[xxxjj18]

Hey!

I'm working on my website to advertise my services and wanted to know what you all think!

I'm not finished yet but here is an idea of how I want it to look:

http://jgdesigns.fre...ngcloud.com/jg/


Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[tlhIn`toq]

The transition effect is about all there is to comment on.
Its cool.

But otherwise doesn't scream "Skilled web developer". Seems very much like a template one would find in the numerous GUI drag-n-drop applications.

FYI: it ran fine and looked correct in Safari on Win7

[shezzy]

The transitions are very cool but yeah..it is hard to comment other then that. I have never been a fan of websites with dark/black backgrounds. I'd much rather see a subtle texture or gradient instead.

[modi123_1]

Interesting animation technique there, but damn if it might not be over used and becoming mildly nauseating.

Colors - I assume those are not it, right? I mean those are horrible together.

Your 'welcome', 'who am i', and 'what do i do' all seem to refocus (and move the screen down) when clicked.

Your CSS needs to be in its own file.

You should have a 'thank you / written by' note to the guy you purloined the scrollto.js file from.

[xxxjj18]

Thank you all for the feedback.

My main focus on this template so far was the animation; now that that is done I would like to focus on the design.

As stated, it doesn't exemplify my skills; I'm thinking of some ideas to make it look better and professional.

Any tips there?

I do plan on changing the body background and no, those aren't the colors I will be using haha. I was playing around with them a lot to try and test out different looks.

I'm not sure if I want to stick with a minimalistic solid color for the nav bar or something more visually appealing :\

As for the CSS and Javascript file; I will move the CSS file to its own file I just usually have a habit of including the styles in the HTML page during the design process; bad habit to break D:

And I will of course give due credit to the author of the Javascript file; my main focus right now is getting this thing to look presentable!! Haha.

Anyway, thank you all for the comments. I will work to improve this a lot; this is hardly a rough draft

Oh, and yes the links do pull the page down; I will remove that I was using it to test something, sorry :X

[modi123_1]

Quote

As stated, it doesn't exemplify my skills; I'm thinking of some ideas to make it look better and professional.

Any tips there?

Not to be a cheeky monkey and all, but isn't that the main thrust of these portfolio sites? I mean _you_ are the web designer that is looking to get hired, right? Part of that design process is creativity on your end.. so I was really hoping you would wow us with something funky-awesome-new.

[xxxjj18]

modi123_1, on 13 December 2012 - 09:12 AM, said:

Quote

As stated, it doesn't exemplify my skills; I'm thinking of some ideas to make it look better and professional.

Any tips there?

Not to be a cheeky monkey and all, but isn't that the main thrust of these portfolio sites? I mean _you_ are the web designer that is looking to get hired, right? Part of that design process is creativity on your end.. so I was really hoping you would wow us with something funky-awesome-new.

Of course; that's why I wanted some feedback on how I could make it better so that it can be something funky-awesome-new

[j4v3d]

I love the transitions on it, however there are too many colors being used, stick to like 2 colors and make the website look consistent.

Make it look more professional and subtle. Its over powering with the colors.

Stick the logo on the left hand side instead of having it on the right hand side, maybe add some social media icons, a Facebook, twitter feed? Blog posts?

Dont clutter the homepage too much though you want it to look clutter free and make the font slightly smaller. Not a fan of massive font sizes.

Good luck in learning

[gregwhitworth]

The transitions are fine with a couple clicks, but I think that many pages it ends up being too much, but that's just my opinion. Also, I see a huge flaw in your process, you should be designing before developing. Wireframing is often done before design and this is where you would write out the scrolling functionalities, etc. Moving objects in a graphics editor takes no time where as you will have quite a few issues with moving blocks of code and then having to alter the CSS accordingly. I suggest treat yourself like the client:

Strategy: Think about what you want to tell people and provide them on your site and why (this is important). Based on that strategy create a sitemap, and write a quick outline of what will be on the various pages.

Wireframe: Build a rough layout of the various pages, you may have one layout (like your current site) but after looking at your sitemap you may realize that you want 3 different layouts and will have all different functionalities. (Wireframe resources)

Design: Taking your wireframe build out the designs for each seperate layout

Client Side Development: Now develop the HTML, CSS and JS of your design

Server Side Development: Take your client side code and port this to your server side CMS (wordpress, expression engine, drupal, etc).

This may seem overkill for your own site, and it may be - but trust me if you work for a real web firm you will want to be able to do this, and they will probably expect it from you.

One side note on your current site, when I click a link the URL should change so people can bookmark this or return to single page. It will also help you when you send links to possible employers.

Good luck, keep up the good work!

This post has been edited by gregwhitworth: 14 December 2012 - 06:38 PM

[creativecoding]

I'm going to go against the grain and say that I don't like the transitions. I understand where you were trying to go with them, and I like what your original idea might have been, but it turned out just being a little bit too much. I think making less moving parts (especially the top menu) would vastly improve it. Another good thing would be making it so that when you go right to left, it goes the opposite way - as if you're going backwards through the transitions. Same with the left/right transitions in the content.

It'd be really good for you to use good typography skills. What you have right now on your main page obviously isn't that great. Another big thing is your grammar. You have to sound professional and confident.

Anyways that's all I can think of right now, so best of luck to you and best of luck to your business!

[Nublet]

I think the transitions are pretty cool, although I think it's a bit much. they make me dizzy haha. I like the "Welcome - Who am I? - What do I do?" part, but the navigation, as I said before, made me dizzy when I clicked all the options. Otherwise I think it's a good site, although I'd stick to one or two colors, or many shades of one color. I also wouldn't have a black background, it's less appealing to the users, if you want a dark background I'd rather go with something grayish, but not completely black

Anyways, good luck with the website, hope it works out well

This post has been edited by Nublet: 28 December 2012 - 03:18 PM

[Lemur]

I can't say I like the transitions either.

The colors just don't go well together, and the site feels like more of a high school project for my first website than a professional portfolio. What makes that look:

- Overly large font
- Poorly contrasting color choice
- Lack of White Space
- Background elements taking too much attention
- No feeling of unity in the site
- Little to no content

Those, to me, are the biggest tell-tale of a new designer. Having all of those occurring at once is not a good thing.

Look into Web Design galleries, get inspiration, and continually look for good design. If you have to ask what it is, you'll never know.

[fiddydips]

xxxjj18, on 13 December 2012 - 07:10 AM, said:

Hey!

I'm working on my website to advertise my services and wanted to know what you all think!

I'm not finished yet but here is an idea of how I want it to look:

http://jgdesigns.fre...ngcloud.com/jg/


Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Don't underestimate the power of background images. It's amazing how much a simple photo can add to your website's appeal. Try stock photos for starters, or just take your own pictures. CSS is highly recommended. I like the "J" in the upper right hand corner. By the text that says "I AM JALEN GARNETT" I think you should put a thumbnail image of yourself or your avatar with attribute / css class style="float:left;" Nice Javascript effect by the way! The biggest thing your site is missing - photos, graphics, and icons.