Making Sure My Site Functions Properly - Topic Powered by Social Strata

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Posted

Cats throw up a lot.

The Lithos School of Curiousity is now enrolling

Posts: 14416 | Location: KG, BNE | Registered: May 15, 2004

Ignored post by lithos posted

satyriasis

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Posted

Site changed. Better, worse?

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"God promises eternal life. We can deliver it."

Posts: 48 | Registered: November 23, 2005

Ignored post by satyriasis posted

editengine

Member

Posted

Worse actually. The stock photos still look like hell. The contact info is burried at the bottom in small print and really if somebody is going to this site they will likely already know you right? I don't know how much business is generated for a law firm through a website but if it is anything like the mortgage business the answer is "Not much" People don't shop online for lawyers, they ask friends and family for recommendations or they call referral services that have the money to put into website design and toll free call banks.

My advice? Quit screwing around with your site and start calling everybody you know via email and phone to check in with them and let them know you are running your own firm. Mail them something that they will hang onto, like a fridge magnet or calender, with a letter to let them know what you are doing. I used to get the ones with the football schedules printed on it and even months later when I went to a friends house there it was, on the fridge holding up chinese take out menus and family pics. No better advertising imo.

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"...one of the internet's rare beanie-headed soul-patched gems."

Posts: 7743 | Location: 28.059, -82.476 | Registered: February 05, 2003

Ignored post by editengine posted

Fashionpolice

Member

Posted

quote:
Originally posted by satyriasis:
Site changed. Better, worse?

Much worse.

I don't think pink is a good color choice, and you only want to use testimonials if people actually have something good to say about your swork.

Also having sound files automatically start when the page loads is really annoying. I think it would be much better if you wait about 12 seconds, so it really startles people and makes a better impact.

Also I think you should put on more clothes in your portrait. Is posting in front of a shower curtain wearing only a silver chain really appropriate for your business?

Also since it's obviously poor folks who will be using your services, how about directions with public transportation on your site. They're really not interested in valet parking.

Also you should incorporate Web 2.0 aspects into your site. Any visitor should be able to leave a comment.

Posts: 8399 | Location: Værløse, Denmark | Registered: January 29, 2003

Ignored post by Fashionpolice posted

Trogdor

Member

Posted

quote:
Originally posted by editengine:
Worse actually. The stock photos still look like hell. The contact info is burried at the bottom in small print and really if somebody is going to this site they will likely already know you right? I don't know how much business is generated for a law firm through a website but if it is anything like the mortgage business the answer is "Not much" People don't shop online for lawyers, they ask friends and family for recommendations or they call referral services that have the money to put into website design and toll free call banks.

My advice? Quit screwing around with your site and start calling everybody you know via email and phone to check in with them and let them know you are running your own firm. Mail them something that they will hang onto, like a fridge magnet or calender, with a letter to let them know what you are doing. I used to get the ones with the football schedules printed on it and even months later when I went to a friends house there it was, on the fridge holding up chinese take out menus and family pics. No better advertising imo.

My point exactly.

Posts: 11490 | Location: Wyoming, USA | Registered: April 15, 2003

Ignored post by Trogdor posted

Member

Posted

Gavel's distorted. Never a good look. Plus, well, dunno how they do 'em in the States, but I don't think ellipses should have a space after them.

I'm sorry, it looks like it was knocked up in Publisher.

Just spring for a web designer, already. It's worth it. Would you ever tell a potential client it's cool if he represents himself?

The Lithos School of Curiousity is now enrolling

Posts: 14416 | Location: KG, BNE | Registered: May 15, 2004

Ignored post by lithos posted

Member

Posted

quote:
Originally posted by lithos:
Gavel's distorted. Never a good look. Plus, well, dunno how they do 'em in the States, but I don't think ellipses should have a space after them.

I'm sorry, it looks like it was knocked up in Publisher.

Just spring for a web designer, already. It's worth it. Would you ever tell a potential client it's cool if he represents himself?

Used to be, ellipses *seemed* to have space because an ellipses is one character, and its slug sort of automatically had a little space around it. Now, people either type three periods (...) or, if they know the keystroke (option-; on a Mac), they get an actual ellipses. (…). If they add space, it's to simulate the way they remember ellipses looking in books that were printed non-digitally. In either case, no spaces are necessary before or after an ellipses.

Publisher isn't even good for knocking things up. When I was learning web development, I used to lean on Dreamweaver's WYSIWYG editing, but then I learned CSS and HTML hand-coding and haven't really looked back.

As for the site at hand, satyriasis: just lose the gavel image already. You're not a judge, so it's a less-than-relevant picture.

_{»» "Forget infinity. I've got books waiting for me to read them." — colin
»»"Speculative novels of last Tuesday." — William Gibson}

Posts: 5754 | Location: Knoxville, TN, USA | Registered: January 12, 2003

Ignored post by Justy posted

Member

Posted

Most word processors knock three full stops in ellipses automatically, nowadays. Like how they turn a hyphen into a dash.

The Lithos School of Curiousity is now enrolling

Posts: 14416 | Location: KG, BNE | Registered: May 15, 2004

Ignored post by lithos posted

Member

Posted

True. But don't get me started on auto-replace features (specifically MS Word's). I turn them off immediately. I know what I want to type, thanks.

_{»» "Forget infinity. I've got books waiting for me to read them." — colin
»»"Speculative novels of last Tuesday." — William Gibson}

Posts: 5754 | Location: Knoxville, TN, USA | Registered: January 12, 2003

Ignored post by Justy posted

Member

Posted

You're a cunning linguist, Justy. I'll give you a dollar if YOU FUCKING CONVINCE MICROSOFT ET AL THERE ARE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AMERICAN AND AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH.

Down here, it's "defence" not fucking "defense." "Realise," not bloody "Realize." And the dictionaries should have more differences than the names.

The Lithos School of Curiousity is now enrolling

Posts: 14416 | Location: KG, BNE | Registered: May 15, 2004

Ignored post by lithos posted

Member

Posted

But can't you just turn on the "British English" dictionary?

[runs]

Seriously, though, yeah. I agree with you.

_{»» "Forget infinity. I've got books waiting for me to read them." — colin
»»"Speculative novels of last Tuesday." — William Gibson}

Posts: 5754 | Location: Knoxville, TN, USA | Registered: January 12, 2003

Ignored post by Justy posted

Member

Posted

Fascinating. I just found "Australian English" in the "International" preference pane (Mac OS X 10.5.7). No idea what it *does* (does it change the system-wide spell-check dictionary? It may change the keyboard layout), but it's there.

_{»» "Forget infinity. I've got books waiting for me to read them." — colin
»»"Speculative novels of last Tuesday." — William Gibson}

Posts: 5754 | Location: Knoxville, TN, USA | Registered: January 12, 2003

Ignored post by Justy posted

Member

Posted

Oh, and I found this image (from here):

So, with OS X's system-wide spell-check, you may choose an Australian English or British English dictionary. No idea how well it does.

I just switched my spelling to Australian English, and typed "realise" and "defence" with not a red-line in sight. Nice.

For everyone's future reference, in Safari, if you're typing in a text-box, you go to the "Edit" menu, choose "Spelling & Grammar" and then choose the "Show Spelling & Grammar" menu item. This shows the window shown in the image above, where you can pick your desired dictionary.

_{»» "Forget infinity. I've got books waiting for me to read them." — colin
»»"Speculative novels of last Tuesday." — William Gibson}

Posts: 5754 | Location: Knoxville, TN, USA | Registered: January 12, 2003

Ignored post by Justy posted

Member

Posted

In most Microsoft applications, it doesn't change a bloody thing.

Which is fun, because after you crank out a 5000 word assignment, you've got to go through and find and replace "harbor" with "harbour" or some such.

Never blame on malice what you can on stupidity, and maybe it does change on or two things (why else would they have the option? To stop us whinging?) otherwise, nope. Still Seppo.

Bloody drongoes who designed the bastard of thing didn't account for Strine, either.

The Lithos School of Curiousity is now enrolling

Posts: 14416 | Location: KG, BNE | Registered: May 15, 2004

Ignored post by lithos posted

colin

Member

Posted

quote:
Originally posted by Fashionpolice:
quote:
Originally posted by satyriasis:
Site changed. Better, worse?

Much worse.

I don't think pink is a good color choice, and you only want to use testimonials if people actually have something good to say about your swork.

Also having sound files automatically start when the page loads is really annoying. I think it would be much better if you wait about 12 seconds, so it really startles people and makes a better impact.

Also I think you should put on more clothes in your portrait. Is posting in front of a shower curtain wearing only a silver chain really appropriate for your business?

Also since it's obviously poor folks who will be using your services, how about directions with public transportation on your site. They're really not interested in valet parking.

Also you should incorporate Web 2.0 aspects into your site. Any visitor should be able to leave a comment.

Oh, you think you'll make me look again, but, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

quote:
Originally posted by editengine:
Colin, don't look at the text too closely. Some of the writing will make you scream.

Par for the course, I suspect. Just take a bottle of Proactive™, and sprinkle it all over. Which is why I skimmed.

________
You have to give up

Posts: 12761 | Location: Silicon Valley (not Japan) | Registered: May 28, 2003

Ignored post by colin posted

MrsK

Member

Posted

"British English"

WTF? Atleast say "US English" if you designate British English.

Pah!

Posts: 3686 | Registered: August 31, 2007

Ignored post by MrsK posted

theminx

Member

Posted

It has American English, too; it just doesn't show up on that screenshot.

_____________________________________
::swoon::

Posts: 5180 | Location: Vancouver, BC | Registered: August 05, 2007

Ignored post by theminx posted

heavyboots

Member

Posted

Interestingly, NeoOffice/OpenOffice has about 12 different variations of English, including such diverse variants as English (Philippines), English (Belize), and English (Trinidad).

But hey Lithos, when I switch to English (Australia) it lights "harbor" and "color" up as misspelled!

Posts: 6055 | Registered: January 14, 2003

Ignored post by heavyboots posted

Member

Posted

That's why I've changed to OpenOffice.

It's free (ie, don't have to crack it

...)

Wait, Open Office has dictionaries now?

The Lithos School of Curiousity is now enrolling

Posts: 14416 | Location: KG, BNE | Registered: May 15, 2004

Ignored post by lithos posted