Okay, so the big image of me in the chair in the main frame is going to be replaced. The index page image will be some picture of me directing... and the other pages will be random pictures of me doing movie-making type stuff with a lot of negative space in the frame to fit all of the content boxes etc so that they don't overlap me. Make sense?
I'm proud of myself because I learned the basics of php to code the dynamically rendered "featured videos" section, as well as the news feed from a word press blog. Woo hoo!
Here is the link to the test layout. Brutally honest feedback would be hot, as I'm certainly not a web designer: http://benmakesmovies.com/test/
Tiberath wrote:
When you first load the page, there really needs to be something in the site content section. It is just weird otherwise, weird like walking in on your parents doing it weird. haha... I'd like to see if other people feel the same way. I'm personally a big fan of negative space and all of that, but like I said I'm definitely not a designer. One of my original thoughts was to do a quick funny webcam bit where I talk about the site for 30 seconds and embed the flash player on the index page... so we'll see. Also, I do like the tabs, but to add the effect, depending on the loaded page, they should change colour to reflect what page you're on. It looks sexier and adds a touch of professionalism to it. Ahh good call. I totally neglected to do this, and you're right: it would look a lot better. That background image really does suck and needs to be replaced, but you have that covered already. Yup it's just a placeholder. Thanks! | |
Well, although the URL is a dead give away as to what the site is about, people are stupid. The first page loaded should really always be a small description of the site, what's happened in the past and plans for the future. Even a welcome message is better than nothing. Something to hook the user into exploring more of the site is always necessary. =P
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Yeah, good point. I may give the webcam video approach a whirl and see how it comes off.
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It's also a good idea to archive your website. So when you make the change to the new one, have a backup to the old one and a link to it. I don't know why, but people often seem to find that cool. Personally, it's probably something I'll never bother doing, but who knows, it could work out good for you.
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SilkWizard wrote:
Yeah, good point. I may give the webcam video approach a whirl and see how it comes off. Dialup users everywhere shall hate you! | |
Nadrew wrote:
Dialup users everywhere shall hate you! Hey, I figure that if people are still using dialup, that they have bigger problems to worry about than waiting for my site to load!!! | |
Tiberath wrote:
It's also a good idea to archive your website. So when you make the change to the new one, have a backup to the old one and a link to it. This is actually a great suggestion. I want to link to my high school/college projects, but I don't want them prominently displayed on the new site. This would save me a crapload of time and effort! | |
SilkWizard wrote:
Nadrew wrote: There's millions of people that are still FORCED to use dialup, not every place in the country has access to broadband. You should always make anything over 500kb on a site optional to view. | |
I've always tried to keep a screenshot of every change my websites go through. That way I can see how they progress over time, and possibly revert to an older style that may have gotten lost over time. I've found that some people love my older page layouts, even when I thought they looked like ten tons of crap.
As for the site itself, I'm not a big fan of the colors. They work, but it makes the site seem rather bland. It may be what you where going for, but the site needs to stand out a little more. Basic designs are great, look at Google, but you have to be careful not to make it too basic, look at the default member's CSS. I would recommend throwing in a bit more contrast. [edit]Also, remove the borders on the images at the bottom, or make the border a better matching color. | |
Nadrew wrote:
SilkWizard wrote: I second this actually. One of the first things we were taught in Info Processing and Management, is that a websites main page needs to load and be usable in under twenty seconds, for all connections. This way you don't bore your viewer to death with load times. Though in theory, seeing as both my websites are currently bland, unvisited and boring, I don't have much to say about it all <.< | |
I personally find the colors quite bland; try adding more contrast.
Also, the font on the tabs bores me. I'm not saying to go and use Wingdings, but having that over-sized lowercased and bold-faced (and ugly, to me) text is kind of a downer. Finally, once following a page via tab, I couldn't find any links back to the benmakesmovies.com/test page. That's just not nice! =P | |
Can I be a tester on AA baby?
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NO U
I mean, no me! | |
I'm seeing the left side of the about section run down past the border and into the picture in Firefox with a 1024x768 resolution.
Other than that, the site is not loaded with Flash like network sites. That automatically makes it better. ;) | |
Also, I do like the tabs, but to add the effect, depending on the loaded page, they should change colour to reflect what page you're on. It looks sexier and adds a touch of professionalism to it.
The colours blend well, I quite like them.
That background image really does suck and needs to be replaced, but you have that covered already.
Not bad at all.
Additional:
In your videos.php, hovering over the images, it takes a while for the coloured equivalents to appear. It'd be a good idea to load them while the user is viewing the page as well, instead of just on the mouse over. How to do that I'm not so sure, one idea could be an invisible iframe.