two sites i need crit.... thanks

[wheatleyweb]

i have 2 sites that ive made in the past 2 months. one is an html site I made for the company I work for.... mostly html... some flash on the SU Legislative Map Page

http://www.esrgc.org

the other site is completely flash... i made it for a friend of mine for his blown art glass work....

http://www.timfieldsglass.com

please be brutally honest on both sites.... i respect and appreciate your professional criticism... I am only a beginner web designer... and do it on the side of my real "job"...

wheatleyweb

[swing_kid]

Hi Wheatley,
Your html page looks ok, except the nav buttons at the top. Those buttons with the bevels and the shadows really look early to mid 90's. They need a cleaner more minimalist look.
For your flash page there is no reason to have your splash intro page unless you have a seperate html only site. Use one of the javascript flash sniffers to make sure they have flash and if not then display your message about needing flash. Otherwise just get right to the content.
You need to figure out a better way to navigate through the site as well. I clicked on your email link twice (then had to wait for Outlook to open) when I wanted to get back to your main page. maybe because your name is in red and the "Back to main" is in white. Maybe the placement, think about moving it to the right side or the top.
Also your text is kinda blurry. Set the text to static and autokern.
Finally, CONTACT FORM. If you have a contact link, it needs to have a form.
And I'm spent. Good luck.

[pellepiano]

Some thoughts:

I think there should be a initial image on the first page of the Flash ( glass ) site.

The menu is only present on the first page so you have to get back to it whenever you want to change page.

I dont really see the purpose of a popup.

The html site's button look more like a tutorial on how to make a bevel in Photoshop. Not to fond of those.

At least here ( Mac IE 5.0 ) the main text shows up as Times at a very small size. The headline ( for example About Us ) too. The sub headlines ( Overview and Bios ) seem to have a normal Arial though.

The listsings of projects and services could be made more appealing. Small text gifs can do wonders.

[wheatleyweb]

heh thanks for the input guys..... as far as the flash site goes..... i agree 100% about the splash page.... i will put the sniffer on it..... and navigation was an issue for me.... but it was what the client asked for.... I will try and persuade him in a different direction.....

lol i understand 100% also on the bevel buttons on the html page... that was one of the first things i figured out how to do for rollover effect and ive had a hard time letting go... lol

being a cartographer... i understand the ideology "Less is More". I guess I forgot to implement that way of though in this case...

Thanks again

wheatleyweb