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Site Name: PalmPalm
Owner: Becca
Reviewed by: Georgina
Reviewed on: 10th July 2009

Site Name

No problems – quite cute, and easy to remember.

Coding and Validation

Your coding outside of the general iframe page has 17 errors.

Good to see you have sound knowledge of the fundamentals of basic HTML, but you should be validating to HTML 4.01. HTML 3.2 is very outdated, especially with many websites now using XHTML.

With HTML 4.01 you also have less errors.

I recognise that you are using internal CSS. You should be using an external stylesheet instead. This makes things a lot easier to change as well.

Your CSS has 20 errors and 22 warnings.

You have quite a few pieces of embedded styling which can be specified with CSS, such as the following:

<DIV STYLE=position:absolute;top:number;left:450>

Not only do you need to specify a number for the position from the top, and add a unit for the number, but you should give this div an id like so:

<div id="divname">

And specify it with CSS like so:

#divname {
position: absolute;
top: 0px;
left: 450px;
}

You should also do this with your other divs. My tutorial will help you understand classes and ids.

Also, overflow: no is not a value; it should be visible, hidden, scroll or auto.

You should not be using coloured scrollbars. There is no point in providing invalid coding and adding colour to scrollbars that is only guaranteed to work in one browser (Internet Explorer). There is no need to inflict a coloured scrollbar on a user, when there is nothing wrong with the default scrollbar.

The coding needs to be looked over and properly adjusted to the framesets; even if they are not recommended, changes must be made to account for browser compatibility.

Browser Compatibility & Usability

Looking at your site at Browsershots.org, your layout is looking consistent in most browsers.

As mentioned above, frames are not recommended for a multitude of reasons. You can achieve the same effect with divs or server side includes (SSI) or PHP includes. Iframes are a disadvantage to both you and your visitors. Iframes can be a hassle for visitors because they won’t be able to bookmark a single page and linking to a single page wouldn’t be very efficient because they would be linking to a page without a layout. They are also a disadvantage to you, because pages opening in iframes don’t get looked at by search engines as it’s usually just data held. Some browsers don’t even account for the use of iframes. It is in your best interests to make some changes in this sense.

The text size is very small and should be increased. Personally, I have perfect vision and if I have trouble reading your text then there is no doubt that people with eye problems also will.

Defining alt text in your imagemap will allow text to display even when images are turned off or cannot be displayed. Devices such as screen readers can really benefit from the alternative text as they can be given an accurate description of the image. Alternatively, use text instead of an image for navigation, should the image ever fail to load.

Additionally, consider writing your navigation as “owner”, “visitor” and “website” – it’s less confusing that way.

Layout

I like the way this layout is set up. It’s definitely very unique. The large image of the mask is eye catching, and the feathers at the side are placed in such a way that they stand out while supporting the mask image.

The bold black and yellow are a great colour choice in this layout. They’re very bold and bright and make the layout stand out. The stylesheet is kept simple, but with a few points of interest such as the bullets and the link hovers.

The layout is definitely unique and well made. As the feathers fade out, I feel that it looks a bit strange on the bold background. The lighter background within the iframe is suitable as it makes the text readable, but as the background returns to the darker shade, the feathers seem a bit misplaced. The background could be made a little more subtle – the grey should be a bit lighter so that the background isn’t so striking.

Content

Me

Some of the awards extend past the width of the iframe; perhaps these should open in a new window instead.

The rest of these pages are fine.

You

On the interesting facts page, the quotation marks appear as question marks because you possibly copied and pasted directly. Linking directly to the website with a link would also be appropriate.

“Hit the motherlode” (not sure why you named this page as such) is a nice page; how generous of you to offer a free personalised graphic. I have applied for this too.

WWW

On the ‘About’ page, perhaps link to the MBs that you have mentioned so others can discover exactly where you started out.

There’s nothing under “listed” so you shouldn’t write “listed” until you have something.

There’s a horizontal scrollbar on the contact form page, so make the comments field a bit narrower so it fits in the frame.

Originality & Creativity

Very original and creative. It’s always nice to browse though “kawaii” and “cute” websites; they’re always very original. Your layout was definitely unique and made unlike others I’ve seen.

Organisation & Errors

Well organised. I didn’t spot any further errors.

Overall Comment

You’ve got a very unique site, and I enjoyed my visit. Your coding needs a bit of work, and it might be an idea to convert from the iframes before you obtain a large amount of pages.

There weren’t many errors on your website or any problems, apart from the coding issues which you can fix. Keep up the good work; I look forward to seeing more on the website as well.

Rating

(out of 5)