In my opinion, one of the debatable "advantages" of using Publisher to
produce a website is it forces you to KISS (keep it simple stupid). And in
my opinion, just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you should. I
would suggest that you follow MIchaeldean and Rob's example, and just link
to your JAlbum from your Publisher page, and not try to insert it into a
page. Also take Mike's advice and at least download FF 2.0 and test your
site yourself.
When I tried to load the page in IE6, it took forever, and then it wanted to
install a newer version of the Adobe Flash Player. A lot of people are going
to say no to that and the page doesn't work without it. I would suggest that
you consider a different JAlbum that doesn't require flash to work. It works
a bit better in FF, but the pictures are too large to fit on the screen, and
you have overlapping design elements. If you load the JAlbum in its own
window, it works fine in FF.
I try to remain non-judgmental in this group, and if someone wants to know
how to do something, I tell them if I know. However, you have worked so hard
on your site, and invested so much time, and show so much creativity, and
though I don't want to offend you, I think you are falling into the trap of
trying to do too much with your site. Too many bells and whistles, special
effects, wham bam and fluff and it distracts from the main subject...the
dogs. I think I have said before that your pages are too wide to begin with.
In my opinion, they should not be wider than 800 pixels at the most. And now
you are inserting an iframe that is also too large, and images that are also
probably too large for a person with a dial-up connection or a small screen.
I would suggest that you take a step back and ask yourself, what is the goal
of your site? Then ask yourself is it to promote the dogs, or to show people
all the things you can do with a website? Then study your pages and ask
yourself, if the viewer had a slow dial-up modem, was technologically
challenged or inexperienced, how would that person like and get around in my
website? What if they were viewing your site on a small screen...a small
laptop...that makes them scroll in order to see the full width of your page?
Ask yourself when you get ready to add yet another animated gif, or add
another dynamic feature, does it contribute and further the goal of
promoting the dogs and make it easier for people to find and view your
content, or does it just distract people from that goal and take a long time
to load? Ask yourself if you want the focus to be on the dogs, or all the
web design tricks?
Don't feel like the lone ranger. I think this is a common problem among new
web designers, and even expert web designers. I recently was asked to
comment on a website for a fancy restaurant. It was designed by an expert
who used some advanced design techniques and specialized web software. It
had a cool factor, but I thought it sucked. I couldn't figure out how to
navigate and I really didn't think it was effective at all. It certainly
didn't leave me wanting to go the restaurant. I heard later that the
designer admitted that he was going for style over substance.
When I first started lurking in this newsgroup, every time I learned a new
web design trick that was cool, or had the wow factor, I added it to my
site. Then someone suggested that I needed to KISS, that all the bells and
whistles I had added were just a distraction, and got in the way of them
finding the content they wanted. They sent me to this link:
http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/ My feeling were hurt, my ego stomped on,
but when I got over that, I started reading about good web design
principles, and I stepped back and redesigned my site. I stripped out
everything that did not further my goal. I am even now removing the "cool"
javascript menu I have on my main section pages, and replacing it with a
fairly simple, textual menu with absolute links. Not so cool, but easier for
the average person to use, and easier for the search engine webbots to
spider. I should have done this a long time ago, but I was too enamored with
the cool javascript.
This is probably a whole lot more than you wanted to hear, but like I said,
I really respect the amount of time and energy you have invested in your
site, and I will risk possibly insulting you by offering this feedback. I
would suggest that you forget about using the iframes, and just link to your
JAlbums and let them open in a new window. For what its worth, I decided to
back off the whole JAlbum approach, and to KISS, I now use Porta:
http://www.stegmann.dk/mikkel/porta/ or even more KISS just load the images
onto my Publisher pages.
Bottom line is Content Is King....and KISS. Your dogs should be the focus of
your site...
Just by 4 cents worth...I'll get off my soapbox now ;-)
DavidF
