Updated Portfolio Site, Please offer feedback

**j11t** · 01:23 PM

Hello Everybody,

I recently update my portfolio website and would like to hear your opinions.
Please let me know if you see anything that can be improved.

Here are some guidlines
!. Overall Impression
2. Suggestions
3. Load time
4. Internet connection (dailup, dsl, t1 etc)
5. Browser
6. operating system

TAKE A PEAK!

**zephyrcat** · 06-09-2008, 04:32 PM

OS: Ubuntu 8.04
Browser: Firefox 3 Beta 5
Connection: Cable over wireless (quite fast)

The load time is fine. Overall, it looks great. At first the navigation bar seems to cut off too abruptly, but I got used to it pretty quickly. Also, linking the logo at the top left would make getting back to the home page easier. Finally, the two menus are a little big confusing.

Other than that, the colors are great and I really like the fade effects.

**Sneakyheathen** · 06-09-2008, 05:41 PM

OS: Mac OSX Tiger
Browser: Firefox 2
Connection: Cable
Load Time: Fast enough

First Impressions

"Ooh! What a pretty logo. Oh, and now it's gone..."

Design

Your logo and navigation are so pretty, but once it gets to the page I feel...disappointed. Why not continue that style in the whole portfolio? The ending feels too abrupt. For the navigation: either keep them capital or keep them lowercase! Consistency darn it! On the projects page, once you go past four icons for your resources, you get this weird dip in that line. The same offset occurs under your resources page with the logo and the text.

Overall, your navigation structure is random and confusing. There are links to "hidden" areas, and that can really frustrate someone looking for a specific page.

Content

It's okay. It's not bad, it's not enthralling, though. Again, I wish all of the content in one category was grouped together. Why is your "About Me" page split into two different pages? Actually, it appears to be duplicate content, which is probably even worse.

There's nothing to really draw you in, text-wise, but some of the work is really quite good. My advice is to "ethnically cleanse" (oooh, touchy term) your artwork and show off only your best. None of the early days w/ word art attempts. That will make you look only top-notch.

Overall

It's a nice portfolio, but navigation is a nightmare, and I wish the design on top continued through the whole page. As well, the content doesn't really draw you in. Just put a little more work into "polishing" everything.

**j11t** · 11:45 PM

Thank you so much for taking the time to take a look and offer suggestions.

On content... do you have any examples of sites that you would consider to have excellent or enthralling writing in your opinion.

Would you consider the sites in your signature good places to look?

I realize this can be subjective, but every so often one comes across a holy grail so to speak. So if you have any goodies you don't mind sharing let me know. Personally, I admire A List Apart.

The sections I had originally for the home page were...

i,About me (curious)
iiDesign Philosophy(intrigued) ...will become blog section
iiiUpdates.

I wanted it to be a little different...but not to the point where the average person wouldn't be able to figure it out the hierarchy in place.

Home---About Me, Blog Snippets, Updates,
Services---- Skills provided, Tools Used
Projects----going to rename portfolio...Web Design, Graphic Design, etc

Perhaps I should make the tabbing more obvious to avoid confusion?

The links to the hidden area will be removed...its part of the drupal taxonomy system...I was messing around with some ajax and having it load certain content pieces on different pages based on taxonomy terms...the site truly is my playground...maybe thats the problem

The reason I didn't continue the design thoughout was because of load time. I originally had the elemental images as png files, but finally got a jpg compression that gave almost the same look as the latter ext. , so the theme will be updated soon, so it looks more fluid.

Off to polishing and cleansing. I'll have to see what's going on with the drupal cms when it comes to those images. The css was fine until just recently when I implemented an aggregation module to cut down the load time of the pages...oh the joys....

**arcel** · 06-10-2008, 05:20 AM

OS: Vista
Browser: Firefox 2
Connection: DSL (not sure)
Load Time: normal

Overall Impression
good looking design, very artistic in using and blending of colors! you've got to menus? the loading of your works takes time but worth waiting. great portfolio...

**j11t** · 06-10-2008, 01:09 PM

I don't have two "menus"...I do have divisions with in the service,projects, and home pages which I believe confused some people a little bit...

I'm trying to get as much feedback as possible. So far the majority of people I've asked understood the layout..but there have been others who where a bit confused.

**unibul** · 06-11-2008, 01:53 AM

I like the color scheme.

**Sneakyheathen** · 06-11-2008, 01:27 PM

Super late response, but...

Quote:

Originally Posted by j11t

Thank you so much for taking the time to take a look and offer suggestions.

On content... do you have any examples of sites that you would consider to have excellent or enthralling writing in your opinion.

Would you consider the sites in your signature good places to look?

The sites I frequent are:

http://www.Problogger.net
The posts are interesting to me, but I really like how everything has a place and how there's a community vibe going on. As well, the post tempo stays pretty steady.

http://www.AtomicRobo.com
This is a funny site that gives news on the comic series that was originally based on the website. (woah, confusing, haha) I like the posts because they have personality, while still delivering information.

http://www.FreelanceSwitch.com
The pictures are interesting, but also the content is informative and engaging, in my opinion. I also really like the website design.

As for the websites in my signature, they are yet to be launched (I just hating changing sig links, so I put them up there.) but I have a "printer-friendly" version of the homepage up on deadlyclever.com right now and as soon as I re-design DD, i'll be starting a series on "why blogging is like questing." Check back maybe next week and let me know if you think they're "enthralling."

My personal site/blog (http://www.supersophomore.com) is up if you're interested in seeing my writing "style."

Quote:

The sections I had originally for the home page were...

i,About me (curious)
iiDesign Philosophy(intrigued) ...will become blog section
iiiUpdates.

I wanted it to be a little different...but not to the point where the average person wouldn't be able to figure it out the hierarchy in place.

Home---About Me, Blog Snippets, Updates,
Services---- Skills provided, Tools Used
Projects----going to rename portfolio...Web Design, Graphic Design, etc

Perhaps I should make the tabbing more obvious to avoid confusion?

As long as the navigation is structured and consistent, you can do whatever you want with it. Go nuts!

Quote:

..the site truly is my playground...maybe thats the problem

I can't tell you how many times I've changed DC! Now that I want to use it to make money, though, I have to keep it consistent. My suggestion would be to get a test website and just use that. (just add a sub domain to your current hosting and go nuts!)

**j11t** · 06-11-2008, 01:32 PM

Sound advice. Trust , I have sections reserved solely for experimenting :P. But now that I have a look that seems sufficient. I won't tamper too much, plus I've been getting a lot more clients, so I don't quite have the time.