Snarkpit Forum Index » General Banter » New portfolio site
New portfolio site
1
2 next page »
Post Reply
Quote
 Re: New portfolio site
Posted by ReNo on Tue Jun 12th at 1:32pm 2007

I was bored and hungover the other day so I figured why not update my long neglected website - the last one had thumbnails that didn't link anywhere and placeholder text all over the place image Any thoughts? What do you think on the design of it? Good/bad colours, spacing etc...? How about the amount of text? Number of screenshots per section - is 6 a good max number do you think, or would 9 or 3 be better? I'm also thinking of collapsing all of the HL1 maps (which currently I haven't got screenshots of) into that "misc HL1 engine work" section, with maybe the best 6 or 9 screenshots from all those maps. Good idea? Thanks for any feedback image

http://www.reno-vation.net



Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net



Quote
 Re: New portfolio site
Posted by OtZman on Tue Jun 12th at 2:38pm 2007

You could categorize the maps into Source maps and HL1 engine maps, so that you can choose which category to view.

Overall I think it looks good. 6 screenshots per map looks good. You could add a "details" link for each map, with more screenshots and maybe a download link.

Incredible maps btw. <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">




What the Snarkpitters listen to!



Quote
 Re: New portfolio site
Posted by Campaignjunkie on Tue Jun 12th at 9:14pm 2007

More concise descriptions, with less text. A bullet point format might work better and be easier to skim over, assuming your portfolio is for potential employers and not to show off your gorgeous maps :P

Good thumbnail size though! Some people crop their thumbs to weird sizes in misguided efforts to be "artsy" or something. <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">



Quote
 Re: New portfolio site
Posted by ReNo on Wed Jun 13th at 1:37am 2007

? quoting OtZman
You could categorize the maps into Source maps and HL1 engine maps, so that you can choose which category to view.
Overall I think it looks good. 6 screenshots per map looks good. You could add a "details" link for each map, with more screenshots and maybe a download link.
Incredible maps btw. image
Fair suggestions, but my intention was always to keep the actual content (the screenshots, given this is a portfolio site) readily available from the get-go. I don't want to have any sort of navigation system to make viewing the pictures more hassle than it needs to be. I don't think I've got so much content that it makes a single page design too unbearable image

? quoting Campaignjunkie
More concise descriptions, with less text. A bullet point format might work better and be easier to skim over, assuming your portfolio is for potential employers and not to show off your gorgeous maps image

Good thumbnail size though! Some people crop their thumbs to weird sizes in misguided efforts to be "artsy" or something. image
Ok, more concise descriptions are in place. Are they short enough? I just stripped out most of the spiel about design issues or thoughts, and left brief descriptions of what the map actually is.

Anyway, updated version can be seen at the same address. Any more feedback and suggestions are welcome image

http://www.reno-vation.net



Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net



Quote
 Re: New portfolio site
Posted by Crono on Wed Jun 13th at 1:56am 2007

The one thing that stands out as an eyesore is the page's background. Maybe try a solid dark color that would match the content color scheme more? (dark-gray-blue-ish-ry?)

There's a bunch of other things I could suggest, but they're all rather complex and probably not what you're looking for.


Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



Quote
 Re: New portfolio site
Posted by ReNo on Wed Jun 13th at 1:58am 2007

Damn, everybody who commented before seemed to like the colour scheme, but the last two people seem to hate the background <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/sad.gif"> I'll consider changing it and try a few other, less in your face colours, but personally I quite like it.



Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net



Quote
 Re: New portfolio site
Posted by Finger on Wed Jun 13th at 2:26am 2007

I agree, the background is the only thing that rubs me the wrong way. maybe nix the gradient and use a solid color. The orange could be a nice contrast - temperature might need a slight adjustment. Everything else seemed fine; straightforward and easy to view - that's all you really want.



Quote
 Re: New portfolio site
Posted by fishy on Wed Jun 13th at 7:42am 2007

I thought that the orange of the background didn't help with highlighting most of the thumbs, which also seem a bit orangy. I agree with the darker b'g suggestions.

A back button would also be good to have on the big linked screenshots, because muppets like me always close the image window, then wonder where the site went. Having the pics open in a new window would be another solution to my lack of internet skillz.




i eat paint



Quote
 Re: New portfolio site
Posted by Cash Car Star on Wed Jun 13th at 9:43am 2007

It's kind of lacking in Spamvertisements. Perhaps some context sensitive amazon links? And after viewing your portfolio, I'd probably like to visit Casino-on-net. Oh, and perhaps perhaps perhaps my computer is sending out an IP that could let people know where my computer is. Maybe a pop-up to warn me about this?




Quote
 Re: New portfolio site
Posted by OtZman on Wed Jun 13th at 12:32pm 2007

Looks better with the new background, I must say. And with screenshots for all the maps, and less text in each description, it's much easier to get a good overview of the page.


What the Snarkpitters listen to!



Quote
 Re: New portfolio site
Posted by ReNo on Wed Jun 13th at 12:47pm 2007

Yeah, I still want to keep the gradient but I decided to try out a more subdued coffee sort of colour. I dunno quite how I feel about it yet as I quite liked the bright, fresh orange I had originally, but it certain is less "abrasive" which some people felt it was before.



Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net



Quote
 Re: New portfolio site
Posted by Crono on Wed Jun 13th at 7:20pm 2007

It does look better. Sorry.


Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



Quote
 Re: New portfolio site
Posted by Cash Car Star on Wed Jun 13th at 8:39pm 2007

Oh you're no fun anymore. I did like the orange sort of, it was distinct, but the soft brown does look slicker and more professional.




Quote
 Re: New portfolio site
Posted by Naklajat on Wed Jun 13th at 8:47pm 2007

Use lime green, neon pink, and pukey greenish brown, you can't go wrong.


=o



Quote
 Re: New portfolio site
Posted by Forceflow on Thu Jun 14th at 6:05am 2007

I like the The Ship maps. Really. I should steal an old lady's purse to buy it.


:: Forceflow.be :: Nuclear Dawn developer



Quote
 Re: New portfolio site
Posted by Gwil on Thu Jun 14th at 12:29pm 2007

The brown looks better. The text on the banner ReNo vation .net looks hideous, however. Use something with more penache.. like er, Verdana, and get some smoothing effects on it!





Quote
 Re: New portfolio site
Posted by ReNo on Thu Jun 14th at 4:13pm 2007

Verdana, more panache?! Verdana's about as standard a font as you get IMO :P Lovely for body text but not too hot for headings. I agree that the banner text didn't look too great but I think the use of that font through the rest of the website for headings works really nicely, and for the sake of consistency I stuck it on the banner too. I've put up a different banner using *yawn* standard banner fare "impact", stretched lengthways as normally it's a bit too stunted in that direction. I also put a bit of a motion blur thing behind it. Better? The text still looks really blocky, but it does have AA on it in photoshop. Any way to get it looking better that I don't know about?

http://www.reno-vation.net



Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net



Quote
 Re: New portfolio site
Posted by habboi on Thu Jun 14th at 4:19pm 2007

It's very nice. Some great content on it. My only concern is the images should open up a new window instead of taking the user away from the main site. Perhaps having one of those 'click pic' to close.



Quote
 Re: New portfolio site
Posted by ReNo on Thu Jun 14th at 4:54pm 2007

I did consider that, but those sort of things deny me the ability to use a few of the features I like when browsing. Like opening a load of pictures up at once in different tabs, for example, or using my "imagezoom" firefox addon to scale up or down pictures (those windows are normally fixed size, which undermines the use of the tool). Whether or not I should judge my own browsing habits as typical of other users is debatable though.



Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net



Quote
 Re: New portfolio site
Posted by Crono on Thu Jun 14th at 5:50pm 2007

It's do-able in JavaScript. You could actually have the window resize with an image, for example (I'm sure).

I think the title looked better before. (No need to change it back. Just see how many people think the same way, I guess).

The TrueType format uses B?zier curves (for curves) ... my best guess is that it's in the conversion to PNG that the aliasing is happening, since it's being converted from vectors to a listing of pixels. Perhaps, find a 3rd party exportation tool for photoshop? Or, look up AA in PS, I'm not sure if it applies to exported images or just within the program it self.


Blame it on Microsoft, God does.




1
2 next page »
Post Reply