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#1 2006-08-11 6:56 pm
Mini-slideshow on website
I run a website for a middle school and I'd like to put a little slideshow of images of kids and stuff on the main page. I've heard you can use Photoshop or ImageReady to make a sort of animated GIF of a slideshow, but I'm concerned that the file size could get a little out of control. What would you recommend if I wanted to have ten photos on with a nice crossfade between each and not go out of control with file sizes? After all, many students families still have dial-up.
Incidentally, any thoughts or feedback you have about the site would be welcome and appreciated.
http://www.rogersherr.dpsnc.net
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#2 2006-08-11 7:32 pm
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Re: Mini-slideshow on website
I'd use javascript.
There are plenty of canned scripts out there that do what you want.
oh look, here's one http://henceonline.org/
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#3 2006-08-11 10:52 pm
Re: Mini-slideshow on website
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#4 2006-08-12 12:33 am
- jb
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Re: Mini-slideshow on website
darosenb wrote:
Incidentally, any thoughts or feedback you have about the site would be welcome and appreciated.
Sure.
I wonder how many people would use the search feature on your homepage. It might be better to have content on there, rather than a search box. And if people want to search google, they'd usually go to google.com instead of your site.
Also, your site doesn't work well if I don't have javascript, or something. I don't know how much time and effort you want to put into making your site accessible, but if you were into making it work well for everyone, you'd at least want to remove the heavy reliance on javascript.
It also doesn't have a doctype statement - why not??
The content isn't finished, either.
That said, I think the contrast is good, and the large lettering is also a positive.
Sorry if I came down a bit hard on it - I see the site as good, but I also see it as having potential to be explored.
They say that the most secure computer is the one not connected to the internet.
That's why security experts recommend Telstra BigPond.
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#5 2006-08-12 1:48 pm
Re: Mini-slideshow on website
Came down hard? Not at all! I appreciate your feedback. You're right about the Google search. It was there when I took over the site. I guess I just got used to it. I plan on making that front page a place for details about upcoming events. I need to get going on that...
About the unfinished content, I'm trying to get my teachers to answer the simple questions on the team pages that haven't been answered. Not everyone has gotten back to me yet. We used to have team pages on a remote server with a tool that teachers could use to upload content without knowing HTML or using any software. That server just went down last week and the good people at our school system's IT department have no plans to bring it back online. Because of this, I've had to rush to create new pages and teach teachers how to use Dreamweaver to edit the templates I created. Some of the teachers have taken to it right away. Others are resentful at having an additional responsibility...
About the doctype statement, why is this important? I plead ignorance.
Thanks very much for your help/insight/constructive criticism.
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#6 2006-08-12 8:49 pm
- jb
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Re: Mini-slideshow on website
For collaboration, Macromedia used to have a piece of software that worked with Dreamweaver. It was called Contribute - I don't know if it's still around, post merger though. It is mentioned at http://www.adobe.com/products/studio/integration/ though.
Why a doctype? http://www.w3.org/QA/Tips/Doctype
Oh, and another thing - I didn't really understand why the tables all had background colours. Points for accessibility, I guess, but it just didn't look too crash-hot.
Hope I helped.
jb
They say that the most secure computer is the one not connected to the internet.
That's why security experts recommend Telstra BigPond.
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#7 2006-08-13 6:16 am
Re: Mini-slideshow on website
Gipetto, that slideshow looks real nice! I think I'll be using that one! Thanks!
jb, Thanks for the info on the Doctype statement. I've always seen them, but I never understood their importance. I'll go ahead and add those to my pages. Do they have to be on the first line, or will it work okay to be in the header section? I only ask because I use an include file (.shtml) right after the title tag on each page, which includes the stylesheet reference, the blue columns, and the nav bar. Speaking of the Nav bar, it relies entirely on Java, as you pointed out. It never occured to me that people would be browsing the site without Java installed, but you're right, plenty of people do. I came across that code on another <a href="http://handlab.com">site I took over a couple of years ago</a> (back when I took over the site it looked completely different, so please don't think I lifted the code verbatim). I had always liked drop-down menus on web sites and wanted to incorporate it on one of my school's websites, as I am a teacher first and foremost. I suppose there are better, non-Java ways of doing it. I'm always open to suggestions.
Question for clarification: What do you mean by, "the tables all had background colors?" Are you referring to the tables at<a href="http://www.rogersherr.dpsnc.net/about/directory.shtml">the faculty directory</a>, <a href="http://www.rogersherr.dpsnc.net/teams/navigators">the
Navigators Team</a>, <a href="http://www.rogersherr.dpsnc.net/teams/dreamseekers">the
Dreamseekers Team</a>, etc.? I thought it would be easier for people read the tables if the subject areas were separated by color. I also stuck with a consistent scheme for color/subject. Is it ugly? Is that what "didn't look too crash-hot" means? As much as I like to have my colleagues think I'm some sort of wiz, I'm certainly not and I'm eager to learn more.
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#9 2006-08-13 6:21 am
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Re: Mini-slideshow on website
They say that the most secure computer is the one not connected to the internet.
That's why security experts recommend Telstra BigPond.
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#10 2006-08-13 6:26 am
- jb
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Re: Mini-slideshow on website
All three of those pages I was referring to - and maybe more. I just don't think the site colour scheme is very - subtle. It's very in-your-face, and not very calming or aesthetically pleasing.
This is just my opinion, but I think you need colours that complement each other. Look at http://www.yahoo.com/ , as an example. See how the grey is fairly consistent? I'm not saying Yahoo! has a great website, but as an example, I think it's apt.
They say that the most secure computer is the one not connected to the internet.
That's why security experts recommend Telstra BigPond.
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#11 2006-08-21 4:30 pm
Re: Mini-slideshow on website
I made some updates to my site. Any thoughts?
http://rogersherr.dpsnc.net
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#12 2006-08-24 8:54 am
Re: Mini-slideshow on website
That looks pretty nice. You may want to increase the line-height for all of that text. A little more white space between the lines of text would be easier on the eyes.
Regarding your original slideshow question, if you have Flash you may want to consider using it to create your presentation (great for this type of application but not for entire web sites!). Also, make sure that images of kids used in the presentation are used with permission (speaking from experience here...).
Ciao for now!
CurtisS
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#13 2006-08-28 8:22 am
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Re: Mini-slideshow on website
Why don't you use one the online solutions like slide.com? It makes life so much easier.
And when im not surfing I'll be up to some... Search Engine Optimisation
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