The problem with the layout is that it might be too constricting to show off your artwork in the site. It could be fixed if you're planning to implement a little javascript called LightBox, though. :3
well when going to the gallery I would have the image open up in its own window. I don't know how to do that little frame thing which opens above the page. :/
It's off to a nice start! I'm assuming that you mean this to be a professional art site to showcase your own work. I love critiquing such sites, and I hope you don't mind my feedback:
-The splash page actually confused me a little because I tried to click on "ENTER" instead of the image. My feelings on splash pages in general are rather negative - do you really want to slow people down when entering your site?
-Your main site takes up only about half of my widescreen monitor and all of the content is left justified, resulting in the page looking less polished than it could if it were set up to sit in the center of monitors of all sizes, or stretch/compress its borders to fit better.
-"Alamus Prime" gets a LOT of real estate for how little benefit it gives the visitor. Without .com after it, it might not even register to the user as the site's url. I think your name is more important, and would make that the featured text with alamusprime.com underneath it. Also, I got curious about what "Alamus Prime" meant but couldn't find an explanation on the site. Other visitors might wonder the same.
-It wasn't immediately clear to me what's a button and what's just text. There are buttons across the top and down the side, and I didn't notice the ones down the side until I'd explored the site for a while. I'm overwhelmed by the amount of options I'm given to click on, and it took me a while to check out each of them to see what they were ("Titles" and "Kin" were the most esoteric). If you wanted to simplify, I would break it down into "Illustrations", "Animations", and "Contact" and fit everything else into those categories. Make sure your contact info is on the main page (assuming you want to be contacted, your uses may vary).
-If you're using this as a portfolio, be sure to put only your very, very best work on the site. You don't know which ones your users will look at (or how many they'll look at), so you always want to hedge your bets and make sure they just see the best no matter what they click. If you want to have a collection of work, like a complete comic, you might want to give it its own section separate of your main body of work, but remember that your portfolio is generally only as strong as the weakest thing in it.
-Having an "Updates" section is generally only a good idea if you update frequently and have a lot of traffic, otherwise it looks stale in just a few days and becomes a burden to keep up. (And if you have any intention of showing your site to potential employers, you'd be better off not having "Updates" because 1. employers won't care and 2. you don't want them to know how long it's been since you last updated). I think "timeless" sites are just a safe bet all around.
-There's a lot of "coming soon" stuff. You should make the effort to get something in there ASAP, even if it's not everything you intend to have there eventually. Once a visitor sees just one or two "coming soon" areas, they generally stop checking the rest and get rather turned off about the site and leave.
Good luck with the site and if you have any questions just ask!
Those are all very valid points and I take your criticism seriously. I am still unsure what the intentions of this site are since I am still employed and I'm not really looking. Perhaps this is something for fans or people waiting for my KIN comic to go too? Again, not sure. Which is also why things are being updated slowly, still have new works to finish that I would like to post there.
Also I'm not sure about the general look of the site. Its pretty much a step above what it was before and will probably change again once I figure out what I really want there. Again, not so sure. :/
But when I do know what I'm doing with it I'll be sure to ask for your guidance again. Thanks a bunch for looking!
Devious Comments
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~WoK the Waiful Nekomancer
It's not all that hard to figure out once you implement it. :3
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~WoK the Waiful Nekomancer
-The splash page actually confused me a little because I tried to click on "ENTER" instead of the image. My feelings on splash pages in general are rather negative - do you really want to slow people down when entering your site?
-Your main site takes up only about half of my widescreen monitor and all of the content is left justified, resulting in the page looking less polished than it could if it were set up to sit in the center of monitors of all sizes, or stretch/compress its borders to fit better.
-"Alamus Prime" gets a LOT of real estate for how little benefit it gives the visitor. Without .com after it, it might not even register to the user as the site's url. I think your name is more important, and would make that the featured text with alamusprime.com underneath it. Also, I got curious about what "Alamus Prime" meant but couldn't find an explanation on the site. Other visitors might wonder the same.
-It wasn't immediately clear to me what's a button and what's just text. There are buttons across the top and down the side, and I didn't notice the ones down the side until I'd explored the site for a while. I'm overwhelmed by the amount of options I'm given to click on, and it took me a while to check out each of them to see what they were ("Titles" and "Kin" were the most esoteric). If you wanted to simplify, I would break it down into "Illustrations", "Animations", and "Contact" and fit everything else into those categories. Make sure your contact info is on the main page (assuming you want to be contacted, your uses may vary).
-If you're using this as a portfolio, be sure to put only your very, very best work on the site. You don't know which ones your users will look at (or how many they'll look at), so you always want to hedge your bets and make sure they just see the best no matter what they click. If you want to have a collection of work, like a complete comic, you might want to give it its own section separate of your main body of work, but remember that your portfolio is generally only as strong as the weakest thing in it.
-Having an "Updates" section is generally only a good idea if you update frequently and have a lot of traffic, otherwise it looks stale in just a few days and becomes a burden to keep up. (And if you have any intention of showing your site to potential employers, you'd be better off not having "Updates" because 1. employers won't care and 2. you don't want them to know how long it's been since you last updated). I think "timeless" sites are just a safe bet all around.
-There's a lot of "coming soon" stuff. You should make the effort to get something in there ASAP, even if it's not everything you intend to have there eventually. Once a visitor sees just one or two "coming soon" areas, they generally stop checking the rest and get rather turned off about the site and leave.
Good luck with the site and if you have any questions just ask!
Also I'm not sure about the general look of the site. Its pretty much a step above what it was before and will probably change again once I figure out what I really want there. Again, not so sure. :/
But when I do know what I'm doing with it I'll be sure to ask for your guidance again. Thanks a bunch for looking!
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