New WEB site at work

It's now about a week that we have our new WEB site online. I haven't been involved in it's design or anything but of course I'm quite interested in how it is perceived and what has to be done to make it better. It certainly is miles ahead the old pages, no doubt about that.

So if you have a few minutes to spare, have a look at the IOW pages and let me know what you think. I would prefer to get your verdict, comments etc. at my works mail ( ralf dot prien at io-warnemuende dot de )(you know how to reassemble that address). If it is more convenient for you, however, then use the message system of this site or leave a comment in this thread.

Your comments are appreciated be it praise or scathing critique.
Thanks,
Prieni

I won't pretend I read everything on there but I did my usual "site test" of moving between pages and making sure all the random links I tried worked - I'm pleased to report it passed this part of the test with flying colours!

Talking of colours, I like the overall scheme - very professional looking and easy to read. The menu system is also well thought out and easy to navigate. Everything loads quickly and without fuss so top marks there too.

My only (minor) complaint is the under-utilisation of ALT tags on your pictures. For example; on the home page when you hover over the main picture the only thing that comes up is the word "Header". The contents of ALT tags will turn up in search engines just like any other text and so you should use them to your advantage.

For instance, replacing the word "Header" with something like "A picture of the outside of The Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research located in Warnemünde and which is is an independent research institution specializing in interdisciplinary study of coastal oceans and marginal seas" will not only help your search ratings by doubling up on search terms, but will also be of more assistance to those using text-only browsers.

Other than that minor point though good stuff!

Hi Ralf,
I have mailed my findings to your business mail address.

martin.

The site looks very clean and is simple to navigate.

I do however think that it is inviting a tidal wave of spam mail by listing all staff names and email addresses.

Thanks guys for your quick replies!

I will forward the points you mention to the IT department.

Peter: I think the email addresses are not in the page source and a bit more tricky for harvesters to find. Personally I find it quite frustrating when I don't find an email address on an institute page.

Hefty: I'll forward that comment about the ALT tags (and I promise to make better use of them on my own pages).

Thanks for your help chaps, much appreciated!
Prieni