Need opinions.....

[wushu chik]

OK...I am putting my ass on the line here....I want your opinion of the website that I have been working on. I know there are flaws and stuff, so just mellow about that. I am NOT an HTML super smartie, so just BACK OFF.. Just joking. Anyways, if you guys & girls could do me the fav of going on, and giving me an HONEST (but polite LOL) answer on how it looks, I would appreciate it mucho!!!! And don't forget TO SIGN THE GUEST BOOK...That includes YOU TOO GENE!!!

~Wen~

www.shaolinnorthwest.com :D

[joedoe]

Given that you said it was not complete, I think it is a pretty good effort. Gives you the important information without any BS.

Good job.

[ewallace]

Not bad wushu. I wasn't diggin the blinking red lights though. Too busy. Where the hell is the guestbook anyway. I'll be glad to help you out with some html if you need it. Actually, I think 80% of the people on this board can help with that.

[Water Dragon]

go to www.tucows.com and check out the web develepment toolz. Did I mention that all the downloads are free?

[rubthebuddha]

wen,

for the love of pete, would you pleeeeeaase fix the centering!

;)

-dave

[Paul]

overall I thought it was alright.

I didn't really like the blinking red lights either.

At one point you mentioned that anyone with a black sash at your school has earned it then later on in another paragraph you mention that your kwoon doesn't use belt rankings. huh?

[ewallace]

If it is a visual tool you desire may I suggest dreamweaver. Of course notepad or editplus is my choice for windows development. Stay away from frontpage. If you decide to incorporate server side code do NOT use a WYSIWYG editor for the love of god.

[diego]

maybe green but it might make budget your layou, what i do like is how you used the whole black&white levi's picture, i don't know kind of give's it a 50s feel, cool
but the blinking light's, ugh horrible, girlfriend??!....
I'l sign your guestbook later, i hate those thing's, Be sure to put some technical info on N.Shaolin up eventually!, General overview of Application, and skill's aquirred, etc!.

[prana]

Constructive criticisms

1. Red lights, dont need it.
2. Page too wide, not standard width
3. "Yes! We are still here!!!" ? Is this a link ?

But good job WushuChik !

[illusionfist]

At least it doesn't say "Loin Dance" anymore, hahahahahah

:eek: :D ;)

[wushu chik]

Blinking lights will be gone soon. I don't know how to change it so that it fits the page. Illusion....uh, you have talked to someone TOO MUCH!!! Thanks guys!! I appreciate it! It's NOT html yet...ok, so i am stupid and i went to homestead and got a point and click website, OK?? SHEESH...but it's getting changed as we speak, so I really appreciate everyones imput...

One thing...how DO I change the width?

~Wen~

[jon]

Looks good to me, im just an unbiased non web trained dude who wouldnt know html if it hit him in the face. I just call things as i percieve them and the site is nice clean and has a good working layout.
One thing i would possibly recommend though im sure you will anyway when you get time.
Some information on the instructors you have including maybe a brief personal bio(whoops just found it sorry). Some action shots of practical application so people can clearly see your a combat orientated system and not simply another 'shaolin' wushu class.

So yeah i think it looks cool and although i cant look at it as a design professional neither will half of your audience:D

[qeySuS]

Well i have a pretty fast connection (512KB ADSL) and it took about 2-3 seconds to load that picture, so it might be too big (let the modem users here tell you ;) ).

I agree you should drop the lights, you could have some sort of bulletin insted of the dots, but i would still recommend keeping them as just bulletins and let the text itself be the link (insted of the image).

Might be a nice idea to change the color of the "Yes we'r still here!" into something that fits better into the pages color scheme.

Other then taht it's OK by me.

And about the centering, personally i'd use a table for it so i could control the width of it , dunno how others feel about that, i dont really do homepages that much but when i do i usually use tables for just about everything.

[nospam]

Good stuff.

To have is better than to have not, IMNSHO.

It would be nice to have the page set at the standard size.

I like the B&W pics. Looks stylish.

The 'Mission' is a tad hardcore in terms of how it comes across. At least I thought so. I would offer that it is better form to state your methods and philosophy without slamming others, even if stated in general terms. Makes it read as if you are defending your kwoon as opposed to informing the gen puplic of your kwoon's individualism. Ya know what I mean?

I know Tun Da #6. I study Bak Hsing CLF Gar. Interesting pattern.

nospam.
:cool:

[HuangKaiVun]

I'd put some of the mission statement stuff on the homepage, put some of the homepage stuff elsewhere.

When looking at an introductory page, I want to see things like "Styles" and "Instructors". The more personal, the better.

Events and stuff are nice and necessary, but it's not the primary interest of most people who browse your site.

People want to learn about YOU.

[ffab@cyberkwoon.]

a few personal comments, take or leave as you wish ;-)



- more annoying than the blinking red dots : text is not linked. Most ppl would not click on the dots but look for a text link.
- I personally would NOT use layers, fixed width superior to 600 pixels can prove to be a problem for many users so my suggestion would be to rethink your design so "break down" long images
- CSS, some may argue that relative font size (x-small, small, ...) are better for users than fixed width, that give the choice to users to resize by themselves
-Contact Us, maybe a map with the location of the kwoon could help ... ? Then don't forget to add navigation back to the main menu somewhere
- if you are looking to get the widest user base possible, you may want to refrain from Java applet, especially when a simple Flash or animated Gif can do the trick


That's all for now, best luck for your site :cool:

[African Tiger]

Overall a nice job, WushuChik. Only criticism - I'm on a fast connection myself, and trying to scroll the first page was a bit of a nightmare.

The pic on the right of the index page - your people wouldn't happen to be doing "Silk Weaver's Exercise" by any chance, would they?

[diego]

first things i look at in order, is the gallery, then i check the main teachers bio, if it looks like crap i may read the history, but that's what i look at, is the technique taught and that the lineage is of respectable status, so even if the master isnt freakn conan atleast i know his lineage is the shiz, so i would highlight those parts with big balloon's:D
everything else, is commoncourtesy, unless i was refferred to it i prolly wouldn't delve deeper....Now in particular your site sells N.SHAOLIN, you may want to build the site as your average site, give students something to play with, and those interested in say kuyucheung and thier close to your school a sign to start-up, but with a Huge lineage as N.SHAOLIN, i would definatly try to link that market, around the promotion of your school, like have the basic overview hi this is us, were really polite and near you, check it out---then get really flashy, like this is NORTHERN SHAOLIN TENHANDS...uno
some thought, bored.

[Qi dup]

I can dig it baby, looks good.

[Serpent]

Originally posted by Qi dup
I can dig it baby

:confused:

Is your name Williams?

Did you star in Enter The Dragon with a mofo afro?

I can't believe people still talk that way! ;)

[jon]

Serpent
'Man you come right out of a comic book' :p
'ill take you, and you, and you, annnnnd you, if ive missed anyone please understand, its been a long day im a little tired'
'ill be to busy looking good'

[Serpent]

BULLsh!t Mr Han Man!

:D

[Fen]

Much appreciated input guys! Thanks!!!!!:D

[xiong]

I like your site very much, a nice job. It makes me feel lame for taking so long to get my stuff going. A few points:

The width and centering can be fixed by either using tables, or setting the width as a % of the users browser. You can do this for images etc.

The flashing lights don't bother me per se, but you might want to either make the text link as well or make a text button.

I agree with nospam that you may want to change your negative tone about McKwoon's to a positive tone about your school. I don't think that newbies even know what a McKwoon is, I would suggest staying away from jargon.

As for speed of page download, my computer is a Dinosaur (56K modem,etc.), and the scrolling is way slow. Maybe resizing or reformatting the pictures is in order.

I also agree that more info about the classes and instructors is a good idea.

Lastly, and least important, is the translation of Bak Sil Lum. In Mandarin it is Bei Shao Lin. This is very nit picky however.

All in all a great job, you did your school proud.

[Kristoffer]

I Think the lay-out is horrible at best :) sorry. But I liked the pictures.

[dezhen2001]

Hi Wushu Chik, good luck with the site :)

I liked the homepage. The pics were interesting, and it was a very 'clean' layout. As everyone has already said though, the red lights were a bit distracting. I think it would be much sweeter if you made the text the links instead of having to find a button and everything looked related/tied in together.

Good to see that some of the ppl from KFO have signed the guest book. Didn't know so many of you guys were in the Design industry! Hope there's some jobs left when i graduate this June! :D

Good luck with everything, sounds like a pretty cool school...

david

[ewallace]

Cool. Wushu is getting rid of the **** red flashers now. Half of them are gone.

[wu_de36]

Some of the images look a little stretched out, especially some of the Shaolin temple pics. You definetely have the page set for 1024x786 display, which will cause problems for others.

I believe in fast download times. I usually disagree with using images to display text messages, such as your "central point, oregon" image and the phone number image.

Use text and tables wisely to spread vital information.

Consider a footer at the bottom of each page. It shows the user that the page has loaded completely, and it is also a GREAT place to put contact info.

have like a <hr> tag or a graphic equivalent if you must, and on the bottom of every page, put the address and phone number of the school, as well as an email contact person. You don't want people to have to click all over the place to find that info.

I agree with toning down the McKwoon talk. It's ok to be passionate about that sort of thing, but the people who know the difference between a McKwoon and a Kwoon will already see that you are not one.

I'm indifferent to the blinking light links, but make the text link too, or else it gets annoying.

[JWTAYLOR]

I would like to seconed Prana's earlier post.

In addition, a major structural change that would be very helpful is a menu that followed you throughout the site.

As it is, if I go to one page I have to back up to get to the menu so that I can go to another section. Instead, leave it so that your menu goes with you everywhere.

Good start.

JWT

[wu_de36]

I just took a closer look at the code...

First off, those pictures are WAY too big.
on the front page, your image is 1647x746 pixels! annnnnd, it's all your interface slapped into one picture.

You need to make those separate images, and use tables to arrange them into a better little mix.

I hope you don't mind, but I've taken the liberty of showing you what I mean.

http://wackett.enc.org/~tmarker/kwoon/index.html

this is a little boring, but it's faster, easier to access, and it gives people what they want.

[Mutant]

Personally, I like the flashing red lights....theyre mesmerizing, kinda trippy (did i mention that i'm easily amused? but y0u know that already, as i waste time on KFO).

I suggest more action shots, maybe some fighting techniques or sparring.

And I was sort of hoping for some nekkid pics....

Other than that, the site looks pretty good, will be nice once you straighten out some of the technical glitches that these guys have mentioned.

[wushu chik]

Wu~
****, did you just whip that out or something?? SHEESH. That would take me like a year to do on HTML....LOL

Thanks though...I completely understand what you mean...and I LIKED IT...it looked great...better than what I can do anyway. :(

Thanks for all the imput guys!! YOU ROCK!

~Wen~

[JWTAYLOR]

BTW, where can I get a pair of those furry pants? Those are cool, and by cool I mean totally sweet.

JWT

[wu_de36]

wen...

I did that in about 20 minutes with the stuff you already had up.

some good tools will go a long way. i'm lucky enough to have access to the Ultradev environment and photoshop 6.0.

A good program like Dreamweaver will help with the tables. Tables are a great way to keep things nice and neat.

I don't know if Paint Shop Pro is still an option or not... I love Photoshop and would die without it. If you can't get the academic price, steal it :)

You really need access to image manipulation tools in order to get a web site off the ground. It's rough having raw images that are huge, and trying to alter them with HTML size constraints. Keep huge hugh quality originals on your computer, and edit them as needed for the web. You can always make a picture smaller, but making them bigger gets ugly quick.

You are welcome to steal any of the stuff I did on that page and see how I did it.

Just remember that the average web viewer won't wait more than 15 seconds for a page to load completely. if you can't give them something in that time, they will move on. That's why text is good. Some pages are slower than a retard skipping rope, and unless they have golden content, I'm outta there. And I have a 100MB/s downlink.

You have a great start, and you've fleshed out a great looking page. It sounds like you need a bigger better toolbox to get it off the ground.

Of course, you can always hire me to do your page. I work cheap, and can be paid in books and weaponry ;) PM if interested.

[dezhen2001]

Hey, i'm a graphics/multimedia design student and will work even cheaper than Wu_De36 ;)

:D

Seriously, if you can get hold of Photoshop and Image Ready that comes with it, you have all you need ot do a simple site. Dreamweaver is also excellent and easy to use.

Anyway, your site is one of the better martial arts ones i have seen online (some are utter tosh).

good luck :)

david

--- if you can't get hold of the software Wu_De suggested, PM me and i can tell you where to look on the Net ;)

[Tae Li]

UMMM, wush cik, dont kow how to tel you this, but as been access to your website has been disabled?

Tae Li;)

[wushu chik]

Tae Li~
Yeah, obviously they did it a little early. We are in the process of having our site moved to a different host. That way I can try to do it with HTML. It wasn't supposed to be until next week, but obviously they are movinging it earlier!!! Oh well, just means it will be up sooner! Thanks for the message though!!

~Wen~

[Tae Li]

no prob..goodluck with it!:)

Tae Li;)

[wushu chik]

JWT...uh, those are for our Lion style. My students wear those when they do their "Lion Forms". Just joking...those are for lion dancing, just incase you didn't know. They are the "bottom" half of the lion!!! Pretty nifty huh??

~Wen~

[Serpent]

And they're hot as all h@ll when you have to demo while still wearing them. They do look kinda cool though! ;)

[jon]

They also have a nasty habbit of falling down if not tied well:(
I dont mind them but they do make me feel like i should be at a disco somewhere singing along to staying alive.

My dream is a lion with air con, that would ROCK SO HARD...

That and a way to move the mouth more easily, who invented these things anyway and why hasnt anyone attempted a better job ffs?
I want to be able to move the mouth move the eyes and still swing the thing around at the same time. As it stands thats not really possible without way to much physical dexterity on my part. At least in our lions:(

So yeah there is my totaly off topic lion rant, inspired by other peoples comments on the pants some of us have to wear....

[diego]

:)

[wushu chik]

Hopefully it will be back up monday or tuesday. That way you all can start helping me break this down and figure out what else needs to be done!! Thanks guys for all your help so far!

~Wen~