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http://members.fortunecity.co.uk/tonybond1/cave/homepage.htm

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• Main page

Problems

Note, I have removed all the cookie stuff from this mirror, as well as the right click catch, and all the JavaScript that pops up ad windows and ad pictures on the page.

• Far too many gimmicks, mostly totally irrelevant. Marquees, Java, JavaScript, Animated Gifs. Ok, have some but this is far too many. It is obvious that this person has just found gimmicks on other peoples' sites and decided to copy them onto their own. The problem is their page is just not big enough so it has just become overcrowded.
• Underlines everywhere - which ones are links? None. The pictures that are hiding at the bottom are.
• Colours, colours and more colours - a colour scheme is ok but this is so over the top.
• Slow Microsoft fade-ins between each page. No chance of fast browsing here.
• The background image is so small, it looks wrong, even on an 800 x 600 display.
• Quick links at the top only work with JavaScript, and only in IE and Netscape. Ok, I'll let them off because if you try hard, you can find your way around using the other links. (Note, these links are not on my mirror of the site).
• Because it is hosted by FortuneCity, you have to have cookies enabled to view it. If you don't, all images are replaced by FortuneCity logos. Not only is this an invasion of privacy, but some people cannot accept cookies. Sort your act out FortuneCity, please! What makes this worse is that they don't even tell you why it failed. You have to search the hosting site to find out.

http://www.dhtmlshock.com/

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• Forum page

Problems

• This site looks fine in most current browsers, but there is something very wrong with their CSS in older browsers. Try a browser like Opera 5 or 6; the background turns black and so do the links on top of it. They use JavaScript to set the CSS and they use browser specific JavaScript. As is always the case, you should make the default look good (or at least visible), not just the look that is created using script.

http://www.grimsoc.homestead.com/home.html

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• Main page

Problems

• Yellow text, white background and a dark background image. You can't see the text without images.
• Useless and needless browser specific script (removed) giving only Netscape and IE. You cannot view the page in anything else!
• If you view the page without JavaScript, you cannot see the page (removed by me).
• If you do not use frames, javascript will reload the page into the frameset. Basically, those last two points together mean that you cannot view the page without both frames and JavaScript.
• They have removed it now since I complained, but they had a search facility as their means of site navigation. It was held in an iframe with no alternative. So if your browser could not view iframes, you couldn't do anything.
• Last but not least, I tried a gimmick they had on the site. It's like that magic 8 ball thing. You ask it a question, shake the cube around with your mouse (Java), let it roll over and it gives you an answer. The answer was so perfect I had to include a snapshot.

  

http://www.giveitup.com/

Previews

• Only page

Problems

• I fail to see why people do this. Register a site, and put - well - this there.

Last modified: 4 September 2008

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