6 years in 8 hours - www.duncanhall.net

[duncanhall]

Having been playing about on the web for a little over 6 years now, I have yet to ever properly put up my own website. No matter what I do, I could never stop critiquing my own work and often I'd work on them for so long, I'd get bored of the design before I could finish it.

So today, after waking up with a filthy hangover I decided enough was enough. I completely scrapped the latest design, which I've been working on, on and off, for about a year. I decided to go ultra simple, in the hope that it would force me to actually finish, and after 8 hours of flash and occasional bouts of nausea, I have actually finished my own website!

www.duncanhall.net

Give me your thoughts, but bare in mind I'm just chuffed I've finally got my own site sorted out, so I may not put too much effort into changing it for now.

[Phenex]

It's cool enough. The only thing I didn't like is you referred to yourself in third person! :P

And yes, for some alien reason, I like it.

[Templarian]

lol 3rd person is weird to read. Try to increase the font size, i can read it but yea, needs to be a tad larger.

[evildrummer]

Ok here are some things I thought:

1. Theres no default content, I actually waited for some before realizing
2. Why is contact first? IMO A menu should guide a user through the site and most people read some stuff before contacting.
3. Maybe have the whole menu on the right on a page instead of just the page title.
4. Maybe throw in some images of some sort especially in works part (just text bores me because I have a small atention span)

[boohaha]

like the color beams
like the font
would like photos plz like evildrummer ^^^

tHE "do the best barbers have the best haircut?" is a priceless quote :lol:

coOl overaLL! keep it uP!!

[jcombs_31]

I hate when I have to click back to get the menu again. The menu should always be available.

[duncanhall]

All good stuff, cheers. It seems I wasn't alone in my abjection to third person narratives, so I'll probably change that. I also agree that nav items should remain on each page so you don't need to go back every time. I thought about this for about 10 minutes and decided to leave it out for the sake of simply wanting to finish, but on reflection, it needs to be added.

The contact section came fiirst originally just because it was the first button I created. I agree the natural progression is to let the user see your content, and then prompt them to contact you about it, but I wanted to emphasise the point of contacting me even greater. On reflection I think I agree that this doesn't work as well.

There's no default content by design, because I wanted to keep everything as simple as possible. I might add something a little interesting for entertainment purposes, but I want to keep it minimal. I most likely won't be adding any images unless absolutely neccessary (eg screenshots of web work). I've generally arrived at the opinion that where possible you should let your data and content present itself, without the need to dress it up with fancy pictures. I agree the 'work' section needs beefing up, but I've made a rather difficult decision of not inlcuding any of the works undertaken so far, as to be honest, I dont think it's representitive of my abilities. This will change soon however, as I'm coming towards the end of a few projects at the moment.

Any more for any more?

[Phenex]

Here's something I keep repeating duncan - As you said yourself, too much planning on making a site perfect always results in the site not getting up at all. So first, put it up, then make it perfect.

As we see, the site is up. Add to it. And add a LOT to it. Keep it up. :thumb:

[mongushu]

lol 3rd person is weird to read. Try to increase the font size, i can read it but yea, needs to be a tad larger.


I totally agree. You are using my full screen to dsplay your site, and with such little copy in each of your sections, why is it so small?? Bump it up more.

Otherwise i really like what you've done. I totally dig the colors your using. Im drawn to those same colors myself...
What would you think about changing the background color to a dark dark brown instead of the grey? I think it would work better with the pink, yellow and blue you use elsewhere.


-Mongushu

[Pasquale]

Very cool.
The large application of the pixel fonts work well, but there is a bit of blurring on the edges which need tightening up.

[duncanhall]

Made some suggested improvements, let me know if there's any problems.

The blurring on the text is a bit of an issue, but I had to break the text apart so I could use each character as a movieclip, and I can't seem to find a way to make it any crisper.

Also, I made a subtle change to the background colour thanks to mongushus suggestion. Any preferences to this over the first choice (#222222)? I might experiment with the colour a bit more.

http://www.duncanhall.net

[RabBell]

nice :beam:

like the coloured beams, like the font, as suggested above it maybe a little small. Still like it though. No big improvement ideas from me, I think the site does what you need it to do...

...although what are you going to use this site for. If you're going to use it to try and get clients I'd maybe make the content a bit more professional (for instance most clients won't want to know you had a hangover on saturday)...but then if you're not using it for that then maybe thats ok.

[duncanhall]

Cheers. I think for now Im just using this as a sort of base for people to contact me. I already have more clients than I'm able to work for, so really it's just a first point of call for pointing people towards my abilities and styles.

Also, Im generally assuming that the vast majority of users to the site will either have been directed there by myself, or will go there already having an idea of what I do. Hopefully over the next few months I'll really be adding to the 'work' section considerably, and this is where I want the focus of the site to be - let my work speak for itself.

I'm half tempted to post up the original designs, that I was working on for a year, but I'm terrified of being dragged into working on them again.

[Digitalosophy]

Nice, the only problem I have is your navigation. When I first load up your site your navigation is in a great place and easy to find. Once I click a link, your navigation disappears and I don't know how to get back. After looking around for a few seconds I see where it went and return home. Back to the top left navigation, but oh wait I just clicked another link and wtf am I again?

I do really like the contact form effect when you submit a message. Colors are cool, and navigation effect (besides confusing the f out of me is real cool).

Well done.

[danulf]

you can get the buttons to spasm by hovering the line behind them. I like it!

[Samurai]

cool and simple....I didn't appreciate the gray background colour though :)

[duncanhall]

Ha, during development, I actually made the concious decision that "I have added enough of an oversized hit-area that hopefully noone will be able to get the buttons to spasm by hovering on the line behind them".

Apparently I was wrong. :wt:

The sub nav items weren't in the first version, which is why they are in a bit of an awkward place (75px from the bottom of your browser, so if you have a big screen, then yeah, they can be hard to spot). They definately need to still be there somewhere so I'll maybe have a rethink and see what comes up.

I'm also thinking about an option to allow the user to choose the background colour, although this seems a little cliche.

[sYCO]

I just loved it. Nice style. What fonts did you use, if it is allowed to ask? Thanks in advance.

Greetings
sYCO

[duncanhall]

Thanks. Fonts used were 04b03, Silkscreen and Tahoma. Always Tahoma.

[sYCO]

Thanks for the information. Just out of curiosity: Why "always" Tahoma?

[duncanhall]

Just a personal preference. But I can't think of a project where it's not appropriate. It's just always my "default" font.

[sYCO]

Alright, I see. Thanks again. I have a favourite font, too, which was made by my friend Andreas: Astone.

You might want to check it, if you also are a fonts fetishist: www.schnubel.com (http://www.schnubel.com) (under projects - design). It is free to use. Just tell him, if you like to use it! He will appreciate it.

It is a nice website to look at, anyway. =)

By the way, I did not find 04b03 and rather weird sources of Silkscreen. You might want to send it to me? Well, of course, it is legal. :blush:

Greetings.

sYCO

[duncanhall]

Cheers, astone actually looks quite nice, and I like to think "arse tone" whenever I see it, which is a bonus.

Don't know how you managed to miss 04b03, give this a click:

http://www.google.com/search?q=04b03

[sYCO]

ROFL ... naughty guy you are ... and thanks, found and have got them now, both. =)

You live in London? I used to live there for about one year. Making my exams, work experience and on the other side, having great fun at drum 'n' bass clubs and doing graffiti on your hard as *** guarded subway system. I guess, it is the wildest one in the world - even tougher than New York's guarding system.

Greetings.

sYCO

[vini]

Hey Good Overall..
What I dont Like is your Grey BG. Along with the Logo, the 3 coloured bar you have. How about putting buttons on them for changeing to different bg colors.

I would change the navigation font to bitmap to avoid Blurring. Rest is all Ok.

Put some moreContent. Font Size increment is not visible.

[Esherido]

Takes a sec to get used to, but overall I like it a lot. My one gripe is that the glow on motionGrid gets a little too strong.