website design critique please

[rh71]

I can't seem to find the thread I started on this a few weeks ago... so here goes...

A few of you may recall the outline to the word Paradox needed a bit of work because it seemed "rastered"... does it still look that way to you? I find that lower resolutions make it look fine (1024x768 maximized and lower) while higher resolutions make it look rastered. Is it pass-able now?

Link

Any other details you don't like (aside from actual wording/content)... please speak up. Gracias.

EDIT>>> Flash enabled please.

 

[Entity]

At 1600x1200, Paradox still doesn't look very good. It looks edgy, rather than smooth.

Rob

 

[imported_Tomato]

It's nice, but I don't like how the menu snaps back at you whenever a new selection is made. Seems excessive.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: Dezign
It's nice, but I don't like how the menu snaps back at you whenever a new selection is made. Seems excessive.

I agree with this, was going to change this...

 

[Pixelated]

you might want to think about using pixel fonts for your flash navigation and maybe working on your logo a little bit more to give it a more professional look. other than that, it looks pretty good.

 

[calpha]

THe site layout in general is good IMO....but the biggest lacking piece is what somebody already said.. .....your logo, to be blunt, looks like crud.

If I were you if the logo is only a scan....i'd take it into Adobe Illustrator and trace it, and then pull it to PS and get rid of the jaggies. You need to set the trasnsparent color of the text to the same as the background (red) behind it. That will make a big difference. Gotta get rid of the white jaggies.

BTW.....i'm impressed with your flash animations so far. I can't point ot my arse in flash.....but then again, I don't care to learn it.

 

[LeeTJ]

i'm looking at it at 1024x768 maximized resolution and i can't seem to read the letters clearly that scroll by.

 

[Pixelated]

actually, if you were to trace it in illustrator, you can then take that file and import directly into flash. because you're importing a vector image, it'll look real smooth.

 

[calpha]

Originally posted by: Pixelated
actually, if you were to trace it in illustrator, you can then take that file and import directly into flash. because you're importing a vector image, it'll look real smooth.

Again proof that I know jack about Flash......but that's even better if you can do that.

 

[rh71]

Will Fireworks or Freehand work just as well?

<-- takes 10x longer than others to play around with graphic editors...

 

[yoda291]

paradox is ridiculously hard to read here. If I didn't know it said paradox, it'd have taken me a good 10 seconds just to read it. Navigation is sketchy looking too.

 

[rudder]

definetly very artisitc, but I would be pissed if I had to sit through that animation everytime.

 

[pulse8]

It looks nice, but the web site takes too long to load all the menu items.

If I were to frequent this site for any reason, I'd quickly become frustrated with having to wait for it to do all the animations before I can get to where I want to go.

 

[calpha]

Originally posted by: pulse8
It looks nice, but the web site takes too long to load all the menu items.

If I were to frequent this site for any reason, I'd quickly become frustrated with having to wait for it to do all the animations before I can get to where I want to go.

Agreed.......need a skip intro button

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Splash screens are bad design. They may look pretty, but people use the internet to get information and communicate, and splash screens only annoy. I can't see any of the site because I don't use flash.

 

[deramon]

Looks good on mine, 1028x768. The Paradox wording might benefit from another color scheme as it does not stand out as much as you might want.

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: calpha

Originally posted by: pulse8
It looks nice, but the web site takes too long to load all the menu items.

If I were to frequent this site for any reason, I'd quickly become frustrated with having to wait for it to do all the animations before I can get to where I want to go.

Agreed.......need a skip intro button

yea, a skip intro button would be good. nice site though.

 

[calpha]

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
Splash screens are bad design. They may look pretty, but people use the internet to get information and communicate, and splash screens only annoy. I can't see any of the site because I don't use flash.

Man, you must be really limited in what sites you go to then, b/c a lot of hem do use flash.

I can't get away from flash b/c I love my ESPN Gamecast.

 

[rh71]

Skip Intro and an HTML version of the site have been planned since the beginning. Just haven't implemented them yet. Both take 2 seconds to do, once I have all this straightened out.

That leads to another question...

There's a way to auto-detect the flash plugin, and if it's there, go right to the Flash version (leaving no choice for the HTML version). If you have Flash, would you STILL want the option of choosing HTML vs. Flash versions? I'd think yes for conservatives out there, but this can also be seen as an "extra step" before you can view site contents.

 

[calpha]

Originally posted by: rh71
Skip Intro and an HTML version of the site have been planned since the beginning. Just haven't implemented them yet. Both take 2 seconds to do, once I have all this straightened out.

That leads to another question...

There's a way to auto-detect the flash plugin, and if it's there, go right to the Flash version (leaving no choice for the HTML version). If you have Flash, would you STILL want the option of choosing HTML vs. Flash versions? I'd think yes for conservatives out there, but this can also be seen as an "extra step" before you can view site contents.

Just set a cookie the first time someone comes and default to the site they choose, but provide a link at the top or bottom for going to the other version

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Originally posted by: calpha

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
Splash screens are bad design. They may look pretty, but people use the internet to get information and communicate, and splash screens only annoy. I can't see any of the site because I don't use flash.

Man, you must be really limited in what sites you go to then, b/c a lot of hem do use flash.

I can't get away from flash b/c I love my ESPN Gamecast.

Hah? Limited? I use the internet for learning and communicating, not endulging in pop media garbage. I never see flash other than ads.

 

[Pixelated]

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey

Originally posted by: calpha

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
Splash screens are bad design. They may look pretty, but people use the internet to get information and communicate, and splash screens only annoy. I can't see any of the site because I don't use flash.

Man, you must be really limited in what sites you go to then, b/c a lot of hem do use flash.

I can't get away from flash b/c I love my ESPN Gamecast.

Hah? Limited? I use the internet for learning and communicating, not endulging in pop media garbage. I never see flash other than ads.

well, the fact that you assume that any site that uses flash is pop media garbage makes me think that you are narrow minded. Plus there are several flash sites out there where you can learn and communicate just as you would with any html site... and there are several millions sites out there written in html with no flash that are complete garbage. Try expanding your horizons a bit. You might be surprised.

Getting back to the issue at hand, I agree with having a skip intro button and having a cookie that would take the user straight to the site without having to see the intro if they have visited before.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

well, the fact that you assume that any site that uses flash is pop media garbage makes me think that you are narrow minded.

I was referring to the ESPN Gamecast site mentioned.

Plus there are several flash sites out there where you can learn and communicate just as you would with any html site...

Not that I'm disputing that, but I do a hell of a lot of web surfing and I can't recall any. There may be some but the number is miniscule in proportion to the non-flash ones.

and there are several millions sites out there written in html with no flash that are complete garbage.

Agreed

Try expanding your horizons a bit. You might be surprised.

Expand them how? I've visited the same sites anyone else has, I'm no sheltered freak. Just because I don't use flash doesn't mean I never have, I used to always install it. I found that it never got utilized other than ads and other unimportant things that I'd rather be without.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey

well, the fact that you assume that any site that uses flash is pop media garbage makes me think that you are narrow minded.

I was referring to the ESPN Gamecast site mentioned.

Plus there are several flash sites out there where you can learn and communicate just as you would with any html site...

Not that I'm disputing that, but I do a hell of a lot of web surfing and I can't recall any. There may be some but the number is miniscule in proportion to the non-flash ones.

and there are several millions sites out there written in html with no flash that are complete garbage.

Agreed

Try expanding your horizons a bit. You might be surprised.

Expand them how? I've visited the same sites anyone else has, I'm no sheltered freak. Just because I don't use flash doesn't mean I never have, I used to always install it. I found that it never got utilized other than ads and other unimportant things that I'd rather be without.

You'd benefit from this thread. I also wrote a little blurb on there this morning.

 

[yoda291]

r u sure you need flash? Does it add anything to your site beyond the first 2 seconds of "coolness" it lends that degrades into annoyance. If you ever see someone take bids on a design contract, and you recommend flash, you get bombarded with questions from all over the place. Why? Because if you use flash, there HAS to be a reason behind it. It increases loadtimes, incurs a processor penalty, and any DESIGNER (not engineer) who recommends it becomes circumspect. You need to have things like user profiling, test results on flash vs non-flash, percentages of viewers with plugin, ideal hardware, loadtime analyses...the whole 9 yards. Professionally done flash is very effective when properly integrated into a design, but costs many times more than the equivalent html too.