Need some advice

[Frogman_Pep]

and a bit of encouragement to help finish this site. It's definitely not done, I'd say about 75 - 80 %. So there is a bunch that needs to be fixed up, but it seems to be the time to get some peeps on what you like, don't like, and any other advice in directing me in getting this site good enough to convince an employer to hire me. I really want to work.

Check out: http://66.201.127.187 | frogmandesignz.com (hosting it myself and have to do a couple more things before frogmandesignz will work, so just use the numbers.


Andy

I felt I should add this. The Email and Background apps were used from Flash MX 2004 actionscript written by Jobe Makar and Derek Franklin. I recommend this book to anyone, beginner or expert. They did a pretty good job. I do plan on making my own graphics for them, and I did change the code a bit. So thank you very much Mr. Franklin & Makar it's been a pleasure working with you.

[Cota]

Andy, please dont take anything I'm about to say personally. If you want to be taken seriously in this industry you have to either have an eye for visual appeal or be a damn good programmer. I'm hoping your a damn good programmer, because there is no visual appeal in that site. The web, in my opinion, is a collaboration of great design with solid programming. I cant even begin to pick the desing apart. For help with the visual side, I suggest visiting http://forum.24-7media.de/
Great photoshop stuff there.

[Frogman_Pep]

Cota,

If you feel there is no visual appeal I could almost agree with you, becuase I haven't had the chance to put in many of the design elements envisioned. I just want to get this out, and show the design world this is what I've been able to teach myself and give an inkling of what I'd want to do with it; of course I've had the aid of a few friendly tips, many tutorials and books, and of course a lot of trial and error. I'm just hoping one company will be able to see what the future will bring, because no I'm not a damn good programmer, anymore, but I will be much better than I was before, which was pretty good, and I'm going to make some designz that blow your mind, just need a bit of time, some more hard work, and a good environment with people who are willing to share their expertise, experiences and whatever else they can lend.

So to explain the title, I'm not the type of dude that will get all pissy because you said there is no visual appeal, and left it at that. I mean at least give me some insight to why it doesn't appeal to you. Isn't that what these forums are about? Which is why I am/will going to take it personal and sublime that energy into these last couple of sessions. Because that is the type of dude I am, so thanks for the encouragement.

Andy

[Cota]

The fact that you're willing to take the step out and put it out there shows you are willing to learn and progress. The learning process never really stops when you think about it.

The visual side has no uniform feel. There is a lack of "pop" if you will. I will give you this, you are doing a lot. Hosting it, designing it, and developing it.

If you want graphics techniques or ideas, I'm always here to offer. As far as the Flash side, the entire community is here to help. Dont stop, you're on the right path to being great.

[newblack]

hey andy,

i remember a couple months or so ago, you had posted a previous rendition of frogman designz. i have to say that this is a HUGE improvement. much of the site's colors are complementary now.

hold on to that uniformity in your submenus and pages- right now in the lab section- there's a big texted stark red menu. it's like where did that come from? it should have that suedey/khaki sceme that the rest of the site does. this goes for your logo too!

the scrolling menu needs some work. either something is really making IT lag, or it's making everything else lag.

there are a few areas that seem close where you also made a peculiar design decision. for instance the date/clock in the top right. the colors match fine, the layout of the stuff at the bottom is good- but then you stick that italicized font in and move the timer up 100 pixels. unify the font and move the time down so that it fits in with the rest of the component- small changes like that will make a world of difference.

take Cota's advice and also look at the design of http://www.24-7media.de note how everything is purposeful. when it's hard to come up with a question of WHY someone did something, chances are the design is pretty prgamatic.

good luck and keep at it!

[Assertnfailure]

Either you are compiling at a low framerate, or your site is killing my computer. Make sure you're minimizing the number of unnecessary simultaneous repetitions, or else your site will become progressively slower every minute.

PS. I'm running this on a Dual 2.3 ghz G5 w/ 2.5 gb ddr2 ram

Edit: Considering it slows all my windows down...I'm inclined to suspect the latter.

[Frogman_Pep]

I did compile at a low framerate, so I could make the scroller run slow. Plus files have not been optimized to their best potential. This was pretty much my practice run, just getting everything together. Now that I have most of the code and everything else taken care; and with the assistance of a couple descent critiques, I'm going to start from scratch (but not really) and make it as slick as possible.

[Cota]

if you have questions, ask away, we're here to help.

[cghughes]

Here's something every designer has struggled through at one time or another: deciding which visual elements you need and which ones you don't. Here are some things that I hope can help you as you continue your redesign:

Define what it is you're trying to accomplish from the very beginning; who your audience is, and what you want them to walk (or surf) away with. Strive for that goal, and leave out anything that would detract from that theme. Sometimes it's not what you put into a design, it's what you leave out.

Stick with 2 typfaces for now: One sans-serif and one serif. Pick a pair that work well together and display well onscreen at various sizes. Leave the "eccentric" fonts out for now.

Rulers and guides are our friends.

Be a skeptic. Ask yourself lots of "why" questions. If you get even the slightest feeling that it takes too much effort to go from one place to the next, it is. If you are slightly unsure about any element, think about why it needs, or doesn't need, to be there. Let me play devil's advocate here. You chose a good typeface for a clock display, but why would anyone want to pay attention to a clock that is counting the time in seconds and slowing down my browser when I could look at the corner of my screen for my computer's display of time? What purpose does a clock serve on a website in the first place? Do I really want to count how much time I spent at the site? If you can answer any question like that and be completely confident that you still need that element, then keep it. If you honestly can't come up with a good purpose for every element on your page, consider changing it.

Hope this helps start the gears turning some more. Keep working!

[newblack]

nice suggestions, cghuges-

[Assertnfailure]

I did compile at a low framerate, so I could make the scroller run slow.
Yeah, you should never lower your framerate for the sake of slowing an animation down. That should only be a prerogative reserved for resource management. There are plenty of other techniques for making your scroller run slow.

[Frogman_Pep]

In reference to what newblack said, Yeah they were. I've made some adjustments but should have many more done by the end of the morning. I've been setting up the server, and all that fun stuff. Right now I'm piggy-backing off of someone else's server, waiting for parts to build my own. So until then keep checking it out at: http://66.201.127.187, if you feel like waiting, you are more than welcome to use: http://www.frogmandesignz.com. Much more will be done tonight.

I'll check in to see if anyone has anything to say.

No preloaders yet as I'm hoping to be able to reduce the file size enough and have the flow be dictated by the load order. I'm sure you guys wil let me know. Give me a couple hours or so.

[Graphic]

You seem very steadfast in improving your website, which I like to see. I'd like to comment on the design of your website::
1 - The white background. It probably throws me off of the rest of the design more than anything. WHITE isn't used in your design at all and it makes it look chopped out and plain. Try scaling your SWF to either fit the window or center it onscreen with a different colour or patterend bg.
2 - I like where you are going with your colour scheme, very Koi Pond to me. relaxed and peaceful, but some of the elements in your site throw off that flow. For instance the title bar has 3 different colours in it that you never really see in the bottom half of the site. try solidifying that.
3 - I don't understand the boomerang style stripes in the corners. plus the fact that they're striped. It may be because there's nothign in them yet, but i think you may benefit from circular corners instead of the boomerangs. (this is reliant however on the white background, if it is going to be full window, keep the semi-circle idea, if not and it is going to be centred, I'd suggest defining the rest of the shape, instead of the partial.)

thats all for now, I've given you quite a bit to consider. None of this is meant to be personal, just an artistic p-o-v on your website. But I definitiely think you are on the right path, and agree with everyone whoe comment before me! :D

[Frogman_Pep]

Guess it's going to be another day's worth. Got a descent bit done, but what's on the web is in disarray. So hold any new critiques, till the next upload. I'll let you know.

[Frogman_Pep]

So I took in a lot of what everyone has said and made some changes. For the most part, I've compressed the movies and figured out the load order. That sure sounds like nothing, but when you have to change that a couple of times you find out how quickly a day can go by ultimately realizing how important being organized is.

The graphics are not perfected by any means, as I'm basically interested in hearing how the functionality and flow is. How long does it take to download, where/when are the lags/clitches and whatever else.

I plan on directing the traffic with text and motion, the user should venture to the Settings area first to set the background color to whatever they desire, buying enough time for the portfolio movies to download. Hopefully after they have viewed everything in the Portfolio the FrogLab will have loaded, on my connection it takes @ 2 minutes for everything to dl, all the portfolio files are there in @ 25 - 45 secs.

Also let me know how the Portfolio Scroller is working, I made a bunch of adjustments. I figured out how to do this from a tutorial, and think it could be done a lot smoother now that I know pretty much how to do it. So, I'll be doing that as well as a lot of graphics (pop), and adding a bit more interactivity to the Froglab and a touch more compressing, through the weekend. Let me hear it.

http://66.201.127.187 is the one that is updated. 1024 x 768 (F11) Full Screen View