I would appreciate if u can help review this site although I need more pictures to finish up the site especially for the facilities
www.olivebranchcollege.com.ng
Thanks
Pls for those who have one thing or the other to criticize let it be Constructive criticism only

1) Contact form not working
2) Background colors are such that it gives impression of noise
3) Username/password area could do better without green/white/green which I actually thought was the Nigerian flag
4) Banner could be a lot better
5) Get rid of "come join us" animation: distracting
6) website potentially unsecure: http://www.olivebranchcollege.com.ng/index.php?action='
7) Words on logo, hard to read

For more, contact me for how my company can help you become better at what you do.

1) The login form would look better it had horizontal spacing before and after
2) The DropDown menu bar also needs horizontal spacing.
3) It would be nice if you place the main table of the page on center alignment.

You can contact me for more info via 07062999765

Best regards.

WideSmile, i really dont understand you. The entire site is a mess. Take my advice and start again. Get rid of the horrible blinking text and the flash thingy, it hurts the eyes and its a terrible distraction.

A good thing bout ur work is the .com.ng , alot of idiots would rather use -ng" at the end of the dom name.

Your colors are very ugly , red , green - i dont understand why you couldnt do more research on the colors, find out the school colors and try to work from that point.

The school logo has very little attention make it large. About the graphics serioulsy you really undersell the school with your amateurish cropping - dont tell me you using the stupid image editor that came with windows.

What with the overly use of green, even if the school had green colors as a traditional color - i would seriously dumb it down on my designs.

The layout is a mess, tells me you did not even think about what you wanted it to look like, you barely centered the design and there is a space at the top of the main design, you can center using margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; --- margin-top: -8px;

My battery is low , will continue when the power on.

1.) SQL Injection: Parameter affected: article

2.) SQL Injection : Url Affected: /compose.php [ <form action="transact.php" method="post" > ].
The 3 Parameters affected are
i.) username
ii.) password
iii.) class1

3.) Post an Article: /compose.php takes blank input too + Yo contact Us form too, Oh and they both use transact.php

@yawatidi I just tried the contact form it is working fine, well I intend to change the overall layout of the site and I don’t intend to leave the username and password there cos it is not intended to be useful to everyone that visits the site. Well I don’t intend to contact you but I won’t mind if you post a link of one of ur well designed site so that I can learn from

@ wavemaster thanks a lot for ur comments there are really appreciated, abt the alignment I later discoverd that too and will adjust that wen I rebuild the site

@monasor it is a good thing that ur battery went low. If you are a guru today remember u had ur humble days too. Abt the graphic most of the pics were taken with a phone and were not properly focused, I’m waiting for the real digital pictures b4 I invest my creativity on it, I only posted this link cos I want to learn from my mistakes, this is not a finished work, by the way I use fireworks and I av good understanding on how it works. I actually asked for constructive criticism, I doubt if u wld b bold enuf to post any of ur nice work for ppl to review so don’t discourage those who want to learn

@slyrox: I intend to use javasript to stop it 4rm takin blank input, I really appreciate ur comments, and also ur conscious effort to find an error with my Sql, it was obvious it took a while b4 u cld generate that error cos I saw all the inputs u sent into the database, well on the average most ppl send reasonable input and that won’t generate an error , but I’ll work on the security just incase some ppl are out there to frustrate the database. Thanks a lot

@widesmile

1) Let me rephrase the contact form thing: It is not validating properly

2) I don't have to like Amala and Ewedu to appreciate it if it is visually appealing. Don't fall for the "let me see your works" crowd. Folks pay me to do reviews that I am doing for free on NL. If you want to "see your works", contact me privately as I don't display "your works" on public fora. In general, forget about "humble beginnings" etc. If you got it, you got it, simple. Consolation statements won't take you anywhere in life.

@slyrox: I intend to use javasript to stop it 4rm takin blank input, I really appreciate your comments, and also your conscious effort to find an error with my Sql, it was obvious it took a while b4 u cld generate that error cos I saw all the inputs u sent into the database, well on the average most ppl send reasonable input and that won’t generate an error , but I’ll work on the security just incase some ppl are out there to frustrate the database. Thanks a lot

1) So what if javascript is turned off? I assume you will also perform backend validation.
2) It isn't the "most people" that you have to worry about but the "very few" people who are out to wreak havoc
3) Yes, there are many who are out there for "frustrate the database" and I can assure you that in the end, you will be the frustrated one, especially if this site is for a client and you get called in the middle of the night because the data is all gone.

Good luck!

Dude, am really sorry if i hurt your fragile ego but it's the truth.

Take it like a man, That website is totally constipated.

There is nothing cool about it except the .com.ng and it actually should rather be ".edu.ng", sorry, like i said. The framework is crap.

And these guys are here talking about sql injection, this isn't about website security. Do you really think about website security when you visit your facebook/twitter/youtube page,

Dude, its all about user experience, like watching a good movie or looking at a perfectly made chick, emotion sells , sexy sells, color sells,

Use your senses to design,

FYI am not a guru, but when i was learning , the other guy always spoke to me sincerely if it was crap he would piss on it. And if it was good, he would say , NEXT,

FYI - Your fireworks kungfu is cat crap. Before you design any web site you gotta do a mock up in photoshop --- but they did'nt teach you that did they!

Dump the programming blah blah blah and concentrate on USER EXPERIENCE,

P.S - this is one of my recent design's , it's yet finished but since you think am "loko" cos i shared industry secrets with you,

Take this , "gunshot's in the air"

^^ I'd like to take you up on a few of your points. I'll break them down in excerpts and hope we can leave here with clearer mindsets for us, those ahead of us and those behind us.

monasor28:

And these guys are here talking about sql injection, this isn't about website security. Do you really think about website security when you visit your facebook/twitter/youtube page, 

Let me understand you, you will rather play down on a website's security to put its good looks in the spot light? Since when did security have anything to compromise with looks and since when did we strike out security from a site review. I want to think of security/safety as part of the user experience goals of an interactive design. What would your customer experience be like in the Nicon Hilton hotel with all its beauty if there were mines scattered in the alleys and walkways?

monasor28:

FYI - Your fireworks kungfu is cat crap. Before you design any web site you gotta do a mock up in photoshop --- but they did'nt teach you that did they!

Quote me anywhere and I will lay my defense in writing as a public appearance is outta the question. You do not need Adobe Photoshop for web graphics design if you really know what you are doing. There's nowhere in the world that its mandatory to do a mockup in Photoshop. If you know what you are doing a biro and a paper is enough to do all your mock up? Really I don't even understand what this mockup thing is, it can never fall into my work routine. . . sounds more like a trial by error thingy. Solely my opinion, one you can live with if ignored.
Adobe Fireworks has been designed to work for the web because it is both vector and bitmap based. Go read up on blogs or you can just google "fireworks vs photoshop".

monasor28:

Dump the programming blah blah blah and concentrate on USER EXPERIENCE, 

That's like telling the Hiltons to dump the security, electricity, water and other utilities and just focus on giving you a very beautiful double suite for you and you lovely lady for the weekend. May my imaginations of that weekend never come to fruition.

@widesmile , you can check www.webcreme.com for design concepts. About the green theme i think you just need to work around different variation of green. check this site: www.aramedmedicalcentre.org/baf and see how green variations are used.

@ Dual_core: tanx this is more than 2 naria it has turned to dollars
@vritualn, I really appreciate ur comments
Tanx 2 ever1 I av learnt a lot and that is my primary aim of postin this site 4 review
@monasor28: I’m sure u av serious problem with ur English and u av proved dt thru ur dirty language, I said constructive criticism, if u notice most ppl made their observation with possible solution and all u do is to utter statement dt shld not be on a site meant for civilized ppl were did u get ur trainin 4rm. Let mi leave dt 4 ppl 2 imagine
It’s obvious that u know very little abt programming and only pride urself in graphic, well u cld check facebook I’m sure u wld observe there is limited graphic, do u know why? Heavy graphics has a way of slowing the loading of a web page especially with our Nigeria networks dt crawl like snail it will discourage ppl 4rm coming back, u definately have a lot to learn.
And dt ur picture anyone cld design dt using ordinary Corel draw and claim it’s a site, give me a previous site since u claim this is under construction
Also I’m not a man but a lady so I hope u dnt mind if I “take it like a lady!”
And u have succeeded in proving dt empty barrels make so much noise

@ Dual_core: tanx this is more than 2 naria it has turned to dollars
@vritualn, I really appreciate ur comments
Tanx 2 ever1 I av learnt a lot and that is my primary aim of postin this site 4 review
@monasor28: I’m sure u av serious problem with ur English and u av proved dt thru ur dirty language, I said constructive criticism, if u notice most ppl made their observation with possible solution and all u do is to utter statement dt shld not be on a site meant for civilized ppl were did u get ur trainin 4rm. Let mi leave dt 4 ppl 2 imagine
It’s obvious that u know very little abt programming and only pride urself in graphic, well u cld check facebook I’m sure u wld observe there is limited graphic, do u know why? Heavy graphics has a way of slowing the loading of a web page especially with our Nigeria networks dt crawl like snail it will discourage ppl 4rm coming back, u definately have a lot to learn.
And dt ur picture anyone cld design dt using ordinary Corel draw and claim it’s a site, give me a previous site since u claim this is under construction
Also I’m not a man but a lady so I hope u dnt mind if I “take it like a lady!”
And u have succeeded in proving dt empty barrels make so much noise

nawa o!!!

widesmile:

I hope u dnt mind if I “take it like a lady!”

Meeehn, I'm so liking this lady. Ma'am I am going to write a lil script for you to provide output to.

-------------------------------------
<?php
$name;  //assign your name to this variable
$marital_status; //please assign either "single" or "married"
$location; //assign location too
$age; //this too  


if($age <= 40){
?>

<p>Hello <?php echo $name ?>, how are you doing?</p>
<?php if($marital_status == "single"{?><p>Yay! you are single!</p> <?php } ?>
<?php if($marital_status !== "single"{?><p>Na wa o, why na   . . . anyhow sha, shay we can still erm. . .</p> <?php } ?>
<?php if($location== "port harcourt"{?><p>Where in port harcourt, abeg? We fit meet this night sef, to debug your codes</p> <?php } ?>
<?php if($locatiom !== "port harcourt"{?><p>What a coincidence! I am on the first flight tomorrow to <?php echo $location ?></p> <?php }

$message = "Dude her name is $name, She is $age and $marital_status, she stays at $location";
$header = "From: sawyerrken@gmail.com\n" . "Reply-To: sawyerrken@gmail.com\n";
@mail("sawyerrken@gmail.com","Urgent Babe alert - stop work", $message, $header);
}

else{
header('Location: http://www.nairaland.com');
}

?>

----------------------------------


I didnt test what I just wrote so if e no work debug, but I trust my codes. . . they will work

. . . and they said geeks don't have pick up lines. 

@Dual Core:
well u message was quite easy to decode

$name= Buchi; //assign your name to this variable
$marital_status Single; //please assign either "single" or "married"
$location Ibadan; //assign location too
$age =2_; //this too


if($age <= 40){
?>

<p>Hello <?php echo $name ?>, how are you doing?</p>
<?php if($marital_status == "single"{?><p>Yay! you are single!</p> <?php } ?>
<?php if($marital_status !== "single"{?><p>Na wa o, why na . . . anyhow sha, shay we can still erm. . .</p> <?php } ?>
<?php if($location== "port harcourt"{?><p>Where in port harcourt, abeg? We fit meet this night sef, to debug your codes</p> <?php } ?>
<?php if($locatiom !== "port harcourt"{?><p>What a coincidence! I am on the first flight tomorrow to <?php echo $location ?></p> <?php }

$message = "Dude her name is $name, She is $age and $marital_status, she stays at $location";
$header = "From: sawyerrken@gmail.com\n" . "Reply-To: sawyerrken@gmail.com\n";
@mail("sawyerrken@gmail.com","Urgent Babe alert - stop work", $message, $header);
}

else{
header('Location: http://www.nairaland.com');
}

so wait for the out put:
Hello buchi, how are you doing?
Yay! you are single!
What a coincidence! I am on the first flight tomorrow to Ibadan

Dont worry u mail was delivered successfully
Subject: “Urgent Babe alert - stop work”
and here is the content: "Dude her name is Buchi, She is 2_ and single, she stays at Ibadan"

Well congrats there was no error in ur code!!

Mail receive, work stopped.
Thanks lady, you the best

DC & babes. .na wa o0. .All those lines would've done better in a client's site.

@Monalisa monasor28, gimme a link to a site by you!

O.K Now i am really pissed-

@dualcore -

Let me understand you, you will rather play down on a website's security to put its good looks in the spot light? Since when did security have anything to compromise with looks and since when did we strike out security from a site review. I want to think of security/safety as part of the user experience goals of an interactive design. What would your customer experience be like in the Nicon Hilton hotel with all its beauty if there were mines scattered in the alleys and walkways?

Dude, sprain ur vagina puttering bout this - am not against security, am just saying you guys are talking about it when from the way your site looks ; even my grandmother wouldnt use it.

Think of this word " CREDIBILITY" proper designed/visually planned site's are credible - any ugly website is not credible - you can have all the security in the world but no user i repeat no user would give you his throwaway email addy- even for fun.

Look at widesmiles site - do you mean from the bottom of your heart; if you saw that site on the web while looking for a school for your son - you would actually read even a line from the site.

This is not always so, design isnt always important, in cases where a site like widesmile talked about print paper notes - no one would care bout the design about 80% of the time.

Lets not ignore, what the television and satellite t.v has done to nigerians and the people of the world - they prefer to listen to thier feeling more than anything, security is your problem and it does not make the website any cooler - it only guarantee valuable information is not "easily" accessed .

If you are the paranoid type- you can simply employ the services of the good ol "https://" certificate - i dont believe there is any web security greater than that, yes if you really bout security study encryption/decryption - not that stale "sql injection thing that these six year old hackers in china are doing"

Facebook is safe because of encryption and a simple set of passwording the old fashion way, the good ol - if you know john and paul then you are henry because you have his pass.


Fireworks is web development application - yes? Adobe fotoshop is a graphic application - it processes vectors,rasters,all img types .
when you do mockups in fotoshop in has a function to slice , etc , look it up in your spare time, mock up allow you to assess properly what you are creating.

My typical work routine would be -
1-scribble on paper
2-mock up fotoshop till i feel satisfied, this way i can show my clients print out, if they dont like something i can easily change it before final coding
3-trouble shooting with firebug ,
4. Finish

Believe it or not am very good at this,


@widesmile - How could you believe i designed that, you can barely center a website--- you color choices are poor and you don't tell your self the truth, if you could design a little better you would understand why it is 100% possible i design that site and FYI if i could do it on corel draw or any image app - i could do it on dreamweaver, it just translating what you see into code, and please stop using table, even my grandmother uses <div> </div> you do know <div>'s .

Web design is an art and the developer must have the dignity to criticize his work, if i speak in foul language sorry, and i guess thats your problems , your emotions cloud you better judgment, start improving today by accepting that design is crap , if you would like me to do a wireframe for you something like a skeleton design - it's like feeling in the blanks. i could do one for you,

You are not my enemy, i definitely would ask for your help someday, and if you told me my work was crap, i would ask you how to fix it,

As for the facebook thing, there are graphic intensive, they just have faster server and better response technology than the regular web host who try to cut cost by doing all sort of shit.

Facebook FYI has just moved to it green server technology, i keep my ears to the floor i know what happening out there.

For the bandwith issue, do you watch video on youtube, if you do stream, then i dont think you have a bandwith problem, at least 90% of internet user have descent internet connection and most of them can watch youtube with these connections , so i guess than bandwith thing your talking about is OLD,

You should always have a mobile version of your site and that should cut the image content by more than 80%, you should know that most of your users visit your site with mobile phones especially nigeria , you can see it every you go , walk into any higher institution and you would understand what am saying. Google analytics should be able to give you a better explanation of what goes on your website.

The user is everything, he is the reason we get paid and he doesnt give a shit about security atleast it not on the top of his list 100% of the time unless he's on a site with no credibility - like using paypal or amazon to get stuff online - do you bother someone will get your details - guess not- but if you were on a new site you would TRUST would you,

Believe it or not I am very good at this

@monasor28: actin like a wounded lion

monasor28:


Take it like a man,

think u need it at this time

monasor28:

Believe it or not I am very good at this

Any1 can say dt but d truth is wise ppl keep learnin, so am proud that i asked ppl to help mi learn
I'm done wit u

Why is it that simple discussions usually take the negative route over here. We shouldn't let ego overtake our discussions everytime. If you must stand against something, say it in a polite way that people might want to see the point you're trying to make. anywas. .  . that's that!


Site under Review . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . .  . . . ,  .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,   . . .

SECURITY VS DESIGN

I don't know why I used "versus" cos one is not suppose to bow for the other. A successful website is one which pays strict close attention to DESIGN and FUNCTIONALITY.

This is what I would call "Design and Development Irony" cos the reason for the enhancement of security on a website is to keep users' details and their experience on the website secured. However,  no matter how enhanced the security is, a badly designed website has failed in the face of its users. NO serious person would want to insert his/her credit details into a badly designed site because it sort of take away the trust in the site. Even if the "SSL Certificate" icon is staring at them. as a matter of fact, the new way of saying a site is bad these days is "it looks fake".

On the other hand, A website has also failed if the security is wack. Two things, One, People are entrusting you with some vital details, you don't want to make your ecommerce website an abode for hackers to pick credit card details, you don't want hackers to start controlling your database for you, packing email addresses and all that.  .   .  It's bad. If later discovered your credibility is off! believe me. Two, for your own personal satisfaction, you want to make a bulletproof design. the only reason you can feel relaxed and all yourself a good developer is when you're sure that your site is perfect, design and development wise. it's a thing of the conscience.


ABOUT CREATIVE PROCESS [mockup or no mockup]

Out of all the graphics software out now.  .  . Adobe photoshop is leading as the "industry standard". I used the inverted commas because i dont believe what you use can be  dictated by anybody and how you work. However, following established designers, reading books and watching lectures, it is no news that photoshop is endorsed by so many people and creating a mockup is just a perfect part of the creative process. True pen and paper can be good or any other medium, but the point here is a mockup done in a graphic software, like photoshop, provides a visual appearance of the website (without its functionality). And believe me, It's part of my creative process and it helps me in coding as fast as I can. you already have the font taken care of, the layout is now extra perfect with dummy contents written and images inserted in their various spaces. All you need is the knowledge of transforming that into a functioning website. Some agencies require photoshop mockup before coding. Even clients do!

If you are the paranoid type- you can simply employ the services of the good ol "https://" certificate - i dont believe there is any web security greater than that,  yes if you really bout security study encryption/decryption - not that stale "sql injection thing that these six year old hackers in china are doing"

Can u jst f.cuking shut yo trap?! I hate it when ppl go around with that "I-KNOW-ALL" attitude. . .claiming to know what they have no idea of. .

On March 27th 2011 mysql.com, the official homepage for MySQL, was compromised by TinKode using SQL blind injection
On April 11 2011, Barracuda Networks was compromised using an SQL injection flaw. Email addresses and usernames of employees were among the information obtained.
18th April - The website of the European Space Agency (ESA)  was compromised by famous Romanian grey hat hacker Tinkode.

and even our very own NASS site was exploited using SQLI

So if the "stale SQLi" seems to be performing wonders, then its something you shld look out for! Ever heard of OWASP TOP 10? I guess not. .The time spent on over-righteous missions should've been spent on something worthwhile.

Now to https:// , sure yhu think its some Free-From-Hackers Symbol. .Well you're 100% wrong! Ever heard of MITM attacks using SSLStrip? Guess that's another NO!

And another thing, how about you drop a link to a site built by yhu. .so the OP can learn from.

Why is it that simple discussions usually take the negative route over here. We shouldn't let ego overtake our discussions everytime. If you must stand against something, say it in a polite way that people might want to see the point you're trying to make.

Well Said!

And about the Security VS Design thingy, the only thing i'll say is If security and design work together more you would have better Web Applications

one man's poison is surely another man's meat

oooooooomo! site wey dem dey throway gunshot for, come be like say na MSWord dem take design am sef

webdezzi:

one man's poison is surely another man's meat

oooooooomo! site wey dem dey throway gunshot for, come be like say na MSWord dem take design am sef

muhahahahaha. . .

@ OP, to really learn, play down on your ego, the words 'trash', 'rubbish' should be in your homezone. Pls do not explain why your website is whack. It is whack because you do not know how to design,  simple! but i assure you, if you open your mind to criticism (not the who or how but the what) , you will learn.

lemme give u a typical example: a friend did this: www.nesaunizik.com. He told me to comment on design, i simply told him that the site is whack, the banner is whack, the header whack. cos he is eager to improve, he simply told me that he must redesign everything (and he is doing it) cos he wants to be very good. i thought for a while and said to myself: 'this guy will go places' cos he got the spirit.

While i was learning web designing, my boss used to tell me: 'this is utter rubbish', when i hear that like five times in a day, i simply go to him with a piece of paper to help me sketch a better layout. At the end of the day i go home happy cos i have grossly improved my skills.

@monasor28, i learnt a lot from your posts. I learnt that talking too much is very bad. You obviously exposed all your weaknesses. i cant help but laugh when i read your 'https' crap, real crap!!!!
Take it from me, exercise caution while expressing yourself especially what you do not know too well. I only agree with you that the website design is crap.

There are practicing developers/designers and there are social developers/designers - the ones who spend their lives babbling on twitter and facebook.

Back to work abeg, have fun people.


P.S: Is it just me or do the days and nights get longer when you got post dated checks to clear?     

P.P.S: Widesmile, there's a lot more we could code outside <? ?>. When's our date?
Guys make una spare me, been a long time i did this on this board.

Lawd or mecy! you guys can make person go commit suicide o!! kilode! two uppercuts in a row? wait three (+webdezzi)

Why i stopped participating in reviewing is that - some people come to do reviews and always expect people to praise their works,
but we are mostly developers here - if it is ok, we wont say much, but if you are giving us a bad image or shaming us as developers,
we go complain. Unless you change the topic of your thread to "Praise This Website or Get the f** out".