Hey guys… well I’m getting very close to the end of this site and I just presented the work thus far to the client. I would like you guys to check out what I’ve done and let me know of issues you find with the site. Keep in mind that this is only my second Flash site, and only my 3 paying site. With each site I get better.
I’m having a strange issue with the “speed” of the site. I’m using a framerate of 30fps and when i preview it on my computer it looks good and very smooth, but when its on the web, its just not as smooth. Any suggestions as to make it retain that smoothness?
Initial thought: takes a while for everything to get drawn in on the first menu transitions. It would be nice if once you click off the home section the loading content would start before the menu realigned itself. (I have a need for speed) Its nice, but I could see the site being a bit faster and making it a nicer experience
I think the headline type for your main sections should be rethought. I usually hate big uses of pixel fonts and I think it could look so much better.
I’m totally digging the animation of the menu itself and the overall look of the site. Nice!
I really like it, the only thing i would say about it is remove the gradient fill on the image at the start as it doesnt seem to fit with the rest of the site.
Good stuff. Like the buttons, but I’d make that arrow a bit smaller. I just think it would make it a little smarter. Everything runs smooth enough for me. Lastly, I’d centre the whole thing in the browser (if that wasn’t already the plan), and I think the drop shadow around the border would be better if it carried on around all 4 edges. Other than that, nice work.
i think your site is nice. my only thing is the transition between the homepage and the other pages is a bit long before everything is displayed. Also maybe a bit of transparency in the white boxes where the text is might be nice - enough to see the background a little bit.
I agree cobra… client wasnt a fan of the transparency… i only had it at like 90%-95%… ill try and convince them… it just helps keep the foreground and background tied together in my opinion…
As for the transitions… i agree with that as well… im still doing some fine tuning to the animations.
the first gallery is up now… the first link in the list “Project - 1”
wheatleyweb
thanks for all that have commented… i appreciate it
… Noticed that your resize function for the gallery goes wacky sometimes.
The images don’t get centered, but rather their top left corner is where the center of the border is (if that makes a good explaination? )
I am with Darlo on removing the gradient fill on the start image. The image is too nice to make it look “cheesy” with the gradient (plus there is no need to).
The adress in the red rectangle (under the menu) seems to be blurry. Same with the contact button on the start page.
I would make where the bodytext start consistant in all boxes. Example:
In the home section first box-the red bar where it says “Great landscapes …” … Welcome lines up with “Great”. In the “News” section the dates are moved to the left-I would align them with the text (have the same white infront of the text as in the 1st box).
Same in “About us” and “Testimonials”, do it one way or the other, way left or more space.
In “Services” its the other way round. The text in the small box is “indented” and the “Maintenance” text is to the left.
BTW, are you copyreading the text or the client? I noticed:
In “Maintenance” make sure the first and the last sentence do not have one word on the last line (looks bad, big typography nono :).
Watch the leading: The line spacing in the news section is way to small (and not consistant).
I do not favor the font of the bodytext. It’s tiny and judging the target group of the site, people will have problems reading the text!!
In the gallery section: First I did not see the “Gallery List” button. Maybe make it a “Back to Gallery List” so people understand they get back, plus … maybe put the butt under the thumbnails. That way you see it and it is not lost somewhere on the right.
Closing statement
Love the menu, the way it sizes and the images.
The boxes at a slight alpha look really nice. Nice clean look. Great work.
The design is really very sharp. I like the Background images look great and don’s distract form the content. I also really like the way the gallery is setup. The site is very simple to navigate as well. The text may be a little small however for some to read, especially since this website is to be targeted at an older generation. I am not a fan of the bold red, Seems a little Anti-Flora. If that is the companies colors you might have to work it in a little differently, like just in the lower left corner. Overall the site is clean and intuitive and enjoyed looknig at it.
you’ll have to forgive me if I sound repeatitive. I didn’t read any posts past marley’s.
first, personally i think the site as a whole is ok. I don’t however think that the site portrays the elegance and structure that the company seems to have. seems to be missing that something to pull it all together.
i that the lack of fonts is hurting this design. you’re only using blocky, pixel fonts… even for the headers… why? the message that it’s sending is boring
I like in the beginning how the logo transitions down… and condenses the info… but then you have some area where you could keep the contact info i nthere… no real point in having it go away I guess. Although it’s fine the way it is.
the only other thing that bothered me was in the beginning the white gradient where the nav is gonna appear transitions in. maybe think about having it there from the beginning.
Thanks again for the comments… I will definitely be making some changes
one question though… the reason I used all pixel fonts is because when I use normal fonts, they tend to be blurry… if i turn off antialiasing then they are too thin and unattractive… not sure what I’m doing wrong there… I just thought that the crispness of the pixel fonts worked really well… but i do understand that lack of fonts in the site…
I assume you’re usin flashmx2004, if you use fonts at sizes, normally higher than 12-14px they turn out pretty good. But then again… a lot of times that to large. One of the biggest improvements in flash8 is the ability to be able to use any font, and maintain it’s crisp look. that alone is well worth upgrading to f8 so basically it’s how pre-flash8 handles fonts isn’t good at all
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so basically it’s how pre-flash8 handles fonts isn’t good at all