Javascript in-page scrollbar

[cschu]

issue was resolved thanks

[cschu]

does anybody have any ideas?

I am sorry for I am aware that the website has quite a few scripts and that one could think that it'll take quite a bit of time to try to help my case - but the 2 scripts from DD and the lightbox script work perfectly fine on all pages - the scrollbar issue only occurs on 3 pages on the website - so i'm thinking the issue is within the scrollbar script itself only - I don't know how to explain this anomaly of the issue occurring on just 3 pages of the 30+ pages website...

any help would be greatly appreciated!

[cschu]

anybody?

[Beverleyh]

Get rid of it if its causing problems.

You're actually in violation of their terms anyway since you're not linking back to them which seems a pretty steep requirement anyway IMO.

terms of use:
there WAS just one, if you want to use this scrollbar includ back link to http://www.webdesigners.sk on every page where is this scorllbar used or just on your home page.

[Beverleyh]

Are your pages supposed to look like this?: http://i55.tinypic.com/1zfrltg.jpg

You appear to be wasting a lot of space for the sake of a zigzaggy background image and/or images that dont load properly.

Making your text content more easily accessible should probably be your primary concern - further support for why you should consider loosing the iffy scrollbars.

More on images;
The code on the about page suggests that you have a DD motion gallery installed?
Aside from it not loading, I'm suprised to see that you've coded 76 images into it, totalling 3MB (combined with all the other scripts). That seems hugely excessive when its having such an impact on your page performance. Wont 6-10 images suffice (images are meant to enhance and compliment text content rather than solely BE the content)? Maybe a dedicated gallery would be better suited? Either way, from an accessibility perspective, its better to give a visitor the choice of whether they want to click on something that takes time to load rather than impose it upon them without warning. Its inconsiderate and will ultimately drive impatient visitors away, which is a big thing if you consider that most people only wait about 4-6 seconds for a page to load a fair portion of content... and if it doesnt, they return to Google to click on a competitor's site!

[cschu]

thank you for your input!

and yes the image files are insanely huge...but it's the client's request nothin' I can do about it unfortunately...and yes the image section is using the DD Cmotion II gallery script found here: http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamici...ongallery2.htm - except it's modified so it loops infinitely

which browser are you using that doesn't load the images on the webspages? I have tested the site to be fully functional in IE7, 8, Firefox, Opera, Safari, and Chrome ...

the pages are all supposed to have the scrollbar at the top left hand and the image gallery running horizontally in the bottom half of the site like this (ignore the tapes please lol)

http://bit.ly/bywdKz

edit: oops missed your first post re linking back to their site - yeah I will have their link if i decide to keep their scrollbar lol

[Beverleyh]

OK - let me pose a question;

As a visitor to your site, would YOU hover your mouse over the motion gallery and wait patiently for all 76 images to scroll by?

Most definitely not! At least 60 of those pics are utterly pointless - noone's going so hang around to view them all and I've already decided to leave and visit a competitors site that loads properly with pics I can easily navigate...

Get your client to do the same exercise and ask if they enjoy the experience!

I bet they don't.

It may be your job to design their website but its also down to you to advise what is and isn't appropriate. I'm sure once you explain why the motion gallery isn't suited to displaying such a huge volume of images, and ask them to participate in my little challenge, they'll change their minds, even more so when they realise that the galleries don't load anyway.

BTW - I tried viewing your site on an Vista machine using FF and IE7 and also a windows7 machine using IE8. Galleries loaded intermittently on random pages (about 1 in 10 times) but withh javascript errors.

When a gallery did load I can see that your site does infact LOOK very nice but the bigger issue is getting it to WORK well too and unfortunately at the moment it doesn't.

[cschu]

thanks for your reply again - yes i have talked to the customer extensively about his decision but he just likes it this way according to him his PR firm reported no complaints after giving the site's link to a relatively large crowd....

I'm not sure why the site looks broken on your machine; is anybody else having the same issue loading the image with javascript errors?

I've tested my site on all browsers on both my PC and MAC laptops and desktops and there are no issues whatsoever I'm also on wireless internet here in my apartment...

just out of curiosity, when the gallery doesn't load in your browser(s) did it say what error it was? a while ago the site had a parsing error in IE on one page because I accidentally placed a script before closing the div tags on one page but there has been no issues reported since

[Beverleyh]

OK - now you've got my full attention - I work as a website technician for a specialist IT technology college, making/managing websites and internal intranets for local schools and I produce evaluation surveys and attend parent/student/stake-holder consultation forums to trial such things.

When your client trialled your website on his test-crowd, what evaluation questions did he ask them and what criteria did the subjects base their assessment on?
Did he give them a timed task to find 'x' product/service? (its amazing how difficult this can be)
Did he ask about ease of navigation?
Did he ask about layout?
Easy-to-find contact info?
Use of colours?
Questions about loading times?
Did he use subjects with a broad spectrum of technical abilities in his case-crowd?
Did he provide a comment box? What did they come back with? (its amazing what open-answers you get to things like this)

Its also useful to ask a website user;
What would encourage you to return?
What would you change about the website (major or minor)?
What are your 3 favourite things?
And conversly, what are your 3 least favourite things?

Anyway, back to the thread...

I viewed your site on 2 different machines and get the same problem with each.

Here's the error:

Message: HTML Parsing Error: Unable to modify the parent container element before the child element is closed (KB927917)
Line: 0
Char: 0
Code: 0
URI: http://ripstyle-brand.net/about.html

Once I've refreshed a dozen times and got it to load, I timed how long the gallery took to do a full circuit - it took 56 seconds - and that's without actually "looking" at the pictures while they were whizzing by. How many other pages take this format? As a visitor I know I wouldnt sit and wait for nearly a minute to get to the end ... or take even londer to browse the products.

And what about somebody who wanted to send a pic to recommend a product to a friend? What's their message going to be?
"Look at this page and scroll to picture 57 - its about 42 seconds in - to the right (if you go left, its different) - just use the timer on your mobile phone (you might have to borrow Jill's because I know yours is a circa-1999 Nokia brick)... or the microwave timer (dont forget to put a cup of water or something in first so you dont blow it up)... or your wristwatch (if you skwint and concentrate on watching the second hand tick by that long) Anyway, I really thought you'd like them".... AAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGGGG.

Sarcastic? maybe, but do you see the point I'm trying to make?

A dedicated gallery with easier navigation and a more manageable number of images on one page would be much easier to deal with... The above recommendation simply becomes "Look at page 3, 2nd pic - I think they're perfect for you"

On the whole I think you have a lot of things to think about. I've attached something that may help. Its a self-evaluation spreadsheet to help you nit-pick your work. I find it useful to put my clinical head on once I’ve completed a project and work down each section, giving honest ratings and noting down the positives and negatives at each turn. I think you might find the approach helpful too. This culd also form the basic of the survey for yout future website trials.

[Beverleyh]

I've just checked on an older computer in the office and cant even open the page: http://i56.tinypic.com/24zdjc7.jpg