Topic: review please: dentist's website

Hi all!

I am almost done with a clients german dentist website. It is coded in XHTML and CSS only (i am quite excited about that) and validates just fine.
The goal was to create a very usable, light and accessible website with no fuss. The whole site is 56kb including graphics but excluding photos.

I know the site valdates but please comment on the coding (please no flames for the DW template) and css. Also please check exotic browsers if possible and let me know how the site displays. Please also look at the site with the eyes of a potential patient. What could i improve usability-wise?
What do you think about the services page (Leistungsspektrum)? How could i improve that?

The photos on the site are missing. I have not received them from the photographer yet.

THE SITE IS IN GERMAN
http://www.zahnarzt-burger.de/default.htm

<´¯`·.¸ Patric ¸.·´¯`>

[This message has been edited by patric design (edited 10-01-2002).]

Pity...

I was hoping to at least get a few expert opinions on the site from this forum.
I am the only one of the last couple of site review post who stuck to Emperor's webdesign critique faq yet nobody even replied to this. Is it because the site is in german?



<´¯`·.¸ Patric ¸.·´¯`>

I like the colors and layout. Simple and nice.

But I think you could do something more with the menu. Right now it looks like something you just threw together in a hurry. Not excatly sure what do do with it, but maybe fix so the 'hover background' spans the whole menu and add a border around it.

Another little thing I noticed is the horizontal bar under the logo. It doesn't fit with the vertical 'stripes/bars' in the background. I'm not really sure what makes me say it, but it just kind of feels wrong.

It so expert opinion, but its hopefully better than nothing

_________________________
Anyone who has lost track of time when using a computer knows the propensity to dream, the urge to make dreams come true and the tendency to miss lunch.
- copied from the wall of cell 408 -

The vertical bar background makes the main text difficult to read. You might consider putting a background under just the text to see how that looks.

. . : slicePuzzle

Hmmm, lay-out ok, I like the dotted borders on the menu. Makes it look like a postage stamp.
Colors are good but, overall, the page is quite bland. I agree that the vertical scan lines interfere with the text.
I suggest you try for something astetically pleasing for a br, probably an accent color...

Allewyn

First of all: Thanx a lot for taking time to review this.

The horizontal blue bar under the logo:
I have noticed this also and I'll try to give it a vertical line look as well, so it goes with the rest of the layout and style.

The vertical background:
This is part of the clients corporate id and i can't change it (the print materials look just the same). I was hoping that the background would be mellow enough for it not to be a problem with the text. I don't know how to fix that one yet. I have to come up with an idea for that later.

The menu:
Thanx @Veneficuz. I have tried fixing up the menu a bit with full width hover styles but i ran into trouble.
When i add display:block to the a:hover styles, it looks like there is an extra line break added to the links. When i hover the mouse over a menu item, all other items go down one line.
I tried it without <br /> tags in the menu but then other erratic effects occur (menu breaks completely).
width: 100% didn't help either (with or without br tags)

What is the problem with this style?
Any help appreciated. I will post the code later wehn i am home.

<´¯`·.¸ Patric ¸.·´¯`>

This little page illustrates how you can make the background span the whole width. There is also a little link there to an article at A List Apart that might of interest...

_________________________
Anyone who has lost track of time when using a computer knows the propensity to dream, the urge to make dreams come true and the tendency to miss lunch.
- copied from the wall of cell 408 -

[This message has been edited by Veneficuz (edited 10-07-2002).]

Thanx Veneficuz

i have updated the site with most of the suggested changes (except for the background).
Please have a look here:
http://www.zahnarzt-burger.de/default.htm

NetScape 7 doesn't like the menu though and displays the ul blue bullets left of the menu div. However if you don't know it, one might think that it is part of the design.

<´¯`·.¸ Patric ¸.·´¯`>

[This message has been edited by patric design (edited 10-08-2002).]