Hello everyone,

 

I am new to this site but not new to web design, so I promise that I will try and put as much into this forum as I hope to get out of it in terms of valuable advice! Anyway, enough of the touchy-feely stuff, this isn't an episode of Ugly Betty.

 

Please could you take a look at my new site at the following address and give some feedback?

 

Apex Web Works

 

Thank you very much.

You should dump the table coding and use css for layout design.

 

Also you have 12 errors on the homepage!

 

If I am being honest, I don't think it looks that professional either, just has a dated feel to the site design/layout.

 

Sorry just my opinions...

I think it looks fine.

 

I wouldn't worry about the "table" snobs. Your prosepective customers don't and won't give a hoot whether it's divs or tables.

And they're all that matters.

 

If it loads quick, looks decent and works the same in the main browsers, job done.

Don't worry about the validation or verification or whatever it's called.

 

And because it's custom, it'll probably get more attention than a glorified blog.

Thanks for your replies.

 

To be honest, I'm not bothered about those 'errors' on the homepage because they're relating to the <embed> tag. The workaround for that seems to be rather convoluted so as long as it works, I'm happy with that.

 

If those are the worst aspects about the site, aside from personal opinions, then that's a huge achievement for me.

I think it looks fine.

 

I wouldn't worry about the "table" snobs. Your prosepective customers don't and won't give a hoot whether it's divs or tables.

And they're all that matters.

 

If it loads quick, looks decent and works the same in the main browsers, job done.

Don't worry about the validation or verification or whatever it's called.

 

And because it's custom, it'll probably get more attention than a glorified blog.

 

I want to believe that you are being sarcastic here

It's ok, but its not great.

If you want to create websites properly I'd suggest using DIV tags rather than tables. Tables are meant for data NOT layout.

I want to believe that you are being sarcastic here

 

Took the words outta my mouth.

I want to believe that you are being sarcastic here

 

 

I agree. Posting for feedback within the web design community should result in ground level constructive responses.

 

<table> tags are for tabulated data. It's not at all snobby to give advice on the on the proper concept of coding.

 

As stated, table layouts are a no no. The site also seems very compact and could do with I breath of fresh air pumped in!

 

Keep at it, and I would defiantly suggest looking into xhtml and css and most of all, div and span tags ( span is only inline by default ).

 

Regards and good luck.

I wouldn't worry about the "table" snobs

 

that sort of comment isn't really needed now is it?

 

I stated that what I said was my opinion on the website, personally I would never use tables for a layout and was just advising that it is not to coding stanards.

 

If you wish to code that way yourself then thats down to you, but please keep you little comments to yourself, they are not welcomed.

I think it looks fine.

 

I wouldn't worry about the "table" snobs. Your prosepective customers don't and won't give a hoot whether it's divs or tables.

And they're all that matters.

 

If it loads quick, looks decent and works the same in the main browsers, job done.

Don't worry about the validation or verification or whatever it's called.

 

And because it's custom, it'll probably get more attention than a glorified blog.

 

Terrible statement here.

 

If you want good sound advice spacemonkey I'd listed to what waynede said.

table snobs?lol

 

Since I discovered divs I can't work without it for layouts. For the data only use a table.. Like all say above

DIVs do not always work properly and there are many differences between browsers (mainly older ones) which will change the way a page will render when made entirely from DIVs. Tables can often overcome these issues and are generally more stable and predictable across a range of browsers and platforms - not least of all with compact browsers such as those found on smartphones/tablets. Often these employ compression and layout alterations which can drastically alter DIV rendering.

 

Tables are very compatible and have been for a long time. For the very slight overhead in processing power they require to render as opposed to a DIV based layout, I see no reason not to choose them over DIVs if they work better for a given application. Just because something is not "best practise" on paper, doesn't mean that is so in the real world!

 

I like the site design, I think it is clean, uncluttered and straight to the point. Good luck with it!

Don't get used to tables or importing from photoshop. I fell into that hole, i now use divs, it's so much easier.

DIVs do not always work properly and there are many differences between browsers (mainly older ones) which will change the way a page will render when made entirely from DIVs.

 

While this is true to some degree, a simple 3-column layout (as is the case here) should not be affected. This situation would arise when the layout consists of several DIV's floated all over the place.

 

Anyway, back to the original question: To me, tables should only be used for tabular data - hence the name.

 

Why use DIVs? This link to StackOverflow pretty much answers it for me.

i agree with it looking a little out dated and basic, some of the portfolio is not great but then that could be down to price and what they wanted, not a bad start keep it up.

I agree with what every one has said about not using tables. You're not future proofing yourself there.

 

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but the drop shadow you you've used to seperate your content from the background is far too strong. It should be very light and subtle, just enough so that your site doesn't look flat. I'd recommend lowering the opacity of the the drop shadow to around 10%, then add 5% increments until it's just visible.