Pet Peeve on topic websites

oh, another thing that annoys me, but I put up with, are those cursors with little 'trails"...they make my eyes go buggy!!!

The Blessed Fiddy, Patroness Saint of the Disorganized LC in Sunny So Cal Personality Development Specialist (Full-Time Mom!)

I use popups in my bead gallery so that folks don't have to keep reloading the index. I found that there are some people who actually open links in a new window anyway, just for that reason. People really hate those advertising pop-ups that arrive unbidden -- and which frequently download spyware at you. If you warn folks in advance that clicking a link opens a new window (and give them all sorts of options for resizing and otherwise manipulating said window), they're less likely to complain.

My 3D Graphics Galleries all have thumbnails for each of the pictures, so I had to divide the artwork into sub-galleries to cut down on load time. It would be a massive undertaking to "pop-up-ize" those, though.

Frames only work when you have graphics or text that will fit into the frame *in its entirety* so that one doesn't have to scroll all over the place to see an entire picture. Not everyone has a monitor capable of displaying 800 x 1200 or larger: I try to keep photos and graphics down to about 480 x 640. OTOH, I don't use frames. :-)

Arondelle

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from Arondelle :

]Not everyone has a monitor capable of ]displaying 800 x 1200 or larger: I try to keep photos and graphics down ]to about 480 x 640. OTOH, I don't use frames. :-)

i did compromise on that one. i THINK i have everything set to where it resizes according to your monitor, but when i doubt, i pick the "middle" of 640 and 1200 and go with 800.

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

if you are going to have "glop" on the main page, then at least have a photo montage above it, or a "bead of the day/week", or "special" or *something* to show your style. Keep the "glop" small (shows your personality), and expand on it in an "about me" page.

I have seen a couple of pages, where they do "item" then between each item, or between a few, put a little snippet of info, or a cute phrase, or something similar.

mary

i wouldn't mind the music so much, if it didn't stall my browser, sometimes as much as a minute (and I am on DSL), and if it were not so loud (some people set theirs loud, that I can have my speaker set way down, and it's still over what I normally listen to).

At *LEAST* if you are going to have music on your page, then at the *TOP*, put a "stop the music here" type thingie. And I definitely do not like them on auctions. Webpages, that's personal (and it's up to you if you wanna lose the business), but auctions is a 2-second hit. I will back out in a hurry on those.

Also, I hate the ones that if you have music, and you *can* somehow turn it off, and you flip back, it restarts. ARGH!

mary

my opinion...on the side, have your graphic link of menu on every page. On the bottom, have a text menu on every page. I don't mind flipping through sites, as long as there is a "home" link. For individual items, either to see the item, or to see a bigger picture of the item being described, I like a popup. Especially to see the larger pic. But I don't like popups to go to another page of the site.

If you are going to do a "popup" of the item being described (what I mean is where on the page, you say "A,B,C". Then the popup being Item A with description/price/cart button), then put a link. But not necessary for just enlargements of a picture.

I hope that made sense, it's 2:21 am here...

mary

I'm of the no frames opinion myself.

I do loathe frames. Even when I maximize the window, I still can't see all of the stuff. ~~ Sooz

------- "Those in the cheaper seats clap. The rest of you rattle your jewelry." John Lennon (1940 - 1980) Royal Varieties Performance ~ Dr. Sooz's Bead Links

Oh YEAH. They overload me. ~~ Sooz

------- "Those in the cheaper seats clap. The rest of you rattle your jewelry." John Lennon (1940 - 1980) Royal Varieties Performance ~ Dr. Sooz's Bead Links

That's fine, if all you want to do is sell to the people you already sell to, and not add new customers. What if your potential biggest customer, and a potential good friend, comes along, and is put off by your requirements for

To me, and many others, our own website isn't for us so much as it is to connect with others. (Otherwise, you could put it up on a bulletin board in your house and look at it all you want).

If it's to connect with others, and to sell your stuff, and you put all that text in front of the beads, you could be cheating yourself. You see what I mean? Not selling-selling-selling. But making people bob and weave to get to the goodies is just putting up obstacles, and making people see you-you-you when they may not care, at least not yet.

There are sooooooo many lampworkers out there -- competition for time and attention. And people like me, with Links Lists, and/or money to buy beads, may just sigh, "Oh, man, I don't want to be forced to go through all that....I don't have time, or the energy....etc." and pass your site up for others -- others who don't make us go through all the talk to get to the meat.

All I'm saying is -- put the beads on the first page. Put your Artist Info on another one, easy to find but optional....and not a hoop to be jumped through in order to get to the goodies. Otherwise you hurt yourself. As I said, if it's too hard to get to your beads, I remove you from the Links List (or refuse to put you there at all). Right there you lose a big slice of pie. ~~ Sooz

------- "Those in the cheaper seats clap. The rest of you rattle your jewelry." John Lennon (1940 - 1980) Royal Varieties Performance ~ Dr. Sooz's Bead Links

I'm thinking about how to do this. Hm. I don't have all that much new work every week to keep it fresh and I would think that you would be bored coming back to the same beads all week. That's why I liked the idea of updating reports every day....at least it changes. I do post new beads for eBay on the front page as soon as I get them ready but I hate to not update as much as possible because I feel like if there's nothing new, people stop coming....even if it's just a 'hey, i'm still out here, and i'll be back to update' kinda feeling...you know, to let everyone know the site is still live. So maybe basic updates on the front?

I guess I've been looking at my website as something 'extra' for a long time now (especially from my polymer days) because I never made many sales from it. I don't know if I would now, either, as most everything goes through eBay.

I have been trying out frames in the last month or so and while I like the ease of updating the navigation bar, it has too many other drawbacks (bookmarking, scrolling, etc.) so that will probably change back....I just don't know how yet. I'll probably be removing a lot of pages too because I don't want to continue making a lot of what is in my catalog.

good point! hee hee.

off to brainstorm some more.

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Lori Greenberg" :

]I have been trying out frames in the last month or so and while I like the ]ease of updating the navigation bar, it has too many other drawbacks ](bookmarking, scrolling, etc.) so that will probably change back

Lori, what are you using to do the creation of the website?

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

I use Dreamweaver MX

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Lori Greenberg" :

]I use Dreamweaver MX

darn - i can't be of much help, then. would have e-mailed, but couldn't figure out how.

i think Lynda and Nicole both use Dreamweaver. One way to do the "side menu" without frames is to make the menu a graphic that is on the left side of each page [mine is that way now, and i think Kandice's is, too] another way is to make each page a table, with the far left column the menu.

the ONE and ONLY reason i use FrontPage is because it lets me set the "borders" on my pages and makes the changes to all pages for me, before i upload them.

so, my top, left, and bottom borders are done, and are part of each page. the software makes the changes VERY easy.

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

That's okay. Many lampworkers do it that way. Put up a Gallery of your beads, and mention in a prominent place (or 2) that you do all sales via eBay. It'll change -- you include all your beads as you make them, but we know (because you say so on the site) that we can only buy on eBay, and the beads in your Gallery are not now available, they're just examples of your work. :-) ~~ Sooz

------- "Those in the cheaper seats clap. The rest of you rattle your jewelry." John Lennon (1940 - 1980) Royal Varieties Performance ~ Dr. Sooz's Bead Links

I like to maintain control of my cursor at all times. Call me tyrannical, but that's how I am. There are so few things in life that one can truly control... and it's sad to see that cursor control has bit the dust! Ah for the days when my mousie and I were one! (deep heartfelt sigh) Karleen Page/Vibrant Jewels LOL

I guess this is why I went to frames in the first place, so many pages, so little time to update them all!

I am thinking about trying to simplify the frames a little... by making my thumbnails appear in the menu to the left and eliminating the preview pane to the right. When you click on menu item the thumbnails appear to the left, and when you click on a thumbnail the full size appears to the right... also keeping a link to the main menu visible at all times.

Does this sound better? TIA

Karleen Page/Vibrant Jewels