I just turned 44 years old - a Mother of three and I started teaching myself about web stuff in 1998.I’ve had no friends or family to help - I’ve had to completely rely on trial and error and if I’ve had any friend in learning about anything beyond the programs themselves - it’s been KIRUPA tutorials (which I couldn’t live without) and the flashmove forum where I have been offered alot of actionscript help.
I’d like to get some feedback on my site although I must admit so far strangers on the web have HATED it .
I waited till now to post it up on here because even though it is not finished yet, I have put so much work into it and I hope I can get some constructive feedback.
Thanks.
Hey jdl 
I really like how your at 44, a mother with 3 children is able to and also have interest in web-development, especially when there is not a whole great deal of time managing the family, health and provisions so its top-stuff how your here :). I think you have forgotten about the site’s link and I would be happy to give you feedback.
I must admit so far strangers on the web have HATED it .
Im sure they just glanced at it but dont know the real anyalsing that takes place for a site critique
WEll that’s got me off to a good start!
Thankyou for pointing it out in such a forgiving manner 
(and no it’s not a **** site as has been suggested before)
*looking for a red embarrassed icon here"
Some of the colours doesn’t go very well together, otherwise it’s quite ok. I loved the Kingsley’s chicken song
hi, nice site. i like the br0wnsnake logo you have - very nice! Only gripe is that some of your flash work loads slower than perhaps it should. Have you considered using a flash optimistaion program?
It could just be my computer though!
Alot of my flash stuff has full length original songs so that is what takes up the space even though they are in mp3 format.
Thanks for liking something ! I know the colours are not well received, I can’t find others I want so far- but am not ignoring my taste is not popular.
thanks alot for bothering to look
i like the br0wnsnake logo you have - very nice!
I would have to agree on that… I think it’s excellent…
As for the site… I would say it’s, hmmmm… just ok…
I liked the dog chasing its tail its tail while your waiting for it to load and thought it was a good cartoon.
And I liked how clicking Stop made the dog pause in a random pose.
Unfortunately I only got to see a couple, because I didn’t think stop was related to the dog so I didn’t wanna press it.
But then you go into the site and its no longer cartoonish, it’s more like formal.
I liked the Kookaburra but the Pink (???) Dam protected bird looked tacked on.
The html background defiantly needs to be changed……
And I didn’t like the pop up window when I went to look at your work, it should have loaded into flash.
Also the graphics/photos as backgrounds were pixilated.
If you made that site then you obviously have enough skills to make whatever you want in flash. So it’s only the design you have to worry about.
My suggestion.
Choose a style, formal or cartoonish and go with that through out the whole site.
Ie: Have the entire site look like the dog intro, colorful/fun and vector. You clearly like working in that style.
Or have it formal.
Have the site blend in seamlessly with that beautiful logo…. Go for natural earth colors and incorporate the appropriate landscape/rustic images to complement it.
As for your age/location/status……
You can give yourself a pat on the back for what you have accomplished… While my mother is older than you…. Just last night I explained to her what e-mail and hotmail is.
Note:
I am not a designer and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so you needn’t agree with my comments. 
that explains it. Perhaps you could set up the site to load the songs after the visual content has loaded? I’m not saying you really need this, but i use flash optimizer (http://www.eltima.com/products/flashoptimizerlite/) and i managed to shave about 40% of my .SWF’s Not bad for somthing i got free with a magazine!
Keep up the good work anyway, very impressive how you manage to juggle your homelife with your hobby.
The_Vulcan<
I agree wholeheartedly except for my logo which I made in illustrator and is not totally vector so it pixelates on resize. I’m going to keep it though and fix it. For the rest, I expected the best informative criticism in this forum and I got it.
Thanks alot
I like the style of the site. I enjoy that monty python esque cut out look.
Before I read through the other posts and read about the mp3s, I was going to say you needed to optimize the site. Now I think that you should look into externally loading the mp3’s. If you search for some tutorials (not sure if there are any on kirupa) I’m sure you can find a way to do it.
I’m not sure if I like the brown background, but it could work. The buttons at the top look alright, but could use a rollover/rollout to get the point across more that they are buttons and at the same time make them look more pleasing. The fonts for the content feel misplaced. Perhaps try a pixel font or something that works better for the site.
I really like your logo, it looks great!
I enjoy the images in the background. My only suggestion here is that for the sub-pages is to fully fade in the other photos. It looks only half loaded or something.
As for the transparent black shapes and such that you used for the content, I’d say to try to do away with those if possible. If you want to keep the transparent black, then trace the edge of the shed(I think it’s a shed) instead of doing a funky shape or a straight square. I believe the shapes give it an amateur look and changing this can make it look a lot more professional.
Try playing with the intro a bit, it doesn’t match the site correctly and it seems kinda slow. Maybe bump up the frames per second for the site in general, it could make things smoother.
Good job!!! With a little work, it could look really impressive and proffessional!
I’d agree with wanyo. The shapes are a little excessive, and tend to look a little unprofessional, but I do like the site overall. Also, remember that the smaller things are, the better they tend to look. Try making your preloader a little smaller… The dog is a little obtrusive @ 1280x1024
up that frame rate! its pretty nice…
Thankyou thankyou thankyou - at last some really helpful feedback :)))
Agreed on all. Just need others to point it out clearly.
I like it but I would consider looking at some different fonts, the current ones don’t seem to go too well with the overal site design except the font you use for the main page buttons.
It’s definately different!
(P.s. not for profit = non profit)
See this what happens when you live isolated- you end up with weird shyte actually it is something I do as a creative outlet to other things I should be doing (like puppetry) or acting (like I was trained) but can’t get it together so easily!
I have noticed that a site will look according to the bg of the creator- if it’s a he and he’s 15-22(approx!) you will see a common thread in most sites, so far that has been my experience and if people think I’m a he in that age range they will be shocked (hence my initial explanation of who I actually am i.e,. age - demographics etc)
Which I guess is kinda sad because although it explains alot it also means people pidgeon hole themselves by the constraints of society at large.
Anyway, getting back to it, my fonts do need to be concentrated on and I’m well aware I put less than a second’s thought into their execution. And after reading esp Vulcan’s feedback - I think he’s hit it because if you are not a programmer or some wizz kid at web design in html or flash (like me) you should at least stick to originality- and for me that can only be what I create from a purely artistic point of view - as in conceptual working of illustration. Why bother with the rest? But then if I didn’t I couldn’t actuallize ideas I have so I’m stuck with working on both.
I can’t preload sound to visuals if the two are integrated and rely one upon the other so I have to ignore that proposition. Plus if you have examples of your work from 5 years back - you don’t (if as disorganized as I am) have access to your original file to bring it up to date.
I’m feeling pretty guilty right now because I am supposed to leave this half made website and concentrate on an animation for projection on a theatre scrim. Plus I was never able to work out how to recreate my site offline with the work menus because the java script won’t work with relative addresses! Which is a bummer because I was hoping to get some part time work to help enable income while working on the puppetry stuff.
So in the immortal words of the fugs-
"the mud elephant roaming through the sea, leaves no tracks"
I am forced to leave it at that
Great Job !!! However there is still room for improvement. We would like to point out a few obvious points.
The choise of the color could have been better. Little more fine tuning is required. That is the bird’s image on the left side is not propotionate. Try to reduce the image size. The navigation font is not readable. change that also.
Needless to say, your efforts behind this project is priceless. Best of luck :party:
Abhilash & Sivaprasad
Manoramaonline
Kerala, India
See this what happens when you live isolated- you end up with weird shyte
You can call it weird if you want, or you could call it original. Although since your on the net your not really isolated, you can surf sites from all over the world.
I have noticed that a site will look according to the bg of the creator
When it’s a personal site I guess age does effect how things look, in that they may have a preference to a style…. grunge, minimalist, futuristic, technical, cartoon.
However you also have to consider your audience, you may be 16 and into grunge, but if your hoping to find clients other than your friends bands, you have to make something to attract the type of audience your after.
I think he’s hit it because if you are not a programmer or some wizz kid at web design in html or flash (like me) you should at least stick to originality- and for me that can only be what I create from a purely artistic point of view.
I don’t think you need to be any good with flash to have a brilliant site. All you need is to have a button work and your right.
Some of my favorite sites are extremely basic, no fancy programming or effects, just clean and well designed.
From your site I say you have all the flash skills you need to make any site, you don’t need fancy programming/gimmicks.
you don’t (if as disorganized as I am) have access to your original file to bring it up to date.
Ha ha ha isn’t that the truth.
As for your age/location/status……
You can give yourself a pat on the back for what you have accomplished… While my mother is older than you…. Just last night I explained to her what e-mail and hotmail is.
My Parents will never comprehend what email and hotmail is, even though, I’ve tried consistently for years. They are so silly :pleased: .
Just thought i’d let you know. C:-)
I really like the logo. It seems to really stick out and show your talent. Good Job!
Thanks for all the kind words and criticism. I’ll repost the link when I’ve completed the site to see if it’s improved.
About parents not understanding email etc - mine don’t either so what I do is sit down and bore them to death about it so they won’t ask anymore nebulous questions.