a big first for me

[blackpulp]

Hey guys,

I just wanted to open this up and see what people have to say about it. This is my latest project I have been working on, and it has been quite an undertaking.

First, let me explain what is different about this site from sites in my past. For the first time, I have developed a FLASH site that is truly 100% dynamic. What i mean is this, the client has control over everything within the site.

For example, they can manipulate the menu structure and the submenu structure. They can control what type of content each menu loads, and what content is associated with each section. I have built a new "templating" system so to speak. Lets say the client wants a new section for photos. He goes and adds a photos section to the menu and associates that menu with a photogallery template, then loads his pictures into that template, and bam...a new photogallery section. He could then take that down if he wanted later, or add something esle? Each content section also has internal links that allow the client to link within the site as well. For instance, they could have a news post page have a link on it that sends the user to the photo page if the user clicked the link. So what does this mean? The client can now, truly make the site as big or as little as he or she wants. This is a first from what I have seen with flash sites. I am excited about it, lemme know what you guys think.

http://www.mapleridgechurch.net/pages/

- the site is still in beta mode, and there really isnt much "real" content, only fake jarb I have placed in there for filler stuff...and I didn't use many of the more complex templates I constucted. Mostly just text box type stuff to get the site filled up quickly. I basically spent 10 minutes contructing the content of the site, and then made it live.

oh yeah, one more thing i added which i haven't really seen on any flash sites is a history type navigation. Once you leave a section of the site, there are little windows which pop up on the left side of the window telling you where you came from and you can click on them to go back.

[zacus]

wow man thats a really great site i think they will be thrilled, your clients that is

nice work!

[B3NKobe]

WoooooaH!! Nice Site Mate :D:D -- Awsom transitions, and i like the background! Very impressed!!

[n4c]

great work on the site....

have a good day...

nforchange

[Insomniac]

beautiful... but a couple of criticisms still worth mention :P

1) Random backgrounds are a nice idea, but I would say that the diagonal wood background is way better than any of the others.

2) The splash screen, although its clean, isn't as nice as the rest of the website... I think you should play around with the shadows a bit, and the sizes of the boxes.

3) I'm not entirely sure about the preloader colour fitting in, but that may be a personal thing.

4) History is a cool idea, but it's a little buggy at times - sometimes the history box is attached to the main area, sometimes its away from it, and sometimes its hidden under it.

Really nice site, nicely made... its even more impressive that its entirely dynamic.

[paddy.]

I can't see it. It never gets past the preloader. Files and Content load okay but then the progess goes to NaN% and just stays there forever.

WTH is going on?

[iloveitaly]

incredible. great work.

[paddy.]

Woo! It works now. And I have to say I really like it. Great transitions, layout, colours.

However, I have a few qualms:
1. The rollovers are a little slow. They're nice but at first I thought there were no rollovers.

2. Being the messer that I am, I like to zoom in and out on sites. When I was zoomed in I pressed Show All to zoom out. Problem is this zoomed me right out so that the whole background image was shown and I couldn't read the text any more.
If instead of Show All you press Zoom Out to return, you are left with the ability to drag the whole site around.

3. I think the preloader has a few bugs in it. Most of the time it works fine but sometimes it just kinda screws up and says NaN% has been loaded. It's weird.

Other than that I think it's a great site. Good job! :thumb:

[Insomniac]

heh u could always stop people like paddy from messing around by disabling the right click menu ;)

[paddy.]

Good idea. :) People like me can really screw things up. Best to just play it safe.

[kO2n]

I like it. Looks very clean and fresh. Though i didn't quite understand why you have a Back button? Couldn't get why i would click, for example, Home, then News, and then want to click the Back button to get back Home instead of just clicking on the actual Home button itself? Also if you click the same button twice you end up on the same page that the Back button says it will take you too. Slight scripting error there.

Other than that, it reminds me of the iPod, which is very sexy so two thumbs up here!

Viru

[Digitalosophy]

Well done

[blackpulp]

well i must say thanx for all the replies, even when some are hard to read when you are so attached to a long period of work. About the splash page, i completely agree. Thats on my todo list for today, the thing absolutely sucks. I threw it together out of need more than anything. I also like the idea of changing the colors on the preloader. I can't really figure out the bug within the preloader. I basically added a loop that keeps asking for certain files until they are grabbed because i have had a lot of trouble with the loadMovie command not getting the file and the preloader being stuck forever. SO i have it check the filesize every 100 frames or so, and if theres nothing loaded yet, request the file again.

at this point in the site, the history button might be redundant, but because of the nature of the site and how dynamic it is, it will be possible for you to end up somewhere that is not immediately represented on the main menu of the site, so the back feature is necessary. The content that is currently on the site is just something i threw together, I didn't get too deep in the content development, that is for my client to figure out.

I guess thats all the comments I can really remember or the ones I took to heart. Thanks so much guys.

[[uber]]

it would make a great template....

[Insomniac]

Btw I recognise the background music, its great, what's it from - I can't remember?

[mehmet22]

Two thumbs up. The audio is very nice.

[thesparky007]

that is an awesome website

[Cobol]

Simplistic and simply amazing, I only wish mine was that clean and refreshing.

[kerek]

It's a really great looking website. I love sites like these, they are inspiring.


The only thing I can say is update your portfolio design.. maybe?
Your pieces are great and look very amazing but your portfolio isn't as good. At least to me. Seems like it was made a while ago compared to some of your new pieces.

[dreeft]

yeh, quite nice.

[kerek]

Background music is from Donnie Darko .. :)

[Insomniac]

That was it, thanks :D

[kO2n]

That film confused the heck outta me!

[Insomniac]

Just noticed, the "we are a" bit just above the main area doesn't work too well in my opinion ;)

[Mik3]

I love it the design reminds me of my own work. The shadows, inner shadows, colors, and other stuff is placed out very nicely. Good job, my only advice is that you should get a better background image it's not that attractive.

[Insomniac]

t3rminator the background is different each time... like I said earlier, I think the diagonal wood one is way better than the others ;)

[3d Nirvana]

nice! love the music! good work!

[jandebouwman]

I think that guy from dopeaward whil faal in love with this design... U will win much awards with this.

But here is a big 'but'...

When i browsed around the site, it didn't gave my the impression i was browsing true a church site, it looks more like a web design studio site. Church sites are less more 'springy'...

Really cool that it's all dynamic

- Dennis

[fudoki]

love the feel, the little touches and the layout.

[simplistik]

Great job, I think it looks nice... but I'd have to say I'm more impressed about the capabilities that you've put into it.

I think the weakest parts of the site are the splash page and a good majority of the BGs... But I know how hard it is to get a nice quality pic up there w/o killin the load and performance.


When i browsed around the site, it didn't gave my the impression i was browsing true a church site, it looks more like a web design studio site. Church sites are less more 'springy'...


I just want to touch on this for a minute because it erks me. Churches just like anything and anyone else don't want to be stereotyped. Belief in God doesn't mean they have to be lame. Churchs are just like any other site, they want to be different and push limits too. But sadly there aren't many ppl that are willing to put time into church sites, as they all seem to think they fall under a certain catagory of lameness. But anywho... that's all for another topic.

[Talkfreelance]

Looks great! I don't like the fullscreen window though...and I don't like the fact it opens up in a new window either. Aside from that it's very nice! :)

[blackpulp]

well, thank you guys for all your wonderful and honest remarks. The site is still going to go through a lot of changes. The background images being one of the main things. I guess I should have pointed out in my original post, that everything on the site is dynamic, including the background images added in. I threw those pictures into the CMS out of neccesity for a background image. They have no relevance to the site whatsoever. Sure, thats a bad design decision, but oh well, I was being more of a programmer that day I guess?

I do have to say that about the "churchy" comment, and it not feeling like a church site, I agree with simplistik, why do church sites have to be lame? and spring-like? sure, a belief in God is generally viewed as a good thing, but does it have to look cheesy? Most certainly not.

The real power of this site is just the functionality behind the scenes, I wish I could show you guys that. The client can literally build this site into whatever he or she would like. I have never seen to date, a fully scalable flash site that can grow over time. Well, I should rephrase that, I have never seen one that the client can grow without knowing any actionscript or html coding. My client can just log in and say "hmmm...i want a new calendar, and i want it under the about us section" and then proceed to fill in a form, click a few buttons, and bam! THEY HAVE A NEW CALENDAR that they can then proceed to enter content into. I don't even really know how to describe it? They can even add buttons inside the content that lead to other sections they create as well. So the site can continue to grow. Has anyone else built a true flash based CMS before? I would love to talk with you.

[samotboy]

I'd finish and tweak this into a template and sell it on the market (y) :cons: