FINALLY got around to doing a photography portfolio site

[invader]

hey guys

i'm a bit of a procrastinator, and since i do flash programming all day at work, it's very tough for me to get around to doing my own projects. so i finally made myself do it. i started it from scratch yesterday, and put about 15 hours or so into it (that's a very rough estimate.. too tired to do math right now).

i hope you guys enjoy the simple layout and hopefully-not-too-obtrusive animations (i just felt like playing around with it for a while, i'm usually opposed to most intro animations). i also hope you all enjoy the photos!

let me know what you think. after pulling an all-nighter, it's extremely rewarding to hear that your effort was worth it.

here it is:
http://fotizmo.com/

p.s. i did loading logic for the photos section, but haven't done the main loading screen yet. so be patient, because nothing will show up until you're done downloading the 221k file

[Flash Gordon]

I'm not a big fan of the layout really. Kind of looks like my work

If you move the drag bar before all the photos have loaded it goes kind of "hey-wire".

But nice functionally otherwords.

[goliatone]

i like the functionality of the site(good AS), but i think you can put together a better layout, i think if you spend some time playing round with it, youll get something better.

i think personal work is allways hard...

[invader]

ok, besides "don't like the layout" can you be more specific? what about the layout don't you like?

is the nav/title/content too basic, or too simple? it's tough when you're going for a minimalist look, because it can turn out so minimal that it borderlines on "cheesy simple"

is it the aesthetics of the layout? too many rounded corners, don't like the colors, etc etc.

constructive criticism is much more helpful than just saying "yeah, i don't like ___"

as for the functionality of the image loading, it's pretty tough to decide on a technique to allow scrolling while the images are loading (and thus widening the content area being scrolled)

i agree that the current method doesn't cut it, but i don't think there's a "silver bullet" that will look good no matter what and still let the user scroll while loading.

here's the approach i think i'll take:
when the width of the content area changes, it will move the scroll handle IF the user is NOT currently dragging. right now, the content area's location is determined by the scroll handle's location. that is why, right now, when the content area's width changes it moves. if the scroll handle is at 50%, the content area is at 50%. if there are 3 pictures, you're looking squarely at #2, but if a fourth is added, 50% is now half way between #2 and #3.

i'll let you know when i update it and you'll see what i'm thinking might work best.

[invader]

i updated the photo scroller. i can't think of any ways to make it better than it is now. i still have to set up a loading screen for it. it's up to 235k now. still small and really quick for broadband users, but i don't want dial-up users to be left with a blank screen for 5+ seconds.

i also cleaned up the layout a little bit. the nav bar is smaller so the links fill it better, and the spacing is even now. the pop-up in the photo section had a really crappy-looking arrow, but i didn't really notice how bad it looked until after a good night's sleep. so that's changed now, even though it will change again soon.

before i decided to just throw (almost literally) a simple site up, i was thinking about something more innovative. i haven't decided if i'm going to go with this yet, but a rough (and i mean very rough) idea for a main menu:
http://fotizmo.com/fotizmox.php

i was thinking it could look like you're looking into a camera's viewfinder (it is a photography site, after all) and use the red dot to rotate the lens and bring items at different distances into focus. it doesn't have any other elements, just the rotation and blurring.

what do you guys think of that?

[theDude78]

seems to basic to me, also the whole site feels very light, I think a bolder bg and some more meat to the site could help

also the nav is too cheezy for me but if that is the style you are after then right on