Thread: I have redone my site

after long hours of searching for images for my website (I could not find any free ones that I liked) I finally found some I liked and purchased them and have redone my site.

I know it still needs work, but can you give me some comments on what I have done so far?

http://best-home-based-business-idea.com

Thank you

Whew, it looks like you put a lot of work into the site! Just some points:

1. Information overload - just way too much stuff on one page. I am aware that you want to make as much of an impression as possible without the visitor having to load more pages, but that bothered me.
2. It took forever to load in completely. Probably due to #1 above. I have a 64kb satellite connection ... I shudder to think what this would do to a dial-up connection, and there truly are many millions of people still accessing the internet using dial-up all over the world.

I am very very glad that you don't have a bunch of flashing text or animated gif files everywhere!

Ok . Thank you I appreciate your comments. What would you suggest I do to make my site load faster? Again, I welcome your as well as anyone else's comments. This is what makes this a great forum

Mmm, either have less pictures, which will make it boring, or divide up your site in smaller sub-sections that each have less text and pictures.

It's psychological, but I'd rather load in a few "quicker" pages than one huge "slow" one - even if a bunch of smaller pages might end up taking more bandwidth. But that might just be me...

Wow you win the prize for most links on a single page

Very nice looking site nice and neet

I'm on DSL so it loaded quickly for me, but I can see where it might take some time on dial up. Lots going on there...Lots of work...I agree good job

Thank you all for your comments. As I said I appreciate it and I have learned alot here.

Ok, Leoni, you suggested divide my site into sub sections with less text.......can you give me some suggestions on what you mean and how to do that? I think I know what you mean, but not quite sure

For the type of site you have - I'm not sure I'd divide out the home page into more pages. But that's up to you.

When I was on dialup last summer (I shudder at having to do that again anytime soon) - I preferred long pages to constantly uploading new pages - as I could slowly upload a long page - and be looking at it as it uploaded - and wouldn't bother hanging around for too many more pages on slow loading sites (if it took 30 seconds to download one long page and someone divided that into 3 pages - it generally would take 20 seconds per page- which would now mean 1 minute versus 1/2 a minute - I opt for the 1/2 minute!)

But, I'm guessing you could optimize your pictures and speed up loading - because most of the site is text. Also - you have sized pictures so that they are distorted - not a good thing to do. ALWAYS keep the relation in the picture so that doesn't happen - do NOT make the picture fit a size you want - that won't work. Those distorted pictures are a big turn-off for me.

You use the term "click here" as a clickable term and that's a big seo no-no - as it doesn't tell anyone what they are clicking on.

But, I'm guessing you could optimize your pictures and speed up loading - because most of the site is text. Also - you have sized pictures so that they are distorted - not a good thing to do. ALWAYS keep the relation in the picture so that doesn't happen - do NOT make the picture fit a size you want - that won't work. Those distorted pictures are a big turn-off for me.

Bethers, Can you tell me how I could optimize my pictures to speed up loading? And How I could get my pictures to not look distorted?

loads quick on my end but i will agree with others too much info and photos needs resizing. site looks good though.

Ok, I have resized my pictures with pixresizer. Do the pictures look better now. How can I make them load faster?

Good afternoon, mom2337!

The welcome or index page is busy loading files.. It seems that although you resize/reduce the images it keeps busy loading images..

What type/format did you use in saving those images?

Regards,
Es0n™ Cabanela

I saved them as JPEG. Is this what they should be saved as?

Originally Posted by mom2373

Ok, Leoni, you suggested divide my site into sub sections with less text.......can you give me some suggestions on what you mean and how to do that? I think I know what you mean, but not quite sure

I had another look (it took 2 minutes to load in completely with my satellite connection...) - It seems to me you are duplicating a lot of things. For example, you have a link button on the left to "article directory" and at the bottom of the page, you have a large table with article links. So perhaps consolidating some of the info into broader groups and then linking to pages dedicated to those groups... but as Bethers said, this is a matter of personal taste and not all people would like that solution. Also, you have so many links going off-site to your affiliates that people might get confused as to what is your own content and what isn't.

So perhaps just try to streamline the one page, I don't know.

Ok, I am in the process of changing it up and removing some of the text. My biggest question right now is as I am resizing my pictures what format is best to save them in? And how do I optimize them to make them load faster?

Originally Posted by mom2373

Ok, I am in the process of changing it up and removing some of the text. My biggest question right now is as I am resizing my pictures what format is best to save them in? And how do I optimize them to make them load faster?

That's a hard one - it depends a lot on what software you're using (at least for me to explain!) You'll be using either JPG or GIF compression. You'll have to experiment with both formats (and with compression ratios for the jpg) until you find a compbination that still LOOKS good but has the least possible amount of kilobytes.

On my page (www.leo-design.net) I have four very large "pictures" making the layout. The two sides I felt was okay with GIF at 14kb each. The top was a 59Kb GIF so I saved it as jpg to bring it down to 25Kb. These are large pictures, though. For a small picture in the text I try not to go higher than 5kb, and most are about 2kb (on my site, that is!). This gives fairly quick loading times for me, so hopefully it's lightning fast for people with DSL!

That's a hard one - it depends a lot on what software you're using (at least for me to explain!) You'll be using either JPG or GIF compression. You'll have to experiment with both formats (and with compression ratios for the jpg) until you find a compbination that still LOOKS good but has the least possible amount of kilobytes.

On my page (www.leo-design.net) I have four very large "pictures" making the layout. The two sides I felt was okay with GIF at 14kb each. The top was a 59Kb GIF so I saved it as jpg to bring it down to 25Kb. These are large pictures, though. For a small picture in the text I try not to go higher than 5kb, and most are about 2kb (on my site, that is!). This gives fairly quick loading times for me, so hopefully it's lightning fast for people with DSL!

Ok, I am sorry but you completely lost me on this one.I have no clue as to JPG or GIF or how to reduce images as to not use so much kilobytes.

Can you explain to me about this so I can try to figure out what I should do? I am sorry, I do not mean to sound so dumb, I just am lost here

Actually, it appears you have sized the pictures fine - and loading time should be improved. The number of tables on the page might also be slowing down loading time, tho.

The pics looks much better not being distorted. :)

Originally Posted by mom2373

Ok, I am sorry but you completely lost me on this one.I have no clue as to JPG or GIF or how to reduce images as to not use so much kilobytes.

Can you explain to me about this so I can try to figure out what I should do? I am sorry, I do not mean to sound so dumb, I just am lost here

Mmm, I'd love to come over and demonstrate for you! It's kind of hard to explain ... here's how "How Stuff Works" explains it:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question408.htm
and also
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question289.htm

But you'll find both of these confusing as well....

You have two options here - decide you've done enough as Bethers said, and forget the whole "file format mess" or decide that you want to learn and understand the technical side so that you have perfect control over every byte that goes onto the web. If you choose option 2, feel free to e-mail me (leoni.venter@telkomsa.net) and I'll do my best to painlessly educate you!

Originally Posted by mom2373

I saved them as JPEG. Is this what they should be saved as?

I suggest you saved your images in .bmp file to reduce file size but it does not affect resolution of the images.

Originally Posted by j_enriquez

I suggest you saved your images in .bmp file to reduce file size but it does not affect resolution of the images.

I'm sorry, I disagree! BMP files are always LARGER than jpg, you will never be able to reduce file size using bmp. JPG is fine, leave it at that...

So I should save the pictures as bmp files?

Ok I posted before I saw your post Leoni. I will leave them as JPG

Ok, leoni, as for experience when making website, the .bmp files is easier to load than jpeg file. But it is only a suggestion. If mom2373 wants it to be in .jpeg it's up to her.. As far as i know, .bmp is much easier to load in website..

God Speed,
Es0n™

mom2373, if you decided to leave the images saved as .jpeg, i do also suggest to cut your index page into several pages to cut the slow loading of your main homepage (index).

Thanks,
Es0n™

Originally Posted by j_enriquez

Ok, leoni, as for experience when making website, the .bmp files is easier to load than jpeg file. But it is only a suggestion. If mom2373 wants it to be in .jpeg it's up to her.. As far as i know, .bmp is much easier to load in website..

It must be different in other countries then, haha! Because in 9 years of working as a computer science lecturer and getting a Master's degree in Information Technology, I have never come across any use of bitmaps as "better" or "easier" or "faster" than jpgs for websites.

If you mean "easy" in the sense of inserting the image into the page using BlueVoda or some other page generator ... well, I can't see why it should be easier than inserting a jpg or a gif.

And if the designer's goal is to make a site as streamlined and quick as possible, bmp files will always make the site SLOW. Check out the "How stuff works" links that I posted earlier to understand why.

It seems that you're being too sarcastic, leoni.. We're here to help, not to scrutinize anyone who have suggestions.. I guess that you're educatio take far too long to be egoistic enough.. May God bless you though, leoni.. Mine are only suggestions but if you take it as we'are stepping on your Master's degree "ego" it doesn't make sense that you're here.. I appreciate that you're helping but being sarcastic to anyone who would like to help is another thing..

God bless,
Es0n™

Originally Posted by j_enriquez

It seems that you're being too sarcastic, leoni.. We're here to help, not to scrutinize anyone who have suggestions.. I guess that you're educatio take far too long to be egoistic enough.. May God bless you though, leoni.. Mine are only suggestions but if you take it as we'are stepping on your Master's degree "ego" it doesn't make sense that you're here.. I appreciate that you're helping but being sarcastic to anyone who would like to help is another thing..

God bless,
Es0n™

I apologise if I sounded sarcastic, it wasn't my intention. I also didn't want to brag ... I did want to present my credentials for making my statements. The reason for that was that I don't want to confuse mom2373 any more about file formats. In my opinion telling her bmps are better when she's already using jpgs after she clearly stated that she doesn't understand the formats is just going to confuse the issue.

Let's close the debate now, I don't want to fight. Really sorry, I'll keep my opinions to myself from now on.

I have another question. I am just trying to make my site better and load quickly.......sorry if I am asking to many questions.

I was wondering if my menu buttons could be causing my site to load slowly as well? And if so, can I have suggestions on this as well?

I am learning so much from all of you

Originally Posted by mom2373

I have another question. I am just trying to make my site better and load quickly.......sorry if I am asking to many questions.

I was wondering if my menu buttons could be causing my site to load slowly as well? And if so, can I have suggestions on this as well?

I am learning so much from all of you

They seem to be fairly small and each one loads in quickly ... but you have such a lot of them... I don't know if it's possible, but perhaps you can use just one button "image" (repeatedly) and have the captions as normal text on top of them? That way the image will load in once, and the browser will put copies of it as needed. I have no idea how you can do that in BlueVoda, I don't use it myself.

Next time, try to be polite in replying with your messages.. Anyways, i didn't push to mom2337 to use .bmp files, i only suggested that.. You posted the site to explain to her about gif and jpeg files.. I think now she understands that.. Im keep on telling you that it is only a suggestion.. Im not confusing her, just giving her an option.. That's is the real purpose of this forum.. We're only giving them suggestions.. It's good that you depend your side but telling us that your you're in your highness.. Tsk!Tsk! We're not giving them the fish to eat, we're are teaching them how to get the fish.. BV is made for a better purpose.. A drag and dop tool to make much easier to "new users" in doing a great site.. Isn't that a great purpose? Not only who has master's or even relative experience can make a better website.. Again, options or suggestions, leoni..
But apology accepted..

Take Care & God Bless you,
Es0n™

It's fast enough, but as said before with information overkill, why don's start with an introduction page for your main goal and then ad subpages ?

Ok, I have worked on my site and took suggestions and have shortened my homepage. How is my website now? http://best-home-based-business-idea.com/

Lot of work.
Might want to check word spacing and spelling: "Do they pay on time? (atleast once a month)"
Your menu buttons load fine, yet there are quite a lot of them and navigating through them can take a long time.

nice site lol. pixelated banner tho