C & C on website please?

[Mustard Chops]

Just got my site finalised and portfolio complete. It's a nice dripbook powered flash site - really simple stuff.

Devoid Of Talent (http://devoidoftalent.com/)

I'd appreciate some feedback if at all possible, both on the layout of the site - fonts, colours etc but also the work contained within.

Cheers!

[tracknut]

I had to think a bit on this one, as there was just something not working for me. Here's the issue. You've built a site which displays itself as clean, simple, crisp, etc. And it definitely looks the part. That is, until you try to use it.

It's like the site has been built to frustrate the user. Here are some examples:
- The navigation items - you hover over them and they turn this light blue that can hardly be seen, so you're not sure whether you're really over them
- The navigation item called "exposure" is apparently what the rest of the world calls "contact me", but I have no idea why it's labeled "exposure"
- The gallery makes me wheel my mouse back and forth, trying desperately to get a photo fully on the page, while the site seems to be trying to make me feel uncoordinated
- The blog page unexplainably choses to come up in a separate window, which I don't notice because the focus remains on the window I was on before.

So fundamentally the site is polarized between the most simple crisp display you could come up with, and a devious "ha ha, you can't figure me out" navigation and usability model.

I hope that helps, and that I haven't come off wrong.

Dave

[Mustard Chops]

Thanks for the comments.

I'll be honest in that no one who has viewed the site has had any problem in browsing the images, there is a scroll bar at the bottom of the image strip and the images will auto scroll if you mouse hover...

In terms of why i chose to label 'contact me' as 'exposure' here are 2 of the dictionary definitions of the word;

the state of being exposed to contact with something

the revelation of an identity or fact, esp. one that is concealed or likely to arouse disapproval

the 2nd definition coupled with the domain name might place it into context?

I have modified it to 'contact me' as some people obviously might not get what it is hinting at.

Also changed the active colour to an easily viewable colour.

I might look at the traditional thumbnail browser style, do you think that would be easier to navigate?

[tracknut]

If you had a right and left arrow/button on the gallery, then it would be simple to use. The slider could remain or go away, but you could maintain the current look of the photos in a long ribbon.

And yes, I understand the connection between "exposure" and "contact me", but it isn't the first thing that comes to mind when looking at a photography site (or probably any other site). That's really the crux of my point... it isn't that the site is not usable (I certainly *can* negotiate it), it's that it portends on one hand to me simple and straightforward, and on the other hand the navigation is all just a bit off track on the simplicity idea.

Dave

[sando]

Very hard to use, and not that pretty, sorry.

[Mustard Chops]

Maybe next time i'll opt for simple viewer and an over the top font then i guess...

[conkeroo]

I really like it. Its slick, modern and pretty darn funky! I would say get the blog to open in the same window with a link on your blog back to the site. And the thickness of the line that highlights the current link is too thick. Make it thinner, like the lines between the links. Other than that, nice work. :D