Hey review my site!

[stilltsie]

Hey everyone, Im new here, but definately looking forward to being a part of the community. Im interested in opinions on the design of my current site. A couple of things Id like to mention, and dont take it as I cant handle a harsh review.

1. This site isnt SEO because frankly I dont want google traffic, just local referal traffic.
2. Im not into css because i never learned it and really I dont see how its so much better for this particular website. There are MANY times when it is better.
3. I didnt utilize any text because, again, im not looking for search traffic.
4. My viewers ALL have high speed connections.
5. Im not looking for reviews of my portfolio, just the site itself.

Now, with that being said... Id still appreciate your comments and reasoning if you disagree with my reasoning for the above 5 statements.

Thanks alot for all of your reviews and critiques!!!

LOL, oh yea heres there site. www.brettadams.net

[sitehatchery]

It took me a few minutes to figure out what to do with the "what I did page". I hovered over the web links (which I can hardly read) and nothing happened. I saw that the page had no content, so my first thought was that it was just incomplete. So, I navigated through the site and back to this page a couple times. I figured, man, there's got to be something here. By chance, I hovered over a number and it changed to a pale yellow (but I almost missed it because there wasn't much contrast). I'm assuming that the numbers correspond with the non-clickable urls below. Wouldn't it be better to just make the urls clickable (and make them larger)?

The navigation is a bit hard to read on some pages and since the contact page is no where near the rest of the navigation, it took me a few extra seconds of scanning the page to find it. But when I found it, I intended to go to a contact page, but it was just a link to email you.

The key is to give users what they expect and don't make them work at trying to figure out your site.

Oh, and one big reason why displaying text versus text embeded on images is a consideration, is because it allows visually impared users the opportunity to enlarge the text, or use a text reader. By not using any text (or even title attributes for images) at all, you completely exclude anyone that has a visual disability. Couple that with the tiny font, and backgrounds that don't contrast well with the text, it can become an exclusive website.

[KDLA]

Nice. A couple of things:

- When using the lightbox, make your images part of a set, so the user can click on "next" in order to proceed to the next image; you do that by giving your images the same name followed by an incremental number (image-1, image-2, etc.). Because you have no indicator as to which pages the visitor has seen, I found referring to the numbers difficult: I couldn't remember which ones I had already seen because I was focussed on the work itself.
- The transparency on the "about me" page is a little too faint; the text is difficult to read on such a "busy" photo
- I wouldn't include designs for your own site/services in your portfolio; there's no client relationship there for a prospective client to inquire about. They're going to be concerned with not only your end product, but also the "process."
- Contact Me -- should be a form, not an email link
- The interior pages need titles; right now, they've all got the same one.
About Me - brettadams [net]
- Spacer gifs???? Aye, aye -- those are the dinosaurs of HTML techniques!

KDLA

[Wiz Creations]

The site is pretty good, but completely useless if a visitor doesn't have images enabled. You should consinder adding alternate text to each image, and maybe use actual text instead of an image for the About Me, What I Do, and What I Did text.

[blazer1]

i think your website is trying to hard. overkill with the arty crap. need eloqeunce not graffitti for these white corporate *******s.

[KDLA]

Let's keep comments centered on the work, and without profanity. Thanks!

[stilltsie]

Ha, no kidding KDLA. However I do realize my stylized language might not be appropriate for corporate types, that isnt the target audience I am going for. I do think I might clean up my sentence structure and punctuation (or lack thereof) even though it was done on purpose.

[KDLA]

I'd say you don't exactly have a "unique" approach to content. Check out The Library of Virginia's site: http://www.lva.lib.va.us/
It's been like that for years.

KDLA

[stilltsie]

hey copy cats!. just kiddin but I was referring to the actual content, not the links.
example:
i do it all. web design. graphic design. print layouts. flash animation. branding. letterhead. logo design. business cards. covers. collages. my true passion is design, my skillset goes well beyond. HTML. CSS. CGI. javascript. PHP. heres the thing, your project is my mission and no matter what you care to implement, i can make it happen. its what i do.