Craft site web design

[Sammy Potter]

Ok this may spark a thread or two...

What's the best web site approach for an internet business? Used frames myself as I find scrolling down a page loosing menus means up and down up and down all the time on a page.

Told frames are out of fashion.... I like the way its laid out but I'm sure search engines do not favour frame sites or do they?

Not a ploy, but I would like some crafters views my site to see if I kick my webmaster in to a re vamp or run with what I have. My view may not be the same as others hence I hope for constructive feedback please

Thanks all

[0103media]

Never use frames!!!! Its almost as bad as using Flash!

btw this is coming from a web designer who is a SEO (promotes site on search engines)

Frames/flash and search engine don't mix... simple as that..

[0103media]

Sammy i'll write u a list when i'm more awake lol its only 7am.. OMG!!

[0103media]

OK
Bit more awake now..

First thing first..

This applies to loads of you!!!!

Remove the splash screen!
A slash screen is like a cover to a book ..
Here is an example http://www.jasmines-cards.co.uk/

Can anyone in the world give me 1 reason for a splash screen ?
Does it help your customer ?
Does it offer any information ?
In the above case NO..


Sorry Sammy Potter.. picking on you ..

Next..
This page should be your homepage and its even labeled home!!! big hint !!
http://www.jasmines-cards.co.uk/home.html


Now frames are so useless!
Why ?

Some users can't even view you site if your using frames so your already losing customers...

Search engines have real problems with frames..

This is what page google has of your site so far
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&r...2F&btnG=Search

If you look at the 2nd page listed on google for your site your see
http://www.jasmines-cards.co.uk/Wedding_best_man.htm

The above page has no contact info or navagation .. Hence the problem..


Ok that's enough for now.. I have 1million reason not to use frames but the above are easy to understand (I hope)

[twilightsewn]

A little advice that I seem to keep forgetting is...check out the design in a few different browsers, ie FireFox, IE7, Opera for example.

I only use FireFox and forget how bad the design can look in IE! I once found a site that would not work in FireFox and politely emailed the designer, he said 'so what, use IE'. What if I'd been a potential customer, he wasn't to know!

Shana

[kipper workshops]

Frames...

Hi,

yep, I can't agree enough, I used frames for my website v.1.
I know what you mean about it kind of offering a better layout and less scrolling down etc..

BUT, after I did much research every source I read advised not to use frames as search engines really don't like them.

Also, I am not overly technical but, if you must use frames, make sure your webmaster at least has a Noframes option in your HTML. This isn't hard to set up and at least offers search engines a way to index your site and give users without frames capability a way to navigate your site. I think that is correct, if I remember rightly?!

Hope that helps.
Steve

[Katianne]

Sorry to sound so stupid, but what is a frame in website terms???

[kipper workshops]

Not stupid at all, I sometimes wish I had handed everything over to a webmaster and I didn't have to try to fudge my way through all the time!


Frames are just a way of splitting webpage (as you see it on the screen) into smaller 'frames'. So for example you might have your navigation menu at the top in it's own frame, and all the 'content' below in another frame. When you look at it you see one 'page' but in reality you are looking at two frames.

One of the benefits was that when you click on a link in your navigation, for example (which you may want to be viewed on the screen all the time) then only the lower frame with the different content needs to be reloaded and so it was quicker to navigate. These days it is not really important with everyone having broadband, speed is not an issue so much now.

Hope that makes some sense.

Steve

[Katianne]

Thank you!!!

[0103media]

Correct...

The more techi explanartion to frames is webpages within webpages..

The scroll argument is it only defence BUT you can't use a scroller on your mouse or the pageDown button etc..