Beta test my latest web site

[Brian Ellis]

I've just finished the skeleton of my new web site at http://www.cypenv.org/worldenv

It is not 100% finished, but is nearly so (as an ongoing site). If anyone interested in energy/environmental matters wishes to look through it and comment, I'd be grateful! Thanks.

[az]

It works, but IMHO it has a few usability quirks. First of all, there is no need to use images for navigation and headlines. It is especially easy to correct this for the headlines.

Also, on the home page, the category navigation is on the left side, while on all other pages it is at the top, with sub-nav at the same place where one would expect main nav.

[Jessterw]

I'm gonna venture the navigation scheme is a direct result of using something like say, FrontPage

[Brian Ellis]

I'm gonna venture the navigation scheme is a direct result of using something like say, FrontPage

Of course it's FP! And I'm not ashamed to use it; it allows me to concentrate on the content, rather than the appearance.

The peculiar side/top navigation is because the side bars are for daughter-pages and the top are for peer and home levels. This is actually quite logical, as you can see more easily which direction you are moving in the tree. It may look funny going from Home to one of the few first level pages, but it clicks into place when you reach 2nd and 3rd levels, e.g., http://www.cypenv.org/worldenv/files..._depletion.htm, As for the use of navigation graphics, I have used them very minimally and they do look more obviously "navigation" than plain "text buttons". The page title (Home Page) is just 679 bytes and each button is about 500 bytes, making a total download of ~22 kb, including the rotating globe. Many other sites exceed 500 kb, with Flash and stupidly heavy graphics; came across one the other day at >2 Mb

This is the first use I've made of CSS and I'm impressed how much smaller the individual pages are. Very useful for sites with >, say, 10 pages. I previously used FP2000, which made for monster code. No longer!

[Jessterw]

Ah don't get me wrong, definitely not knocking the choice. Was more in relation to answering why the navigation did the location change thing.

Best tool for the job is my motto, and given your requirements, FP appears to fit that nicely. Not a fan, and I'm against that style of navigation change, but it's not my site and I'm not the one who has to maintain it. So yeah

[az]

I really don't like FP, but it's of course right of you to use a WYSIWYG editor so you can concentrate on the content

With regards to the navigation: Why don't you just change the home page to have the navigation on top, too? Then it would be consistent.

And about graphics as navigation: It's great that you try to make these as small as possible, and I don't think the size is the problem with the care you've taken. It's just not necessary and makes it harder for automated search engine bots and disabled people to read your page (although you do have ALT tags, which makes up for most of this). Still: For the title, it is actually easier to just use a <h1> title tag (and format it via CSS if necessary). You can very easily get the box/button look for the navigation via CSS, too.