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Rouen
04-24-2008, 17:24
In what little spare time I have I've been trying to create a helpful site for people considering hiking with their dogs, either long distance hiking or day hikes. I've taken some info that was posted on this forum and put it on the site. I'm open to suggestions and corrections if you think I've added something wrongfully.

http://hiking-hounds.angelfire.com (http://hiking-hounds.angelfire.com/)

SGT Rock
04-24-2008, 17:36
Nice start. Some things to consider in web 101:

1. Links - it is a good idea to have a standardized set of links or a link system so people can jump around from subject to subject. An example is a navbar on the top or side.

2. Background and text. While there are lots of cool fonts, font colors, and font sizes to play with and different ideas for backgrounds - they should not detract from the information presented. Though it seems cool to be able to have hundreds to choose from - there really has been some good research in to how to best get your message across by making it presentable by use of sans serif and serif fonts, font size, and background/text contrast.

3. I highly recommend the use of tables. This makes for a more standardized view across a variety of monitors. Text that expands all the way across the screen in a 1048 wide monitor can really loose it's effects

4. Use pictures to demonstrate what you are talking about. Pictures are worth 1000 words. Don't use superfluous pictures or gimmicky motion gifs

5. Remember you are trying to get some serious stuff across. The more serious your site looks the better it comes across.

6. Above the fold - try to get the good information or the attention catcher where it shows up in the first view of a page. The further down people have to look to find it - the less likely it is to be read.

I could go into this a great deal - I have some serious opinions about what makes a website good and presents content well. Good luck with your project.

desdemona
04-26-2008, 04:25
Nice start!
I think the First Aid thing was particularly well done as well as comments about food.
The trail training, think about adding "Leave It!" This is a great command. (Funny I haven't seen a thread on this whole subject.)

I didn't like scrolling text.
Also I agree that pictures of what you are talking about would be helpful.
I'm sure you would do this anyway.

BTW, it isn't true cat food is more natural than dog food. (More cats than dogs died from an ingredient that had no business being in pet food in the first place.) Cat food can have artificial colors, flavors, etc. It is only more natural if it is natural. It is higher in fat and protein, regardless of brand.
(BTW, I think the brand "Instinct" is great. It seems very compact.)

--des

Pokey2006
04-26-2008, 04:42
Well, I didn't get a chance to see much of the site, because it crashed down my Internet with all the pop-ups. Get rid of them.

Pokey2006
04-26-2008, 04:47
OK, second try I had better luck...not sure why I got so many pop-ups the first time.

Just one suggestion after taking a quick peek -- experiment with different colors and designs for your ads. You can change the settings so they blend in a little more and give your pages an overall better, sleeker look. Right now they jump out more than the information on your pages, which isn't what you want. Sure, you want people to click on the ads, but you don't want the ads to be the only thing they see.

Good luck with the site. It can be a lot of fun to build one of those! A lot of work, too.

wannabeoutdoors
04-26-2008, 15:38
thanks, good start. you have some good info.

whitefoot_hp
04-27-2008, 13:20
make sure that you let them know that the dog is their responsibility, and their responsibility only. Some people think they can let their dogs run loose, annoy people, and its everyone else's obligation to put up with the dog. When hiking with dog on trail, only you should know about it, and only others who hike directly by you.

Rouen
05-20-2008, 20:01
Thanks for the suggestions Rock, can you be more specific on what I need pictures of?

Thanks for pointing that out des, I meant that it's more likely to use real meat than dog food because of a cats digestive system, I know dry cat food has a high risk of causing kidney failure in cats if they are fed it over a long period. I will edit that.

Pokey, I dont believe angelfire has an option to change the ads.

whitefoot your concerns are already on the site under trail training.

desdemona
05-21-2008, 00:58
Thanks for the suggestions Rock, can you be more specific on what I need pictures of?

Thanks for pointing that out des, I meant that it's more likely to use real meat than dog food because of a cats digestive system, I know dry cat food has a high risk of causing kidney failure in cats if they are fed it over a long period. I will edit that.

Pokey, I dont believe angelfire has an option to change the ads.

whitefoot your concerns are already on the site under trail training.

I think the reason dry cat food can cause kidney failure is that cat's tend to concentrate their urine anyway-- and I suppose it is a high protein food.
I don't think that it tends to use real meat more. Cheaper brands still use
corn glutein meal and that sort of thing to pump up the protein levels.

--des