New quest dojo website

brycemaster

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The new website:
http://www.questdojo.co.uk/

The beta is released at last! Still a few bugs to iron out, and the galleries aren't done yet, but it's getting there!
icon_smile.gif


After months of planning this is what we came up with. I hope you guys like it. I know it's not perfect, but we wanted to give you guys a look at how things are going.

Special thanks to Dale Hesketh and Hugo for giving me a hand when I came unstuck.
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Hope you guys enjoy, and please leave a comment!
icon_biggrin.gif
 

Andrew Green

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I'm going to be honest, you basically broke every rule of web design when you went with full screen images for every page.

This is a VERY bad idea.

Starting with the obvious, this is a huge use of bandwidth, anyone with a dial up or otherwise slow connection will find this site unusable. A lower resolution or a browser that is not maximized is going to get a horizontal scroll bar, accessibility features like screen readers don't work.

Not to mention the non-obvious things like as far as a search engine is concerned there is basically nothing there. You won't get anything out of search engines because they can't index your site.

(a good chunk of your links are also broken)

The site itself looks nice enough, but it looks like whoever did it doesn't have any experience in web work, just print.
 
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brycemaster

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I'm going to be honest, you basically broke every rule of web design when you went with full screen images for every page.

This is a VERY bad idea.

Starting with the obvious, this is a huge use of bandwidth, anyone with a dial up or otherwise slow connection will find this site unusable. A lower resolution or a browser that is not maximized is going to get a horizontal scroll bar, accessibility features like screen readers don't work.

Not to mention the non-obvious things like as far as a search engine is concerned there is basically nothing there. You won't get anything out of search engines because they can't index your site.

(a good chunk of your links are also broken)

The site itself looks nice enough, but it looks like whoever did it doesn't have any experience in web work, just print.

I won't disagree about the bandwidth use, but compared to "all-flash" sites its not too bad.

As for the search engine I'm afraid you are dead wrong. There are alt tags and long descriptions for every image, so not only is there plently of text for search engines, but the site is also compatible with screen readers, so blind and short sighted users should'nt have a problem :D

Google "quest dojo". It's the 1st result :)

Oh, and the html code has it so the image will always be centered in the browser window. Also, the industry standard for web design is now 1024×768 and this displays on that rez, no problem!

As for the links being broken: Which ones? The only one I know of is the scottish site link in "links" but that's because their site is actually down...
 

Tez3

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Your 'about us' page and the blurb about Dale Hesketh is far too jolly hockey sticks for me, it's a bit gushing and breathless. The registration fee going to America is a bit off putting too. Yo should put up where you are, Liverpool is a huge city.
I had to smile when it was on about it being effective etc and you use kids kickbags, sorry thats just me, don't mean to be rude but it just seemed to me the photos were a bit soft to show an effective fighting art
 

Andrew Green

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I won't disagree about the bandwidth use, but compared to "all-flash" sites its not too bad.

I've written a few very large RIA flash sites, Add 2 or 3 of your pages and you've got all of them beat.

As for the search engine I'm afraid you are dead wrong. There are alt tags and long descriptions for every image, so not only is there plently of text for search engines, but the site is also compatible with screen readers, so blind and short sighted users should'nt have a problem :D

Alt tags are good, and will help you show up in image search, but not give you anything for web search.

Google "quest dojo". It's the 1st result :)

http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache...ojo&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca&client=firefox-a

That's why, it's still got your old site indexed, once the spiders hit you again you may very well loose that.

Do a little reading on SEO, the all image layout is a very bad idea in terms of people being able to find you.
 

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I thought the site was fine. Of course i have no idea about all the computer stuff to make one. Just as a layperson on the subject i thought it fine.

Kids kick bags? I got lost on that comment. Besides how do you show something is effective or not by the photos?
 

Tez3

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I thought the site was fine. Of course i have no idea about all the computer stuff to make one. Just as a layperson on the subject i thought it fine.

Kids kick bags? I got lost on that comment. Besides how do you show something is effective or not by the photos?

The kids kick bags are very very light therfore suitable for youngsters to hold against other kids, they won't take a hard adult kick. I realise the photo will have been posed for effect and I did say it was just me who smiled at it.
 

MJS

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The new website:
http://www.questdojo.co.uk/

The beta is released at last! Still a few bugs to iron out, and the galleries aren't done yet, but it's getting there!
icon_smile.gif


After months of planning this is what we came up with. I hope you guys like it. I know it's not perfect, but we wanted to give you guys a look at how things are going.

Special thanks to Dale Hesketh and Hugo for giving me a hand when I came unstuck.
icon_wink.gif


Hope you guys enjoy, and please leave a comment!
icon_biggrin.gif

Well, I'm not an expert when it comes to designing websites, so I'll leave that to the folks like Andrew and Bob, who I'm sure would be capable of offering suggestions. :)

Aside from the technical stuff, the site looks good to me. :)
 
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brycemaster

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The kids kick bags are very very light therfore suitable for youngsters to hold against other kids, they won't take a hard adult kick. I realise the photo will have been posed for effect and I did say it was just me who smiled at it.

The reason we use those "kids" kickbags is quite simple;
1) A ceiling bag can't be carried or bent over like a human reacting to an attack.

And yes you are quite correct, our strikes bend the airshields in half all the time, however, those pictures were taken in a level one (white belt) class. We use many other pads and equipment as well, but showing us using boxing target-pads makes us look like boxers, and showing us dodging sword cuts are just 2 examples of things that will either put people off, or will attract the wrong kind of person...

Also, when I used to do muay thai we used similar shields, so who knows? :)

Cheers for the input anyway.

EDIT: Oh, and about not having the address, thats because the new dojo is opening soon, and if we put the address up now, people will be going to the wrong place. Plus if they want to come they can just use the email to enquire as to where we are. Obviously it's only temporary as the new place opens in october :D
 

Tez3

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The reason we use those "kids" kickbags is quite simple;
1) A ceiling bag can't be carried or bent over like a human reacting to an attack.

And yes you are quite correct, our strikes bend the airshields in half all the time, however, those pictures were taken in a level one (white belt) class. We use many other pads and equipment as well, but showing us using boxing target-pads makes us look like boxers, and showing us dodging sword cuts are just 2 examples of things that will either put people off, or will attract the wrong kind of person...

Also, when I used to do muay thai we used similar shields, so who knows? :)


Cheers for the input anyway.

EDIT: Oh, and about not having the address, thats because the new dojo is opening soon, and if we put the address up now, people will be going to the wrong place. Plus if they want to come they can just use the email to enquire as to where we are. Obviously it's only temporary as the new place opens in october :D

When a picture has to tell a story and give a first impression it's important it's the right impression. Kids kickbags however well they may work for you in reality, in a picture say 'I can't kick', use something like the Thai 'suitcase' type kickbag or a karate 'shield' it will give a better impression and that's the important thing..When you get people in the door thats different.
 
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brycemaster

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When a picture has to tell a story and give a first impression it's important it's the right impression. Kids kickbags however well they may work for you in reality, in a picture say 'I can't kick', use something like the Thai 'suitcase' type kickbag or a karate 'shield' it will give a better impression and that's the important thing..When you get people in the door thats different.

Good advice, I'll have more photos to work with when we get the new dojo up and running, so we'll probably get some pics of hitting Bobs. :D
 

Tez3

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Good advice, I'll have more photos to work with when we get the new dojo up and running, so we'll probably get some pics of hitting Bobs. :D


Sadly, people will judge on a look rather than finding out properly but hey I have a Bob you can borrow lol, he's my shift partner ex 1 Para likes a fight!
 
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brycemaster

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Sadly, people will judge on a look rather than finding out properly but hey I have a Bob you can borrow lol, he's my shift partner ex 1 Para likes a fight!

Wrong type of bob I think :D
I don't know about Paras but my bro knows plenty of ex SAS guys and they are fun as hell to train with!
 

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