There is no SPAM anywhere on this site!! (honest honest) It's just a template I'm working on and I need some GPTers input on how to make it more attractive. I've reached my limit. I know it's pretty bad right now but I'm trying to keep this layout.

http://www.aapi.info/testpages/test.html

EDITED: because I'm really a dumb***

error 404: File not found

ok, the URL is http://www.aapi.info/testpages/test.html?

it is not in English, so I don't understand it, but it is a bit of a mess. the graphics are very plain. i suggest using more color

use a program like fireworks or paint shop pro for graphics

I cannot get onto the page!

No, it's not in English. That "Lorem ipsum" filler text to space it out. It's Latin, and bad Latin @that.

More color. Check..

NicTria, are you getting an error?

Thanks for helping me debug, guys...

Altari, the reason people cannot get into your page is because you have it linked wrong in your original post. have a look, you have it linked to:
http://www.aapi.info/test.html

Jesu..sorry. I think I need more caffeeine or to go to bed...

I don't like it


Its got nothing

But a really good start

lol, it's ok - you gotta start somewhere!

it is quite plain design but still I don't understand what it is written on it

This site explains what it is.

It's just really plain. The light blue part is a good start template, but the dark blue diamond doesn't really do anything for it...

OK. Positive reinforcement, eh?

That's actually a space for a button for another program. I wanted to keep the test site SPAM free, though, so I just filled over the logo on that and the banner.

Hi Altari;

K, what you basically have, is a template, the main element of which is the big key that goes down the left side of the page.

but the 'Teeth' of the key, are cutting into the text, making it hard to read.

Near the top of the page, there is the long blue arrow.
and you have the text:
""Check it out there's text going across the blue line woohooo""

Well, Yeah, there Is, but the blue line the text is on top of, makes it just about impossible to read the text...

Your Main text 'body', Needs to have it's Left margen moved toward center, to get those blue teeth of the key, Off of the text, so it's easy to read the text.

There are Multiple Instances of the text:
""This is a test"" down the left side of the page:
These, Appear? to be an attempt to have either been entered On top of, the blue teeth in the key, Or, In between the teeth, but they are Nither, they are off-kilter, bordering in part, over the teeth, and in part, over the white background.

Sorry, didn't mean to ALL Critical, but you Did ask. The shade of the blue is nice, and my fav color, lol. The Key, with it's teeth as 'seperators' for left page links, for site navigation, has some potential, once you get the 'spacing' bugs chased off the site, lol.

enjoy your site, That's the Most Critical Part of Any Site!

MO.

mm, may I ask what browser/resolution you are using? You've just described a major CSS blowup, which may force me to scrap the whole thing.

And, sorry about the random testing comments. I was trying to fill space. (And I was really excited when I got the text to sit above that arrow, thank you!)

It's hard to give an opinion without knowing what you'll be using the page for.
One thing I think you could do anyway is use tables. That way you can create some margins around the links part (presuming that's where you'll put them) on the left and it'll look much nicer.

Whatever you do, make the text part - gosh, can't find the right English word now - less wide? If readers have to move their eyes too much from left to right, they get tired fast and they'll stop reading.

As to adding color: that totally depends on what the page is for.
If this is to be an informational page, limit use of color and font to 2, max 3 if you have to. Anything more will take attention away from content.
If this page is for something else, there's too many options without more details

Added: 1024 x 768 and the text line is positioned beautifully above the blue arrow.

Looks fine in Mozilla.

Looks terrible in IE. (text and graphics overlap)

The arrow goes off the edge of the screen in both.

Umm, gotta be honest here, I'd be looking at another more cross-browser compatible template rather than struggle for workarounds on that one.

K, I'm using Internet explorer: 6.0.2800.1106
2 1/2 year Old 14" Optiquest monitor.
res: 640X480, but just tried your page on Both 800X600 And 1,024X768:
Didn't fix the spacing problems for me. urrrrr, if'n I can't sees yer page right, I'm Gonna Chuck this piece of junk in the Brook!!!...

UUURRRRRR Not for me! It Still, is about a 50/50 overlap on both blue and white for me, on All Three res settings. urrrrrr....
huummm, maybe my 4 meg vid card don't gots the strength to lift the text up high enough? maybe try using a lighter font altari.?...

sorry, kidding all.

What's 'css' anyways someone, and why do peeps use it??? does that got to do with the 'template' thingy?

MO.

CSS - Cascading Style Sheet - basically a way of positioning and styling things on a web page more accurately and with less code bloat than traditional HTML. You get faster loading times and more control over how your pages look...you also get bigger headaches getting it right in my limited, but painful experience.

lol Thanks Lazycat.

Further to the overlap thingy, with your page altari, I just dumped it into Opera, and same Prob. The text is half on the arrow line, and half on the white background. sorry.

fun Trying though aren't it.?...

I have just been playing, nothing major, and usually stick to just what frontpage express will do for me. Gots to get one o you good folks some day, to show me how to get text to 'wrap' around a graffic on the left of a page.

MO.

LOL, true... what you can do is create a basic layout with tables, say with a left (links/ads), middle (content) and possibly right (links/ads) part and just use the middle part for the stuff that changes with each page. Or you can work with frames, but unless you find a few pre-made ones you like, creating those yourself can give you quite a headacke too

<img src="whatever.jpg" align="left"> ? Then just write whatever you were going to write and it'll position the graphic on the left and wrap the text around it.

OHHHHHH LazyCat You Da Man! or WoMan or Whatever, lol.

YES!!! It WORKED!!!

What I Allways got, was for the Text, to "jump" to the Very Bottom of the Graphic, instead of Wrapping line for line, down the Side of the graphic, like i Wanted it to.

But Just adding that little '' "align=left" '' FIXED IT!

Now, it Wraps it's way All the way down the side of the graffic, and doesn't Jump to the Last line, at the bottom of the graffic, like it was doing to me all along. rofl, Tried and Tried and Tried, and couldn't for the Life of me, figure out how to do it, lol.
TANKS!!!

Very Happy MO.

Sorry altari, lol, I'm Highjacking your thread here, lol.

But...
This trick works Perfectly for align=left, And for align=right I just found out.

ummm any 'easy fix' for align=center?

text running left to right ~PICTURE~ and text continuing on the other side of the pic???

can That be done? kind of a difficult read I guess, but i'm learnin here, and might be useful one day.

MO.

Yes, align=center works although its kind of ugly. You probably need css to do it right. I've never needed an image in the centre of text so no idea how to do it right. (a three column table is one quick fix which springs to mind)

align=top, middle, bottom works too btw.

Thanks Heaps Lazycat;

Now that I think of it more, Even if align=center Did work perfectly, it would be a Very difficult read, for the reader to follow anyways, so probably a not to common thingy one would want to use anyways.
-I see where you're coming from with the 3 tableys, That I think I can actually Do, lol, as I have messed with tableys a bit.

Sorry to altari, I'll Return Your Thread now, lol.

MO.