Company Web Site

[Oramue]

First version of our company website. I'm not a pro by any means, but I'd like to see what some non-employees and non-relatives think of it. :)

CSC website (http://www.centralsupplycompany.com)

[PsychoticDude85]

Not bad, a slow loader though: source (http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/wso.php?url=http://www.centralsupplycompany.com/)

56K 25.75 seconds
The coding is pretty good, CSS/XHTML and XHTML Strict Valid. I would say the CSS could use being worked on a little, there are still a few warnings sneaking about in there (no errors though, so good job). source (http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/validator?profile=css2&warning=2&uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.centralsupplycompany.com%2F)

I would say make it a little cleaner and optimise your images a little more. It's not bad and the code is very much above average, but the design could use some tweaking.

To elaborate, something I noticed was the text in the headers. They are a little pixellated and the text for 'distinct' needs a little more work to fit, so I would say play around with the fonts and maybe increase the AA a little.

[Oramue]

AA's?

I tried to work on all those warnings, but I'm using the Suckerfish method of drop-downs (my bosses have demanded it), and I'm not sure how to fix things so that it still performs right and gives the necessary effect. It didn't USED to give those warnings. I imagine the W3C has stiffened their standards from the time I originally tested it to recently.

Strange. I used anti-aliasing on the text. I made sure to pay especial attention to the text. I've had to tweak the header a few times due to requests et al. I may pull out the file and play with it now that I don't have to meet deadlines.

Not quite sure how to optimize it. I've already hacked and cut as it is. Any hints?

Otherwise, thank you.

[PsychoticDude85]

(Level : 1) You have no color with your background-color
Just give it "color: #w/e"

(Level : 1) Same colors for color and background-color in two contexts
Change one value, even if it is only from #000000 to #010101 etc

(Level : 1) You have no background-color with your color
Add "background-color: inherit;".

(Level : 2) Redefinition of ...
Remove the original definition, or if it is used in multiple elements then split the offending element from that group.

And yeah, W3C tightened up CSS validation quite a bit recently, but not very recently, two or three months back?

As to images what quality are you saving them to? You always want the lowest possible that still shows a decent look.

[Oramue]

I have tried to tweak the images. Reduced some size/quality and hopefully the anti-aliasing I tried was effective. I tried "Sharp" instead of "Smooth" and reworked the header graphic, clipping some unnecessary edges and cleaning up the fonts. Hopefully, it's more pleasant on the eye. I also brightened up the entire color scheme a bit.

I have seen the headers on another machine that's running Windows 98 and I see the heavy pixelization. It apparently doesn't like Trebuchet MS..? They aren't graphics, they're small-capped text.

As far as the CSS file goes.. I have reduced the errors tremendously, but in return had to increase the file size. I'm going to run through it and try to trim the fat. I'm still learning. The few errors that are left are necessary for the drop-down menus to work in FireFox and for height issues. I don't know much about programming, I only have taken examples I have found online. A lot of these tutorials are written in such a way that my mind can't wrap itself around. :) I don't know if that's because I'm female or weird.

I'm waiting for IT to load everything onto the server. It's all red tape here.

[Oramue]

You know, I don't feel so bad about my site.

I tested a handful of sites I use frequently (Ebay, Bartleby, Search Free Fonts) and none of them met those optimization standards. In fact, even A List Apart didn't manage to please the optimizer entirely and they're web design gurus.

http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/wso.php?url=http://www.alistapart.com

[PsychoticDude85]

Not all of them are pheasable, basically you need as many yellow/green as possible. Some reds are not avoidable, but ones like 'TOTAL_SIZE', 'HTML_SIZE', 'CSS_SIZE' and 'IMAGES_SIZE' are the ones that really should NOT be red. There is some discretion, for example A List Apart being a CSS driven site is justified in having a large CSS file. Just as a graphics site has the same for images to an extent.

Much improved though, nice job. Less than half the loading time :)

[Oramue]

Well if they were all feasible, then the company wouldn't be able to offer you their so-fine services, now would they? ;)

[MrSpandex]

The only problem I see is that the blue sidebar doesn't continue to the bottom of the page. That, and I also suggest centering the entire block on the page. I think it looks much better that way. Oh, on the header, you may want to continue the blue and black stripes for the entire width. Other than that, excellent work. I do like the dropdowns too (I don't normally). Some excellent color choice, and overall very clean.

I think its your hosting that is causing the slow loading. The picture on the trip promo page took almost a minute to load on cable.

ADDED: After further investigation, the About Us pages got a little messed up.

The line card pages are also a little inconsistant, but I see why. Thats fine. In fact, I rather like that style compared to the blue bar on the left. I also see this on other areas of the site.

Sorry, it got a little ranty.

[PsychoticDude85]

Well if they were all feasible, then the company wouldn't be able to offer you their so-fine services, now would they? ;)
Not really... I have made several sites that had all green lights. Plus, I don't think they are really pressuring people into purchasing their services, I've never felt a compulsion to pay them myself.

[intiendes]

HTML Validation Result
----------------------
http://www.centralsupplycompany.com/

line 1 column 1 - Warning: inserting missing 'title' element

0 errors / 1 warning