[RESOLVED] design theories

[:im:]

here are some guidelines when creating a flash site for a pleasurable experience for the user.

1.never open fullscreen without an option
2.menus should NEVER EVER be symbolized by something that isn't related to the site or the section that the button will open at all.
3.experimental navigation is good, unless you play with COMPLEX actionscripting there. try to make your experimental navigation as obvious as possible. good example is flashkit's featured site-me company.
4.DO NOT use negative colors on negative backgrounds. NEVER use dark blue or navy or green or red on black backgrounds unless the colors have a highlight or are glowing or are in a gradient. yellow is also NOT appreciated because it looks bad on both, positive and negative backgrounds. use tan if you have to.
5.DO NOT, i repeat DO NOT make your main page of the flashsite have MORE than 6 elements. this clutters the site and makes it HARD to find the navigation.
---------
sample positioning(modify it SLIGHTLY)
<<<menu
<<<content
<<<other widgets
No.2
<<<<widgets
<<<content
<<<<menu
---------
6.don't EVER put a menu in the middle unless the main page doesn't have any content except the navigation on it. it looks REAL dumb. good example of proper middle navigation is http://www.yugop.com
(i think i'll write a book someday)
7.fonts should be as limited as possible. but they should resemble the site.the very best example is in front of you, FLASHKIT, they use just 1 font, verdana. what differs is the size. do NOT use MORE THAN TWO fonts on your site, even 2 is a big limit.

BAD example is: http://www.dreams2.com/flashintro.htm

GOOD example is: http://www.mycgiserver.com/~pashchenko/
8.intros shouldn't be bigger than 30 seconds, users get REALLY bored if the intro rambles on for more than a minute.
9.when writing content make sure it doesn't break a 7K limit. things over 7,000 characters are REALLy hard to break apart or render, i assure you.
10.your filesize is as never as big as you think. even though it says 15K on your lil intro, the REAL filesize for 56k dialups will be more than 30K because of the bandwidth.
-----------------------------------------------------
hope you have something outta this thing.

[Kraken]

Very nice summation of good design, :im:. Right on all points. The only thing I would add is if you have sound, please include an option to turn it off. Sure you may like house/techno/rumba all played on a tuba...but not everyone does.

Rich

[stevietat2]

i have to agree on some points, but your colour theories have no backing. red on black for example can look really good, as can green and blue if used properly. not all sites want contrast. some want harmony.
dreams2.com intros (though big) are some of the best and well thought out intros. they have no problems with fonts.

[mg33]

stevie, damn, that dreams site is pretty cool, that first intro is pretty powerful. it's 2 45 in the morning, and my speakers probably just woke up the neighbors. I've got Yamaha powered speakers, 80 watts total with a 40 watt powered sub. these things rule like no other, worth every penny, about $145

mg33

[Infinity]

MG33, can I ask you a question... where do you live, what times are you doors unlocked, and where do you keep your valuables?

[zbailey]

Although i do believe in most of your design guidelines. They are just your opinions. I don't see how you could call that dreams2 site a bad example i thought it was awesome and it lokks like others from the board did. Just something to think about.

[Kraken]

dam, I have to agree with everyone else, that dreams2 intro was pretty sweet. It had a big impact and didn't have more than 2 fonts. I posted a knee-jerk reaction above, just to get in my tidbit about sound. I still believe that :im: is right about most of it, though. He has some very valid points, and I've seen more than my fair share of sites that break the rules of good design in a very unpleasing manner. They should be pulled over by the design-cops and issued a citation.

Rich

[swf width="300" height="20" background="#00FFFF"]http://www.richpaul.com/footer_real.swf[/swf]

[mg33]

Infinity, where I am you can't get past the street unless security knows you're expected,and then we're talking retinal scanners, before that it was all voice recognition. It's that trust in security I enjoy, and the reason I have neat stuff. hehe

mg33

[Kraken]

?

[gregemerson]

You've just made Flash Nooge's day! These are some thing I would add to your words of wisdom ---

First Law of HTML: "If you insert a hyperlink, ensure it works and is linked to the correct page."

Never underestimate the power of spell checking your work (especially if your trying to sell yourself and your design skills).

Content, content, content. Without it your just wasting people's time.

The best authors use an outline to plan their stories. This also apply to graphics and web design. Storyboard your work and you will find your project is easier to work on, and flows better.

Special effects make a good web site look better. However, no amount of special effects can improve a poorly designed web site (the fact is, it looks like a whole bunch of whirling electronic baloney).

I hope others will continue this list of do's and don'ts!

Have a great Flash day y'all


[Edited by gregemerson on 07-20-2000 at 04:33 PM]

[mg33]

Ditto Greg. that's all I gotta say for now...

mg33

[SAM_I_AM]

Wow :IM:,
From reading some of your other posts I am surprised to see a clear, intellegent and well thought out post. I agree with alot of what you say here. There are alot of so-called "rules" of design and you hit alot of them. I try to keep the acronym C.R.A.P. in my head whenever I'm working on a new layout.(hee hee) Seriously though it breaks down too:
Continuity-(keeping a nice visual balance with text and graphics...a flow)
Repitition-(keeping a consistant design by reusing elements)
Alignment-(don't have stuff placed all over)
Proximity-(when elements are placed really close there is a distracting visual tension...this can be used well or can look crappy)

You know when you have a good balance when the design does'nt work if you add or subtract any element.

sam

"It's all fun and games until you lose an eye"

[gregemerson]

I really liked your Acronym! I gotta remember it!

[stevestarr]

Greg, are we going to do lunch here one of these days? Steve

[gregemerson]

I'm Free This Saturday. The wife has a thing going on at our place that's for women only, and I need something to do for several hours starting at 9:30 am.

Shoot me an e-mail.

[sonwah]

I'm not sure that the dreams2 was that bad, but I have to say, the grammer(really poor) makes it look like the designer has good design skills but is completely illiterate.
I mean, the emotionless(?!?!) that surrounds us today...
shouldn't that be emotionlessness?
dont
should be don't
"A new profound way to experience flash"
I would have put "a profound new way..." or "a new, more profound way to...."
there a couple more too, there is no excuse for that in professional design.
I think im is right, the use of bold than normal, then bold, then normal again, then bold, then, gee back to normal again......I take it back, it's bad.

[RebbelX]

Hi My logo all thow i havent annimated it uses a grdient circle with a dark blue outline on a black BG, Also the text i have a big yellow X and in red it says studio. check it out i will be annimateing it and adding music. http://lit420.tripod.com/sxlogo.swf this only took me like 3 mins to make but once its dont it will be very pleaseing to the eye. And a littel exiting. Im hoping that it will give the page plenty of hits.

[sonwah]

got to say dude, I disagree with you, if anything your design says "this is really annoying to try and read isn't it?". Don't get me wrong, it is all about who you want to see it, or who is going to see it, but for the web in general your audience is quite possibly unbelievably stupid, and it pays to make it easy for them. You should get more criticism on that swf, try posting it in the site check, premature though it might be. (oh, what I mean is that font is really bad, hard to read).

[Fweb]

I just saw the dreams2.com site and its a great time killer!
-FWEB

[eMKayaR]

yeah, two fonts, dont see how that can be so wrong?

mg33, sounds like you have a hell of a soundsystem, good sound is important and could make all the difference

zbailey, you said "it was awesome and it lokks like others from the board did"

what board? who are the others? my curiosity know no boundaries

take care guys,