Greek guy returns!

[oxygen]

Hello from Athens,
I would like to show you my portfolio. The site is a bit old ( i know that given some comments made by other people).
Any comments are welcome.
I think i will rebuild it in Flash because all the restrictions by IE6 and SP2 are annoying. Anyway I have never been able to do something "big" in flash.

Whats your thoughts about a portfolio in flash? You find this a more usable solution or stay to the dhtml format?

Thanks in advance
http://welldone.ws

[Bugfix.nl]

I like the interface, however it took me some time to find the button that shows the tree view. It might be a good idea to add text to the buttons or at least make a text appear when hovering your mouse over the buttons...

[oxygen]

I have a help button near the top right edge. When you click on it the help assistant that enables tooltip-like legends when you are over an "active" area.

However I am well aware of the problems that my site has . Thats why I am currently building welldone v2 a.s.a.p.

Anyway I would like to thank you for your time to view my site and write your thoughts here. I really appreciate that, thanks a lot!

[Darkmonkey]

Hmm, I'm using Firefox, and I can't get anything to work. The tooltips don't work, and when I click on the arrow to the left(Something slide out?) Nothing happens.

[Caedes]

HI, i really like the interface , but it's true that the arrow for the tree menu is not directly seen as the squares menu on the top .But i like the cold ,frezzing and technoid design of the interface and your works are good .Good portfolio!!

[rtbenson]

That's a cool interface and a neat idea!

Now make it work in Firefox

[kpeatt]

That's probably the least usable site I've been on in a long time. Really. Really it is. I thought maybe you just weren't coding to standards and it would look/work better in Internet Explorer... but it doesn't. I don't really know what to say. Try again, I guess? For now, I think your domain name is blatant false advertising. I know this isn't much of a review... I think maybe what you need to know is that you are using flash in a way that it should not be used. You're not doing anything here you couldn't do better (more accessible/usable/prettier/quicker/everything) with HTML. Remember, you want the people that come to your site to find the portfolio (or whatever you're selling) right away. Mystery meat navigation is a huge no-no.

Oh, and I notice you're looking at DHTML? Keep it simple - don't overuse it. DHTML can cause some pretty major bloat in an otherwise clean site.

[oxygen]

That's probably the least usable site I've been on in a long time. Really. Really it is. I thought maybe you just weren't coding to standards and it would look/work better in Internet Explorer... but it doesn't. I don't really know what to say. Try again, I guess? For now, I think your domain name is blatant false advertising. I know this isn't much of a review... I think maybe what you need to know is that you are using flash in a way that it should not be used. You're not doing anything here you couldn't do better (more accessible/usable/prettier/quicker/everything) with HTML. Remember, you want the people that come to your site to find the portfolio (or whatever you're selling) right away. Mystery meat navigation is a huge no-no.

Oh, and I notice you're looking at DHTML? Keep it simple - don't overuse it. DHTML can cause some pretty major bloat in an otherwise clean site.

As I said i know that I need a new site very soon. I know many of the problems of the current one. Only one point i dont understand: "...you are using flash in a way that it should not be used."... well i dont use flash at all. Its dhtml. In my first post i talk about the usage of flash and if you think that flash is an advantage or not for a portfolio-like site. Thats all about flash.

[oxygen]

I forgot to thank each one of you for your time to review my site. Thanks, thanks, thanks!!!

I would like to post the url of my new site even if it doesnt exist yet (except of a splash screen). I would like you to tell me what is the first impression, what mood, what you get from the picture that you see (the first thing that comes to your mind - funny, catchy, boring, disgusting!.. anything). When you see it what kind of content would you expect to find inside: a normal classical-flashy layout? something more extreme maybe?

If a have some feedback maybe i will avoid the same mistakes again (dont worry i will do new ones this time ). Thanks in advance.... here it is: http://www.welldonedesign.net

[Darkmonkey]

I like the shiny metallic feeling the splash has. The blue and the grey work well with the highlights, but I'm not too fond of the white block down the center. It's a bit "awkward", the layout of it. It's too much of a contrast.

[kpeatt]

Ha! Now my comment is valid. And I was so embarassed before. This new design... the splash... it doesn't want me to enter. At first I didn't realize I was supposed to click on the ball, and there was no other way to enter the site... then I realized that the ball is a hotspot. My next problem was clicking the ball.... everytime I went to it, even after it settled, it jumped away from me! This isn't the sort of interactivity I'm looking for in a webpage, especially seeing how that red 'x' up at the top is always calling for me to click it... and it's not moving anywhere.

If you would like to keep your bouncing ball, then I would suggest adding another link that users who prefer not to catch their food before eating it can click.

In other news, I think the balance of the splash is very well done. I disagree that there is too much contrast between the white and the charcoal. All I want to know - design wise - is why the reflection does not meet up with the ball when it comes to a stop - it seems as if the ball is floating.

[oxygen]

Okay...

For the time beeing, the bouncing ball is just a funny thing to play with (well.. if you can call that a play), since there is no place to go yet.

Of course when the real content exists the hotspot will be active and the bouncing ignored.

The "red X" thing was something that i have noticed when testing the page locally. However when the page became alive this thing disappeared (at least in my IE browser). Dont know why yet!. Any suggestions about how I will "kill" it? frames maybe?

Finally, about the distance between the ball and the reflection: I was trying to give the impression that the floor is glass-made and the ball is reflected in the bottom surface of the thick glassy floor. Maybe I need some extra work on it.

Your feedback was very helpfull...
I would like to thank you for your time and your comments.

[kpeatt]

Oh.. actually - I meant the red 'X' that the windows GUI offers me to close the page

If you make the entire image clickable, then yes, that would certainly add to the usability of the splash page... just as long as you're not required to click on the ball to advance.