New site - be gentle

[arbitter]

Hi there!

 

I've made this site for my youth mouvement (?). I really need advice on the layout and the togglemenus; because the page now is really basic and I havn't a clue how to make the menus easy.

http://www.chirotremelo.be/index2.php

There isn't a lot of information there yet, and I first had the 'groepen' toggle menu toggle with an onclick but I changed it to this... Though perhaps the onclick would be better. I do have a better system coming on the way; but there's a hitch, but that's for another part of this forum

 

It's my second site by the way

thanks in advance,

arbitter

[ignace]

I would remove the jumping on your menu both vertically and horizontally. I would also encode or use a contact form for the Webmaster part otherwise you'll be in for some serious SPAM.

 

I would change your text on the Contact page to:

Voor contact met onze chiro kan u <a href="mailto:info@chirotremelo.be">rechtstreeks mailen</a> (opgepast Outlook zal worden gestart).

 

Although it would be more convenient if you added a contact form instead with a reCAPTCHA.

 

Also check the website for typo's should be on your checklist before you put it into production:

 

Hier worden doorheen het jaar foros geplaatst, zodat je de toffe sfeer al een beetje kan opsnuiven!

[arbitter]

Sorry for the typo, was on the normal index file, not index2 that I linked though

 

I opted out a contact form because of the captcha; that would mean implementing code from someone else. And making an own CAPTCHA, I'm not capable of that.

 

The juping horizontally I will take away then; but what would be the best way to show the people that they're links? Only a hover that changes the color, or also underlining/... ?

And what do you suggest instead of the vertical jumping? Should I make another bar above the righthandcolumn?

 

As for the contact page; if I put a '@' there, won't it get picked up and spammed fast too? For the webmaster I wrote %40 instead of an '@', because I read somewhere that that would also prevent spam..

 

Thanks for your reply though!

[ignace]

Why is it bad to implement someone else's code? You don't have to explicitly state that they are links, people still recognize navigation menu's when they see one. I would only add some style so a user is able to see on which page he is.

 

I would pop-out the sub-menu instead of inline showing/hiding.

 

Nor @ or %40 will protect you from spam.

[Niels Heurlin]

I would maybe change the menu's font, since this does not seem to fit in to the submenu. In addition this also seems too dominating. The most important is the first thought the user has about it. Therefore, make the menu more smoother and suitable for the website.

 

I like the colours, although the header is way too simple, why don't you shine it up?

[arbitter]

I would pop-out the sub-menu instead of inline showing/hiding.

But if it's a pop-out; how does a user know on which page he is if he is in a subcategory?

 

As for the spam; I'll risk it this way, and if it does start to get spammed I can always make a form to another mail as contact@chirotremelo.be .

 

I would maybe change the menu's font, since this does not seem to fit in to the submenu. In addition this also seems too dominating. The most important is the first thought the user has about it. Therefore, make the menu more smoother and suitable for the website.

 

I like the colours, although the header is way too simple, why don't you shine it up?

Shining it up would mean using photoshop, and that isn't something for me! I can ask someone else though. I changed the font though

 

 

And I see another problem; when I go to 'Lid worden?', the google maps map loads, but this slows down the system and you can see the 'groepen' subdirectories show for a moment.

 

[ignace]

But if it's a pop-out; how does a user know on which page he is if he is in a subcategory?

 

By a pop-out I actually meant something like an Accordion sub-items that only become visible when you clicked the parent although it would be best if they all appeared no matter which element was clicked, the accordion would just show the hierarchy. This will work well IMO especially because you have a low amount of links.

[arbitter]

But if it's a pop-out; how does a user know on which page he is if he is in a subcategory?

 

By a pop-out I actually meant something like an Accordion sub-items that only become visible when you clicked the parent although it would be best if they all appeared no matter which element was clicked, the accordion would just show the hierarchy. This will work well IMO especially because you have a low amount of links.

interpreted it that way yes, but still whent he user is in a subcategory, the accordion will be gone when he's there. Though I guess this isn't really a problem.

 

If you could check now under the 'groep', I've made it so that it stays open when you're in one. Problem is though, that when you click through the pages, you can see the whole div dissapear and reappear for a second... How can I get rid of this lag? The lag get's bigger when you open the page with google maps embedded in it...

[ignace]

interpreted it that way yes, but still whent he user is in a subcategory, the accordion will be gone when he's there. Though I guess this isn't really a problem.

 

You can solve that by using the hash part of the URL.

 

Problem is though, that when you click through the pages

 

The blip you see is due to you first display: none all and then show it again while it is already being shown. Skip over the one that should be active.

 

PS All your links being dependent on JS is not a good idea, a slight parsing error will take your entire website down.

[ignace]

IMO should those links 1) be always visible or 2) visible only when they are on the parent page. Besides as they ain't much content (not sure how much you are going to put in there you may as well keep it all on one page.)

[arbitter]

IMO should those links 1) be always visible or 2) visible only when they are on the parent page. Besides as they ain't much content (not sure how much you are going to put in there you may as well keep it all on one page.)

well there will be more content on there, there'll be a text of the leaders of the group and pictures, it'll be good to have a page for each group. Gives the kids a special feeling

 

as for the jacascript problem

on my offline version I currently have:

function togglemenu(id)
{
var object = document.getElementById(id).style

if (object.display == "none")
{
	object.display = "block"
}
else if (object.display == "block")
{
	object.display = "none"
}
}

function checkMenu()
{
var Qstring =  document.location.search;
sInhoud = Qstring.substring (4,11)

if(sInhoud == "groepen")
{
	var object = document.getElementById('sub1').style
	object.display = "block"

	var object2 = document.getElementById('sub2').style
	object2.display = 'none'
}
else
{
	var object = document.getElementById('sub1').style
	object.display = "none"

	var object2 = document.getElementById('sub2').style
	object2.display = 'none'
}
}

 

and the body has an onload with checkMenu() and the onclicks in the menu have togglemenu() with the id of the div that must be shown

 

Yet still, you get the tiny lag...