Critique Site (www.militaryarabic.com)

[alannorman]

Gentlemen,

I've set up a site to teach Arabic to the military. I'm asking for critique of my site. I have a very basic knowledge of HTML, and VB.NET, but no real programming experience.

My intent is to develop the site further by password protecting the site and charging a small fee to access the classes, but unfortunately I don't know how to do that.

Also, I would like to add video at a later date.

Another question I have regards speeding up the downloads. Because of the size of the program which I'm sending out, It will always beg for more bandwidth. Does anyone know how to speed up the download process?

www.militaryarabic.com

Alan
alan.norman@gmail.com

[Mirzabah]

Gentlemen ...What? You only want men to critique your site?

[YvetteKuhns]

Too bad you don't want to here from women. I have a client from the FBI whose website is http://www.patrioticsecurity.org. You and he could exchange links. But you didn't here it from me. ;)

My intent is to develop the site further by password protecting the site and charging a small fee to access the classes, but unfortunately I don't know how to do that.

You could use .htaccess to password protect, but you will probably want to create a database to keep track of "customers" and to store your audio or video files. You will probably want to use php programming with MySQL database.

The look of the site looks very common Front Page. The color scheme or design doesn't feel appropriate for the site's target audience. The target audience is United States military, so red, white and blue would be nice. A basic white background is best for sites that instruct or have alot of text.

If you are accepting money online (via PayPal, for example), you should explain your payment, refund and privacy policies. The contact info does appear on your website, but a contact page with your business hours would be better. You can give additional info and may include a form there.

Another question I have regards speeding up the downloads. Because of the size of the program which I'm sending out, It will always beg for more bandwidth. Does anyone know how to speed up the download process?

If the files are too big or too many, maybe you should sell CDs. If not, you may want to use a script to keep track of the bandwidth usage. Someone may get a message asking to try again in an hour, if you have reached your bandwidth limit.

You advertise on your site that the classes are FREE, but you are planning to charge access to your site. You may want to explain that on your website. I didn't see an About Us webpage to know who is teaching the classes.

[alannorman]

OK, my bust! I'm teaching a class of Marine Officers, who are all male, and as a result I've gotten in the habit of calling people sir. Again my mistake!

Alan

[alannorman]

Nah, my mistake, I'm teaching a class of Marine Infantry so I'm in the habit. My mistake, anything that you would have to offer would be great.

[YvetteKuhns]

We are just teasing you. I can tell you something and you can choose to ignore it. Women know men ignore us. We just talk to you anyway just to have something else to complain about. ;)

My habit is to explain things as if I am talking to a child. I have a son in first grade, but I also talk to people whose main language is not English, or people who don't understand computer geek. At least I am clear to more people that way. But some people may think that I think they are dumb. :o

[alannorman]

I know when it comes to speaking geek, I'm in the back of the short bus licking the windows. But I appreciate the help. And you know that it is your (women) fault that I can't speak geek. I could speak geek juuuuust fine, until I discovered that girls had more than cooties.

Alan

[YvetteKuhns]

When I met Don (my husband) for the first time, he was so nervous and stuttered. He was such a dork! My sister made fun of him the whole ride home from the classic car cruise. He really looked cool driving the 1967 Mustang fastback, then he got out of the car and spoke. :D

Actually, I spoke to him first. He had been spying on me every Saturday night at the cruises and I didn't even know it. The other guys weren't so shy. Who would have known that we would be married the next spring? Not me. I thought he was a dork! :D

Good thing we are talking via the Internet. I hope you don't get a virus from MY COOTIES! :p

[rodneyb74]

to easily password protect your site or directorys thierin go to
militaryarabic.com/+sitemanager and log in and you can password protect in there...

[ablaye]

One thing that I don't like is the name of the website itself :)
Militaryarabic.com ???? Sounds very confusing... Is there a such thing as a military arabic??? or shouldn't it be arabic for for the military or the army
Just my 2 cents...

[peachlunaria]

I have to agree with ablaye. I also found the name confusing. But, since I am new to this, I'm not sure how easy it is to change your domain name. However, www.arabicforthemilitary.com also looks confusing and kind of overwhelming. So, I'm not really sure what to suggest as a solution...

[alannorman]

I thought about putting some different stuff in the domain name, but I decided to make sure the domain name included what I'm putting out, and who i'm putting it out to. So far, everyone that i've given the domain name to says it will be easy to remember, which is always a good thing.

I considered putting somethign like Iraqiarabic.com, but decided against it since a google of that brings out a host of either Jihad sites, or Iraq news and gov't sites. And of course, every blog in imagination.

Alan

[dantol]

ops, posted reply to wrong topic.

[alannorman]

OK, someone should have told me about this little thing called Dream Weaver.....yeah.
Front page sucks.
Alan