Hey everyone this is my first website. www.japanlinked.com I created it 3 months ago, and am doing everything myself. I am learning everything as I go. Graphics programs, html, dreamweaver, ect.

I think my graphics files are too big but and am working on getting them smaller.

How is the lay out? Looks? navigation? ect.
Any advice is good advice, I want a website that has a good feel and ease of use!

Thanks in advance everyone

nice!

the layout isnt bad, the sheer amount of ads is a little confusing though! it might look sweet centered.

graphic wise the pics maybe are a little too big (as you said), and the banner is a nice idea, but the bevel & emboss effect always screams to me "what are they hiding?" i would maybe drop the bevel, have an experiment, drop shadow maybe nice, or no effects at all.

But well done carry on the good work and learning

I liked the basic design of your site.
For a first attempt I would say excellent,well done.
Like McBone I would centre the content, but that's only a minor quibble.
I think you could make your banner a little easier on the eye, the words "Link Yourself" get lost in the background.
For a site that obviously intends to be taken seriously do you think that you have chosen the best font for your menu?
Hope you don't think I'm being picky because as I said first off I like your site a lot.
Well done.

Looks very good. The only thing I might change is the amount of Google Adsense on the home page. Too much for my taste.

Good luck with the site.

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http://www.webdexed.com

Great guys I realy appreciated the info.

So today I will make a few changes.

• Less ads
• Revise the site banner

How about the banners on these pages: www.japanlinked.com/about_japan/geisha.html

Have just looked at the banner on "about japan/geishsha", great stuff.
I don't wish to be over critical but some of your line breaks in your descriptions of the world of the Geisha come in peculiar places. Just one example - in the portion which starts "Modern geisha still .....", why have a break after "flower towns")?
Good luck.

Hum just simple mistakes, I usualy use design mode and use the move tool and copy paste from my text editior. Just not paying attention i guess. Thanks for letting me know though I'll review the content more closely

Not bad looking site. You might want to change your site to a floating width design so that no matter what size the browser window of your user is, it will fit the screen with no side to side scrolling required. But good job for your first site - keep up the good work!

the new banner is nice, but still to many effects on i think, try it with only a drop shadow or something it will really make a difference!

i just made this up quickly with just a drop shadow effect, and a gold look effect for the "about japan" text

How about this for the new index.page I got rid of that red one with the fonts and added this. I really want to keep the site name with those effects CooperBlack with bevel ect. It's somthign I had always planed. But the rest is up for grabs. I added a glow around the Link yourself...just to make it stand out a little more and put some color into the banner. As for the sides I can use that space in the future if needs be. Although now I think the side coloums are out of sync.

What do you guys think?

P.S. I like the banner you made and I really like the gold effect how did you do that?

I have just looked at your new index page and first off I couldn't see your menu. The black font disappears into the grey/black background .
Otherwise I think you're doing a great job.
As you are finding out a web site is never finished it just evolves.
Keep up the good work.

thanks, you wlecome to have it, or use aspects from it

the gold effect? It is loads of different layer combinations, graidents and stuff, if you mess with the layer options you can work out some nice effects

i like the old banner, had a nice shape to it, i would use the old one with less effects

Originally Posted by sparkylinked

How about this for the new index.page I got rid of that red one with the fonts and added this. I really want to keep the site name with those effects CooperBlack with bevel ect. It's somthign I had always planed. But the rest is up for grabs. I added a glow around the Link yourself...just to make it stand out a little more and put some color into the banner. As for the sides I can use that space in the future if needs be. Although now I think the side coloums are out of sync.

What do you guys think?

The new banner is nice approvement.

About the left side column, it does look a bit out of sync now but I think if you centered the design {as someone else above mentioned} - the left column would look a lot better.

If you do center it, you might want to define the columns more. Kind of like the way your forum looks.

I imagine eventually all the pages will be using the same design right ?

any other suggestions! I am always looking to improve thanks

Goodjob man, I just disliek all of the ads but other than that very nice.

The site needs to have a single font and not many different sizes and colors. It's important to remember when building a site not to try make it too stylish and fancy. Usually the simple layouts are the ones people like the most.

The text is a little-all-over the place. It should be more aligned and organised in my opinion.

I like the links graphics and the fact that there is a lot of information, that is always helpful.

Just keep it simple is what i think.

Ok I did a once over on the home page.
Do you think this is better? Should anything be modified?

Here is the old homepage:
http://www.japanlinked.com/indexold.html

Here is the NEW homepage:
http://www.japanlinked.com

The site looks good, and is easy to follow. With the exception of a couple of spelling issues, it should do well.

Which spelling mistakes are those I ran the spell checker on the hompage and it looked all clear!

Hey Sparky,

That's the problem with most spell checkers, they don't catch all spelling and grammer errors. Here is one that jumps out at me on the Home Page:

And for those already living in Japan our large link resource will defiantly (definetly)be helpful in your daily lives

I didn't mean to imly that it was loaded with mistakes. I'm sure mine has plenty also, as my wife keeps pointing out

Good Luck with the site, and I like the School Girls