+Your thoughts please+

[ojc1]

Any comments, criticisms or ideas to improve?
Do you think '12" part complements design?
Maybe 1 of those infinte scrolling menus for more illustrations?
(ironically 'Thinking' has no content yet)
http://www.designerunderground.co.uk
Thanks

[ctranter]

What is it with custom mouse cursors at the moment? Is it teh new trend. Anyway, in my opinion they are bad. Yours is not too bad, but still there is noticable lag and it doesnt really add that much to the site, but maskes navigation a lot more frustrating.

[ojc1]

I think I agree with you on this... It's a nice effect and opportunity to customise - it works ok on my machine, but I've found there is a frustrating lag on other systems I tried it on - might consider removing : ) (also I tried some drag and drop interactions and the custom mouse seemed to really mess it up)...

[eightamrock]

I agree also. Lose the cursor. The other thing that you might want to look at is, your information and site seems to be very busy. Its hard to focus on any one thing. Try focusing your information a little. Make me see what you want me to see when you want me to see it. Also your splash page left me wondering for a good few minutes what to click on. The sounds become quite irritating after about 30 seconds. You could tone them down a bit.

Good luck and good job so far.

boo YAAa

[EveXPhile]

Very cool I like it alot!

Clean graphics and great ideas.

[N_R_D]

Wow.....you really need to ditch the rollever sounds....

Adn yes the mouse cursor is cool, but it too also has t go other than that god job

[ojc1]

OK it looks likes Bye Bye mousey - in fact its gone already...

Eightamrock... I also got rid of the ripple effect on the home image to make it look a little less crowded...

I quite like the rollover sounds though... so they will have to stay I think...

[NOWINNERS]

dude... those sound fx are ANNOYING and distractive. I think you need to lose them or tone them down. I like your illustrations.

[ojc1]

Also your splash page left me wondering for a good few minutes what to click on.

Yeah ...not very user friendly huh. I made a new clearer splash page (bit weird tho) and have left the old one as an outro for the moment... is this better?

The irritating sounds ...do you just mean the rollovers on the left nav ...should I get rid of the sound, reduce the volume, or change it, does anyone like the sound?

[eightamrock]

I would say that they have to go. Try something a little shorter for a rollover sound. Those just seem to play on forever.

AS for the splash page it was much better. Very clear now. Before it was just very difficult to navigate now its better.

There is a definate improvement in busyness. I think that my problem with the site over all is that there is so much movement all together which normally doesnt bother me, however on this site it seems to detract from the overall feeling of the site. I would change the animations to only move on a rollover event. That would please me but thats just my two cents.

When I look at the layout for the site and the background. I think that I just expect it to be very smooth and angelic. The colors mixed with the clouds make me want to see something extremely smooth and flowy. Just keep that in mind

ITs getting better good job!!

[skate342]

Originally posted by ojc1
does anyone like the sound?

i find the sound quite annoying too.

[jankratochvil]

Not bad

[p80]

yea, the sounds are way over the top

[ojc1]

Nuff said...

OK, now I've experimented with some new sounds I definately find it annoying ...I reckon I'll change them ALL to the new sound thats now on the 'Gallery' button...

'Illustration' - original sound
'Web Design' - toned down
'Gallery' - new sound

Is this better?

[p80]

I definately like the new sound better. my personal opinion is that rolover sounds should be used very sparingly, if at all. the one on your gallery button is nice and subtle compared to the air raid siren you had there before.

nice change!!

I would like to see the bubble that pops out the side of that button happen faster now that you have a shorter sound there, but what do I know.

have fun

[N_R_D]

yes. much better, 2things though.....

Frame rate seems low...what is it set at..

and with an increase in frame rate it should boost the time spent to get things done, which would be a good thing. The roll overs are really slow. But the sounds are much better.

[ojc1]

The framerate for the site is set at 12 fps
Is this too low? Will it run smoother if I crank it up a little?

If I increase the fps, does this mean I need to add more frames to slow down the animations (apart from on the rollovers say)?

[SpaceChicken]

You should be okay with a framerate up to 20fps. It's just you have to consider what people will be viewing your site, and their connection speeds. And yes, if you want the animations to remain the same as they are now (speed wise) then you need to add more frames to the animations, because the framerate increase will make them fly faster.
The site looks good though. Maybe you could turn the laser-noises on the buttons down a tad? I think if they were a little more muted they wouldn't be so... in-your-face, I guess.

[ojc1]

Thanks everyone.

I've now changed all the sounds to the shorter more subtle 1. I also knocked a couple of frames off the rollOvers to speed them up.

...do they seem jumpier now?

You should be okay with a framerate up to 20fps. It's just you have to consider what people will be viewing your site, and their connection speeds....

the rollOvers use 6 frames and 12fps
so would it be smoother using 10 frames and 20fps?

(I also started some content for missing secction - animation : )

[ojc1]

Can someone please check this button...

If you click on the little white arrow at the bottom of my site, then on the smaller white arrow, it's meant to openup the image

Does it look really weird to you (is this coz the image is 1024x768px loading in a browser...
; ( I wan't it to download does anyone know how to do this?

I'm using...
on (release) {
getURL("http://www.designerunderground.co.ukdu_1024x768.jpg","_bl ank");

Help...