Topic: hobbes.cjb.cc

[Nicholas]

[a href=\"http://hobbes.cjb.cc\" target=\"_blank\"]hobbes.cjb.cc[/a]

I've had this site for awhile, though I recently re-designed the appearance.
I find the combination of narrow width, vibant colors, and smooth images to
create a generally pleasent look, and I believe the site is rather "elegant,"
if you will. I encourage your criticisms, not only on the site's design, but also
on any content that you may find interesting. There's several pieces of my
artwork from school available to look at, as well as some parks from
RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, and other such items that interest me.

Thanks for your comments.

[redbullmarky]

in terms of its style and choice of colours, it's very neat and polished. the only main criticism is just that it needs more content. the whole thing is something you can literally jump in and out of in less than 30 seconds, and have read everything. i'm sure tho that as this is a new re-design, that the content will increase over time...
otherwise, i'd just be nit-picking. i'll do it anyway tho - but these are more my own opinions rather than actual critique...
1) i really don't like sites that say 'best viewed in...', 'best viewed at 1600x800, etc, etc'. the way i see it is that, if done and tested properly, it should work in any browser. as this is quite a simple site, i can't see any reason why it wouldn't work. i'm currently on Safari (Apple Mac). the 'phppowered' and 'get firefox' buttons are fine.

2) sites that lends most of its content to explaining how the site was made, etc. people generally come along to find certain information (unless they're your friends, in which case they'll come anyway), and if all they find on the homepage is stuff about how the site was made, how the sidebanner was removed, etc, it seems a bit of a waste of the space you have. having said that though, i do generally (on some of my quirkier sites) have a 'geeks' page, where i stick loads of stats, what technology it uses (php, etc), how firefox is great, how well the site validates (hardly ever with alot of my own sites lol), etc. but never on my homepage as the first thing new visitors will see.

3) unless it's an image gallery, porn site, etc people generally don't come to see pictures. the one i'm on about here is the one just above your nav. it's probably a touch too big in terms of height, as it pushes the main content (including the pictures in your gallery which you DO want people to see) too far towards the bottom of the page. maybe cutting this down a little may just bring the content into view a little better.


otherwise, i think you've done a grand job. this is the first time i've seen the colour Brown used in a site, and actually liked it.

nice work!

Mark

[mikee]

I would agree with you it is a good design and I like the colour schemes alot, I think it could do with some more content though as redbullmarky says you can flash through the site in no time at all.
Why not add a brief description of some of the art you have and built that into your site rather than taking you to a new window where all you see is the image.
That would add something to make people spend a bit more time exploring the different areas.
In all a well presented site - well done!

[Nicholas]

Thank you both for the replies!

mark, the "Best viewed with Firefox" is, in my opinion, necessary because using IE results in the navigation working awkwardly. I've used CSS to change the position of the background image, but IE can't refresh the image fast enough (I guess...), so a white block is shown before the over-image shows. As for the PHP Powered bit, it's kind of ironic because all I've used PHP for is includes and the counter. I'm still working on learning the language, so eventually the site will deserve that statement.
And I'll work on improving content. I use my xanga to communicate with my friends, for the most part, so this site is mostly for myself or online friends who share my interests in web design or gaming.
The Calvin and Hobbes image above the navigatioin, however, will probably stay. I do see your point about it pushing everything down, and from a web developer's point of view, that can be a major problem, but from an artistic view, I think the size is perfect. I wish there was some way to have both the size of the image and still have room for the content, but my design's narrowness makes this nearly impossible.

mike, I'll definately consider adding descriptions of the art to the page, perhaps having the images open in a window with restricted size that allows for both the image and a description to show, then also offers the option of viewing the image full-size. As I mentioned above, I'm still working on the content, though this is more of a hobby site than a personal site, if that makes sense.

Again, thank you both for the comments!
If anyone else has anything to add, I would appreciate your posts as well.

[AndyB]

Just curious.  When you obviously have graphic talent, why are you using what is undoubtedly a copyrighted image (someone else's copyright) as the header to a site that appears to have nothing whatsover to do with the header image?

[Nicholas]

Calvin and Hobbes are liscensed, yes, and I obviously do not have permission to use them.
They are my favorite comic, however, and I've always included an image from them on my websites. I don't see any problems with it, as I'm not claiming it as my own nor profiting from the image in any way besides that it is aesthetically pleasing. If Ucomics asks me to take it down, I will do so willingly. But if anything, the only thing my header image could do is interest people in Calvin and Hobbes as you've reminded me to link the image to the Calvin and Hobbes main site, as I usually do. And I doubt that Ucomics is one of the 150 hits I've recieved (which is much less, as my counter is does not count by unique visitors).

Thanks for the comment about my graphics, by the way.

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I'm unsure of whether or not to create a new topic, but I'll post here and a mod can split this if need be. I have a question though, regarding the use of PHP's case/switch. I would like to have my images on my art page link to something like this: [a href=\"http://hobbes.cjb.cc/art.php?id=hot_air_balloon\" target=\"_blank\"]http://hobbes.cjb.cc/art.php?id=hot_air_balloon[/a]
I know this is achieved through the use of $_GET variables and the switch function, but I have no idea where to start with these, and the topics/tutorials I've found are far too vague for me to understand.
Would someone be willing to guide me through achieving this effect?

[Javizy]

I notice you've got the cursed IE flicker on your rollovers. Usually caused when images aren't positioned at the top left of their container (yeah IE f**kin sucks in so many ways, but that's for a different thread). I ended up going without hovers when this happened to me, there apparently is a solution but I'm not sure how simple it is.

You might wanna check google, because from what I read it sends a request to the server for the image for each mouse movement, i.e. for every pixel the mouse moves over the image. Thanks microsoft...