www.jakeschepps.com

[quikbot]

site for Jake Schepps Musician and author, its in pre launch and i am aware of text character issues, would like critique on design layout and usability.
Thanks for any criticism good or bad.
http://www.jakeschepps.com

[theDude78]

pretty simple, but it looks good

but one thing, everything that you did in flash can easily be obtained using html. This point was brought to me back when I was first learning flash so I aspired to make things that my friend (that told me) couldn't replicate exactly in flash.

here is a site for a musician friend that I am just getting started on
http://www.saltyfoot.com/mb/trial.htm

[goliatone]

it is simple...but looks ok.

are you going to leave the movie on the screen's left side, or are you going to center it later on?

[Flash Gordon]

with that kind of functionality it is better to do it in html.

but nice overall (althought graphics are a little bland), good loading time!.

[quikbot]

In regards to using html: I only do Flash Websites at the moment, If he wanted Html, he would have hired an HTML designer. I agree it could be done in HTML, but that is not my focus and skillset. I think it is arguable at this point that Flash 7 publication is more universal in display than XHTML, when aiming for a wide and varied browser market with varying levels of CSS/xHTML compatibility.

Thanks for input,
Quikbot:D

[theDude78]

when he hired a flash designer, did he want a flash site that functioned as though it was an html site?

that is the question.

[quikbot]

Dont wish to debate on the virtues of HTML versus Flash, but some counterpoints would be that the site is easily updateable by the owner through text files or XML, streaming audio is easily updateable, and overall the load time is faster with image compression algorytm in flash.

[goliatone]

i dont think that no one here has told you that you had to use html...i think the point they are making is that the site is a bit html-lame-like. its simple (and nice)
simple things are cool, dont like when thing get too overdone, but since you are using flash give the page some flash-live shines here and there.

about usability it would be really nice to have a loader for the sounds...
about layout it would be nice to see that all your text scrollbar's arrows are placed in the same point (if you click news, then about, reviews, shows and so on, you get a sort of animation with the arrows)

[theDude78]

i dont think that no one here has told you that you had to use html...i think the point they are making is that the site is a bit html-lame-like. its simple


exactly my point

[cghughes]

Don't take offense. We're all just trying to help. You posted your site for comments, and that's what we're doing.

Nice typeface selection for your title. Goes very well with your subject matter.

I agree with goliatone, be consistent with your visual element placement, including scroll arrows. It'd be nice to have a scroll bar to control the scroll. It'd be even nicer if I could click and hold the scroll buttons and it would scroll continuously, instead of just once. It seemed like I had to click the scroll buttons a jillion times just to read all of the content in the textboxes. Either shrink the body-text, or do something with the scroll. Prefer both :-)

Be consistent with your typography as well. I know you mentioned that you were aware of text character issues...but I don't know what exactly you meant by that...so I'll give some advice as a typographer in case you didn't already notice it. If you change typefaces, families, or sizes, make sure it is for a purpose and not just an accident. Be consistent with use of punctuation as well. One section uses proper punctuation while another section completely ignores periods altogether but still pays homage to commas. WHAT?! Whatever your aesthetic is, stick with it. Don't go switching styles halfway through a website. Schizophrenia is only cool in really bad horror films :-)

[goliatone]

take a look:
using pixle fonts (http://www.actionscript.org/tutorials/beginner/using_pixel_fonts/index.shtml)
typography in flash (http://www.actionscript.org/tutorials/advanced/Typography_in_flash/index.shtml)
scrollin txt box I (http://www.actionscript.org/tutorials/intermediate/scrolling_a_text_box/index.shtml)
scrollin II (http://www.actionscript.org/tutorials/intermediate/scrolling_a_text_box_II/index.shtml)
animation via AS (http://www.actionscript.org/tutorials/beginner/Animation_Via_Actionscript/index.shtml)

[quikbot]

thanks for replies all, ive been without the internet for awhile while moving. Site is almost in final, centered the site arranged all elemnts to match in registration (all the text boxes and scrollbars line up), did a bunch of minor tweaks that took forever and now final items will be activating links, and fixing a couple issues in text, rollovers, and scrolling. thanks for help and input.