Created a website for a new league, looking for input.

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First, I know I haven't been posting very much on AZB lately for personal reasons. That being said this forum is probably the best online community of all levels of players all over the world. That is why I am doing this poll and hoping some of you will share some wisdom with me on the league's website and facebook page or on how to run the league itself. All opinions are welcome and I look forward to the feed back.

http://www.anjungripoolleague.com
https://www.facebook.com/AnjungriPoolLeague

I have spent probably about 15 hours on created this website and linking it to the league's facebook page. I have been wanting to learn website design and this is my first website. I wanted to help Justin and TAR by building a website for him but I am not at that level yet.

 

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Wow 60 views and 1 vote. This is why I put option 5 into the poll.

 

[PaulieB]

Like the facebook page a lot, nice colors and photos, lots of visual excitement. The web page, on the other hand, has lots of info but no visual appeal. If it was a scientific research site that would be fine, but if you are trying to create interest and excitement, it needs a different format with larger and more interesting pictures, brighter colors, and a less regimented format. While you have the info on the page, the slim format on my screen seems cramped and it just lacks the draw that the facebook page has. I looked at the facebook page for 2 seconds and loved it, looked around the website for a couple minutes and said to myself "it has information, but I could care less about the information presented".

I'm not trying to be harsh and I think anyone starting anything pool related should be supported, but I am giving my honest opinion that you asked for.

 

[RoadHustler]

Web design aint that easy...

Let me start by giving you my background I host and design sites for a living so I didn't vote needs improvement to be a jerk but just to give you a honest answer.

First: Great first try though their are important things you missed: Inline formatting very clunky you need to spend some time learning css it will change your life. http://www.w3schools.com/ Might be helpful as a general resource.

Second: I kinda hate the on hover effect on the menu where the menu item changes from normal to italics because it shortens the menu slightly when menu items squish like that it looks lame. If you are gonna construct your menu like that just change the color not the text style.

Third: Were I you I would use a cms maybe Joomla or wordpress or drupel they are way easier than hand coding. Also they will enable you to get started with out the steep learning curve of hand coding. And your site will look more professional right away. This will buy you time to hone your design skills. And their are many template company's out their making really sharp looking templates.

Lastly: It is very difficult to both design a beautiful web page manage the technology you use to run it and keep it secure in the constantly changing techno soup we find our self swimming. So don't take any criticism to hard, most people have no idea how much is involved in doing it right. So good work now get back to it.

oh and Facebook page is great build your self a like box with this tool and embed it in your site. here the link https://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like-box/

 

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Thank You Thank You Thank You!!! This is what I was wanting, some insight on how to improve on what I already have. You mentioned using Joola, never heard of it but will check out. Currently I am hand coding using Aptana Studio 3. I have read Murach's HTML5 & CSS and I am currently reading Murach's My SQL. Other then that I have no other training.

I have a facebook like button at the bottom of the page. I will move it.

I was already thinking of adding HTML Forms for a fill-able registration form for future league members to sign up with.

I will work on both of your suggestions and maybe re-post in a week or two for a follow up critique.

 

["CaliRed".]

You mentioned using Joola, never heard of it but will check out.

Whatever you do, don't go searching for Joola or you probably will be spending your time learning table tennis.

The correct term, which the poster that referred it to you did spell correctly, is Joomla. Joomla, WordPress, Drupal are all CMS (Content Management System) apps. They make it easy for people to get going on putting up a website without a steep learning curve. I would say WordPress is easier to learn then Joomla, but they're all basically the same. Doing a search for any of them, will lead you to thousands of hits. There are countless free themes to choose from so you might get lost in that for a day or so. After you find one you like, editing it is fairly straightforward with a little help from the many tutorial sites.

I don't know exactly what you were thinking you were going to achieve by starting a poll, though. Not many people are going to respond to say if they think a new, never before heard of site, sucks or is great or that they don't care. Nothing wrong with asking for people's input on how they feel about a site, but a poll?

A trend I've noticed is that when one person puts up a poll (which more and more it seems is being done for a ridiculous reason, in my opinion), then 20 other people go "Cool, a Poll", Let me make one too! Then there's 20 polls all over the 1st page. Just something I've noticed is all:smile:

Good Luck!

 

[PaulieB]

I was part of an organization that was full of technical noobies, so they gave me the website to take over. I had networking and hardware knowledge but zero knowledge of website design. The site was originally set up with Joomla and I have to say, within a couple weeks I really fell in love with it.

Joomla seems powerful yet intuitive, it is definately worth checking out.