Site check

[revlis]

Yo,

I'm working on a new version of my my companies website. I've only done the navigation and a little flash (3d).

I'm looking for comments of any sort, eg. if anyone encounters a problem with their browser etc...

www.k2consulting.net/test

Cheers

[The Laughing Cow]

nice but takes too long to load on a 56k modem

[mr_grumpy_man]

A couple of tiny things... firstly I wouldn't use the two flash elements on the page (as cute as they are). Someone visiting the page without Flash installed will be met with a rather ugly site messed up by the 'missing plug-in' symbols. Um... my second point was going to be about preloading rollover images, but according to the source code you have, albeit using the MacroMedia javascript... strange.

Other than that it's difficult to say without a little content there.

[mr_grumpy_man]

Oh, to add to The Laughing Cow's comment (which appeared while I was typing, I didn't experience any great delay in the loading of the site :)

[sLaShX]

404 mate

<[!]sLaShX>

[revlis]

sorry the url has changed

http://www.k2consulting.net/new/

[Spidery]

Well I think it's great mate. You have to be wary about these forums everyones very critical :) (so if you've got a site, make sure its not crap!)

[AGERSTONE]

Thats cool,very proffesional,i wish i could make a good site,the only site i have is a crappy geocities one!

[revlis]

Thanks for the kind comments.

One reason I posted it here is because I knew that there are critics to pull apart what I've done which is what I need. It's the only way to improve a site (besides direct design rip offs from known sites).

cheers guys

[mr_grumpy_man]

Noooooo! Not a splash screen!!!

I mean why? It was looking ok otherwise.

And it just looks silly I'm afraid if you have to actively tell people to 'click over there to get past this content-void page'.

You can't make it too obvious on the page because it will spoil 'the look' but if you make it small and unobtrusive people therefore don't know what to do.

And 9/10 times its put in a place that looks silly anyway.

[revlis]

It had to be done that way.

I myself (and everyone in the office) think it looks fine and it works. It's not a proper splash screen. It directs to 2 different sites (it will eventually). It does its job and it's not pointless :)

Even tho this isn't a true 'splash screen,' I feel I have to say that many sites that are inspirational to web designers use splash screens.

http://www.2advanced.com
http://www.webstyles.com/
http://www.juxtinteractive.com/theprocess/

just to name a few.

btw...

It had to be done that way.

I don't wanna argue with the man who pays my wages, heh.

[revlis]

btw I agree.

I never really liked splash screens. Most are lame.

[mr_grumpy_man]

As long as you have no choice :)

Design wise, splash screens are a bigger abhoration than pointless flash ;)

Just to comment on the sites you mention... 2advanced.com's splash screen is exactly the pointless kind of example that winds me up. Yes, it could be argued that you need to have a page that will advise people they need Flash/Shockwave/some other gimmicky plug-in... but these days it would take less time to copy-paste a script or applet that detects whether a browser has the needed plug-in - meaning you can redirect to the relevant page. People don't want to click again - 9/10 times they know that they're heading to a site, they don't need reminding by a pretty picture.

Okay, I was going to go off in a rant about how the webstyles.com page was the most pointless example of a splash screen, but I can see now that it turns into a menu... but even that is pointless. Why bother people looking for information by making them click just to trigger an animation? And it isn't clear that what results is actually a menu at all unless you try moving the mouse over it.

juxtinteractive.com/theprocess/ has a similar reason to yours for having a splash screen - and thinking about it, seeing as the rest of the site seems to have been done in flash (grrrrr :angry: ) offering sounded/soundless variations isn't too bad an idea... The rest of the site is appauling though - windows pop up all over the place, the flash site is disorganised and confusing. Actually, it's giving me a headache, so I'm going to stop looking at it now.

Hmmm... that's quite a rant considering you had no choice and agree with me..

:cheese:

[revlis]

I've been thinking about puting in a script that directs them to the right page after they've visited the site before. I'm not sure if I should.

I see your not a big fan of flash sites. Most of them are really just for show and don't really tell you anything but what the designer can do.

I read about a guy once that said 90% of flash sites have bad design. He might be right in a way but I myself get inspired (design) from some of these sites. Maybe that's a bad thing (according to that guy, I still don't know why he's so important). Alot of it is to do with download times that most people leave these sites. They are impressive but can be a bore to wait for.
Also beauty is in the eye of the beholder or something...

[mr_grumpy_man]

My faveourite quote revolves around the fact that most flash is just things flying around - not real animation (must dig that out and put it back in meh sig...).

Flash sites are a nightmare for anything more than showing off. They are difficult to modify, make information dissemination almost impossible and frankly are pointless - you can achieve better results that load quicker using animated gifs, html, javascript and a little imagination.

/me takes anti-rant pill :)

[revlis]

amen to that...

Most flash sites are to the web like hollywood is to cinema, a whole lot of expensive flashy crap to entertain the weak minded.

[mr_grumpy_man]

:E