critique

stillife · 6-28-04, 05:41 AM

hi all,

i was wondering if you guys can offer a critique on my site, stillife.org. all comments are welcome.

thanks,

stillife

YvetteKuhns · 6-28-04, 03:59 PM

Upon clicking your url to visit your site, a new window opened. Then I heard Van Morrison's Moondance! I had to search to navigate the site and saw there were other songs available to play. Do you have permission to play these songs on your website? You also posted copyrighted literary works. You must request permission before using copyrighted works in a website.

The images took some time to load and the site contents appear in the upper left corner of the screen. Your contact page does not have your contact info, just a form to request visitor info. The site could use more text info.

Your resume says that you are skilled in web design and graphics. The graphics are very nice, but the site will be difficult to find on search engine results since the entire site was created in Flash. If you still feel the need to use Flash, consider using PHP pages with Flash.

I can see the previous page layer under the current page layer. Was this deliberate? It is distracting. You could include more info about yourself and make the site easier to navigate. The overall design looks nice and the images are very nice. Worth the visit to see the images.

oatesj77 · 6-28-04, 10:47 PM

i've to agree with Yvette, nice site though. navigation not very intuitive, but once i got thru the magazine i went back and tried again, much easier the second time around. repeat visiturs should no problem as they will have flash and an understanding of the navigation. for first time viewers, you may run into some problems. page 2-back cover? i thought it was all over or that i had skipped to the end, had to play around to get to everything (clear navigation structure on hach page will help) i did like that i had to explore a bit, but i expect that with flash sites, others may not.

overall very nice design work and the use of flash certainly adds to the site. you might consider adding an html version if you want to attract more first time viewers who stumble upon the site. the other big thing that bothered me was the lack of introduction, what the site was about. if i wasn't reviewing the site, i would have looked at the first page for about 2 seconds before going elsewhere-as i said not a problem for repeat viewers.

6-30-04, 05:34 PM

I don't think it's a good idea to put your site in a popup window. Your are using a "body onload" which calls a "window.open"... most popup blocking software will not allow this.

I'm using Mozilla Firefox which has an internal popup blocker. When I load your site the flash doesnt show up.

Why not simply put your flash on the main page with the black background ?

One more thing, I think the flash buttons to control the music are way too small.
It's hard to pause or stop the music.

Just my two cents, good luck

6-28-04, 05:41 AM	#1
stillife Registered Join Date: May 2004 Location: Nowhere Island Posts: 17 Reputation: 5	critique hi all, i was wondering if you guys can offer a critique on my site, stillife.org. all comments are welcome. thanks, stillife

6-28-04, 03:59 PM	#2
YvetteKuhns Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Allentown, PA USA Posts: 14,885 Reputation: 447	Upon clicking your url to visit your site, a new window opened. Then I heard Van Morrison's Moondance! I had to search to navigate the site and saw there were other songs available to play. Do you have permission to play these songs on your website? You also posted copyrighted literary works. You must request permission before using copyrighted works in a website. The images took some time to load and the site contents appear in the upper left corner of the screen. Your contact page does not have your contact info, just a form to request visitor info. The site could use more text info. Your resume says that you are skilled in web design and graphics. The graphics are very nice, but the site will be difficult to find on search engine results since the entire site was created in Flash. If you still feel the need to use Flash, consider using PHP pages with Flash. I can see the previous page layer under the current page layer. Was this deliberate? It is distracting. You could include more info about yourself and make the site easier to navigate. The overall design looks nice and the images are very nice. Worth the visit to see the images. __________________ Yvette Kuhns Power Pages Web Design Customized Internet Advertising Solutions

6-28-04, 10:47 PM	#3
oatesj77 Shiznizal Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 672 Reputation: 33	i've to agree with Yvette, nice site though. navigation not very intuitive, but once i got thru the magazine i went back and tried again, much easier the second time around. repeat visiturs should no problem as they will have flash and an understanding of the navigation. for first time viewers, you may run into some problems. page 2-back cover? i thought it was all over or that i had skipped to the end, had to play around to get to everything (clear navigation structure on hach page will help) i did like that i had to explore a bit, but i expect that with flash sites, others may not. overall very nice design work and the use of flash certainly adds to the site. you might consider adding an html version if you want to attract more first time viewers who stumble upon the site. the other big thing that bothered me was the lack of introduction, what the site was about. if i wasn't reviewing the site, i would have looked at the first page for about 2 seconds before going elsewhere-as i said not a problem for repeat viewers. __________________ Jackson stylepoints.net - web/graphic/design/

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6-30-04, 05:34 PM	#4
magagnon Posts: n/a	I don't think it's a good idea to put your site in a popup window. Your are using a "body onload" which calls a "window.open"... most popup blocking software will not allow this. I'm using Mozilla Firefox which has an internal popup blocker. When I load your site the flash doesnt show up. Why not simply put your flash on the main page with the black background ? One more thing, I think the flash buttons to control the music are way too small. It's hard to pause or stop the music. Just my two cents, good luck