Can you guys critique my site?

Hi everybody, I've been working really hard on my new gaming web site over the past few months and I would like to know what other people think about it. Could you guys please visit it and give me feedback on load times/design/scripts/etc... I use scripts to run the release calendar section, the news section, and the forums. I would especially like you guys to check out the forums, as I've heavily customized them. The web site is new, so there's not much content, but I don't want to add too much content without the format being correct/good looking/etc... Please try it out and let me know what you think. You can reply to this post or email me(dcsonic2k@hotmail.com) http://www.totalgaming.net Thanks, dcsonic2k __________________ Not bad.. needs some tweaking here and there as far as buttons and what appears to need cell align=top on the right side.. but I like it. Wish I had stuff like that. __________________ looks good to me, compared to some sites that have been online for years your site looks very professional and is easy to follow. __________________ Nice site DC!!! Good Luck!! __________________ I like it. It's very clean looking. The release calendar is really useful. Played Chrono Cross yet? I loved Chrono Trigger and I still have the original cartridge with everything in it. I just need a SNES to play it. __________________ graphically, you have some "jaggies" on the rounded corners at the bottom, but other than that, it looks good. a few grammar mistakes in the top headline story, but i will not hold it against you. i also feel that you should have the online store pop out in its own window automatically. __________________ Hey I like it....but what do I know __________________ quote: Originally posted by coleslaw: a few grammar mistakes in the top headline story, but i will not hold it against you. That would be my fault. What did you see? __________________ I made most of the images with Adobe Photoshop. The actual pages are made with MS Frontpage, but I just turned off all of Frontpage's "enhanced" features. It just made it easier to do the tables. A lot of the things (the left sidebar, right sidebar, advertisements) are done with PHP3 server side includes, which makes it really easy to customize. (Those had to be coded in by hand). Thanks for all the comments, guys. I'm gonna work on optimizing the images today. (They're a bit big) __________________ first of all, then was used instead of than for a comparison. secondly, in writing a "news" story, a writer should never reference the reader or make reference back to him- or herself (as in, "If you're at all familiar with us..."). Thirdly, the wording in your first question needs to be reorganized so that you do not end the query in a preposition (this problem with prepositions is not always an issue, but in this case, for sticks out like a sore thumb for some reason). The phrases, "Two words. Playstation 2." should be colonized, as you are re-defining the first phrase. You do not need to mention "amount of" when referring to time, as time is understood to be an amount. "The PS2 was not the hit of the event though. The game Seaman for the Dreamcast was." should become: "The PS2 was not the hit of the event, though; the game Seaman for the Dreamcast was." (Anyone know the proper notation for game consoles and game titles? Should consoles be underlined and games italicized?) "Why do you ask would these kids not flock to the PS2?" should either become, "Why, do you ask, would these kids not flock to the PS2?" or eliminate the phrase do you ask completely, as it is assumed the reader would be asking the question. Also, when you are writing prose (such as a news story), it is not good practice to use contractions. Sure, it may be perceived at a more personal level, but that level is reserved for editorials and personal comments rather than reporting facts. You must determine how credible you want your news to be. If you want to just "shoot the sh!t" and do the articles just for fun, leave it as is. However, if you want to be recognized among other internet sites as a credible news source, i suggest making some changes. Anyway, sorry to sound like an old crabby grammar teacher, but those are just some of the things that i noticed in your short little article. please read these suggestions with an open mind, as they were submitted with one as well. [This message has been edited by coleslaw (edited 08-16-2000).] __________________ wait, what did you code this in?? i dont recognize the extention __________________ It's all coded in HTML, but I changed the extension so I could add some PHP3 server side includes (my isp didn't like normal server side includes for some reason). __________________ PHP is a server-side, cross-platform, HTML embedded scripting language. PHP4 was released not too long ago. __________________ ohhh, stupid me. I changed pages but didn't notice the url changing so i thought you had used a script, but i didn't recognize the extention. __________________ thanks coleslaw, and you sound a lot like my english teacher. ------------------ "The price is wrong, bitch!" __________________ Well, I think it looks very good and professional. Some things you could add in the future are a few dynamic elements, like button mouseovers. But not to much, that's no good. Your site already looks very nice so it doesn't need to much of those I think. You can also make the links to pages outside your site open in a new window. Then it is a lot easier for the visitor to remember where he/she is. And ofcourse, if your site gets bigger a sitemap might come in handy. __________________ I love Frontpage.. that's all I use. Makes tables way easy. Good job. __________________ We have been freed from the "preposition curse" because we are not writing in Latin. In Latin, sentences did not end in prepositions. This is English. When Winston Churchill was PM he told some underling who tried to remove the prepositions from the end of his sentences, "This is arrant pedantry, up with which I will not put." Not that Coleslaw is pedantic . If the console is the thing FROM WHICH you play the games, it need not be italicized or underlined. It is not a body of work. The name of the game itself, however, should be underlined or written in all caps. I dislike the use of italics, especially on websites.