Thanks to all and please check out my website

[Jeff P.]

I just finished a complete redesign of my website and I'm quite happy with it finally. I thank all of you that replied to my survey regarding the speed of your internet connection. This was a bit of an eye opener as I had thought that the majority of you would be on broadband. The fact that probably about 2/3's of you were still on dial up caused me to trim down the size and quality of the graphics on my site but I think it looks even better than ever. I spent probably 2 weeks redesigning everything and I thought I was pretty happy. Then I did the survey and saw some other better looking sites and I went back to the drawing board. This time I did an even more extensive redo including new logos, graphics, updated text styles and most importantly I got rid of the frames. I was finding that when I did a Google search to see if my site was showing up that more often than not I would navigate into the site and end up in the wrong frame. I know there are other ways I could solve this problem but let's just say that I like it better the way it is now. Anyway, thanks again for the input and please, please send me some feedback on the new site.

Thanks much

[Larry Bud]

No frames, thank God!

Very nice job there Jeff. Very clean looking.

Couple issues with the source code, but no biggies... For example, on the tag, you have FOUR of them nested within each other (this is from the home page):

tags are totally uncessary when the only content within them is an , but this isn't going to break anything.

Sorry, I nitpick since this is what I do (for a living... not nitpick!).

[Jeff P.]

Thanks Larry. I found that font tag issue in a few other locations as well. I got rid of them but I didn't really go and search them out. I think what's happening is when I'm formatting a cell I typically try a bunch of different layouts before deciding on a particular look. In the process a bunch of crap like that gets left behind. I'll go over it and try to clean it out. I'm no html programmer, however, so it takes me a bit longer to find that stuff. That's one of the drawbacks of using a WYSIWYG editor.

Thanks much,

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Looks nice and clean. The graphics are fine on my screen. Even if they were larger when you click on them should be no problem. That setup gives you a choice, quick overview or optional higher detail if you have the time.

You have a nice shop there also.

[TWS]

Nice site Jeff. Clean lines and well organized. Two observations about the site:

1) the 'Here' links on the Computer Desk page are broken. 2) It would be nice to be able to see high resolution pictures by clicking on the photos for those of us who do have broadband connections.

Finally, your shop looks too damned clean to have been really used for anything. Fess up, where were these pieces really made? ;-)

TWS

[Jeff P.]

OOPS! Problem solved. Thanks.

[Mark & Juanita]

Really nice site layout, it's clean and easy to navigate. You're projects aren't too bad either. :-)

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ The absence of accidents does not mean the presence of safety

Army General Richard Cody

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[Jeff P.]

Problem fixed.

I did limit the pic size to about 350 to 400 pixels in their largest dimension. I've got 3gb of bandwidth a month which is probably way more than I'll use but if I put up megapixel images I'll be out of bandwidth before you know it. If you really want larger pics feel free to drop me a line and I can fire off one to you.

I know, I know. I claimed that I'd post a picture of the shop in it's more messy state but whenever it gets really messy I end up cleaning before I remember to snap a picture.

[rcook5]

Thanks Jeff. The site looks nice and it loads fast for me. I also like the projects.

Overall, a good design.

--RC

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad

-- Suzie B

[Silvan]

And still so, so worth it. People are always yelling at me about how crappy my machine-generated HTML looks, but since I never look at my machine-generated HTML, I couldn't care less. :)

[Mortimer Schnerd, RN]

I normally get around the too small photos by right clicking and selecting "zoom in". For whatever reason, your site limits the size of the window so that when I zoom in, I end up with only a portion of the content of that window showing.

And I agree... it's much too clean. You must be like me: after I bought all those machines, I couldn't afford any wood!

[Swingman]

Hi Jeff,

You have every reason to be proud. You've combined graphics and text into an informative, easy to load, and easy to read presentation. The who, what, where ,why and how are all covered nicely, and your writing is clear and concise. If this is your first attempt, and judging from your obvious woodworking skills, you're a talented fellow indeed.

About the only thing I don't like, and this is a personal preference so take it with a grain of salt, is the added background shadows on the pictures of your projects. IMO, they detract from the crispness of the details in your work.

Excellent job!

[Jeff P.]

That's probably because the windows are created to a specific size without resize handles. They should allow scroll bars though. The images are all optimized to the extreme so I think you'll be disappointed if you do that. If you use Opera as a web browser you can zoom the entire window.

[Jeff P.]

Had a minor problem on my index page that was only visible in the Opera web browser. Fixed it this morning. The tables were sized wrong and were showing gaps that allowed the background to show through. Man, it's annoying to have it show up correctly in 2 out of three browsers and any be messed up in the third. Geez.

[AAvK]

[upper snip]

Jeff, I have to say I think it is an absolutely superior quality site as to how it looks and operates, it is an aesthetically pleasing site to look at. It is also faster than any site I have ever clicked through (seen a few others too), though I have a cable connection. It is a hard thing to get me to "like" any of most websites out there but yours works well for me. I do have a few critiques... sent those in an email to ya.

[Paul Kierstead]

Really, really great looking site. You have a very good touch with graphics and layout for a non-pro. Pleasing and easy to read.

Now for the nits: Well, actually, not many at all. My one "serious" nit isn't that big of a deal on a site the size of yours, but anyway it is a thought and applies to the time I spent going though the shop photos. Going though all the shop bits is a click item, read window, close window, click next item, remember which item I have missed/already clicked, click wrong item, etc. You scheme is great if you want to quickly access the data on *one* tool, but not so great if you want to browse all of the tools. The simple solution is to provide a "next" and optionally "previous" button on the window you view a tool in; this lets you easily view each tool. This goes for the wide angle shop pictures as well. Basic rule of thumb: always provide multuple ways for the user to access your information.

But nevertheless, a website to be really proud of.

PK

[captmikey]

Hey Jeff...

That's a really nice job on the web site. I have cable so everything loads instantly and I'm using FireFox for a browser (who isn't) so that probably helps.

I like everything and have one comment... someone else beat me to it, but I think its valid. Consider a "slide show" approach much like a powerpoint presentation with buttons going forward and back so visitors can move ahead and back, but includes a section "home" button that will take them back to the 1st shot in the section.

Whenever I see a bunch of pix of a shop I always wonder if they've made any kind of java panarama deal that would allow visitors the option of just moving their mouse around and thereby panning around the room. Realtors use it to show homes. It would be slick on your site.

BTW, your shop is so clean and well-organized it inspired me to vacumn my shop this morning. Of course, it still looks like crap, but at least I'm not tracking sawdust around the house . That shop is an inspiration, but yeah... you've got to show at least one shot with the sawdust and chips flying.

Mike

[Jeff P.]

LOL, oh man, do you know what you've just done??? NOW, I'm going to have to do one of those dang panarama things. Once the seed is planted there's no turning back. Thanks a lot. I'll probably do a next/previous button thing too. Not a bad Idea. I did finally solve the problem of keeping all the popup windows in the same window and having them retain focus when you load the next item in it. Only all fricking morning to solve THAT problem. Geez.

[Jeff P.]

Good ideas Paul, thanks. I'll implement a next/previous function soon. I did finally manage to keep all the given popups from a specific area in the same window. I also managed to have that window regain focus when loading subsequent pages. The problem was that each popup was loading it's own browser window AND would remain hidden bellow the main window so you might loose track of it. Problem solved. This took all morning..big sigh. Do me a favor and check out my shop page and use the drop down menu with the larger shop photos. Let me know if this makes it more functional. I think so.

[Mike Marlow]

Just tried it Jeff and I got a new popup for each thumbnail. Not sure if this is what you meant, but I understood what you said to mean that clicking on different thumbnails would pop it up in the already open popup window.