My website

I just whipped up my site for freelance purposes in the central florida area. IF you guys could be so kind to visit it and let me know what you guys think of it. =) Any pointers on how and where to promote the website would be GREATLY welcomed. http://www.psend.com...VENLIVES/index/

looks cool but the text is too dark against the dark background.

hmm will work on that for you. Also the gallery will be beefed up. I wanted to put it out already. thanks anymore opinions are welcome!

Can I make a suggestion of adding a preloader while the site is loading? You have them for the other sections of the site, and it just seemed to take a while to load up the splash screen. Then again my adsl line has been playing up recently

I'm not too sure about the banner ad at the top, as I'm always of the opinion that portfolio sites should promote yourself and not some other company, but that's just a personal preference I guess. Apart from that I do like the way you've used the tv screen/ noise effect I think that is interesting and works well.

I'm a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to web design, so you have to take that into account when reading my comments....

The Flash elements detract from your excellent designs.

The first thing I looked at was the gallery page, and from a design standpoint, there are a couple of things that stood out:

1. The flashing word "gallery" draws my eye away from the design samples. Don't make your designs compete for attention.

2. The pieces go through the slideshow much, much too fast and I couldn't figure out how to slow it down or stop it. Can't see any detail or even read the caption at the bottom at that rate. I would suggest allowing your viewers to have control over when they are ready to move to the next piece.

3. The background is much too busy and also distracts the eye.

Lastly, the links at the bottom of the page seem out of place and like they were just thrown up there at the last minute. Center them at the bottom of the screen.

Hope that helps some! Remember -- you can still use Flash to have a great site, but don't forget the basics of good web design: usability, readability, and brevity.

Jess

lol i got torn a new one. hehe but thank you. =) I appreciate honesty. About the banners up top. Not my idea, not much i can do about that however. It's a free hosting site and they need to advertise to be free. =( So if anyone knows a free bannerless web hosting place, let me know.

Yeah somethings about the site were pretty much thrown at last minute. But im hard at work at correcting most of that. I can understand if the background may seem busy at times, but I wanted to recreate a real time environment while the user reads about. But I'm making corrections as I go. So thank you guys =)

Oh yeah the links at the bottom had nothing to do with me either. lol Part of the hosting site. The only thing thats mine is whats within the box. I thank you guys again for your comments and compliments!! more are welcome

Yea i agree with the banners and links at the bottom, but other than that its an awesome website. I like your style.

lol i got torn a new one. hehe but thank you. =)

Don't feel that way. What's most important is that your portfolio pieces are very nice. Just put them in the spotlight a bit more and you've got it made!

About the banners up top. Not my idea, not much i can do about that however. It's a free hosting site and they need to advertise to be free. =( So if anyone knows a free bannerless web hosting place, let me know.

I would recommend getting your own domain and hosting set up. It's much more professional looking to prospective clients and you will have total control over what's displayed on your pages.

Best of luck!
Jess

thanks guys i appreciate the critique. =) Hard at work on version 2

Hi! First off I think you should get rid of the banner ads. The bright blue over the black background is hard on the eyes. I can't stare at it for long or maybe it's just my eye. But you should also consider your viewers. There are several ways to promote your website, but if you will use SEO, get rid of the flash, because search engine don't read flash.

I'm not that keen on the flash design. It just has a kind of "dark and evil" feel to it which is something you do not want on a site like this!

That text is also really hard to read, black text on a pretty dark background - does not work well at all!

Also, those ads at the top - not nice at all!

Will.

uh yeah, the ads aren't mine. thats just to post it up in the mean time. when the site goes live ill pay for a domain. =)