Please critique this website 7

[TulsaJeff]

I am in need of a critique on this website. I volunteered to build a site for the church we are attending here in town and even though most of the congregation feel that it is the neatest thing since sliced bread... I really would like to get some oppinions from a designers perspective.

Any and all comments, suggestions, etc are welcomed.

http://www.lifetab.net

Thanks,
Jeff Ya' Gotta Love It!

 

[Javrix]

I like it. The first problem that I see is that the entire page is flash. Which really isn't too bad of a problem, except I'm on a T1 line, so I can't tell how long it took to load from a modem's connection.

Second, on the subscribe thing, why don't you put "subscribe newsletter" in the body of the e-mail for them? use this code in your flash for the url "mailto:majordomo@

http://www.lifetab.net?body=Subscribe

Newsletter" I would double check that e-mail too.

It looks very nice and clean though. The colors are easy on the eyes, which most people seem to neglect now-a-days.

My only suggestion would to not make the entire page flash. I try not to use flash too much as I have encountered some client/server problems with it before, and some people still can't view flash, and have never heard of "macromedia" before, so they don't dl it either.

Really it looks like you are only using flash on the top right of the home page anyway.

~Javrix

A broken clock is correct twice per day.

A roomful of monkeys on typwriters will eventually write the great american novel.

If you gave an infinate number of rednecks, an infinate number of shotguns to shoot at an infinate number of stree

 

[PetitPal]

I must agree with your congregation; it's rather jolly nice! =)

The only thing I would say at all (and this is just personal preference) is check the 'hide menu' flag in the publish settings... so that when you right click you don't get the old 'play, rewind' etc appearing... as sometimes pressing play in an interactive site can cause havoc!

Otherwise, like I said, it looks really cool; nice colours, nicely laid out; smart without being too over the top.

All in all, good job.

=)

PetitPal.

 

[coldfused]

everything runs smooth from this end jeff.. smooth transitions through everything..

virtuality2001@aol.com

 

[TulsaJeff]

I appreciate the comments and critiques. Hope to get a lot more. I did do quite an extensive amount of research before attempting the unheard of and buildind the complete site of this magnitude in Flash alone.

about 96% of users are Flash capable so I did not worry about that so much. One thing that did concern me was file size and download time.

I set a target of 150k and am at about 170 or so right now. I am on 56k at home where I design and download the site consistently in about 20 seconds.

I may eventually take some parts of this and put it on a separate movie for loading as needed to help bring down the file size.

Thanks for the tip on automatically setting the body text. I knew how to specify the subject but never thought about doing that for the body. Excellent idea. as far as the actual list server we use which is majordomo...it works great and is maintenance free for the most part.

I will also look into the possibility of hiding the Flash menu.

Please keep the thoughts and ideas rolling... Thanks!

Ya' Gotta Love It!

 

[Javrix]

I've also seen and read all the "white paper" stuff macromedia has on it. But, most people only have flash 3 or 4 on their browsers. The average person (excluding programmers, like us) don't even know what flash is. Because of this, people are prompt to download flash, and even if they don't download they'll still be able to see your page. The reason I point this out is because the same thing happened with my site. I made the navigation and some other features in flash, but because of the whole "download flash 5" thing, I've been forced to redo the page without any flash. Macromedia is right when they say 96% can view flash, but not version 5. (although you can view version 5 app's with version 4 installed).

Anyway, I'm going on and on. You can see my old site with flash

http://www.unitedrecruiters.com

and the new version without flash

http://www.unitedrecruiters.com/newversion

(although both versions are not complete, hey, i'm the only developer!)
~Javrix

If you gave an infinate number of rednecks, an infinate number of shotguns to shoot at an infinate number of street signs, they would eventually write Romeo and Juliet in braille.

 

[coldfused]

and that's a shame for you javrix..the flash version is alot more interesting then the html version..

virtuality2001@aol.com

 

[Javrix]

You're telling me! *sigh* Darn boss.
~Javrix

If you gave an infinate number of rednecks, an infinate number of shotguns to shoot at an infinate number of street signs, they would eventually write Romeo and Juliet in braille.

 

[Rohdem]

I'm just starting out in Flash. I enjoy looking at your flash sites and trying to figure out how you did things. Do you guys have any other good links that I can look at? Mike Rohde
rohdem@marshallengines.com

 

[Javrix]

I made this one too. It really is bad though.

http://www.vincentlords.com

~Javrix

If you gave an infinate number of rednecks, an infinate number of shotguns to shoot at an infinate number of street signs, they would eventually write Romeo and Juliet in braille.

 

[Joules]

Great Site! Curious, did you teach yourself Flash or take some traning in it? I have been teaching myself but it feels like a very long process, there is so much to know! Plus, I have to still go to my real job during the day.:-( I have learned a lot, but not yet at the level of making a whole flash site. Just wondering what other's learning curves are for flash.

Thanks!

 

[Javrix]

Not sure if you're talking to me, but yeah, I did teach myself. That's why I'm not too proud of them. I want to take a class, but I think I can sharpen my skills without paying the big bucks. I'm leaning away from graphics, and more into programming though, so my study of flash is slowing down.
~Javrix

If you gave an infinate number of rednecks, an infinate number of shotguns to shoot at an infinate number of street signs, they would eventually write Romeo and Juliet in braille.

 

[Joules]

Jarvix ~ I was looking for any reply from anyone...Thanks!
Do you have any favorite resources that have helped you either for graphics or programming?

 

[pbb]

Hi Jeff,

Nice site. Your church must be proud of you
One suggestion though. I think that if you could clean up the edges of the photo of the pastor, his wife and kid that would be nice. Because we can still see some white pixels around the edges (such as the head of the kid and pastor, as well as the left sleeve of the pastor'"s suit). I thing it would make the page look cleaner.
That's it!
Good job.
Patricia

 

[Javrix]

Yeah, I remember I first started in HTML (which EVERYONE should start out on), I found this site called

http://www.htmlgoodies.com

Take the guys primers on HTML. He does a pretty good job. Then I just starting view-source almost every page I came upon.

Then I found flash. I think I started with an article from

http://www.webmonkey.com

I believe it was a tutorial on flash 4 (this is a few months before flash 5 came out). And ever since, I've just played with it.

I starting playing with tons of code and scripts, and before long, some guy cut me break and hired me to design his site. I started only knowing the pure basics of HTML, flash, and most graphics programs. But after 8 months of experience, I *AM* the HTML and ASP god!

Just kidding. I bought books on javascript, xhtml, xml, asp, sql, java, and the list goes on.

I'm making pretty good cash, especially for someone who started only about a year ago. It just goes to show that anyone can do it!

Good luck!
~Javrix

If you gave an infinate number of rednecks, an infinate number of shotguns to shoot at an infinate number of street signs, they would eventually write Romeo and Juliet in braille.

 

[TulsaJeff]

I was introduced to Flash about a year ago but never really started using it until about 6 months ago. The learning curve is completely proportional to how much time you spend in this forum..and of course how much time you spend using the software. (Good plug for Tek-Tips there).

I spend about 40 hours per week and lots of late nights and early mornings using Flash plus my regular job and allowing time for my wife and 2 daughters.

It does require lots of committment but when the committment is a ton of fun then it is all so much better. Ya' Gotta Love It!

 

[davdesign]

hi jeff

won't repeat what others have pointed out. I'll just say that it was nice-n-clean and very easily navigated.

Didn't take too long to download on my 0.5k/s connection either.

bye for now

dave

hit by virus, all computers wiped/contents destroyed, so if I ain't responding to e-mails, that's why :-( , may be back intermittently but not fully for another few weeks. davdesign@pinkzeppelin.com

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[natedeia]

Jeff,
Very nice, one thing that always stands out is colors. That is like the biggest thing to look at when actually making a site, you and others know what i mean. Great site!

Javrix,
I really like the old site you made, kinda turns me on! Haha, just saying that because i fell in love with flash then i found DW and FW. Now i am about to make time for making a project out of Flash as soon as i get my two other sites up. The first one looked very clean!

 

[oculus]

Jeff:

I applaude you. One of the first decent church websites I've seen, and using FLash at that! You've done a great job. Have you already fixed the picture on the home page? Looks good to me.

I'm new to FLash myself, and putting the finishing touches on our own church website (UPC as well). Check it out if you want at

http://www.pentecostals.net

I mention it because if you're concerened about download times, you may want to add an intro. I tested this movie extensively in the editing environment and online. On a 56K connection, once the intro is done playing (while the movie is downloading in the background) it takes about 10 seconds before the main movie comes up. And it's a whopping 375k without the music! So the intro really helps.

Hope that helps. Great job, once again.


Bill.

 

[coldfused]

hi oculus..that in deed is a very bice design of yours as well..what do you mean by having the intro play while the movie loads in the background..is the intro your pre-loader?.

once again man i liked that site..but i don't know about the house music in the intro..there's just something wrong with that..seems kinda moraly wrong with that..

virtuality2001@aol.com