new website

[MartinB]

I have finally extracted a digit and set up a new web site www.astropixels.co.uk/

I'm still sorting it but if I wait until I'm happy with it it will never go live.

My internet skills are minimal to say the least so it's all simple html. As well as cataloging my images I want to put some useful stuff on there - processing and imaging techniques, a bit of a diary, ongoing reviews of equipment etc. I also want to feature the work of other ken imagers so I've started with Rog (which seems as good a place to start as any). I've used Rogers work to showcase what can be done with a simple modded web cam.

So it's a bit thin at the moment but I've made a start. I'd be grateful if you could have a look and offer any feedback but don't suggest anything too complicated!

[John]

Hi Martin,

I've just had a look over your new website and I like it a lot. I reckon you have got the look and feel of the site just right - inviting and informative.

Does it take long to set something like that up ?.

I'll bookmark it and keep popping back to see how it develops.

Regards,

John

[MartinB]

Thanks John. Takes me a long time partly cos I don't know what I'm doing. The longest job is the gallery. You've got to prepare the thumbnails, sort out the links and write up the description. Probably took me 2-3 days in total. More to do though

[blinky]

Very interesting, I have bookmarked it and will be visiting it again. Thats a fine selection of scopes you have. Very interested in your comments about the webcam results and also the ZS66 as that is what I am using at the moment (Or trying to)

[cygnusx1]

Nice going so far Martin.

Like your Nextstar 8" SC, really captured some great DSO images.

What camera where you using btw?

[MartinB]

What camera where you using btw?

It's an SXV H9 Cygnus

[anthony]

I'm glad you've got round to this Martin. Always felt that there is a lot to be learnt from you. I've periodically clicked on your www icon below your avatar to see what you had to offer(unfortunately it never led anywhere! - but now it will .)

Gonna go and have a look now.

Anthony

[tom.yates]

Great website Martin very impressed

[anthony]

Started imaging Feb 06. That is along way in a short time!!

Anthony

[beamish]

that's a nice site you have there Martin, well done. I honestly thought you'd been imaging a lot longer than that !!(feb 06)

Keep it up,

Karlo

[MartinB]

I'm just a noob with a bad habit!

[jonifive]

Morning Martin,

Just had a good read through the site. Like the layout a lot, I always feel that many astro web pages are too busy. Yours is easy to read and to the point. I like the whole one click system....click on a link and you go to that page, not to a pop up page. It is a better way to do things IMHO.

The image page is great, but you need to get back to work and upload some more of your top images.

If you read through the text there are a couple of typos, which spellcheck will never pick up on. I find that when you are writing, it is difficult to spot your own type errors. A tip that a proof reader gave me was to read the passage per word, backwards from the last, if you know what I mean, that way your mind won't fill in the gaps!!! Sorry to nit pick but I am sure you are like me and get annoyed when you spot your own typos.

From my own experience, don't get drawn into revealing too much personal info as the site grows. I had a Weblog which I ran for three years based on my own hobbies, Astronomy, Reefkeeping, Woodworking. It grew very quickly, until two to three thousand people were reading it a week. As it become well known, it also became a target for hackers and I realised how much personal information these people were able to glean from my site. Needless to say I closed it down ASAP. So, just be careful about how much info goes on it.

Sorry, I hope I am not being too pessimistic.......

Great web site, and good luck with it.

Jonathen

[centroid]

I'm impressed!!

Its plain, simple, easy to navigate and VERY informative.

I always like to know something about the guy behind the website, and the images on there.

With many amateur astro websites, its "this is my gear, and these are my images". Personally, I like find it interesting to read how he or she, got into the hobby, and progressed through it.

You have included this sort of information, which for me, makes the 'site' more interesting.

I think that you have gone a step beyond the 'norm', in that you have included an in depth review of your personal experiences with equipment that you have used.

For the newcomer to the hobby, faced with a confusing array of telescope types, apertures, and prices, this type of information is very useful, as its based upon personal practical experience, and not hypothesis.

Personally, I would have no hesitation in 'going live' with the 'site' as is. IMO, there is no problem with having 'pages under construction' as part of a developing website.

A 'guest book' can be useful in getting 'feedback' from people viewing the site.

Anyway, I reckon you now have a 'solid base' on which to continue developing the 'site' which, in reality is never completed, as new info/images will be added from time-to-time.

So, my view is, go with it as is, and let it continue to grow as you go along.

Dave

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Very nice website MB, nothing to be ashamed of at all.

Kaptain Klevtsov

[geppetto]

Well done that man

As you probably found, getting the content together is the hard part and you

sure haven't skimped on that.

Very nice website Martin and worthy of being up there with the rest..

Some suggestions...

Since your site will be content heavy (pictures and text), at some point, you need

to loose the Hotmetal software and learn to use a website builder that will take a lot

of the housekeeping tasks such as auto generation of quality galleries and such.

Also, like the pros do, set your site at 800 pixels wide and centred so that it's good

on any size of monitor (FLO's site is like that (and mine ))

A bit of excellent software that I can highly recommend (tried most of the others)

is this one http://www.wysiwygwebbuilder.com/index.html

It's simpler than it looks but extremely good at the housekeeping stuff and worth getting to

know.

Anyway, don't take this as me being critical, it's just that I've been there and your site is

going to be so rich in content usefull to others, that at some point down the line it will

deserve the best that modern HTML design can give it.

Wonderful start, congratulations 8)

[MartinB]

Wow, thanks for the positive feed back guys and the very constructive suggestions which is exactly what I was looking for. I'll keep ploughing through looking for typos and will give your link a try Phillip, problem is, all my "computer time" is normally spent working swotting up on processing and imaging skills. The thought of honing my web developing skills is a bit daunting. Mind you if it saves me time in the long run it will be worth it.

[geppetto]

Mind you if it saves me time in the long run it will be worth it.

That's the whole point Martin..

As the site gets bigger it could become unmanageable without some help from

the software and would become a chore rather than a pleasure.

An auto gallery feature saves many many hours of thumbnailing and linking

Your fine as you are for a good while yet though but I would already be saving

those images and blocks of text as files in connected folders somewhere safe

for cutting and pasting into the mark2.

[jakey]

I have booked marked the site, your pics of saturn are excellent and my wife says that your garden is also very pretty

[beamish]

I have booked marked the site, your pics of saturn are excellent and my wife says that your garden is also very pretty

Agreed !What really surprises me is, I thought I was getting into astronomy but in the last few months it all the peripheral interests that grow and the the skills base increases,eg, general science ,computer skills (I was a total novice until Jan 07 !),i.e. using/navigating programs and sorting out software problems. Internet, imaging ..........

It's just great in getting the brain exercised.So much to read... perhaps at some point it the future I might consider developing a website.

Good luck to you Martin,I'll certainly be an ongoing visitor.

Karlo

[gary1968]

Thanks for that Martin, I've just had a wee look round your web site and added it to my favourites.. 8)

I'll keep popping back to have a look, particularly interested what you have been achieving with the Toucam as that's my next investment.

Clear skies,

Gary

[MartinB]

I have booked marked the site, your pics of saturn are excellent and my wife says that your garden is also very pretty

:lol:I'll tell my wife - she does all the hard work, I just mow the lawn!

Gary, I hope to have a toucam primer on by tonight. In fact I hope to add quite a few processing primers this evening. They are all on SGL already although the images got deleted when iseestars went down.

[tenbyfifty]

Does it take long to set something like that up ?.

all you need is 1. web space * - which should have come free from your internet provider

2. a domain name eg astropixels (nice name btw) which you then direct to your webspace -

this should cost between £5-10 pa for a .co.uk and a little bit of skill in a programme

like 3. dreamweaver (my pref) or front page for creating web pages .

The time consuming thing is doing all the typing assuming you've got lots of interesting content like Martin.

the domain name isn't essential as your free web space should have some sort of web address you can send people

to. you can ofcourse pay for web space and the domnain name in a package from a hosting company which may also

include extra features like dynamic web pages which can be linked to external sources like databases etc.

* you will also need the necessary ftp info from your ISP so you can upload your web page files.

[tenbyfifty]

The thought of honing my web developing skills is a bit daunting. Mind you if it saves me time in the long run it will be worth it.

One major tip for aligning content on a web page is to use tables inside tables.

Don't get into creating complex single tables as you will spend all day failing to

put things where you want them to be by manipulating individual cells.

If you create an outer table and put tables inside its cells its much easier to make things

line up correctly. Sounds complicated at first but it actually makes editing easier coz

each individual table can be edited in isolation without affecting the rest of the page.

[FLO]

I can't get in

For me, the link goes to a holding page?

[MartinB]

That's odd Steve. I've checked the link again and it seems to be working. You did go to the link recently before it was launched. Is there something on your system that isn't updating?

Thanks for the tip Tenby. I've started using tables and they are a big help.