everythings working now - site check

[dipsb_13]

hey guys

some of you may have seen my site when I've been asking Q's and given me some suggestions but I have added things and made everything work

So please check it out and give me some feedback - what you like/don't like...what you'd change...

also rate the site out of 10 too

link (http://www.new.designreel.com)

:o)

Dips

[goliatone]

hi again dips...

ok, lets see...just saw that in ur contact form, you dont check the input...its allways a good thing to check what the users cand send through your inputs, if you use PHP, i believe its possible to pass input text as commands to php...

[dipsb_13]

yup yup yup

I havn't tried that checking input thing but yup your right - I'll give this a go today if I can find a tutorial

Dips

[invader]

yup yup yup

I havn't tried that checking input thing but yup your right - I'll give this a go today if I can find a tutorial

Dips

i remember you posting the lauren elise beta on here a while back. noticed it went live a month or two ago. congrats

if i wasn't so busy with work, i would definitely try to find some freelance work for models. :) that'd be nice, get paid to look at hot pictures (while making them interactive, of course)

one thing i might suggest:
when a potential client visits your site, he/she might notice that you used similar effects/transitions on your site and on janis' site (the left-right sliding and bubble mask transition to be specific), then think "is that all they can do?" or "i want my site to be unique, but they use the same effects everywhere." i know you have more than that up your sleeve, so show them!

both of the sites in the portfolio section looked like they turned out well. congrats!

[dipsb_13]

:rolleyes: thanks invader - yup Lauren's site worked out really well and hopefully should get some more clients from her modelling agency which will be wicked - :p

Yeah I was thinking that about the transitions too - I'm going to be whipping up some more stuff quite soon - just to make the portfolio fuller as its pretty empty at the moment

thanks again

Dips

[goliatone]

ok, why dont you give a look to this...its not consistent, it might not work at all, but the checkemail function could give you a hint...hope so!

stop();

function checkemail(email)
{
var _l2 = new String(email);
var _l1 = _l2.split("@");
showerror("Direccion de e-mail incorrecta");
email.setFocus()
trace("Invalid email-Address")
!(_l1.length != 2 || _l1[1].indexOf(".") < 1) ? (true) : (false);
return(!(_l1.length != 2 || _l1[1].indexOf(".") < 1) ? (true) : (false));
} // End of the function checkemail


function showerror(message)
{
trace("showing error")
gotoAndStop("error");
error.text = message;
} // End of the function showerror


erase_btn.onRelease=function(){
name_tf.text="";
address_tt.text="";
message_tf.text="";
};//end function erase


send_btn.onRelease=function(){

if (name_tf.text != "" && name_tf.text != undefined && address_tt.text != "" && address_tt.text != undefined && message_tf.text != "" && message_tf.text != undefined)
{
if (checkemail(name_tf.text))
{
loadVariables("sendmail.php", "", "POST");
showerror("thnx mail sended");
//_root.gotoandplay(2);
} // end if
}
else
{
showerror("Please Enter All Required Sections!");
} // end if
};

:p

[dipsb_13]

WOW thanks goliatone that looks complex but I'll give it a go...

here's another Q:

Some people have commented that the left hand side looks too plain and needs something - I have no idea what to put there but have done a "splat" version.

see what you prefer...splat or no splat?

splat (http://www.splat.designreel.com)


no splat (http://www.new.designreel.com)

Dips

[goliatone]

i love splats...i do graffiti, so its like (well,;) actually, i have splats when im painting and they are not supposed to be there... )

but, i think its a bit out of place in there...so, for me, no splats...

one thing thats anoying me..."creating cool things...for cool people" i mean, cool. but can you see that the font is not nicely rendered? try making it bigger, and make shure its _x pos its not something like 100.5 or so, round it to 100.

[dipsb_13]

thats been bugging me too - I've checked and its deffinately on a whole number axis

Its driving me insane - the actual text is a movie clip with a mask over it - the text here in on a whole number axis and the MC on the stage isn't however it wont let me put it on a whole number axis - everytime I try and chance the coordinates it bounces back it just wont do it and I have no idea why

I think its a bug in my version of Flash - 1st time its started happening

Dips

[dipsb_13]

goliatone where the splat was do you think something is missing there i.e. the left hand site of the site?

or do you think its fine as it is?

as some people have said it looks bare but I just don't know what to put there - any suggestions

I'm trying to get some bground music on it too - what do you think good or bad idea? just something mellow

Dips

[invader]

@goliatone - look at this! we have a code guru in the house

it's very easy to screen malicious entries in PHP, since it supports regular expression. but you should definitely do what you can in flash in case the bad input is by mistake. the regular expression check in php before handling the email would be a very good second perimeter. not sure if it's worth the effort, though, unless you're expecting tons of people to be using the contact form. i might help you out with a small flash script later. i think it would be important to make sure only certain characters are used.

the splat is pretty cool. my advice: flip it horizontally so it isn't crowding the menu at the bottom. i think it would be cool if it changed color to match the selection to the right (pink/green/pink/green/pink)

my monitor is running at 1680x1050 resolution, and i'm guessing you made it for 1024, because it doesn't display quite right for me at full screen. you might want to consider using a straight horizontal gradient background (it looks angled or circular, and there's a line when it ends and repeats).

advice for the 'cool' text. it's small. turn off anti-aliasing, like the "please enjoy your stay" text. at least see how it looks when it's not anti-aliased

[goliatone]

my monitor is running at 1680x1050 resolution, and i'm guessing you made it for 1024, because it doesn't display quite right for me at full screen. you might want to consider using a straight horizontal gradient background (it looks angled or circular, and there's a line when it ends and repeats).

agree...

besides that, i think its ok...you can spend years making any site look better. You were after some'tin minimal...keep it simple. But minimal is hard, cose the few things you place, the have to be in the right spot.

@goliatone - look at this! we have a code guru in the house...

i'm good at pretending i know what i'm doing.

:D

[dipsb_13]

yes invader it was designed to be best viewed at 1024 x 768 which is why it probably looks a little off for you

I'm looking into having the bground gradient sorted soon - it would be cool if you could help with the script I havn't really had a chance to look into this just yet - I will though don't worry

hmmmmm still cant decide about the splat - I'm hoping lots of people start replying saying yay or nay...

and I'll look into that text issue now to see if I can find a solution

thanks again guys

Dips

[dipsb_13]

Ok...I've sorted that text problem out

All I did was change the font and it looks fine now ... i think

ok so tomorrow I need to try and get the whole bground thing sorted...do an email check thing...maybe find some music for the site...ermmmmfind out if I should keep or scrap the splat

and then thats it done and dusted

I was thinking about having different colour splats for each section but think it'll be complicated to do as the sections are all sliding pages therefore I do not really want to freak myself out by making things complicated

no splat (http://www.new.designreel.com)

splat (http://www.splat.designreel.com)

common everyone...which ever wins the most votes I'll keep - if you say no splat then does it need anything added or modified? or is it fine with that blank space?

DIPS

[dipsb_13]

ok its decided I'm going with NO SPLAT - Also I know it sounds like a cop out but this email validation is confusing the heck outa me

my send button code is:

on (release) {
if(form.name_txt.text != "" &&
form.email_txt.text != "" &&
form.body_txt.text != "")
{
form.loadVariables("email.php", "POST");
{
form.name_txt.text = "";
form.email_txt.text="";
form.body_txt.text="";
}
error_txt.text = "Thank you - message sent";
} else {
error_txt.text = "* = required field";
}
}

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

basically so that all fields have to be filled with something to send the email

I've tried adding the email check but it's just not working - and its driving me nuts - besides is is that important? lol ARRRRGH

I'm trying to suss out the bground issue too - fingers crossed

Dips

[goliatone]

well, i would say dont go nuts over the email check...just get things done, and if you get stuck somewhere else or when you get done, go and try to make it work.

[outlando]

It looks great, it's really developed nicely since you first posted about it. I'm inclined to agree with the 'no splat' faction here - it looked cool but not entirely relevant to the rest of the site's content.

All in all, good job! :D

[dipsb_13]

cheers outlando - yup I've been learning loads

ok hers what I've sorted - I've fixed the bground problem - without CSS as that'd confuse the heck outa me - so please have a look to see if everything here is ok - I'm sure it doesn't tile etc as I've tested it out on the max screen res i can and it seems fine

new link (http://www.howsthis.designreel.com)

I've kinda given up on checking the email form email field for now - until I get round to it as its seriously confusing - but thats no biggie

final thing is the music for the site

someone said: "I'd lose the two outer vertical bar things too and remove the gap between the second and third panel."

what do you all think - as other people like the gap - and the bars - gotta admit so do I

Dips

[goliatone]

ok, now that bkgnd looks nice...cool.

ok, bout the gap, bars and all that...i think whats popin to my eye is that your movie is like a sticker over the background...it just "lays " there, but its not "part" of it nor really differenciated, since you have the gaps showing the background.

know what i mean?

[goliatone]

ok, now i just found something you would like to take a look at...its a tut. got it somewhere, dont know...:eek: it was just in my pc's ASorg folder.

this time, i know whom has to get credit for it. Flash Gordon and Cota. ;)

take a look at the email check and that...

function validateName() {
if (name_txt.text.length<2 || !isNaN(name_txt.text)) {
count++;
name_txt.text = "Please enter a valid name";
}
}
function validateEmail() {
email = email_txt.text;
if (email.indexOf("@", 0)>1 && email.indexOf("@", 0)<=email.length-6) {
//nothing
} else {
count++;
email_txt.text = "Please enter a valid email";
}
}

[invader]

here, have some CSS! :)
<style type="text/css">
body
{
background: #021e2d url('newbg.jpg') repeat-x;
}
</style>

take out the body properties:
background="newbg.jpg" bgcolor="#021e2d"

the image "newbg.jpg" only needs to be 1 pixel wide, since it's repeating. the smaller size it is, the faster people will be able to download it and start looking at your site. it looks like it stops changing color after 700 pixels or so. i would trim it right after it reaches the bg color.

if you follow that little bit of advice, the background will load about 50x faster. (it will be 1/50th of it's original size)

it looks great with the new background, btw

[dipsb_13]

I tried that however for some reason I couldn't get the trim right - everytime I tried it was soooo easy to see where the trim had been made due to the sharp line thats why I gave it a miss - although I suppose I could still make it 1px wide - that'll be a quick jobby and won't take too long at all

yup goliatone - i know what you mean thats kinda the effect I wanted - to be honest just wanted to experiment with transparent movie's and kinda like the way it looks - just not sure if it look a bit to empty on that side hmmmm i dunno ARGH what do you reckon - too empty or ok as it is?

thanks for that goliatone really appreciate it - I'll have into a look into that as soon as I publish the site properly and then can add that later after I've sussed it out...one thing though...I don't suppose you have that file in Flash MX format as that is what I am using and am unable to open it?

this is soooo close to being finished woohooo

Dips

[invader]

i went ahead and downloaded his zip, opened it and saved as a pre-Flash8 FLA, then rezipped

[goliatone]

hey disps, glad you about to get it done...its allways a good feeling being that close to a goal.

tnxs invader, cose...yeah, it wasnt in MX format. Cool!

ok, again you dips...well, i think the way it its could be just fine with some minor details added/modified in the layout...i dont know, try stuff. You will have people givin their opinion.

;)

[dipsb_13]

cheers invader although I tried downloading it again - and am still getting the same problem - did you attach the right one? and not the same one as before?

unless it was done on a MAC but I didn't think that mattered hmmmmm it still says - "unexpected file format"

hmmmm I think I'll try stuff to it and see what people think - or I dunno may decide to leave it hmmmm nope actually I'll try a few bits n bobs

Dips