Creating Sites with iWeb

tonyallsopp

I'm in the process of putting together a website for myself. It's quite a basic site, with a large animated giff taking up most of each page. I've created the site in iWeb, and now uploaded it, but although it displays fine (although slow) in my mac's browser, it just displays a red "X" in the corner on a PC. So none of the images are being displayed on a PC for some reason.



Can anyone help and let me know where I'm going wrong, or what I have to do to get the pics to display on all machines, and all browsers.



Thanks in advance.

Tony

tonyallsopp

I forgot to say, the address of the site is:



www.talldesign.co.nr



if you wanted to look

applepi

Definitely an Internet Explorer problem as it looks fine for me under Firefox, Mozilla and Opera on Window XP.



Your code kind of baffles me though. I can't find your gif image anywhere or the frame that delivers it. Is there any particular reason you are using frames for this design? Seems like you could easily do without.

tonyallsopp

I wouldn't know how to use frames to be honest! I know next to nothing about design-for-web. All I did was drag the giff that I had created onto the iWeb page, and then published it.

tonyallsopp

How do I set up my iWeb pages without frames then?

applepi

Sorry I don't know. I do all my coding by hand. I'm sure there is a topic on it in the help files however.

piot

Your web site is in a frame because you appear to have framed web forwarding from the site hosted on your .mac space to the talldesign domain.



The images not appearing are .png files. I think there are some probs with displaying these on some versions of IE for the PC. Don't know how iWeb works .... but you could make them into .gif files.



Your animation is quite sweet ....but it's nearly half a MB in size. Further to that you have a different copy of the animation for EACH PAGE so folks will have to wait for it to download 5 or 6 times! Not good.



Would be real easy to make in Flash .... be about 10 times smaller in file size ..... and only one copy needed. You could try the Flash 30 day trial or even pick up an older version cheap.



I'm not going to say learn a little basic HTML but ..... well yes I am. You have got a good eye and the site looks good ..... but it's built badly. If you are serious about getting work your web site should be ... abit more professional.

applepi

IE doesn't support PNG files at all. So if it's a PNG file that is the problem right there.



Of course if you prefer not to go flash (there are a lot of people that detest flash sites) you could just use a simple PHP script to include your image as a header. Or maybe just make the image itself out of flash and leave the rest of the page to be HTML.

piot

Quote:

Originally posted by ApplePi

Of course if you prefer not to go flash (there are a lot of people that detest flash sites) you could just use a simple PHP script to include your image as a header. Or maybe just make the image itself out of flash and leave the rest of the page to be HTML.

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. Yes. Just the animated gif in Flash. The people "that detest flash" will be even more annoyed with 3 MBs of .gif files.



I don't think the OP need bother himself with PHP scripting .... just yet.

tonyallsopp

Thanks for all your comments people.



I had a look through the HTML files after I published it to a folder, and I realise it is putting the header on seperately for every page, but I don't know how to get round this - I thought this was just the only way iWeb could do it.



How do I go about getting / using a PHP script then to use only 1 linked file for the header?



I also realise the header .gif is a little on the large side, but at this stage I am only experimenting, and using the software I've got. I will give flash a go (I prefer Flash based sites myself), and let you know the results.



Meanwhile I have been playing again and updated the site



http://www.talldesign.co.nr



Thanks everyone

dac0nvu

Quote:

Originally posted by tonyallsopp

Thanks for all your comments people.



Meanwhile I have been playing again and updated the site



http://www.talldesign.co.nr



Thanks everyone

I too like the animation, but...



If nothing else, please do this. Drop the "Enter Here" page. Web sites that have "Enter Here" or "Click here to enter" pages are just really, really, REALLY annoying...and useless.

performa636cd

oops, ignore

troberts

Quote:

Originally posted by dac0nvu

If nothing else, please do this. Drop the "Enter Here" page. Web sites that have "Enter Here" or "Click here to enter" pages are just really, really, REALLY annoying...and useless.

I will agree with you if it is just a link to get into a site like tonyallsopp has, but what about when you are given choices such as:



1) "I'm offended, I want to leave" and "I'm excited, show me more"

2) "I am at least 18 years old" and "I am under 18 years old"



or the granddaddy of them all:



3) "Click here for Netscape" and "Click here for IE"

b3nj

I thought nr 3 could be automated with a bit of code.

applepi

Internet Explorer is telling me that the file location for your gif is

Quote:

file:///:::%2520Tall%2520Design%2520:::%2520Home%2520:::_f iles/tall_web_header-6.gif

mynamehere

Quote:

Originally posted by ApplePi

IE doesn't support PNG files at all. So if it's a PNG file that is the problem right there.

IE (at least v6 which is what most users have) DOES support PNG images. What it doesn't support is the Alpha layer (transparencies, translucencies), and just grays those bits out, although it does display the rest of the image.

tonyallsopp

The reason I put the intro page on there was because I was thinking of doing an IE version of the site aswell, so visitors would have the option of viewing the animated or the static version.



After reading through all the comments on here I've decided to invest in Flash, and build it all on that.



Thanks for all your help everyone.

mynamehere

Quote:

Originally posted by tonyallsopp

The reason I put the intro page on there was because I was thinking of doing an IE version of the site aswell, so visitors would have the option of viewing the animated or the static version.



After reading through all the comments on here I've decided to invest in Flash, and build it all on that.



Thanks for all your help everyone.

It is also valid (and damn useful for people on slow connections) to have links to HTML Version of your site as well as the Flash Version.



As for Flash, I'd suggest investing in Azureus at least until Macromedia Studio becomes a UB. (And before you all start, I paid for my version, and it runs very slowly on my MBP)

applepi

No offense tonyallsopp but a good webdesigner should be able to design a cross browser compatible website. Even with the shortcoming of IE.

If you do go flash, like others have said it would be recommended to still make an plain HTML version for those on slower connections or for those who hate flash sites.

tonyallsopp

I understand your points about having a HTML version of the site as well as the Flash one, but this is probably something I will look at a later date.



The point is I'm not a web designer, I'm a design-for-print man, and this is all very new to me. In all honesty I'm quite pleased with the site as it is now, considering I've put it together with no knowledge at all of the web. I'm going to keep experimenting though, and hopefully I'll get it right one day! When I do I'll post and let you all know (I'll call the thread - "USELESS SITE COMES GOOD"!)



Cheers



Tony

applepi

I understand now. I thought you were just somebody who thought he would make himself a webdesign business without even knowing how to design a cross-browser compatible website.



But I do want to stress the importance of an HTML only site. I would say that HTML should come first and flash second. Having a good understanding of HTML in the webdesign world is like having a good understanding of color theory in the design world. It helps with everything else.