Hi everyone,

I just launched an updated site for the company I work for and I 'd love to hear some feedback... especially the bad stuff. Everything, save the photography, was created by me. So, if anyone had any technical questions just ask!

Here's the site...
www.rainerijewelers.com

Thanks in advance!
Rich

Nice looking site although there are a few things that could be improved on.

You could do with stop using this in your code:


I suggest using <br />.

Another thing that you could do with doing is removing all the inline JavaScript. Place it in an external JS file - it makes your code neater.

You could also be doing with taking some of the images out of the HTML... Make it neater by putting them in a CSS file as a background on your elements.

I have to give you the thumbs up for making it xhtml valid, although you should make it Strict instead of Transitional.

Overall, I think it has the makings of a great site if you improve on a few of the things above.

Hi Marc,

Thanks for the comments!

To be honest Strict hadn't even crossed my mind, but it's obviously the way to go. There is still a bunch of tweaking that needs to be done as I put the site together in just over a month... design, coding & all. Good times!

As for the inline JavaScript, I plan on making some changes down the line, however I have some code inline for rendering purposes, while I keep some external for caching purposes. The browser caches the external .js and .css files which makes the subsequent pages load faster. But, progressive rendering of the page is halted until all stylesheets are finished downloading, and progressive rendering of any code below scripts is halted until the script is fully downloaded (which can give the appearence of a slow-loading page). So, I try to keep all external js files as near the bottom of the page as possible. Again, I have some tweaking to do to get everything where I want it!

Then there's the CSS, which has gotten a bit messy at this point from all the quick changes! Some of the images that I have in CSS I'm planning on bringing into HTML, again for rendering purposes. CSS background images begin loading *after* the other elements on the page, which in my case includes the logo and main navigation. Obviously not the best thing to have to wait for! lol (I have some sprites to make as well actually so my rollovers work a little better.) And yes, the <br />! I definitely prefer my good friend <br />, but somewhere along the line (a few times actually) I thought it was a good idea to br{display:none;}, so he doesn't like me so much anymore.

It's gonna hurt, but I know I need to start over with my stylesheet when I get the chance.

Thanks again for the critique!! See you around the forum.
Rich

Rich this site is amazing! The client must be pleased!

So easy to navigate, and the structure is logical and very well laid out. The colors are soothing, it's just feminine enough for the woman and not too feminine for the man. Your use of space is excellent!

The only thing I noticed is the homepage did take quite awhile to load. Nothing ridiculous and as it was loading I was able to view much of the homepage so it kept me interested.

I give this a 5/5

Its a nice site, What are you using to power the site? Is it a custom solution?

My only complaint is that some of the image rollovers seem to take a while to load. As the site gets cached it certainly speeds up however I found things were a bit sluggish for a while.

Hi guys,

Thanks for the comments!



I'm soo glad you caught this. It was a major consideration while I was designing the layout and definitely something I put a lot of thought into.

As far as the loading issues it's something I have on my list actually. The issue is actually the fact that I'm using CSS to display the images. While they're not *too* heavy (still going to optimize them more), they are loaded last because they're in the CSS, which gives the appearance that they take forever to load. What's worse is that, of course, it's the logo and main navigation that are the last things to load. Needs fixin' or sure! First things first, a new banner to replace the Valentines Day one!

Thanks again!
Rich

This post has been edited by rewake: Feb 16 2008, 01:03 PM

Jason,

I forgot to mention the back-end, which is indeed a custom solution. I'm planning on sharing some of the PHP classes I wrote for the site further down the line. As a matter of fact everything on the site was created from scratch... we're really trying to create a lasting web presence.

I'm working on an Inventory Management/POS system right now for the store which is being built using Flex & AIR, which is awesome to work with!

Rich