please ppl ), and maybe mention a few good things lol

PS, when going on the XHTML validator, I find the line

is invalid as the target= is not valid in XHTML Strict, is there still a way that i can get it to open in a new window? Sorry if this is a very basic question.

Thanks for your help

Craig

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Just read Rob's rules to read before posting(sorry saw them after posting)

in regards to the question about the link opening in a new window, would changing it to

Is there another way apart from target= to open a link in a new window using HTML?

better than mentioning validation?

sorry for mithering

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Ooh, I like it! The nice blue color and the banner behind the body is a nice visual!
About link targets, there is no other way in static html, since target is not good to use. Why do you need it?

Is this a template? looks very templatey.
And this:

HTML: Select all

 	  <p>&nbsp;</p>
       	  <p>&nbsp;</p>

I can tell this has been made by a WYSIWYG Edtior.
Not very semantic, this stuff is supposed to be done with CSS.

Yeah, use css padding to make that space, instead...

No fooling you lot is there

I'm not going to lie, yes this has been made mainly using a template and Dreamweaver. I am not trying to pass this off as my skills, (because of the real lack of skills to be honest)

i have been interested in the whole web thing for a while now, and i though that the best way to learn would be to have an actual website online, while learning more and more HTML, CSS etc. You may think this is just impatient but I didnt want to wait lol.

I am making changes to the layout and CSS as i learn more of, but with 5 A Levels free time is rather limited

and to answer stuart's question, i am linking to a the hosting site, but i do not want them to leave my site for theirs if you know what i mean, still want my site in their window

thanks all for your time and comments

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oh yes, i realise that the code may not be up to much, but is the general design and layout of the site of a quality standard, and if not what can i change

thanks again

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Yes, the common reason... Here's why you should not use it (quoting MikeHopley):
Hope that clears it up. Sorry to Mike for using your explanation, I just can't write that well...

**craig makes mental note never to ask stupid questions again**

thanks for that, i think that wil be getting changed back to how it was before

thanks for your time people

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It's not a stupid question! It's a damn good question, actually. When I asked it, I had no clue either. That's when Mike explained it so well, after I asked that exact question! So, don't say it's stupid. Half the world's web designers don't know this. I'm glad that you asked!

thanks, now iv read the reason it makes sense doesnt it, if people like your site they would come back to it again, wether or not it involves the great effort of pressing the back button

could i just ask, out of 10, how, would you rate my site in terms of first impression, design and coding?

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First Impression: 10/10 :: Great colors, nice visual presentation, organized...
Design: 9/10 :: Nice design, simple yet with great style.
Code: 8/10 :: Like Alex said, cut the two <p>&nbsp;</p>, one validation error because of the target="blank".

Overall: 9/10 :: Great site. I'll definitely stay and read a while. Good job!

thanks a lot

i will tidy up the coding and sort out the errors.

thanks for your comments, and glad you like the site.

make sure to keep coming back and checking, its getting updated all the time

craig

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The site looks clean and simple. Good job.

Your homepage has a single validation error. Simply change this line:

Code: Select all

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

...to this instead:

Code: Select all

<html>

...and your page will then be valid HTML Transitional, which is a jolly good start. In terms of coding, the next step would be to validate against a strict doctype (HTML 4.01 Strict).

Clearly your site is just starting up, and lacks content. Nevertheless, be alert to your writing. Get straight to the point, especially on your homepage. For example:

That paragraph is completely redundant. It says nothing interesting, but it does distract the reader. Remove it, and your message becomes clearer.

As swagner said, never be shy of asking "stupid" questions. Socrates asked a lot of "stupid" questions, and always ended up winning the argument. To be honest, he won because Plato rigged it that way; but even so, a wise man asks questions that a fool would think stupid. To acquire knowledge, cultivate an enquiring mind.

(And swagner: of course I don't mind being quoted. We writers are all monstrous egotists at heart, even if some of us affect modesty. We love being quoted, just as cats love being stroked. )

Thanks Mike. I had a feeling you wouldn't mind. You just have a great way with words...

thanks for that , i have fixed the home page now and it is valid!!!
i wish i could say the same for the other pages but ill keep at it, (be warned, there quite possibly could be questions about why a certain tag is not allowed in XHTML Strict, not validation though )

As you said you didnt mind me asking stupid questions(you may live to regret that ). i am signing up to google adsense(good or bad idea?) and i am getting the code ready to put into my site. Idealy i would like to the ads to go along the left and right hand side, but using my wyswyg editor (i realise that this is not the best way but with my expertise it is the only way) i cannot place them in this area. Is thsi possible, please feel free to look at my source code/css.

thanks so much for your time

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Taking "software" as a sample page, I believe your errors are all caused by unclosed tags. Here:

Code: Select all

<p>
             <hr />
          <h2>miscellaneous</h2>

After you start a <p>, you must finish it with </p>. In this case, however, the paragraph is empty, so your <p> should just be deleted. Similarly:

Code: Select all

<p>Office Suites such as          
          <ul>

You must close the <p> before you open the <ul>. Simply insert a </p>:

Code: Select all

<p>Office Suites such as</p>
          <ul>

Good idea. Adsense can make you money, although you'll need a lot of traffic before it becomes lucrative. Money is good for your health.


Err...I'm not skilled with editors that I don't own.

Can you create an empty box using your editor? Then paste the Adsense code inside that.

hi again. sorry about the delay, internet got disconected for a while. If it is not too much trouble could you look at my site and see if the ads that i have placed are ok, not in your face or too obtrusive.

i have decided not to place them on the home page, partly for problems with placing them, but also i wanted to leave that as clean as possilbe

thanks for your time

craig

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I don't see any real problem with where you've placed your ads...

I think the rest of what i was going to say has been covered .

Design: 3.5/5 - Just lacks something - i don't know what.
Code: 2.5/5 - Simply because you are using a WYSIWYG editor.
Content: 2.5/5 - Hardly any and when there is it is very sparse.
Functionality: 4/5

Overall: 3.1/5 - Have a look at the above comments from other posters

thanks, if you think of the missing something please inform me lol

Understand the marks for code, will improve it as my skills improve(if they do anyway).

There is not much content is there, trying to add more and more, proving difficult with the amount of time i have.

thanks for your time people

PS, when you say any real problem, that sarcasm or being serious lol

craig

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