My Site

Andrew Johnson · 03-01-2008, 08:06 PM

Well just got one of my designers to whip up this simple thing.

Let me know your thoughts.

http://www.andrew-g-johnson.com/

srule_ · 03-01-2008, 08:16 PM

Not bad!

The design is simple which I like but it's a bit plain. Adding a picture to the about section would living things up a bit. Try to think of some other ways to bring more life to the site.

Some more content would be nice too, If I was looking for a freelancer and came upon your site I do not think I would chooses you because there is not enough there to get me genuinely interested in your services. Even after reader you about page I am not sure if what you do. Do you design web sites or do you do the back end/programming work or do you do both?

Andrew Johnson · 03-01-2008, 11:15 PM

Valid point, I'll think about uploading a picture of myself some time this week.

I've added a 'Services' page, hopefully it will let people know what I can do for them.

harbingerOTV · 03-02-2008, 02:16 AM

well it's simple all right. Not that I'm opposed to that. i think since it is so simple , it spanning 100% height looks odd on pages that don't fill the vertical space with content.

add background: #fff; to your container so when I highlight text it actually highlights.

flynch01 · 03-02-2008, 02:56 AM

Oh my god, that site is bloody horrible. Dude, redesign it now... nah i'm joking it's nice. Very nice infact, and doesn't have a labyrinth of links to navigate around to find what you want. Good job.

senkei · 03-03-2008, 03:46 AM

I really like your website! From the simplicity, to the really nice green to the efficiency of it all. Although a banner or a few pieces of design here and there could really bring it to life!

I was thinking of doing something similar!

Apostropartheid · 03-03-2008, 06:28 PM

The font is a little too thinly-stroked for my liking. It's also too tall. Otherwise it's lovely, but...

GO ILLINI · 03-12-2008, 06:09 AM

-The main font is a little hard to read...
-Ide like to see the rollover effect more on the links (darker background).
-Remove the unfilled portfolio boxes, It kind of looks tacky.
-A footer is usually nice. I usually like to see 1) the site name 2) the authors name 3) a "Home" link

Other then that
it looks great!

-Adam

Andrew Johnson · 03-13-2008, 01:04 AM

I just changed the default font from Arial Narrow to Arial. Love to hear some feedback.

GO ILLINI · 03-13-2008, 03:40 AM

Much Better

gnomeontherun · 03-13-2008, 06:53 AM

You've got so much unused space, so why not make the text larger and thumbnails bigger so I can see them. It is also extremely narrow on a 21" widescreen monitor, which makes it seem a lacking. Its a good foundation, but you need to feature more about your work on the homepage, and get images on there!

Andrew Johnson · 03-13-2008, 07:02 AM

This may come across as rude but its a serious usability question.

Did you not understand you were supposed to click the thumbnails in the portfolio?

NancyJ · 03-13-2008, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew Johnson

This may come across as rude but its a serious usability question.

Did you not understand you were supposed to click the thumbnails in the portfolio?

I'm not sure what more you could do to make it obvious that you click on the thumbnails - it says 'Click a thumbnail below for more information on the project.' and you have a rollover style and a hand icon but you could make them more enticing by making the thumbnail a section of the site rather than the whole thing scaled down.
eg. http://www.wowvehiclegraphics.com/smarts.asp (I know, *** ugly website - I can't believe how they rebranded it, I wish I had a screenshot of how it used to look, but they kept the vehicle thumbnails I did at least)

But it is very narrow - not just on 21", I'm looking at it on my 15" laptop 1024x768 and its taking up just over 50% of the available screen space. 640x480 users are <1% of global users and probably 0% of your visitors.

The text is very scrunched up, line-height should be at least 130% for good readability. There's also quite a few spelling/typing errors.

Andrew Johnson · 03-13-2008, 04:45 PM

Ya I'm going to go through them all and change them to logos or something for the thumbnails. I did it for the 2 new ones, I just have been too busy lately when I'm on my Adobe-loaded workstation.

Fumigator · 03-13-2008, 09:31 PM

Dude you've got to fix the spelling and grammar errors. Otherwise your portfolio is awesome and I have mucho envy!

One thing I really like is your paragraph explaining what you did for each of the clients (minus the spelling problems). Too often I see portfolios listed with no explanation as to what was done by whom and it makes me think the site was just a prototype mock-up (I'm naturally cynical).

Along those lines, you should offer a link to the live site when possible. Some day when I get organized enough to do a portfolio I'm going to make sure I keep a working version of each website I've done just for demonstration purposes. It's tough to see the real work done-- for example, the Plixr site you created the guts for would best be demonstrated with a working example, and since the company went under you'd have to rely on your own demo site to show the nifty features.

One last thing-- your thumbnails could be doubled in size and still fit nicely within the page design.

03-01-2008, 08:06 PM	PM User \| #1
Andrew Johnson Banned Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Winnipeg, Canada Posts: 396 Thanks: 0 Thanked 29 Times in 29 Posts	My Site Well just got one of my designers to whip up this simple thing. Let me know your thoughts. http://www.andrew-g-johnson.com/

03-01-2008, 08:16 PM	PM User \| #2
srule_ Regular Coder Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 568 Thanks: 25 Thanked 28 Times in 28 Posts	Not bad! The design is simple which I like but it's a bit plain. Adding a picture to the about section would living things up a bit. Try to think of some other ways to bring more life to the site. Some more content would be nice too, If I was looking for a freelancer and came upon your site I do not think I would chooses you because there is not enough there to get me genuinely interested in your services. Even after reader you about page I am not sure if what you do. Do you design web sites or do you do the back end/programming work or do you do both? Last edited by srule_; 03-01-2008 at 08:18 PM..

03-02-2008, 02:16 AM	PM User \| #4
harbingerOTV Senior Coder Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Memphis, TN Posts: 1,501 Thanks: 5 Thanked 64 Times in 63 Posts	well it's simple all right. Not that I'm opposed to that. i think since it is so simple , it spanning 100% height looks odd on pages that don't fill the vertical space with content. add background: #fff; to your container so when I highlight text it actually highlights. __________________ Stop making things so hard on yourself. i is tugbucket :: help raise tugburg

03-03-2008, 06:28 PM	PM User \| #7
Apostropartheid Comrade Grammar Nazi Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Do you know where Nazi Zombies come from? Posts: 2,216 Thanks: 13 Thanked 182 Times in 180 Posts	The font is a little too thinly-stroked for my liking. It's also too tall. Otherwise it's lovely, but... __________________ Cyan Light Industries \| It's Firefox, just easier on the eyes Follow me on Twitter

03-12-2008, 06:09 AM	PM User \| #8
GO ILLINI Regular Coder Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: USA Posts: 633 Thanks: 0 Thanked 7 Times in 7 Posts	-The main font is a little hard to read... -Ide like to see the rollover effect more on the links (darker background). -Remove the unfilled portfolio boxes, It kind of looks tacky. -A footer is usually nice. I usually like to see 1) the site name 2) the authors name 3) a "Home" link Other then that it looks great! -Adam __________________ Why not thank me? http://adamsworld.name

03-01-2008, 11:15 PM	PM User \| #3
Andrew Johnson Banned Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Winnipeg, Canada Posts: 396 Thanks: 0 Thanked 29 Times in 29 Posts	Valid point, I'll think about uploading a picture of myself some time this week. I've added a 'Services' page, hopefully it will let people know what I can do for them.

03-02-2008, 02:56 AM	PM User \| #5
flynch01 Regular Coder Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: England Posts: 358 Thanks: 46 Thanked 22 Times in 21 Posts	Oh my god, that site is bloody horrible. Dude, redesign it now... nah i'm joking it's nice. Very nice infact, and doesn't have a labyrinth of links to navigate around to find what you want. Good job.

03-03-2008, 03:46 AM	PM User \| #6
senkei New Coder Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 26 Thanks: 6 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I really like your website! From the simplicity, to the really nice green to the efficiency of it all. Although a banner or a few pieces of design here and there could really bring it to life! I was thinking of doing something similar!

03-13-2008, 01:04 AM	PM User \| #9
Andrew Johnson Banned Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Winnipeg, Canada Posts: 396 Thanks: 0 Thanked 29 Times in 29 Posts	I just changed the default font from Arial Narrow to Arial. Love to hear some feedback.

03-13-2008, 03:40 AM	PM User \| #10
GO ILLINI Regular Coder Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: USA Posts: 633 Thanks: 0 Thanked 7 Times in 7 Posts	Much Better __________________ Why not thank me? http://adamsworld.name

03-13-2008, 06:53 AM	PM User \| #11
gnomeontherun Senior Coder Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Houston Posts: 2,797 Thanks: 10 Thanked 235 Times in 226 Posts	You've got so much unused space, so why not make the text larger and thumbnails bigger so I can see them. It is also extremely narrow on a 21" widescreen monitor, which makes it seem a lacking. Its a good foundation, but you need to feature more about your work on the homepage, and get images on there! __________________ jeremy - gnomeontherun Educated questions often get educated answers, and simple questions often get simple answers.

03-13-2008, 07:02 AM	PM User \| #12
Andrew Johnson Banned Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Winnipeg, Canada Posts: 396 Thanks: 0 Thanked 29 Times in 29 Posts	This may come across as rude but its a serious usability question. Did you not understand you were supposed to click the thumbnails in the portfolio?

03-13-2008, 04:45 PM	PM User \| #14
Andrew Johnson Banned Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Winnipeg, Canada Posts: 396 Thanks: 0 Thanked 29 Times in 29 Posts	Ya I'm going to go through them all and change them to logos or something for the thumbnails. I did it for the 2 new ones, I just have been too busy lately when I'm on my Adobe-loaded workstation.

03-13-2008, 09:31 PM	PM User \| #15
Fumigator Master Coder Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Utah, USA, Northwestern hemisphere, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way Galaxy, Alpha Quadrant Posts: 5,405 Thanks: 32 Thanked 373 Times in 364 Posts	Dude you've got to fix the spelling and grammar errors. Otherwise your portfolio is awesome and I have mucho envy! One thing I really like is your paragraph explaining what you did for each of the clients (minus the spelling problems). Too often I see portfolios listed with no explanation as to what was done by whom and it makes me think the site was just a prototype mock-up (I'm naturally cynical). Along those lines, you should offer a link to the live site when possible. Some day when I get organized enough to do a portfolio I'm going to make sure I keep a working version of each website I've done just for demonstration purposes. It's tough to see the real work done-- for example, the Plixr site you created the guts for would best be demonstrated with a working example, and since the company went under you'd have to rely on your own demo site to show the nifty features. One last thing-- your thumbnails could be doubled in size and still fit nicely within the page design. __________________ I heart Hostmonster Last edited by Fumigator; 03-13-2008 at 10:01 PM.. Reason: to fix the spelling because I don't want to be a hypocrite

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