flash award, mac vs pc views

[sketchball]

I recently launched my 3rd website http://hipnotixmusic.com/ one of which I'm very proud and hope to win a flash award or site of hte month from flashkit. My only concern is the descrepencies in platform views. The site was created on a pc and looks great on a pc, but has allignment problems on a mac and I cannot understand why? It is not too noticable to the untrained viewer, but I want this site to be perfect. I ued lots of actionscript, dynamic text fields for all the text and xml tickers and clock, I wonder it it's the cause. I would appreciate some feed-back, because I know this site is unique enough to win a web award. Thanks

[Roxannej77]

There is a lot of cool stuff there and a lot of effort spent, but I found several things irritating.

1) The pop up effect on the enter and the non-adjustable window.
2) Navigation button (why?)Obviously I want to see the site and you make me click 3 times just to really get in.
3) Is the TV screen a button or just wiggly I couldn't tell until the 5th transition. The menu is either really slow or the screen was what made the difference. I was on the 3rd window before anything showed up in the amount of time that I would expect it to come up.

The entry made me feel clumsy, I had to look too hard to figure out how to get in. Most traffic will not be that patient. Assume that anyone that goes to your site wants to enter and make it easy for them. It is better to start entro and have a skip button.

Neat Graphics, Didn't hear any hipnotic music though.

A very 3rd piece of work just needs a little mechanical alignment and site will be pretty neat.

[eightamrock]

I agree with ROX however I would also like to add that your typography doesnt compliment your design at ALL. Type face and size is a big part of making a good site. Just something you should look into

[sketchball]

Thanks for responding. I'll try to fix those bugs. I belive the sowness of the transitions is also due to the actionscript being to taxing. It takes a lot to get that tv screen effect and the scaling. i'll fix that.

As for the typography,....it's one of my srtongest points. If you don't like it perhaps you are a conservative. The simplicity and the contrast between the typeface for main title and the arial webtext works for me, but I thank you for your opinion. Also, the type appears differently on different platforms.

[parkjin]

hey, i just looked at your code and the alignment is probably an issue because you have the main table width set at '90%' - based on your layout you should have it set at '773'

you spelled 'navigation' incorrectly as well.

[sketchball]

Oh ****!! That might be it and the spelling error, ouch? I'm fixing it now so that it can be quickly uploaded.

Thanks a lot

[riyadhwhatever]

Couldn't open the link.

[sketchball]

http://hipnotixmusic.com/#

[hanratty21]

Originally posted by sketchball
I recently launched my 3rd website http://hipnotixmusic.com/ one of which I'm very proud and hope to win a flash award or site of hte month from flashkit. My only concern is the descrepencies in platform views. The site was created on a pc and looks great on a pc, but has allignment problems on a mac and I cannot understand why? It is not too noticable to the untrained viewer, but I want this site to be perfect. I ued lots of actionscript, dynamic text fields for all the text and xml tickers and clock, I wonder it it's the cause. I would appreciate some feed-back, because I know this site is unique enough to win a web award. Thanks

Very confident aren't you? I will try to not be too harsh here, but....

The site moves slow. - Your fps is either not set very high, or you have a ton of onEnterframe functions present. My everyday browwsing pc is a 500 mhz p3 laptop with plenty of ram. Your site moves at like 10 fps. 20 should always be a bare minimum.

I noticed from your re-post below that you felt typography was your strong point. I disagree. I see plenty of system fonts being used. You want this site to stand out...make the fonts crisp and clean and unique. Also, if you feel that you've used dynamic text boxes and the font "shows different on different systems" then you have probably neglected to embed the font outlines. Search here on FK for more on that.

Why are you hiding the navigation of the site? I could understand if you were short on space...but making me click, so i can actually click your buttons is annoying. Show the nav from the start.

All in all, the site looks very disjointed. A lot of stuff going on...most of it somewhat pointless. You are distracting from whatever it is that you are trying to convey here (i think it's a site for a band...still not sure though). It's obvious that you like the tv static effect, but maybe you could clean it up a bit. Or maybe have it put up an actual image once in a while...almost like a tv tuning in and out. The effect is losing it's charm after a few seconds.

Pop up windows - why? You are in flash...and you pop up a window to...well...put MORE flash into? Why not just load it into the main movie dynamically?

Time/date. It's nice that you could import this into flash and display it, but get rid of it. I am on my computer. I can see the time and date in the lower right hand corner of my screen. What does the time and date have to do with a band anyway?

I'm sorry if I am sounding a little harsh, but you posted this site as if it's the be all and end all of all web sites ever. All the self praise (i think) has made you lose sight of what it is you are trying to do here. Always look to improve.

This site shows that you do have skill - your actionscripted movements are evident, albeit all too often. The dynamic loading concept is displayed all over the site. I think what's lacking here is organization and a good design sense. You shouldn't design the site based on what you want...it should be what fits the material you are trying to present.

In this case, it took me 3-4 clicks to actually get to a song - for a band site...big big big no-no.

My advise...use this one as a learning experience and start on version 2. Stop looking for accolades and start looking to improve on the skills that you are still lacking. There is plenty of inspiration out there...much of which you can find right here in the boards of Flashkit.

RH

[SSC Cosmic]

Good ol' Hanratty there with the hard dose of reality.

Listen to him, he's right. You've learned how to operate the program, now focus on design skills. It's not as intuitive as you think, you should read-read-read alot of books on design and art, practice alot, read a book or two on typography, and produce some art. Look at alot of awarded sites to develop your sense of taste. Do the art first, draw a nice interface, wait until you feel the balance and rightness in it, then worry about motion related effects and tv static(ach!).

Good luck to ya!
John

[pixelf]

Man, sites not bad, but seriously get some pixel fonts, you can get some really good ones for free (if your tight as a duck's arse - which I am) Check out

www.fontsforflash.com
www.miniml.com
http://www.bestflashanimationsite.com/pixel-fonts/

P.s. I'm on a mac, and your roll-overs on the menu don't line up with the font.

Other than that, Good!,

<b>P.S. </b>I'm in a band to check out www.kreeper.net

[sk8Krog]

I'm with Hanratty and Cosmic.

The technical skills are there and it's pretty clear you put a lot of focus on that, but when I saw the splash, the first thing I thought was "He better not get an award". The design is lacking. I'm putting it a little harsh there because I think you need it. You came here with the intent to get an award out of this, so let's make that happen. Listen to Cosmic's advice on design, its not something you can just halfass and focus on the code.

[fsugolf06]

Wow that site was very very distracting and disjointing. I couldnt even read the text with that stuff in the background jumping around. Yea its an alright effect but maybe you should only have it on the main section. Way to much movement that distracts the viewer away from info.

[sketchball]

I submitted this for critique and recieved a lot of info. Some of which I will absorb and others I will not, however it seems that some of you focused on the fact that I want to win a flash award and was biased by that fact before viewing the site. Telling me, a studied designer,(not some weekend desktop publisher) to re-read design books..that's offensive. 'Roxannej77' said the same things several of you repeated, but she had tact. Many sites are conventional. Going left wing isn't neccessarilly bad design. I still adhere to the all-powerful grid system. I do agree that content should be more of the main focus and several other changes which, you will see, but self confidence isn't a weakness.

Thanks for the font site 'pixelf' I'm busting my ass here trying to figure out how to embedd the fonts. This is the first time I've used dynamic text. I'm also checking out your site. Good luck

[hanratty21]

To be honest with you, I was hoping this thread would just fade off into the distance nicely and sweetly, but you had to top off the cake with a little more icing huh?

Interesting that you are saying that we all focused on the "award" aspect.....hmmmm.
***Perhaps that is due to the fact that you mentioned the word "award" no less than 3 times in your original post.

Telling you to re-read design books is offensive....hmmmm. We all (well, most) posted some very specific criticism which cited several different aspects of the site which we (all in accord) seemed to find unappealing, whether in design or function/purpose. What we trying to get at is the concept that you seemed to be focused more on the amount of bells and whistles you could throw in rather than the appeal to the audience of the site.

Self confidence is not a weakness....hmmmm. In this case, I think it hindered your ability to take criticism when it was requested. I am going back and re-reading this thread...there is a LOT of good stuff in there about how to improve this site. Don't forget, you are posting to a group of peers who are doing the same thing as you here. We are all being honest and trying to get each other to improve.

I will be the first to admit that my first posting had a harsh tone, but you came into this thread like Muhammed Ali, rallying your Champion of the Masses title before you even had a chance to be judged. I felt that I responded accordingly. I didn't write:
"Site sux"
or
"U stink"
or anything like that. I explained everything that I felt was wrong in complete detail. I gave you specifics as well as general design ideas. If you take them, great...if not...I'm sorry.

In any event, you have a great resource of judges here at FK. You chose to use them...now you should choose to listen to them.

RH

[Cola_addict]

The site was ok IMO, nothing to new though, the fonts need serious attention and the tv effect just hurt my eyes. Good basis for a site though.

What i would say is if you post saying you want to win an award you have to be ready for peeps to tell you your having a laugh ,unless you know for sure your site is something different.

Hope you take the critisism (spelling?) the right way and use it to bounce back with a mega site!

-Adam-

[robbmcaulay]

Originally posted by pixelf
tight as a duck's arse

Watertight?

[pixelf]

Robb, frae one Scot to another...
Tighter than a nun's

Sketchball, If you want to embed pixel fonts, make sure they're lined up dead on a pixel, e.g. x: 10, y: 20, rather than, x:10.2, y: 20.4. Then go into Character... and click embed all. easy, oh and make surec the font is set at what it needs to be to be clear (usually 8),or in multiples, e.g. 8,16,24,32...
Hope this is help ...

[thefuzmixman]

ha.. ok. see this is why i think web design has become a trend. just anyone can download software and learn how to use it. I really wasn't very fond of this site.

For starters, the splash screen in general the graphic was no good. Totally looked like photoshop rookie work with a standard glowing edges filter effect. When the page loaded i immediately disliked what i saw again. Your colors reminded me of a bad DOS game from the 80's. You know the ones. Colors just dont seem to match anything. I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt, so i hovered my mouse over the links and the background moved. that was cool. 1 point towards your hypnotic theme, but then i actually closed the window after i clicked the first link and an ugly transition of the band members with green text began to appear. I came back to this thread to write my review and then realized that you've been dogged hard. So once again i went back to look. Still hated what i saw, but i did notice that you have alot of AS going on. I've just started with that, so i have to give you credit where it's due.


so ok in conclusion. you have earned 2 points.
lets not make this so harsh and base that out of 5 total points.

lets also base this on me being a regular person who is critiquing your website. this opinion only counts if u want it to. If you really like what your doing keep it up. More power to you, but definitely don't get cocky unless you can back that talk up.

[sketchball]

thanks again 'pixelf' I'm trying that now. Then I have to go over to a mac and see if it works.

anyone can download software and learn how to use it eh.. 'thefuzmixman'. Send me a link to one of your sites before you keep writing. Oh..you don't have one.. that's cool. It's like a valet telling me he doesn't like my car. As for 80's video games.... I love them.. especially frogger and galaxy.