beta website, opinions?

spidermonkey

hi.
just in the process of making a portfolio website for myself,
here is the beta version. but you get the general idea.
at the moment its 1024x768 resolution monitors only. but i'll make 800x600 once the kinks are fixed and the 1024 site finished.
also a html in the future too.

click here!

all comments welsome. even the bad ones

Rollo Tamasi

Hi Shane, are you planning on doing a HTML version in the near future. A lot of people get fustrated with flash loading times, especially if they're return visitors and they have to sit there and wait for something that they have seen a hundred times before. If there was a html and flash version available i would personally check out the flash site first, as your site is design based, but i would most often use the HTML one after that as it's more accessible.

Also this code <width="1024" height="570"> is going to give nasty scroll bars to a lot of visitors. Some JS can be deployed to detect the browser size of the user and then by using those variables can deliver a flash movie to the size that won't cause scrollbars. Edit: just saw this now "at the moment its 1024x768 resolution monitors only. but i'll make 800x600 once the kinks are fixed and the 1024 site finished."

I'd use individual pre loaders on each of those photographs too. Are you using any XML to deliver the photographs? XML & Flash go hand in hand with one another for dynamic menus/streaming/content and images. By using XML files to hold your content you can easily update your site instead of having to edit the fla and then publish to the server.

forbairt

initial impressions ...

nice .... simple ... but I want a html site ...

The load times are unacceptable ... I almost closed it while the designs were loading ...

If you're going to use flash for this then I expect flashy stuff
Personally for websites I don't really like flash ...

but if you are going to do it ... do it like this
http://www.lookandfeel.com/index.asp

Rollo Tamasi

that's a bit too much in fairness. How do i turn off the music? meh.
Websites should not do stuff on their own, they should wait for the user to click a button before playing some music or doing a big intro when it's not needed. It's bad usability.

I'd personally only ever use flash on a site with an 3:10 ratio to HTML (approx of course )

Shane have you considered posting this thread in the webmaster/flash forum?

ErinGoBrath

Very clean look to it. Nice.

One thing I will say though is that the side could be more compact. Its very wide with alot of empty space on the interface. If you made it small it'll look neater and you can still have you pictures the same size.

You graffti style brochere is excellent by the way!

spidermonkey

what music? i do have an mp3 that i created in garageband hosted in the same directory unless thats managing to load, but it shouldn't.

anyway i'll post in the flash forum in a few weeks, i just wanted to get initial responses to usability. well i have a widescreen mac so i designed it on that and it looks small enough on the screen, the benifit to flash in my opinion is that browsers cant distort it like html in explorer or firefox or safari. but as said i'll be doing other versions, the flash browser sniffer is a good idea. then it narrows options to flash or html for the end user.
as regards flash i have it so that the main flash file loads the design or photo flash file containing all the embedded images, but i will load each image individually as rollo suggested as it may be more convinient so that the html and flash can work off the same photos in the future.
im not that experienced in html, but after buying a webdesign mag today css is interesting me. any advice on where to get tutorials on it?
thanks for the input!!
sm

ya i giot a lot of good feedback from people on the graffiti project. the college is using it for promo material for possible students and the new department website.

Rollo Tamasi

spidermonkey wrote:

what music?

i was referring to the site that error9 posted

CSS sites:
A List Apart
CSSVault
ZenGarden

There are tonnes of them! But they would be the ones i would recommend. Error9 will be able to give you some better advise about CSS than me

heggie

i've nothing against totally flash sites (my one is atm too) but i see no reason why yours is made in flash?

sdssarah

hey, i like the design of the website but i have a few comments:

first of all, its alwaays better to design a website in 800x600 because eventhough i have a 1024x768 im still getting scroll bars, which is really ugly and annoying. if you design for 800x600 then 1024x768 can view it with ease and 800x600 can view it fine too. its just a better way to work until people start getting really high-res monitors

second of all, i agree with whoever said the load times are WAY too slow. im on broadband and even my patience was tested. and there is a lot of unused space, it doesnt need to be as wide as it is.

you might also consider not putting so much work up. usually when you create a print portfolio you only include you absolute best work so that when the client sees it, they are really impressed. by putting up too many design online, you may think that people will get to see how diverse you are, but honestly, in truth most people spend less than 30seconds on a website, so you have to be able to WOW them in that time. think about that

hope those comments help, best of luck with the website,
sarah

spidermonkey

i like css!
zen garden is savage. & look and feel is annoying.
thats just what i need. so im gonna dive into css and
hopefully learn something. i might still use flash for
loading photos and images, cos i dont like the idea of people saving my images.
look dont touch!

for anyone else reading this and interested in css. i found this site
http://www.mako4css.com/index.htm
it looks helpful enough.
thanks for the input.

ohh ya i figured out that when i updated my hosting account to premium i forgot to set the links to "turbo" download links. so the info would only trickle along.

i'll throw up beta 2 in a few more weeks, hopefully more polished.
sm

phantom pooper

you like the word beta dont ya?

i say keep the flash. its professional looking, clean flash that works well. did you pay any attention to file size when you were making it? there seems to be alot of areas with nothing in it. maybe reduce the size all around. dont even go as far as 800x600, its so limiting and for such a small minority of people.


also are you planning on including personal info like a CV or anything?

Hobbes

1. You are going to alienate anyone with a slow connection. I'm on broadband and it took ages to load. I forget the exact number but I think it is if your site doesn't load within 5 seconds people will leave without ever looking at it.

2. Flash looks nice but a lot of people can't see it proberly and it is not accessible supportive.

3. Never design a site to a fixed resolution. You have no idea what resolution someone else is using. For example 800x600 looks like a tiny site in a sea of white on my screen. Likewise with 1024x768.

For anyone with a lower resolution they are going to have a scroll bar nightmare.

I recommend the following.

1. recode the flash so it doesn't try to load everything.

2. If all the flash is a fancy menu function then bin it.

3. I recommend you look into AJAX/CSS/Dojo. A good example is ...

http://www.csszengarden.com/

It is the same website content but other people create the design independant of what is in the website.

4. Learn that not everyone is using flash, or a normal browser for that matter.

projectmayhem

1. Use images/HTML, flash is nice but only when used properly

2. Resolution - you can't dictate to other people what res to use. My browser stretched on your site

3. If it's a portfolio website don't host it on freewebs. Get yourself a domain and some proper hosting, it just makes you look more professional

tails2

ditto to what has been said. one of the main problems i think is that it is very basic with no real added functionality that couldnt be represented in normal html. it is a nice layout and the magazine is awesome but no need for flash.

if you are looking for hosting you should throw bytesize webdesign an email. they are irish based and offer the best irish prices around for the amount you get and they have lots of different packages. link: www.bytesizewebdesign.com

their site is down for renovations at the moment but i could get you the info if you are interested.

keep buliding anyway... practice makes perfect, and all that.

Gordon

Very nice apart from the load time and the width.

Large point - the menu says "illusration" - that should be "illustration".

mtracey

I like the look of it, simple interface etc... too long to load up the photographs section I thought and I have a 3mb broadband link.

I did like the photographs though