New Site Layout

[kingofnukes]

Jus got done with a new site layout. Special thanks to all you guys who helped me code this puppy. I don;t know how much codeing you guys put into your sites, but my main frame alone has over 350 lines of code!

Anyways.....What do you think?

(I need to get some ads :puzzled: )

http://lightning-1.com

[kingofnukes]

*bump

I put alot of work into this.
You seriously have no comments for it?

[esnetni]

Josh I am sorry I personally don't like it.
When i frst saw it I was like eww and it looks like you put no effort and come on flash dreameaver my friend.
and man did you really put effort to it I am sorry josh but I don't like it.
and use basic colors no dark colors.
Dark Colors = bad
also make ur own preloaderr stop stealing from newgrounds.

[ApixDesigns]

toook the words from my mouth, its really cheap looking when u take a preloader from newgrounds

[the_koriner]

Functionally the site seems to work, but the design is awful. The colours are too dark, text is too big, there's typos pretty much everywhere.

Users are forced to wait for the main menu to reload every time they go back to the main page.

You've added a blurring effect on the menu for no apparent reason.

... you asked. :)


k.

[fasterthanlight™]

What they said, but that blurring menu is pretty nifty, would you like to share your secret?

[B L U E]

Sorry, left when I saw "newgrounds". But I suppose if thats your target audience..

[the_koriner]

fasterthanlight:

The blurring is just using the Blur Filter from Flash 8. It is a nifty feature but I find it annoying on menus like that...

[kingofnukes]

Im sorry u left cuz of the NEWGROUNDS, but it actually a anti newgrounds site. I also don't under stand why the dark colors are so bad. All my friends seemed to like it (even though they have no experiance) but still ive seen it done alot what do you suggest for a color sceme then?

PS the scroller is by claudio and the blur was added by thecanadian

[Bokke]

I also don't under stand why the dark colors are so bad.

Thats becouse its bull****, dark colors arent bad at all!
There are a lot cool looking sites out there with dark colors...
I think no color is a bad color, but you need to make the right mix!

And thats the point! Your site does not have that mix ;)
In fact.. the layout is terrible! :ne:

[esnetni]

Josh you are a flash designer and game maker of some sort anyway website are not your thing and if you want a proffesional or a good site in general try Dreamweaver.
Also Flash is mostly used for portfolio sites I think and if you want your site to be popular trying using html.
I mean there are some popular flash sites but those people are really good.
Not everyone has flash player so some people may not see ur site.

[andizzle]

Yeah, I think the intro is horrific. (Just trying to be honest, this is some constructive criticism here) Right off the bat, you don't wan't people having seizures with the flashing and everything. Also, the stick people thing is kinda thrid-gradish. In the main "meat" of the site, you need some more color (like everyone else said) and some better fonts. Times isn't gonna cut it. Dafont (http://www.dafont.com) is great, they have like bagillions of free fonts. AND, I'm really not digging the glow effect everywhere, and the spinning logo thing in the back.

I think you got some potential here, though. I think you should:

-Ditch the flash
-Get books on HTML and CSS
-Do some Photoshop stuff
-Kick some ***

Take a look at the other sites in this section, and for fun, try to recreate them without looking at the code or anything. Then, when you go to make your own site, you know what you're doing.

I hope this helped (and I wasn't too mean) and I hope you make something awesome.

[kingofnukes]

1: do any of you know any Jaw-droppingly good html/css site cuz i don't

2: Can you guys please be more specific about how and where I could ad more color to the site.

3: I know the intro suck, i jus sent u there first so the xml could load correctly.

4: I Compleatly revised the preloader, jus left the bar there for testing, the logo starts out almost invisble and begins to glow based on percent loaded.

5: The font is messed up due to using a font in the dynamic text that few ppl have.

6: Is the way i set up the menus good to you or do you suggest I should start from scratch?

7: My main audience thinks the layout is the coolest theve every seen (due to the fact that they don't go on many sites with good quality work) so i really don;t have to change anything I just wanted some feed back from people who know their stuff.

*: I like the idea of trying to re-create other sites to get better.

Final: I don't care for css/html site. Most lack the innovate feel that some flash sites do. I like seeing new stuff. And I don't see much of that in non-flash sites.

[esnetni]

try going to the kool sites section they have awesome site where you can learn from and I did and it has helped me.
And the color part well ig you use black don't just use black and grey its to plain I used black and green for my templates and currently it rocks just add color.
And also the nav eww seriously try look at other sites nav and make something similar to it.
And if you want to make ur own templates use photoshop and read
tutorials.
also give me popular flash site huh?
Exactly I just know a few.
Here a list of site that are made with either html/css or any other codes.
www.kirupa.com (http://www.kirupa.com)
www.Pixel2life.com (http://www.Pixel2life.com)
www.Flashindustries.com (http://www.Flashindustries.com)
www.good-tutorials.com (http://www.good-tutorials.com)
www.newgrounds.com (http://www.newgrounds.com)
all html or css or any other code and they are popular.
your friend pablo.

[esnetni]

Hey don't feel sad or mad we are just trying to help I mean people did that to me and I have better than before.

[kingofnukes]

Any specific nav your talkin about left or right?

[hl]

Guys... stop buill****ting around.

Plastic Forq, you're not really good yet. You're far from it.
Plastic Forq's friend, everything you've said has been bull as well. How can you say that you haven't seen innovative nonflash sites. I've hardly seen any innovative flash sites to be honest... most of them are just a bunch of pieces from other innovative flash sites. In addition, dark colors are alright, but you have to know how to use them. Oh and don't think about how much "work" you put into it... think about what the guy will think when he looks at it.

Sorry guys, i've got to be honest, and apparently Plastic Forq's friend hasn't seen my honesty yet. Unfortunately, I've seen Plastic Forq trying to play with my words to sound smart, he just made them crap :P


Sorrrrryyy....

[hl]

you know what go to hell .harish ok I don't care ban me if you want but im getting sick and tired of harish all we are asking is help and has to put everyone down so **** you.
I can't ban you?

As I said, sorry, this thread didn't contain anything good... just you trying to be better than him. A couple useful comments sure.

I never see decent and FINISHED work out of you, as we've talked about on IM.

I don't mean to put anyone down... I mean to speak my mind, I have no intention of pissing you off, though my post probably did. I believe that if you ask for a critique and get a harsh one, you have to accept it. Oh andd, I noticed that you tried to use my words from chats that I was trying to make you get better, like it or not. Unfortunately you interpreted them wrong, and are leading others the wrong way.

Sorry, I can't type today, my grammar is probably crap in this post.

@kingofnukes:

What you really need is to work around the design for a bit, then move it to flash. Also, keep everything suddle. Nothing should just stick out in the middle of nowhere. Also, keep repetition.

-Harish

[esnetni]

I am sorry I have been really pissed lately didn't meant to be like that.
alot of **** has happened to me lately.
and josh send me and instant message I will talk to you ok.
also I understand harish that being harsh helps I am really sorry I have so much stuff I have to deal with and I hate it and man I am depressed.
I am failing and math my girlfriend dumped me and I got more **** I have to deal with so hope you forgive me and understand.

[blazes]

YOUR FIGHTING IS TEARING THIS FAMILY APART!!!111!!!ONE!!!!!TWO!!!!!!

[andizzle]

lol

[.soulty]

BACK TO TOPIC!!

[squishy]

err... it's an ok site but the work is crap (no offence) so work on the work section and then worry about the site later.:sleep:
pm me if you need any help I'm not incredibly good but I can help.

[SPAD3S]

could be better BUT!!!!!!! you did put effort into it and everyone starts somewere awesome animationbs i liked the robo devil one xD

[Pasquale]

could be better BUT!!!!!!! you did put effort into it and everyone starts somewere awesome animationbs i liked the robo devil one xD

NO offence man but if it's gonna be about animation - ya got to step ur level up !
These days everyone thinks they can animate because the motion tween things.

Real animation is all about timing, fluidity and frame by frame work ;)

keep going though, u'll get the hang of it soon enough=)

[bwh2]

well, it looks and performs like a lot of beginner flash sites. usually, as well as in this case, that means the site is not very usable and over-animated.

i'm not putting words in anyone's mouth, but i think the xhtml/css suggestions are rooted in the usability issue. here are some suggestions to quickly improve the usability, regardless of whether you use flash or not:
- have a consistent and visible navigation
- remove the intro
- put a title on screen (preferably top/top left)
- remove "comming soon" options from nav (put them in when those sections exist)

there's a lot more you could do, but i would start there.

[hybrid101]

how'd you do the blur in the navigation?
the font looks terrible btw, and you spelled coming wrong in the portfolio section. you seriously could do better than that

[BoonDock]

I think you have functionality down, but the design is lacking and making your site seem weak. You need to look around the web, especially at award sites to see what is out there and what is the cream of the crop to get ideas as to what to do for yours. Keep at it! :thumb:

[Pasquale]

I think you have functionality down, but the design is lacking and making your site seem weak. You need to look around the web, especially at award sites to see what is out there and what is the cream of the crop to get ideas as to what to do for yours. Keep at it! :thumb:
very well put boondock!

[SimplyArun]

BoonDock is absolutely right
I'd also suggest that you read books on art, design, colors, etc. I did this and it helped me a lot in understanding design principles.

[kingofnukes]

Ok. I need to know this..... Is the site SOO bad that it need a whole reinovation, or should i jus play with the graphics check my spelling and remove the comming soon sections?

antoher thing...the font on the left NAV is screwed up because it uses a font in the dynamic text the most people don't have so I need to fix that with a good lookin but popular font. How's Impact sound?

I myslef do not like my own intro because I feel it was thrown together and gets very annoying. I'm definatly removing it on the next update.

I will also work on my animating, and my latest look alot better than the stuff shown.

Thanks for the harsh but needed critques.

BTW wanna compare to my older site?
http://lightning-1.com/city.swf

Definately an improvement (that's why I felt so good about this new one)

[bwh2]

Ok. I need to know this..... Is the site SOO bad that it need a whole reinovation, or should i jus play with the graphics check my spelling and remove the comming soon sections?
i would scratch it entirely and start on a new design. i would also photoshop the design first, get c&c on that, then actually make it in flash or whatever.

[Soul814]

if you just started flash good job on it, if you dont know graphics its hard to put a site together. especially if you dont got any schooling for any of those things. its certainly hard for me to come up w/ ideas and even if i have ideas im missing the graphics to help me.

[=guinness=]

1.
first of all, as to extremely good sites using exclusively css and html... there are about 30+ superb variations at csszengarden.com


2.
accents with text headers, navigation, GUI interface mainly

3.
yes, but its good your thinking about the xml.

4.
---

5.
if you embed the fonts characters (which you can easily do with dynamic text) then it should not be a problem.

6.
scratch, try to make the options smaller, the overall GUI is just massive and chunky and needs to be reduced ( look up the use of white space in a graphic design context[not refering to color]).

7.
duh! its your site you can do whatever the hell you want, just dont expect people on a flash-site forum to have an orgasim over it or like it. you're still getting the hang of it, don't **** a brick because you didn't get a standing ovation.

As far as innovative: css/html focuses on design and usability not bells and whistles. Flash is fine, but many people using it think that just because they can make an entire site with flash and nothing else that they should. In reality you should take advantage of multiple programs using their strengths to make a good site. Use photoshop, perfect the look before you go onto the animation of flash.

P.S. FORQ, cmon man an anonymous forum isn't the place to lash out at people... thats what thanksgiving, weddings, and postal rampages are for!:trout:

[kingofnukes]

OK....I'll get to work on a new site in a lil bit. There are some other projects I need to finish and my audience doesn't care at the time. But ya, this post has helped me out. I'm not really familiar to photoshop, but I'll look into it and mabey drop the flash. Thanx for the help.

Really liked this one btw:
http://csszengarden.com/?cssfile=/185/185.css&page=0

[kingofnukes]

*bump
btw i know barely anything about CSS. Is it used just for multiple "skins" on a site? I plan to only hve one so should i just do it in html?

[Pasquale]

google.com is good...

[kingofnukes]

huh i was jus askin if i need css if im doing only one skin?

[Jeff Wheeler]

Yes, always use CSS.

[=guinness=]

css replaces the use of tables to create the bulk of the layout on a page. the nice feature of css is that your page looks to a file for the source info meaning that if you should need to redesign the site later, you can alter the source file and the changes will affect the whole site rather than having to go page by page and change all the code which could take forever if you have a large or even moderate size site.

multiple themes are just an example of what can be done with css.

you can create menus, position images to create a layout, setup styles for text to have an ordered system for things like headers and copy text + much more.


your page is told to look at a xyz.css to determine how it looks, all your pages look at xyz.css to determine their looks. that means that you don't have to create the looks on every page and if you change xyz.css then every page will follow suit. ( kind of a repeat of what is stated above)