where to next with my site?

[harrythehound]

Hi,

I was wondering whether anyone could give me some advice on where to go next with my site (MEI Online (http://www.min-eng.com/) )?

I have hand coded the whole site, teaching myself HTML and lately, CSS. I have used Javascript and DHTML, but I have not written the code myself.

My web host doesn't allow me to use PHP or SSI, and I'd really like to know what the next stage is in web building. The site is huge and I sometimes feel completely overwhelmed and out of my depth with it!

Help me please,

Amanda

[lord loh]

to host php sites, one good place is http://www.portland.co.uk They have both free and paid options and

Too much of javascript can become irritating and causes cross bowser problem esp. for the linux fokes.

And I suggest you remove that pop up onvisit box.

you must strike a balance between images and content...

a limited bandwidth of 100 MB. So your monolithic site will spend it up for a few visitors....So use deflate or gzip transfer encoding...

On the whole it was good!

[harrythehound]

Thanks for the advice Lord Loh.

Just a couple more question though if you don't mind...

what do you mean when you sayyou must strike a balance between images and content... ?

Does that mean I have too many images? or too much content?

Also, what does
a limited bandwidth of 100 MB mean? and what is deflate or gzip transfer encoding ?

Sorry, I realise that I must be coming across as being a bit dim, but one thing I know is that if you don't ask questions you'll never learn anything!

Thanks again.

[lord loh]

a limited bandwidth of 100 MB

It means that only 100 MB will be transfered per month towards your site. Each time a user visits your page, he will receive data(use bandwidth) equal to the size of your page...

so when this "used bandwidth" adds on to 100MB, your site goes down for the ret of the month...This is with the portland and a few other services which offer free hosting...
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deflate or gzip transfer encoding

deflate and gzip are encodings wherein, your page is compressed and transmitted over the internet(saves bandwidth and is faster) and is expanded by the browser. It uses an opensource(or a freeware,(i dont know)) library called ZLIB. Available on PHP
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you must strike a balance between images and content...

It is just right :)

Any way it is human psycology to admire ther hardwork and creation, even if others don't admire it....Even I did it...and I too taught myself all these HTML and CSS and javascrips...
So be careful. Take opinion of wellwishers and friends(rate this site scripts often do not help).

But the ads on the top of the page is most prominent. It may be shifted to somewhere in the middle where it integrates well...or else it might look like an ad based, content-less mony making site.
(REMEMBER:there is no substitute for content.)

When I made my first few sites(don't even know if they are still up there...), I too used too much of scripting...but now, seeing one of the most appealing sites, and reading about webmastering articles, I ended up on the type you can see at http://findmaan.sourceforge.net/

>>One disadvantage if scripting is cross browser compatability and one way to over come it is to design different pages for different browsers and send them based on the browser requesting them(by server sided operation).
>>Another disadvantage is...when one designs a page, one tends to use a maximized window...So the page is best viewed on a maximized window...Change your site's window size and use those drop-down menus and see what happens(I saw it on IE5)

And one more suggestion...There are a few sites which give awards to best designed sites...Find out about such sites(use Google (http://www.google.com/)). And submit your site for evaluation. I am sure you will get one...

Hope this helps...All the best!

Lord Loh.

[pipeten]

after looking briely at your site I couldn't see much of a community aspect to the site.
You have a reasonably high page rank, which should mean it has enough traffic to support some kind of community, such as forums, or a comment system on articles.

Just my 2 pence worth...

[harrythehound]

Hi Pipeten,

Thanks for your comments. I do have a forum on the site, but it doesn't seem to be generating much interest, even though I am continuously plugging it to my newsletter subscribers. Any ideas for encouraging people to be more active in the forum?

I have been thinking of adding a comment system for the articles, but i don't know how to do this. Do you think it is best to just link to the forum and let people discuss things in there, or would it be better to have some sort of guestbook type feedback form for people to fill in?

Thanks