What makes a great website?

David

Your website looks pretty good except for GIVATHAFAT which took me a while to translate. No frills, same as ours although our website covers more than 4x4 travel.

When I go to websites I don't want to see bling or pop-ups etc. I basically go there for information for research purposes. Annoying advertising such as the Nissan advert here on EO really puts me off. It is only visible when I have Explroz open in another browser open though.

You could include photos of your travels within each story which you have written.

I see you were in the Top End Club. I was in the Suzuki Club which became the TEC...but that was along time ago :-)


Cheers

I wish I had the software to do webpages like the one in the link, when you open it click the Broadband Version on the left side , I am commenting on the webpage only, NOT THE FOOD ,

Take Away Food


.

Good evening Grungle.

Went to your web site, and looked at your air compresor set up, look's good, as i will fit something to the toyota 12ht and pump it to my air tank i have on the front. your web site is easy to look at.

Cheers for now... William H... Bunbury...WA

Hi David

I started reading this post over three HOURS ago :-) I like your website; clean, uncluttered, easy to follow and return to home page.

If you want to, have a look at a web generator program I would recommend ezgenerator. I've used it for a client in the past (I'm retired, so he now maintains the site himself). Has a lot of useful features that I am sure you could use. Price was US$99 when I bought my copy - now says US$129 or 99 Euro.

Spent the last few hours looking at the aussieswag camper site. Wow! I'm very impressed with that camper. All I have to do now is convince the treasurer to part with the funds.

Malcolm

Hi David,

After spending 18 months down in the big smoke, and now finally arriving back up to Cannonvale (still have my home in Mackay as well), can i ask that a couple of local trips/info be placed on your site.

There is not much info about this area online, so any info would be appreciated by others. Information is what drives me to yours and others sites, and articles like your 12V system (http://www.grungle.com/dcsystem.html) are well written and informative. It is hard to find that article though and it may be useful to place it in your tech section as well. ;-) (it's bad when you can remember seeing an article on a site yet can't find it again when you need to show it to someone :-))

I always like the clean, easy to navigate site that you have set up.....the less clutter the better IMO.

Hope this helps.

Andrew

Simplicity is important. Long drawn out reports or page after page of photo's generally see's me bail out before reaching the end of a topic. A handful of good quality photo's that load quickly are better than 50 average ones.
An easy to use index with a seach function that works is important. I like a site that when you hover the mouse over a topic, the 1st paragraph is highlighted so one gets an idea what it's about without actually opening it up. (Pet hate of ExOz)
Adds don't bother me as I disregaurd them mostly anyway & see them as a neccesary evil in having a good site paid for that is otherwise free.
My favorite 4x4 web site for ease of getting around & finding info would be AJOR
Cheers Craig............

Heya Grungle, Ive been designing and publishing sites for over twelve years and have published some of the bigest brisbane business's and a few national brands...

I like where you are heading with the current site... A good mix of imagery and text with some basic code, like the blue hyperlink in the middle of the your text, always makes a site look good, sorta "utility".

I would keep going with your current layout and migrate everything to a server with mambo... dont waste money on website software when it is free anyway.
The only reason I mentioned mambo is because clients of mine have found it delightfull to work with. Mambo is free soFtware installed on your webserver. It's also easier working directly off the webserver. Mambo has a large community base and has great support.

Once you've got the site layed into the server start adding quiet/non-obtrusive links to everything and put some nice quiet buttons down the left side....

a comment - I was dissapointed the image box's accross the top didnt link anywhere. To me the images looked like lead-ins to a really interesting weekend story.... that would have kept me on the site longer...

also, dont link out, youve just put huge energy to get them there...or install some "pay per click" links and invoice the companies that people leave you for... they shouldnt mind if your getting traffic to thier door...