My eyes!!!!

mayek — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 12:22:51 +0000

As the page loaded I thought - this looks really good. Then half way through reading the first page the sky dimmed and I couldnt read the text until "daylight" returned. Hoping this was just a sad gimmick I tried another page - same thing. Not very clever - a lot of your target audience are going to need some large amounts of spare cash to invest in what looks like an expensive product - they tend to be a bit older (having had a chance to earn it first) and so wont be impressed by such flash (excuse the pun) tricks. Unless you want to restrict your market you should make the site easier to read.

A text only version would be a useful bonus, as flash is not something that can be easily interpreted by screen readers (for visually impaired) nor adjusted to make it easier to see the text due to a restricted font size.

Not bothered to read the other posts so excuse if I am repeating. Cant offer more, as I just couldnt be bothered to read the site due to the fade effect (which I suspect will be a common reaction)

etuk0002 — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 19:25:11 +0000

Hi i'm currently an internet Application Programmer student here in Ottawa, and based on the knowledge (not quite enough yet) garnered from my courses specifically my E-Commerce course, i would say that this is a beautiful and well thought out site.

The glitches for me are:

1. The load time is not very good.I do not know how that can be solved since you definitely are using flash player, but something should be done about that.

2. The incidence of the screen changing shades is not very professional since all you really want is for people to see what you're about and hopefully hire you to do some work for them.Professionals do not have time to wait for screens to change shades in order to see what they have to see.

Apart from all that, your site is very beautiful indeed.

compwolf — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 07:12:27 +0000

Ok Frost I am sure you are tired of hearing this but I have another angle on why the Fade is not a good thing ... I have spent so many years on computers I have to wear antireflective lenses in my glasses now. the Color fluctuations gave me a headache (really ... not being facetious) when I was trying to read the text. The starting color was probably the best for reading ease since it kept the text standing out the best. I have coded some flash before and if he has the original project file the changing color thing is easy to remove.

On the bonus side I really loved the Layout. Although I would consider a script that allows for a static page if they do not have flash or do not want to view in flash. A static page can be designed to show the exact same thing as the flash, just without the cool animations. Even the Technical page can be done with graphical mapping. and there are java based scripts that would allow the slideshows to be viewable as well without having to lose the overall compositions.

Another bonus of having static versions is that the SEO side will be much better for you.

Overall though the site is absolutely beautiful.

wcys — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 17:45:54 +0000

wow. this site is awsome. the flash is perfect and seems to fit the site fine.

-ajp

lordbiron — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 17:16:55 +0000

sweet, i love thease things i get sooooo many article emails its kinda scary lol

Megan — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 17:05:15 +0000

I have that Great Homepages article saved as a browser note because I post it here so often. It's a must-read.

lordbiron — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 17:04:03 +0000

allwayse here to help dude

tobyfrost — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 17:02:33 +0000

I will definately have a good read of those articles thanks Megan - sorry, I meant really that if you want someone to notice to do or go somewhere within the site you need to state it explicitly. I didn't mean I want to lead them round on a course like an ikea store, just make everything super-easy and obvious to do. (I hope my site does have good content that people can pick up or put down as they wish)

I think the more you look at your own designs the more you can miss some really obvious ommissions - another reason why this forum is so useful! all input is good input.

lordbiron — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 17:01:21 +0000

i agree i checked out the great homepages really suck article lol i love it

Megan — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 16:50:38 +0000

tobyfrost;215209 wrote: yThis may sound like the most obvious thing but it highlighted that design and swish graphics make up only a small amount to a web site. I will be looking at guiding people through the site (how i want them to) rather than just having content and letting them go around as they want!

I'm confused. Why do you want to lead people around the site rather than letting them do what they want? That's what the web is about - giving people the power to choose their own adventure rather than forcing them into a certain path. Remember that they are also free to leave your site at any time. I think there are a lot of things you can do to encourage people to go deeper into your site. Read "Great Homepages Really Suck"

I just came across this article from the official google webmaster's blog with some tips on making sure your site is crawlable.

vanessa fox wrote: If you use Flash, use it only when needed. Particularly, don't put all of the text from your site in Flash. An ideal Flash-based site has pages with HTML text and Flash accents. If you use Flash for your home page, make sure that the navigation into the site is in HTML.

This is a great article, everyone should read it if you don't know much about SEO