Making a site GOOD

[BC Rail King]

Hola,

I am soon to be assisting the the creation of the TAMR International Region site. What do you think should be done to make it the best it can be, and second, what info would you as a non-TAMR member railroading teen what to see in terms of general information.

I was thinking of a FAQ page http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif

Happy Railroading!!

Thanks for any help!

Dane N.

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TAMR2860-AKA BC Rail King
TAMR2860@hotmail.com

[Gats]

Dane,

Make it visually interesting and on-topic. Since the site will be focused at the TAMR, it should be easy enough to do.
Personally, I would avoid any fancy graphics and a fussy looking front page. Your best bet is to look around at various sites, not necessarily RR related, and if you see a layout you like, take note. Soon you will get an idea of how you want it to look and then you can modify it at a later date once started.

Gary.

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Gary A. Rose
The Unofficial TC&W page (http://www.pnc.com.au/~audiosat/)
N to the Nth degree!

[StickyMonk]

i think this part is the hardest part of doing a web page i have two other web sites in the making (one for my Montana Central and one photo gallery of my european visits) but finding one i like the look of is difficult, i know what im putting on them both, it would be east to copy one of my other ones but i want all 4 of them to look different

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wheres all the C636's????
stickymonk.com (http://www.stickymonk.com)
Matts Photo gallery (http://monkhome.homestead.com)

[Robin Matthysen]

From my point of view, the faster a web site becomes visible, more people will come to it. No long waits for graphics or pictures initially. Have text reference to pictures or graphics so the visitor can make choices and will be prepared to wait under those circumstances. The first 15 seconds of a visit to a web site is important so have something visible in that time. Hope this helps.

Robin

[BC Rail King]

Hey yall

Thanx for all the great input!

Will take it all in, and do most of it. We have some fancy font, but there is a reason for it.

Happy Railroading!

Dane N.

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TAMR2860-AKA BC Rail King
TAMR2860@hotmail.com

[virtual-bird]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gats:
Dane,

Make it visually interesting and on-topic. Since the site will be focused at the TAMR, it should be easy enough to do.
Personally, I would avoid any fancy graphics and a fussy looking front page. Your best bet is to look around at various sites, not necessarily RR related, and if you see a layout you like, take note. Soon you will get an idea of how you want it to look and then you can modify it at a later date once started.

Gary.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

<font face="tahoma" color=blue>
As usual Gary is right on here.

NUMBER 1. Keep it simple and fast loading. Nothing worse than sitting there while 40 images load up. I normally kill it...

NUMBER 2. more individual pages are good, again faster loading and you can make the pages more detailed. trying to fit everything on one page works, but it looks like crap YMMV TMPO....

</font>

[virtual-bird]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by BC Rail King:
Hey yall

Thanx for all the great input!

Will take it all in, and do most of it. We have some fancy font, but there is a reason for it.

Happy Railroading!

Dane N.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

fonts.. just cause you have it doesnt mean EVERYONE does..


stick with windows fonts... boring but no choice!

[Gats]

VB is correct here, Dane. If you are using a special font, then only those with the special font will see it. Everyone else will go to the default font for their browser - usually Times New Roman or Arial.
If you are intent on using the font, it will need to be a graphic like a transparent .gif

Gary.

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Gary A. Rose
The Unofficial TC&W page (http://www.pnc.com.au/~audiosat/)
N to the Nth degree!

[E-8]

I agree with all of the comments so far. The one thing that I think makes or breaks a web site is just one thing: content.

Yes, you should not overload it with graphics or anything that will slow it down greatly. But, I feel that the number one thing is content. Most web sites are dead ends. If you have content, new and fresh on a regular basis, people will return.

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Ship It On The FRISCO! (http://www.frisco.org)

[Kevin Stevens]

I agree with content being important. I also have simplified my site by removing unnecessary graphics. To expand on this, your site should be easy to navigate. Remember that many, if not most visitors are recreational computer users, not highly trained technicians. Since I fall somewhere in between (closer to the recreational side), I have tried to make my web site visibly and descriptively simple to follow. It is a point-and-click world, and a web site should be built to follow this standard. This makes it more enjoyable to visitors, and makes for more returning visits.

Kevin Stevens www.trainweb.org/KernJunction (http://www.trainweb.org/KernJunction)

[espee2]

I agree with all comments so far, and I add that, to me, my ideas on most important features are to make it interesting right from the start, as some non-railfans will visit too. My work cohorts like my website and they are not railfans. Also, make it easy to navigate, have a home button on every page, or a back to main catigory link or button. I read here to not make the home page too fancy, agreed, but don't make it boring either, I always figure if the home page is boring so is the rest of the site... and one important thing is to reduce the file size of your graphics, for faster loading, especially the ones that go ON the page, more so than the ones we click a thumb to.


Home: www.tunnel13.com (http://www.tunnel13.com)
layout: SP's Newberg Branch in N scale (http://www.tunnel13.com/newberg.html)


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espee2

[espee2]

O yea, I forgot the most important thing, have fun with it,

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espee2
Home: <A HREF="http://www.tunnel13.com
layout:" TARGET=_blank>www.tunnel13.com
layout:</A> SP's Newberg Branch in N scale (http://tunnel13.com/newberg.html)

[virtual-bird]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by espee2:
testing my "sig" sorry
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

me 2.......

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K, C, & Bird Butt Railroad - Southern Pacific fan,
Its a coal mining region of a place far far away, that runs, SP, NS, and some CSX..
Also some Custom RARE Bird RR sd40-2's coming!
Era:
Time stands still round these parts, and we have everything from Steam, to Diesels of today.

[BC Rail King]

THNX for all the help!!
Please see other post for large problemo!

Happy Railroading!

Dane N.

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TAMR2860-AKA BC Rail King
TAMR2860@Canada.com for TAMR info.
To send a general TRAIN! E-Mail send to
BCRailKing@Canada.com