Fuzzy Logic

I wasn't saying Google doesn't have data about your website in general, nor was I suggesting Lighthouse estimates visitor numbers. What I was referring to was the message that PageSpeed itself displays. PageSpeed always runs a Lighthouse lab test. If Google also has enough qualifying field data from the Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX) for that specific URL, it displays those real world metrics alongside the Lighthouse results. If it doesn't, PageSpeed simply shows the Lighthouse results and displays the "Not enough real user data" message. So the point wasn't that your site lacks visitors, or that Lighthouse measures visitors. It was simply an explanation of why that particular message appears in the audit. Your point about server logs showing around 70 visits a day while Analytics records around 20 is perfectly valid, but that's a separate issue. Server logs, Analytics and CrUX are three different datasets collected in different ways, and one doesn't determine whether the others have enough data to report.

That message comes from Google PageSpeed. When you test a website, Google can show two types of results: Real visitor data from people who have used the site over the last 28 days, collected without users knowledge through Chrome. Test results from Lighthouse, which simulates a visit to the website. If the website doesn't have enough visitors, Google won't have enough real data to show. In that case, you'll see a message saying there isn't enough real visitor data, and the results will be based on the Lighthouse test instead.

That one's results are all good except one thing, - I don't see the phone number issue you described. image attached.

could you tell me what page you are testing? Up to this point I was just looking at both the links in your signature aerin for example consists of <p>Call me on: 01252 643927 or 07921 859802 or <a onclick="a='@'; this.href='mail'+'to:graham'+a+'aerin.co.uk'" href="https://www.aerin.co.uk">Send me an email</a>.</p>

Thanks for the further feedback, I appreciate you taking the time to dive into the specifics. Regarding the audit points, I suspect we’re just looking at two different things. For the phone number, the tool explicitly checks the HTML for standard href="tel:" attributes rather than raw text, which is crucial for mobile UX. On the H1 front, while Google is smart enough to parse a page without one, skipping it entirely breaks WCAG accessibility guidelines, and ensuring a site is usable for everyone, including screen-reader users, is a non-negotiable standard for me. Regarding the audit timeout you experienced, there are really only two reasons that happens: either the PageSpeed API hit a temporary network timeout, or your server's firewall/security settings are actively blocking the automated request. If you want to see the business metrics working, you can always try running it against my URL or any other standard live site. As for the lazy loading, you actually hit the nail on the head and proved my point from the previous post; implementing it above the fold does slow things down, which is precisely why I said in the previous post that if anyone approached me with that concern, id tell them why it said that. Ultimately, you're right that marketing strategies are highly subjective. A strategy built around heavy portfolio-only conversions works beautifully for some, while personal branding, SEO-driven content hubs, and interactive lead magnets work better for others. Different audiences, different funnels. That plugin and custom app pivot sounds lucrative, maybe even a smart move but not something i want to do right now. Lastly, I never said that I've never tried it with a lighter background, I've just never published it with one. It was a light blue and it looked terrible, especially since it obscured the neon design elements and other 'functional decrative' elements around the site. Thanks again for putting eyes on the site. I've got plenty of data to start gathering now that the site is live, so I'll let the analytics tools do the talking over the next few months.

That's true. But the purpose of those pages is not to convert, they are authority pages specifically for SEO or those interested in what those technologies are and what their advantages are. They are handy because they match what I really do use and how I use them, meaning they are useful for anyone not looking for services too (maybe even a linkable resource). Absolutely, but the core of the difference is that even though that may be the case much of the time, it can build trust with others, especially with those who have been burned by freelances before in any kind of way, I'm openly saying "here I am, I'm not hiding because I'm not producing rubbish or performing bad business practice". I'd rather 'risk' having my picture there for those that require trust than only cater for those customers who misunderstand the point and just ask a question like "why is his mug there". I think that's a mistake. A single image can communicate more than paragraphs of text. When someone lands on a website, seeing immediately what I do, who I am, and where I am, it creates an instant impression. That's far more effective than presenting a wall of text that takes several minutes to read before they even reach any proof of work. I'm not claiming my current site achieves that perfectly, but that's the intention. Absolutely it works, you're just forgetting the crucial factor that the site is literally a week old and is not getting enough impressions, let alone clicks to be able to make any split testing even remotely reliable. No. I think you misunderstood, it does not tell you that you don't have a phone number, it most likely told you to 'Add a tap-to-call phone link' H1 being no longer necessary for SEO rankings is broadly true, but a H1 is no longer necessary at all? Not really. It's still considered best practice for accessibility, usability, and clear page structure. This one you have a point on, but to explain, you're correct, not necessarily. If the images are genuinely above the fold, lazy loading them can actually hurt performance because the browser delays fetching them. The warning is triggered because the audit doesn't fully understand the page layout (Lighthouse uses simulated conditions and heuristics). Above the fold images should usually load eagerly, especially the main hero/LCP image. This is a quirk I can't fix but one I can advise on should a potential customer enquire about the results, Its coming from the pagespeed api as I don't know whether it's testing in mobile or desktop. Ok, but although I am using pagespeed API, that is only partial to the calculation. It's business focused, not code-focused. I'm not measuring if google thinks your page is fast (although its a factor in the calculation), I'm measuring what effect this might have on your website as a business. That in terms of customer focus is far more useful.

I think we've probably reached the point where we're discussing different marketing philosophies rather than identifying actual issues with the site. A lot of your feedback seems to come back to the idea that clients don't care about various things, but that's a difficult statement to prove because clients aren't a single group. You say clients don't care what I look like. Some won't. Some will. There is a reason countless freelancers, consultants, designers, architects and agency owners put themselves front and centre on their websites. People often buy from people, particularly when they're hiring an individual rather than a larger company. You say clients don't care about blogs, resources or educational content. Yet content marketing, SEO and authority building are established marketing strategies precisely because many prospects begin researching long before they're ready to enquire. Likewise, I agree that most business owners don't care whether a website is built with Next.js, React, WordPress or anything else. What they care about are outcomes: • Speed • Reliability • Search visibility • Security • Maintainability • Generating enquiries The technology itself is simply a means to achieve those outcomes. On WordPress, I agree that it can perform well when built properly or left mostly stock. My point wasn't that WordPress is inherently slow. It was that many WordPress sites end up bloated through themes, plugins and third party dependencies, which is one reason I often favour other approaches depending on the project and I guarantee, if there were a few features a client wanted, if it were a choice between nextjs and wordpress plugins, the nextjs would outperform those plugins every time. Regarding the audit tool, I think you may be judging it against a purpose it was never designed to fulfil. It isn't intended to be a developer focused code audit or a replacement for Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights or technical SEO tools. It's a business focused audit. That means it deliberately evaluates things beyond code quality, including factors that can affect enquiries, trust, usability and visibility. For example: • Contact visibility • Tap to call availability • Mobile usability • Enquiry friction • Trust indicators • Content structure • Search visibility signals • User experience factors Because of that, a site can trigger recommendations without being technically broken. Likewise, a technically excellent website can still lose enquiries because important business or conversion factors are missing. You mentioned that the audit tool reported incorrect errors, but you didn't say which ones. If there are specific findings you believe are wrong, I'd genuinely be interested in seeing them because that's something that can be tested and improved. As for Tracer, that's simply the branding. The name comes from what I've spent the last twenty years doing, tracing problems back to their source. Understanding why one website generates enquiries while another gets ignored. Following the path from visibility to engagement and from visitor to customer. Ultimately, I don't think either of us is necessarily right or wrong here. You appear to favour a very direct portfolio first approach where the work does most of the selling. I'm deliberately combining portfolio, educational content, SEO, resources, tools and personal branding. They're different approaches to the same goal.

Header has been changed, added resources, blogs, technology and location pages as well as the ability to submit a brief instead or just the contact form on the contact page That's not a 'random chap' That's me. I figured its good for a customer to see who they are working with, gives them a human face to the business. It was a decision based on wanting something easy on the eyes (poor explanation I know.) The portfolio are all nextjs, one demo'ed as an ecommerce, but I can use headless cms, like for example headless wordpress if needed or many other more suitable nextjs ones. This is not a set in stone thing, its my preferred platform, I can do custom cms or even build sites using wordpress or any other platform if that is what is suitable for the customer, although I do edge away from platforms like wordpress because they are really slow, especially on mobile, not good for customer retention. https://www.madebytracer.com/blog/why-tracer-is-different-kent-web-agencies. This is also dotted around the site as links to the article. That is the purpose pf the resources https://www.madebytracer.com/resources the audit https://www.madebytracer.com/resources/site-audit and the brief template https://www.madebytracer.com/resources/website-brief for example. As well as the blog I mentioned already https://www.madebytracer.com/blog/why-tracer-is-different-kent-web-agencies there is this one https://www.madebytracer.com/blog/twenty-years-learning-the-web and an about https://www.madebytracer.com/about A lot of what you asked is covered in the site already.

Hey. I am really sorry, it's very unusual for me not to reply to responses, I did appreciate them and took them aboard. Life got in the way, but I have now fully published the site, with some adjustments, added pages, tools and surprises. I'd appreciate another look so you can see where the site is now and if I've improved it or made it worse lol.. The url is now https://www.madebytracer.com/ Thanks P.S - 100%

Hey. It's been a very long time since I have been here, it's been quite some time since I have even built websites, but I am dipping my toes in the water once again and am worried that my desgin skills, and maybe even my coding are a little out of date. I have created the following site, the content is just junk so don't worry about it, but I was hoping to get some modern day feedback for everything else as I don't want to seem out of step with the styles of today. https://portfolio-site-phi-sooty.vercel.app/ Thanks

The web host has a legal obligation to remove any websites in breech of the law, you have no choice in that and unfortunately if you are responsible for the website and you use something that they supplied and you later find out it was illegal material (by whatever way the law deems illegal), you are just as guilty as they are, they cannot ignore the law and neither can you is the simple answer I would give

In order to choose the most appropriate images, you need to know the page content, its no good having a dog image that is supposed to support the text about a cat. Secondly, you are correct with the image flow, I hope they are not so different though that some of the image styles are not the same of others, that would be insane.

Simple typo, their customers I meant, but mine are too strangely

I have tried animate on the end of toggleclass like this $(".shrinki").toggleClass("shrinkwrap").animate({array}); but cannot get it to work how I want I just figured that since the site needed jquery elsewhere (probably due to my lack of skills with javascript) then it would not matter all that much, all it really requires if for the right hand side to shrink to reveal the menu, I suppose a layer over the top could do this, with negative- z-index and then an animation to simply shrink and position the content, I have even considered gsap, maybe I am other thinking it and winding myself up.. Its not a problem, the solution is the adjust the animation when they are glancing at whatever width so it just pushes the content to the right and the menu pops out the left, I do know this though, the majority of my visitors are on desktop.

Getting closer, the animation jumps and will not reverse animate after second toggle https://codepen.io/saltedm8/pen/JqQqoV

Not quite, I've attached 2 images, one before and one after click

almost, the idea of the main content is to make it smaller (almost like a responsive effect), so it creates something like a border around it as the menu comes in

Does anyone know what this menu effect is called? a customer has asked for this effect but I cannot find it, the ideas is that when you click on the burger menu on the left, it shrinks the website page over to the right, creating a plain colour background behind it as the menu opens on the left. (if you can understand all that) https://www.behance.net/gallery/61770747/Geodesic-Company-Website

The client needs to understand that free translations are free because not as much time and care has gone into them to make them work well, they are a sub-standard solution for those who simply want basic translation so people at least understand the content. $4.99 pcm is well worth the cost in order to display the content properly to a new market, as if his products are that good, then a good translation will return that money in one sale.

I'm simply going to give my immediate reaction because I think fisicx has listed a fair few... "high quality beautiful photography" - to do what with? There is nothing that lets you know these are stock, If I come across the site looking for stock imagery, I would leave immediately on that basis alone

Strange place to find this resource, but hey ho https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/how-to-teach-kids-code

Wow, even the main site is screwed up, I ended up with a url that said this https://www.builderall.com/tools/tools/tools/tools/tools/tools/tools/tools/tools/tools/tools/tools/tools/plans/plans/plans/plans/plans/#aid=825513 great reason to not waste your time.

Cloudinary might be a good solution, you can organise into folders and sort that way and its free to a point, but that point is pretty high https://cloudinary.com/

I have a script that I wrote for my site that changes the info displayed depending on the options a user chooses, I've posted it below as it may help you let cWebsite = ["Communicate a message", "Build trust in brand", "Sell our product", "Get our content online", "Realign brand", "Engage new audience"]; let iWebsite = ["make site more discoverable", "increase engagement", "make user friendly", "improve accessiblity", "add more sections", "rebuild whole website!"]; let cSeo = ["build on my seo", "make website faster", "make website more usable"]; let iSeo = ["improve seo", "reporting my seo", "engage an audience", "All seo services", "other touchpoints"]; let cGraphics = ["Create more graphics", "improve specific section", "target new audience", "make more noticable", "make stand out"]; let iGraphics = ["test a graphic", "solve a business problem", "track stuff!", "engage audience", "promote brand"]; let prices = { cWebsite: ["Please Select", "1k - 5k", "5k - 10k", "10k - 20k", "20k - 50k", "50k - 80k", "80k - 100k", "100K+"], iWebsite: ["Please Select", "1k - 5k", "5k - 10k", "10k - 20k", "20k - 50k", "50k - 80k", "80k - 100k", "100K+"], cSeo: ["Please Select", "£350/mo", "£600/mo", "£1100/mo"], iSeo: ["Please Select", "£350/mo", "£600/mo", "£1100/mo"], cGraphics: ["Please Select", "£100 - £300", "£300 - £600", "£900 - £1k", "1k - 5k", "5k - 15k", "15k+"], iGraphics: ["Please Select", "£100 - £300", "£300 - £600", "£900 - £1k", "1k - 5k", "5k - 15k", "15k+"] }; function currentchoice() { let sta = document.getElementById("state"); let ser = document.getElementById("service"); let site = document.getElementById("lives"); let state = sta.options[sta.selectedIndex].value; let service = ser.options[ser.selectedIndex].value; if (state === "create") { if (service === "website") { doJoin(cWebsite); priceList(prices.cWebsite); site.style.display = "none"; } else if (service === "seo") { doJoin(cSeo); priceList(prices.cSeo); site.style.display = "block"; } else if (service === "graphics") { doJoin(cGraphics); priceList(prices.cGraphics); site.style.display = "none"; } } else if (state === "improve") { if (service === "website") { doJoin(iWebsite); priceList(prices.iWebsite); site.style.display = "block"; } else if (service === "seo") { doJoin(iSeo); priceList(prices.iSeo); site.style.display = "block"; } else if (service === "graphics") { doJoin(iGraphics); priceList(prices.iGraphics); site.style.display = "none"; } } } function doJoin(x) { $("#choices").empty(); x.forEach(function (list) { let checkbox="<input type='checkbox'><label>"+list+"</label><br>" $("#choices").append($(checkbox)); }); } function priceList(x) { $("#pricelist").empty(); x.forEach(function (list) { let option="<option>"+list+"</option>" $("#pricelist").append($(option)); }); } Then I just added onchange="currentchoice() to the end of my dropdowns like this <div class="form-group row"> <div class="col-sm-6 no-padding-left" onchange="currentchoice()"> <select id="state" class="form-control form-control-lg" name="message[ ]" required=""> <option value="">Please select</option> <option value="create">Create a new</option> <option value="improve">Improve our</option> </select> </div> It is a mix of pure javascript and jquery though so be aware.

Thanks, but the misunderstanding here is that you don’t claim to know about design, that’s the difference.