Building new web site for a friend

[solvs]

So I went through the trouble of playing with DreamWeaver and GoLive trying to come up with something good for a friend of mine's website. Long story, but kinda owed them a favor, and I'm not doing anything right now, so here I am. Too fancy I guess and way too complicated for them, so I showed them iWeb. Luckily I had convinced them to get an iMac. Created just a quick and dirty, pretty basic page for her Daughter, who's an aspiring model. What do you guys think, any suggestions?:

www.hopemcbane.com

(and please try to refrain from being perverts fellas, she's only 17)

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Not a bad site, but clicking on the "blog" link was depressing.

 

[homerjward]

those domain hiding thingies (whatever you call them) are really annoying...

 

[solvs]

Not a bad site, but clicking on the "blog" link was depressing.

We haven't actually built that part yet. So it just goes to her newly made MySpace account.

those domain hiding thingies (whatever you call them) are really annoying...

That's the way she wanted it. They didn't want a .Mac domain. I wish Apple offered domain reg, but they don't, so we do the forwarding. Don't know what to tell ya.

So, what do you think of the actually site, anything I'm missing?

 

[Benjamin]

well... personally I think the layouts ok. I however think these things should change, like:

1) the use of iWeb. the programs great and I think has promises, however... hopezedcard-1.png is 600+kb which is the problem with iWeb. I'm on a T3 and .mac still made me load that image in seconds, instead of instant, i feel sorry for cable users.

2) if she wants it to be professional, don't link to myspace at all. I know you said you were developing that area, but myspace has no place for a rising model imo.

3) the main image also isn't complete on the main page, some of the right side is cut off.

4) the resume's an image, and it is blurry. I think this should be text based and also downloaded-able.

5) the index page nav links are different style then the other pages.

Anyway just some things I think need to be fixed. hope that helps.

 

[Flowbee]

In 30 seconds you know her full name, what town she lives in, and two phone numbers... too much information to post on the web alongside sexy photos, if you ask me. Nice job on the site, however.

PS - Websites are a very ineffective tool for getting models "legitimate" work. She'll get a lot of attention from creepy middle-aged men, though.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Is the Resume link for starting again?



I agree with flowbee, the phone should go to an agent or an answering service. (She has an agent, dosen't she?)

 

[Danksi]

In 30 seconds you know her full name, what town she lives in, and two phone numbers... too much information to post on the web alongside sexy photos, if you ask me. Nice job on the site, however.

PS - Websites are a very ineffective tool for getting models "legitimate" work. She'll get a lot of attention from creepy middle-aged men, though.

Second that. Use a 'contact me' link to a alias address if you can set one up.

Text based and PDF downloadable resume may be appropriate.

I don't think you can go wrong with the layout using iWeb, unfortunately there's now a growing number of iWeb-esk websites - just a thought.

Did you intend to have the standard iWeb "Welcome to my site" display in white text as the main image downloads? If you didn't either delete the text or edit the std text in the box and use it for the "Welcome to hopemcbane.com" text instead. (I know you can't delete - only edit the "Welcome to my site" text box).

 

[solvs]

1) hopezedcard-1.png is 600+kb which is the problem with iWeb. I'm on a T3 and .mac still made me load that image in seconds, instead of instant, i feel sorry for cable users.

Loaded fine for me when it was a jpg, but yeah, that's too big. Haven't optimized the images yet. I hate that iWeb changes things to a png, even when you aren't using transparency.

2) if she wants it to be professional, don't link to myspace at all.

That's just a place setter. Also set it up for her today. Something else will go there or I will delete the link.

3) the main image also isn't complete on the main page, some of the right side is cut off.

Good catch, didn't notice that. Must've loaded the wrong image.

4) the resume's an image, and it is blurry. I think this should be text based and also downloaded-able.

Also a place setter. I've mentioned to them that it needs to be text, and I've got a .pdf. Need to link it.

5) the index page nav links are different style then the other pages.

I've noticed that. I don't know why iWeb did it like that. That's why I usually create my own templates in DW. I should fix it.

Anyway just some things I think need to be fixed. hope that helps.

Very, thank you.

In 30 seconds you know her full name, what town she lives in, and two phone numbers... too much information to post on the web alongside sexy photos, if you ask me.

PS - Websites are a very ineffective tool for getting models "legitimate" work.

It's mostly just for her to put on applications, so they'll already know all that. This won't be the means to the end. She's already working, but a lot of places expect you to have a website. They just wanted me to throw something up there, but I'd rather do a good job.

(but between you and me, I'd agree)

Is the Resume link for starting again?

Spelled that wrong didn't I. Oops. I'll fix it when I get a chance.

I agree with flowbee, the phone should go to an agent or an answering service. (She has an agent, dosen't she?)

It does. Or at least, it's supposed to. She needs a new agent though, so that will change.

Did you intend to have the standard iWeb "Welcome to my site" display in white text as the main image downloads?

Nope, that will be fixed.

Edit: you guys are right, her resume (oops, did it again) still says HOME and CELL. I'll have them fix that.

 

[Coolnat2004]

Never put a block of text in an image unless you need to do something super-special with it.

text < image

Less is more.

 

[redAPPLE]

i was told that a good document, be it in print form, web or presentation, a maximum of three fonts has to be used.

on the start page, i see! six different fonts.

 

[solvs]

text < image

For now, that's just what it'll look like. Roughly (going to clean it up a bit). The "real" page will be text.

i was told that a good document, be it in print form, web or presentation, a maximum of three fonts has to be used.

on the start page, i see! six different fonts.

Yeah, we haven't decided on a font (or fonts). Any suggestions? What looks good?

(and don't worry, the colors will be changing)

 

[solvs]

Ok, cleaned it up a little bit tonight. Still a work in progress, but much better IMO. What do you guys think now?

 

[zim]

if you are going to use a blog service then i would recommend something like blogger and not myspace. you can customize blogger with your own css. blogger, in my opinion, also has a higher class appearance.

 

[solvs]

if you are going to use a blog service then i would recommend something like blogger and not myspace.

As said above, it's only there as a place setter. I've been playing with iWeb's blogging tools, but haven't gotten it down yet the way I want it, and I know she won't know what she's doing. If it gets too complicated for her, we'll just delete the link and I'll leave a blog page in there, but won't have it showing. Then she can just activate it when she's ready.

 

[superbovine]

If see is going on myspace, I'd at least watermark your images. Otherwise you are going to see many copy-cat pages.

 

[solvs]

If see is going on myspace, I'd at least watermark your images. Otherwise you are going to see many copy-cat pages.

Her MySpace is her personal page if she wants it. None of those images are copyrighted, and I don't think she wants them to be. When her professional shots go up on her page, I should mention watermarking to her. That's a good idea. MySpace won't be linked to the real page once we finish it. I hope (shouldn't have set it up as a link, now she likes it).

What do you think of the rest now that I've cleaned it up a bit? I feel like there's something I'm missing. This is what she gets for free though.