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New flash site - usability test anyone?

Just sat down and added something else that I think should solve the problems of things going off screen. Now each selection, both the main menu and the sub menus can be closed by clicking on the tab (you'll now see an X come up when you roll over a tab that is opened). This way if someone has a motion project open and the contact tab is off screen, they can just close the motion tab and everything is visible again. Along with the new minimize button I think this makes it much more usable.

You might have to clear your internet cache to see the new upload.

comments?
 
ICD2k3 said:
Just sat down and added something else that I think should solve the problems of things going off screen. Now each selection, both the main menu and the sub menus can be closed by clicking on the tab (you'll now see an X come up when you roll over a tab that is opened). This way if someone has a motion project open and the contact tab is off screen, they can just close the motion tab and everything is visible again. Along with the new minimize button I think this makes it much more usable.

You might have to clear your internet cache to see the new upload.

comments?
Click to expand...

While I finally found the x to close the tab I didn't the first time even after clearing out the cache. I had to reread your email to even find it. It is way too hard to find and I don't feel that having to work so hard to keep everything on screen is necessary or desirable here.

Solution: On the right side (orange) of your page there is so little text, you could easily move all the submenu choices (ie. save the models, etc.) to the right side(orange) so nothing is pushed down and out of sight.
 
I like it, but I didn't really care for the navigation (I found it a bit difficult to get around once I was somewhere- for example your portfolio).
 
ehurtley said:
First, I'm not a big fan of 100% flash websites. (For example, when I view your website on Internet Explorer 64-bit, all I get is "You need to upgrade your Flash Player." If I wasn't 'testing' your site, I would have just given up.) Try it with DHTML, AJAX, or other non-plugin technologies. (When on Windows, I usually use IE 64-bit specifically to avoid obnoxious Flash ads.)

Second, no, I didn't figure out that you could drag it. Which leads to unusability. With some of your menu items, it causes some menu items (most notably the lower main ones,) to disappear below the bottom of the window.

The actual *DESIGN*, though, is nice. Just make it non-Flash, and I'll be happy. (Flash should be used for small areas of a site, not the whole darned site. And even where you use it, a non-Flash alternative should be available, unless the entire POINT of the section is to be Flash. Same is true for Java. If you can get away without using Java (true Java, not JavaScript,) do so.)
Click to expand...

i have to say i agree with that.

if i as a customer end up on a site like this and i have to drag stuff around and look for information hidden in elaborate menues i just move on to a different site. i haven't even installed flash on my firefox. i do a lot of internet research/shopping for my work and usability/speed/convenience is the only thing that matters. i give a site on average 1 min to get what i want, then i move on and look for the stuff i need from different vendors.

however if the site is made to show your skills then it is great and it looks really nice.
 
I like the sit alot. And I read the whole post before clicking on the link, since things like "Don't read until..." make me read. The only real complaint I have is the black text is somewhat hard to read in comarison to the red BG. But other than that; great way to demonstrate what flash can do besides annoy us. A+
 
ICD2k3 said:
Hey guys, based on your comments I just changed some things. http://www.justinschrader.com

1.) changed the font on the description text to verdana to make it more readable
2.) Changed the middle bar rollOver arrows using Mouse.hide(); to draw more attention that the middle bar can be dragged (if the user rolls over it unknowingly)
3.) added a tab on the lower right side of each portfolio item saying "drag to resize" with a moving arrow pointing towards the middle
4.) (my personal favorite) added minimize and maximize buttons to the lower right side of each screen shot. Minimize is especially helpful if a user wants to click on a menu item off screen so they don't have to resize by hand.
5.) fixed some bugs dealing with resizing the browser window itself.

Based on JackAxe's reply tomorrow I'm planning on coding it so if u click on a main section that's already open it will close it.

I think these small tweaks and features make it much better than the previous version (http://www.justinschrader.com/index_old.html). Though more criticism and comments are definitely welcome. And thanks for all the compliments

also ehurtly: I love ajax, but I haven't experimented with it. I'm hoping to be able to get into it more next year because I think it has a lot of potential.
Click to expand...

The changes definitely help, without being too "in your face". I must still stand by my original request. Learn AJAX, quick. The main menu of it could be EASILY done in AJAX (or so my web design friends tell me,) and just leave the actual video or interactive content for Flash. (For example, the entire "Web" and "Print" sections could be Flash-free.)

Just so it doesn't sound like I'm just whining, though... I do like the DESIGN of the site. My complaint is with the implementation.
 
I like the minimize/maximize buttons much better than the arbitrary draggable center line. I'd increase the minimize scaling somewhat; it's too small to be useful as it is now.

BTW, I doubt that AJAX is going to do much to improve this site, except that a Flash plugin would not be involved. As it is, the site runs very fluidly and reliably on my old Powermac G4.

Nice job.
 
ehurtley said:
The changes definitely help, without being too "in your face". I must still stand by my original request. Learn AJAX, quick. The main menu of it could be EASILY done in AJAX (or so my web design friends tell me,) and just leave the actual video or interactive content for Flash. (For example, the entire "Web" and "Print" sections could be Flash-free.)

Just so it doesn't sound like I'm just whining, though... I do like the DESIGN of the site. My complaint is with the implementation.
Click to expand...

what would this achive? flash isnt a bad technology at all. using ajax would cause many more problems as different browser react to it in different ways, also it woul mean more time waiting for loading as with flash it all loads intelligently rather than sequentially.


i think people need to get over the ajax phase and find a better solution. flash is much better in my opinion as more technology and modern improvements (such as video) are implemented into it faster as it is made by an independent company so has less issues with web standards and browser issues.
 
yagran said:
i think people need to get over the ajax phase and find a better solution. flash is much better in my opinion as more technology and modern improvements (such as video) are implemented into it faster as it is made by an independent company so has less issues with web standards and browser issues.
Click to expand...

Like it or not, I think AJAX use is going to continue to grow. It's only now starting to really see widespread implementation and most developers are barely tapping into its abilities.

That being said, there's no reason for AJAX on this site. The flash works, and it works well. Kudos to the OP.
 
Thanks for the comments guys, I just realized I should have posted this topic a few categories down haha oops. Anyways, regarding AJAX, it will deifitely continue to grow and I've seen some pretty amazing things being done with it. However, as most have said, I specialize in flash and motion graphics which is what im trying to "sell" to prospective employers.

That said, I feel AJAX could be used well in most professional sites or sites that are all about information. I hope it will be easier to use and improve it's cross-browser compatibility in the near future.
 
I love the design of your site, and after browsing around, I decided I love all your work, especially the quality, creativity and music selection. :)

And I discovered the dragging feature about 6 seconds after opening the site.
 
Very nice, clean, effective, enjoyable to navigate... didn't have a preloader :) Great job!

Okay here are my thoughts (I am suffering from allergies today so excuse any nonsense that might be in my text.. spelling etc..):
1. Flash based sites that are 100% the width and height of a browser are incapable of using the browsers scrolling abilities so my suggestion would be to construct your own in Flash (I believe that Joshua Davis had an example of this at one time), maybe try using the Stage property to determine if things are off screen. I feel that this is a big hit in the usability area. Anyone with a monitor resolution hight of 600 will not be able to navigate at times... Determining who your intended audience will be will determine if this issues is a concern... just something to think about.

2. The video was really choppy, I am on a cable connection and found the videos to be stop and go, especially the sound which was annoying so I didn't even watch them. Maybe create a buffer for playback, loading x amount, or lower the quality.
 
Zim, Thanks for pointing out the buffering. I added a 2 second buffer to the FLV player so hopefully that helps enough (I'm on a college connection so it's hard for me to see slower internet connection hiccups). As for the scroll bar, that's something I thought about, but decided not to add because it would throw off the design too much and draw attention away from the middle.

So far the design has been featured on webcreme.com and dopeawards.com (under the original section). I think the reason it was awarded was because of the changes I made from your, and my design friend's suggestions. Thanks :)
 
ICD2k3 said:
Zim, Thanks for pointing out the buffering. I added a 2 second buffer to the FLV player so hopefully that helps enough (I'm on a college connection so it's hard for me to see slower internet connection hiccups). As for the scroll bar, that's something I thought about, but decided not to add because it would throw off the design too much and draw attention away from the middle.

So far the design has been featured on webcreme.com and dopeawards.com (under the original section). I think the reason it was awarded was because of the changes I made from your, and my design friend's suggestions. Thanks :)
Click to expand...

The buffer helps a lot. Still had a little stalling, once or twice, but no where near as bad as it was before.

I agree with your decision regarding my comment on adding a scroll bar. I just wanted to know if you had thought about it.

Congratulations on the recognition from webcreme and dopeawards!
 
Dude i registered to these forums just to tell you that your site is amazing. And the videos and pictures and everything were really cool. And i'm thinking of buying that shirt.

Oh and i was also wondering..... On my old 98 pc i had a macromedia flash player where i could make the stick figure animations. Do you know any free flash players for macs that i could download. I've searched to no prevail.

Keep up the good work.
thanks
 
I am kind of an oxy-moron, heavy on the moron part. I have never really liked flash, so have shied away from learning it completely, even though I do have almost every version made since 4. Lately, some of my partners who I do web design for have been stressing for me to do some flash for them, which I came up with other alternatives for them using methods I am more versed and comfortable in. I have been looking for some reasons to learn more about its implement and your sites do make me have a little more hope that I might be able to make some sites in flash that don't annoy me and may even be proud of.

In other words, nice job.

Oh, and I didn't get the resizing at first, but it is interesting.
 
I like the design of the site, it wasn't visually distracting like most of these flash sites nowadays. The resizing only took me a minute to figure it out, since I was scrolling over it and saw the cursor change icons. My only complaint is the inability to scroll to see the entire page, stuff at the bottom was cut off.
 
Awesome site and awesome work. I never realized that you could resize the middle portion though. A 3 second intro of that function would help.
 
Fwa!

Congratulations on the FWA SOTD! :)

Noticed the SOTM was Dugg and saw your page on the top of FWA's site. Great work ... lovin' the changes.
_

peace | neut
 
The site is looking great.

I picked up on the dragability of it as soon as i went to choose a category and i saw the 2 arrows when i hovered over the line. Great concept. I like a lot of your work too.
 
It didn't occur to me at all until I read your post, and I found the little two-way arrow that I suppose should point people to it pretty confusing on the front page, where it doesn't appear that there's any need for resizing those fields.

I am not a great fan of navigation elements (or anything, really) jumping all over the screen, but hey, I suppose if you like flash you might like this site.
 
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