Submissions for 1/3/03-1/9/03 (reply to this thread to submit a site)

[RenaissanceGirl]

If you wish to be considered for the SOTW for January 3 through January 9, 2003, please read the summary of rules:

1) Reply before Thursday, January 9 to be considered for the award.

2) Include the URL and your email address. Only the webmaster/creator of the site can submit.

3) Websites submitted must be at least 90% Flash. Sites that have HTML pages with a Flash intro are ineligible.

4) While it is understood that sites are perpetually under construction, please submit only complete sites. Do not submit a site that is less than 80% finished.

5) There will be a private poll among the moderators and a winner will be announced on Monday, January 13, 2003.

6) No critiques or feedback is allowed in the submission thread. If you wish a concentrated critique of your site, you may start a thread in Site Check (http://www.kirupaforum.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=22).

For more information or questions, please refer to the comprehensive rules for SOTW (http://www.kirupaforum.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=5037#post5037). Once you have read and understand the rules above, you may submit your site to this thread. Sites not adhering to the rules above will be disqualified and deleted. Submitting your site is an agreement and acceptance of the rules.

[Eberth]

eberth designs

reborn edition

http://www.eberthdesigns.com

eberth_@msn.com

[billz]

billz V1.2

http://www.billz.ca

bill@billz.ca

[outboxin]

http://www.outboxin.com

lschwartz@outboxin.com

[kalimqvka]

Automatically disqualified.

Please read Rule Number 4 above: only completed sites.

[slayerment]

ok my new version, diff from last weeks

http://www.quintonfigueroa.com/

me@quintonfigueroa.com

[akospapp]

Here is my try: www.akospapp.com (http://www.akospapp.com)
Good luck everybody in this thread!!!

:rambo: Akos Papp :rambo:

[pom]

He submitted some time ago, and I really like his site:

http://www.raygordon.com/

pom I:-)

Edit: An excellent site pom, but raygordon must submit the site himself to participate (see Rule #2).

[RenaissanceGirl]

The results are in:

Eberth: 0 votes
billz: 58.33%
outboxin: 0 votes
slayerment: 8.33%
kalimqvka: disqualified
akospapp: 25.00%
raygordon: disqualified

The winner is BILLZ!

Congratulations billz. You may also post a graphical award from this page: http://www.kirupa.com/gallery/awards.asp

Good job to all the participants. One of the valuable aspects of SOTW is to get valuable feedback about your site and get an idea of how well it stands besides some of the best on the web. Mod critiques will be posted later today.

[akospapp]

Congratulations billz!!!!!!!!!!

Nice job. Good luck with projects in the future...

[billz]

wow - thanks for the award, I am speechless. Conrgats to everyone who participated, and I wish everyone the best!

*Celebrates* =)

All the other entries were badass, and everyone deserves the award as much as I do!

Cheers!

Billz

[Guig0]

Eberth: 0 votes
billz: 58.33%
outboxin: 0 votes
slayerment: 8.33%
kalimqvka: disqualified
akospapp: 25.00%
raygordon: disqualified
_______________+____________
Total: 91.66

Where did the rest 8.34% go? :crazy:

[eyeinfinitude]

Congrats Billz, I pass down my crown to you! :beam:

[billz]

Thanks for your support Electrongeek, its really too bad we only get it for a week, but its sure as hell worth it! :beam:

[eyeinfinitude]

Oh just wait till people start emailing you and bugging you about questions....let's see if you enjoy it then! muahahhaha :evil:

I'm glad it's over for me, traffic to my site has doubled and my bandwidth limit is about to be reached pretty soon so take the crown please!! hehe :P

[billz]

Well, I don't think its THAT bad, but we'll see how it flows.

I noticed my bandwidth usage shot up 1000MB within the past 2 days, and I have started to get emails. Oh, and heres a pic of the crown :elderly:

[eyeinfinitude]

Ok Billz, what did you do with the crown!?!? That wasn't the condition it was when I last had it. :beam:

[pom]

Originally posted by Guig0
Where did the rest 8.34% go? :crazy: It's mine. my precious... I voted for a disqualified site :beam:

[billz]

lol - I got the crappy crown :o

[Guig0]

hmmm...

...let me guess, raygordon´s, isnt it? :P

BTW, Congrats Billz!

[lostinbeta]

Congrats Billz :)

[billz]

Thanks again! :blush:

[billz]

Thanks Phil, your my idol lol ;)

[billz]

lol Phil, you will always be the hit of the party here @ kirupa =)

[RenaissanceGirl]

Critiques: Please note these are not MY comments, but the comments of other mods, re-posted by me anonymously.

Eberth:

Again this site is nice and it's ok, yet a little uninspiring. I am not sure if it was pointed out to him last week after the competition, but his Menu isn't that good at all. I can't totally put my finger on it, but the menu needs to be redone in my opinion. Its plain and uninspiring and a little hard on my eyes following the tracer and the changing words. And it goes dark and blank without the mouse. I do not like the hard to read text inside his other rooms/areas. (The Room markers) His background is a little dark and/or distracting. I think he would have to make substantial progress in these areas to be sotw material. The one thing I really liked, although incomplete, was the Laboratory. nice effect, even though I had to use my imagination to view it.
-|-
Eberth's is pretty good as well. The graphics and fonts don't match the overall feel of the site. There isn't much consistency, and the text scroller on the home page is out of place. Besides that, the design is quite nice.
-|-
He is getting much better with his Flash sites. It could still use a bit more work in the transitions area, this isn't exactly an important thing in a Flash site, but I noticed some section have transitions into them, but before you see them you get a bright flash of white, then they show. And I don't like that I have to scroll sideways and then down to be able to view his page in my browser otherwise I just catch the upper left corner. Other than that, great use of images, nice navigation menu (although very blurry at times), functional, and gets the message across.

billz:

I took a good long second look at this site and found it excellently done. Everything is quick and speedy on a 56k. And the Artwork is excellent as well. While my first reaction to his site was that it was a little dull, I feel somewhat different about it now. I liked the page turns and the simple speedy effect he had.
I would have liked to see both of them take a little better advantage of space and button size. Sometimes, on both sites, I found myself scrunching at my mouse to maneuver. Not a big deal, but worth mentioning. Also, on Billz site, I didn't like at all how it seemed the text was stepping on itself all throughout the site. So much room, use it! Thats why I pay extra money for a 19 inch monitor. Thats my biggest beef with Billz site. I voted for Billz. And not because of age, but because of his web design capabilities. And this says a lot considering his competition, and all that that implies... :o
-|-
Ai, this was tough - picking between billz and akospap. I voted for billz in the end.

Billz's site is very nice and polished. From the strange symbols in the preloader to the cool graphics in the main page, the simplicity and elegance of the design is something that I liked. Cool site!
-|-
i actually should've voted for billz. his was plain and simple, with music in the background which is always a plus with me. the background pics were really nice, tranquil as it may seem.
-|-
Nice, clean, smooth interface. Great use of colors and images, they supply excellent contrast. His site is also functional and easy to navigate. Excellent choices for background music. Only suggestion for change I can think of right now is that arrow that moves over the text in the navigation. Perhaps he could make it move to the spot AFTER you click the button instead of on rollOver.
-|-
Well I've gone for Billz - I like the clean simple look of it compared to some of the others.
-|-
Wow.. I've actually found myself in a situation where I've voted with the majority. I don't know if that means I should tell you that you've all got good eyes, or myself that I'm gaining taste. Either or I suppose.

I found all of the choices to be examples that I had seen before in other places, and usually done just a cut better.. smoother. I've seen most of billz effects too, but his worked without any sluggishness on the compaq here at work.. and that's saying something.

anyway.. I'm still terribly impressed by all the entries. I've never been able to do a site half as smooth as one of those.. so in general I'll just keep my mouth shut and simply say that billz was the best of the bunch.

outboxin:

I have to admit I am biased in regards to this site and have a hard time knowing how to gauge it or compare it. It presents a challenge I have yet to overcome. But while it is excellent and well done, I have a few critiques to mention; The Flash animation at the beginning is Sketchy and is too busy for you to be able to concentrate on the few words of text coming in. Slow the animation down during that brief time and freeze it if neccessary, but it creates a busy atmosphere that I didn't care for. I like the site in general, but it does tend a tad toward the sterile side, antiseptic feeling...
-|-
Ouboxin has a good site overall. It looked too much like an HTML page though. There was too much content and the text was aliased - making it difficult to read large portions of text.
-|-
I really didn't see a need for the intro. The top and bottom navigations are interesting, I like them, but the bottom navigation menus have a flaw. When you rollOver the buttons to reveal the sub-menu and you scroll up to the last item, it works fine, but if you scroll back down it the menu jumps back and forth from closing to opening. Also, some of the content inside also seems a bit big and spaced out for my taste. On the right track though.

slayerment:

This site is coming close in my books for a site of the week, yet this week I would have to say it fell 3rd in my rating. But only because of Akospapps presence. Slayers work is intriguing to me. I like it very much and am biased to his style. The one thing I would love to see Slayer change is the dark feeling I get when I am at his site. I open it from this thread in the Secret Councils of Kirupa and my whole room goes dark. My eyes have to readjust to the contrast. I would love to see him turn that background into a source of light and contrast for the general dark center of the site as well. This is my biggest hangup with Slayers work. Another slight irritation with slayerments site was when there was a long download such as in Video, the Iris closes and starts to open slowly. This effect almost makes it seem longer than it really is. In this case a percentage loader would improve things, in my opinion. Or perhaps some images appearing the empty fields while this long download occurs, images that are already loaded...
-|-
Slayerment's site is nice, but the colors simply don't mix well. The two graphics on the top-right and top-left seem unnecessary.
-|-
hm...seems i'm the only one so far who's voted for slayerments site. i thought it was laid out pretty well. the colors weren't the best combination, but they still worked together. the art was ok, but it seemed more like pattern work.
-|-
Very nice site here. It changed from last time. It lags a lot on my system, and the next and back buttons seem inconsistant. Other than those, I enjoyed the transitions between objects in each section, the slide effect involved complex masks which were visually pleasing and a nice way to show the content in the sections. It has potential.
-|-
I like slayer's site a lot... I really think it's going to win soon. It looks like he did a massive overhaul since last week and his efforts shouldn't go unnoticed. Like the rest of you... I'm still not particularly fond of his color choice but I do think his grasp of design/layout principles is improving greatly. The only real qualms I have is the intense download times of the content. But at this positive rate, I think we can expect great things from this site.

akospapp:

Akospapps site was very well done, had a nice, really nice soft surreal feeling about it. Everything was well laid out, the consistent preloader bar was very inspiring. You always know where you are in the download without the percentage numbers. Very clever and unique!! This site shows both excellence and great usability. And the downloads were all very quick and speedy. No files that were too large. Akospapps has all the excellent markers of a site of the week, but for the competition. :(
-|-
Akospap is another great site. The site is great overall. The only minor tidbit I found was the white/blue color combination. It looked too apple mac like. I like sites with less color, but this site gave an 'empty' feel. Besides that minor tidbit of an error, the animations and transitions are excellent. Great site also.
-|-
I love the choice of Normal, Pop-Up, or FullScreen, the fact a choice is given is a plus. The look is clean, the bouncing boxes were addictingly fun to watch. I didn't like how the menu closed on me everytime I chose a section or subsection though. I love the colors, I love the layout, the site is easy to use, but can be a bit confusing with those closing menus. And what is the bouncing square on the side? I noticed a counter going up on the bottom, but nothing happened. Definitely keeps my attention, but I am racking my brain trying to figure it out!...lol.
-|-
It was a tough choice between akos and billz but I voted for akospapp in this round! In short, I find akospapp's site to bear the simplicity of billz site while having some really dynamic intersection tweens: I was most impressed by the faint line/shape tweens behind the submenu. There are some usability issues, however. That "drag me" arrow was a little confusing. I kept dragging it expecting something to happen; it appears like a scroll arrow for the textual contents - it's in the right place and it looks like the right item... but it's just not a scroll arrow. Other than that - superb work akospapp!

[akospapp]

akospapp:
I didn't like how the menu closed on me everytime I chose a section or subsection though. I love the colors, I love the layout, the site is easy to use, but can be a bit confusing with those closing menus.
By default the menus are not closing. It is an option at mAgic. "A" is for autohide menu. You switched it on... Don't turn it on, if it is confusing... :-))

And what is the bouncing square on the side? I noticed a counter going up on the bottom, but nothing happened. Definitely keeps my attention, but I am racking my brain trying to figure it out!...lol.
Yes, it is a hidden game :-)... If you drag the preloader (when nothing loads) and release it, it falls down, and the counter raises for one (counter++) :-)

That "drag me" arrow was a little confusing. I kept dragging it expecting something to happen; it appears like a scroll arrow for the textual contents - it's in the right place and it looks like the right item... but it's just not a scroll arrow.
Read my comment above...

Thank you all for your professional analysis.

[RenaissanceGirl]

Originally posted by akospapp
Yes, it is a hidden game :-)... If you drag the preloader (when nothing loads) and release it, it falls down, and the counter raises for one (counter++) :-)

What's the point of that?

[billz]

Thank you for the criticism everyone, I must say that it is really appreciated....

I wish everyone the best in the future and may the best site win next week! :beam:

[akospapp]

Originally posted by RenaissanceGirl
What's the point of that?

1. Same as the bouncing box at my signature and its counter.
Lot of people are addicted to this kind of stuff...
You aren't one of them, as it seems... :beam: :beam: :beam:

2. To be different from others...

p.s. I had a very good feedback regarding that counter. :)

Anyway, thx for your question.

[Guig0]

That footer/counter is great! useless, but great!:P

Now seriously, I have no part in that, but I´m gonna say it anyway:
I know it was a close match, and Billz´s site rox, but IMHO Akos´s site is better. But, then, again, opinions are like belly buttons: everyone has his/hers own :beam:

[akospapp]

Originally posted by Guig0
That footer/counter is great! useless, but great!:P
Now seriously, I have no part in that, but I´m gonna say it anyway:
I know it was a close match, and Billz´s site rox, but IMHO Akos´s site is better. But, then, again, opinions are like belly buttons: everyone has his/hers own :beam:
Thx, but I think Billz's site is great. And I'm not sad at all... I'm already know I will be the next weeks big looser. Again... I saw very good works there. Again... :*(

"No risk, no fun!!!" :P :P :P

[billz]

dont say that, be confident, and hope for the best :beam:

akospapp, your site ROX. dont worry :beam:

[lostinbeta]

Hey Akos... Does that "mini game" on your site ever do anything other than count? I mean it would be different if you did it like 10 times or something then something happened, but instead it just keeps counting!...lol...

[RenaissanceGirl]

Originally posted by lostinbeta
Hey Akos... Does that "mini game" on your site ever do anything other than count? I mean it would be different if you did it like 10 times or something then something happened, but instead it just keeps counting!...lol...

That's what I mean. As fun as it is to have a draggable item... I really don't see what's so cool or unique about it is unless dragging actually does something more advanced then keep count. Don't get me wrong - I do love your site and I like many things about it... I just don't see the point of the draggable arrow other than to confuse the viewer.

[akospapp]

Originally posted by lostinbeta
Hey Akos... Does that "mini game" on your site ever do anything other than count? I mean it would be different if you did it like 10 times or something then something happened, but instead it just keeps counting!...lol...
Yes, of course. When you reach 100 you have 10 bonus... :beam: :beam: :beam:

[akospapp]

Originally posted by RenaissanceGirl
That's what I mean. As fun as it is to have a draggable item... I really don't see what's so cool or unique about it is unless dragging actually does something more advanced then keep count.
Did you see this somewhere else? Anyway this dummy counter makes marketing... As we discussing about it, the number of visitors at my page is growing... ;)
In my library this object has a name: "CreazyPreloader".

Don't get me wrong - I do love your site and I like many things about it...
Ok, this is not a topic in this moment...

I just don't see the point of the draggable arrow other than to confuse the viewer.
Well, maybe you are right...