Who on DVinfo has the coolest website?

[Barry Gribble]

Alfred,

I like your design ... simple is good. If you wanted to spice it up a bit, I could make a couple of small suggestions....

- On the directors page and the photos page I would like to see thumbnails along with the text links... images are always nice...

- The logo and name actually lend themselves very nicely to some kind of Flash animation scambling up the letters... you could do that on the first page only, or make it really quick so that it didn't distract from the message but gave the page a little more zing and motion.

- I think doing mouse-over underlining on the top menu would help give it a more dynamic feel - mouseovers help the site feel alive.

- Not a flashy thing, but my personal preference for any site is to have a statement on the main page of what Scrambled Visual does... are you a video production company? A loose creative collective? A graphic design house? All of the above? I want to know when I look at the site...

Overall it is a really good job. I like your video work as well. Your video stuff is so edgy that you could certainly get away with an edgy, dynamic web site... but I don't think that you need it. As it stands I think the site highlights the video work well and lets it stand on its own.

Keep it up and good luck.

[Michael Wisniewski]

One of my favorite "flash" sites is www.chipotle.com

It's clean, simple, and tasty ...

[Rob Lohman]

Matt: it was the Mosquito site Alfred posted

Man, I can't stand that <g>

[John Locke]

Since some of you definitely don't seem to like "too-flashy" Flash sites, I'm probably setting myself up here...but I'd like to get your feedback. I've made a new home for an old film, to go along with the new overall site I'm building, and it's all Flash.

I based the design on sort of a 60-ish, tabloid style (a bit chaotic, with multiple TV screens repeating). And since the film has a spy theme, I used spy game type sound effects throughout. In other words, it's cheesy...but it's supposed to be. ;)

Anyway...please let me know what you think. You might want to NOT watch the film itself. I'm still trying to get the "quick start" QT feature to work right...but the point is to get your feedback on the site, not the film.

Click here - http://sursumfilms.com/ladyx/

[Robert Knecht Schmidt]

Very nice. The only thing I'd change is the "replay intro"/"close window" sample. It's not up to snuff with the rest of the site.

And, if you miss the bullseye, the movie window shouldn't open!

[Ed Smith]

I did not like the scroll on the scroll bar of the information, about us pages. for some reason it did not stop at the places I expected it to stop.

Other than that it looks really good, excellent job! I don't mind flash sites as long as it is presented well, and is easy (ish) to navigate and the content keeps me interested.

Ed

[Barry Gribble]

John,

That is a very nice site... it has a great feel to match the movie... it is attractive and interesting without being distracting from the point.. many kudos... I love the actor video clips with the name... it is a really nice presentation of the data...

I agree with Ed on the scroll bar issue... you have a dampened movement there which is attractive, and works well on the shorter text, but on the longer ones it is misleading... you move the scroll bar until the text is showing what you want, and then the text keeps going becuase it is catching up... you could dapen the motion less, or base it on the length of the text ....

The only other thing for me was that when the actor information was open, it is positioned such that we can still see the other actor shots... That being the case, I would like to be able to click on one of them to bring them up... it is a hair cumbersome to have to close the window and choose another...

Looks great, keep it up.

[Kris Holodak]

I definitely agree with Barry. I had just read his post and I still tried to click on the actors pictures rather than close the window first. It wasn't a big distraction though. I like the site overall. Yes, it's a flashy Flash site, but it works to create the mood. As longs as it's helping you communicate then be as flashy as you want.

[John Locke]

Great feedback! Thanks a lot, guys!

Robert - I'm mulling over how to redo the "replay intro/close window" buttons now. Using a target comes to mind, but I'm worried that might be overdoing it with targets. I'll have to chew on that one a bit. As for the bullseye thing...that's originally what I'd planned on doing...making it more like a real game. I haven't had any luck figuring out how to do that, so finally I'd just given up and left it as is. I thought that it probably wouldn't matter to anyone. Then...first comment I receive...you mention it. Doh! I'm determined to figure it out now.

Ed - Good point about the longer scroll pages having a bit too much play in the scroller. Barry, you hit the nail on the head as to why that's happening. I'll work on that today, too.

Barry & Kris - You've also hit an issue that I tried to deal with. I also wanted people to be able to go from one actor to another without hitting the "Close Window"...but the way I set it up (the wrong way) made that impossible. I have an idea how to do it to fix that, but it'll take a whole different approach to what I have now. The fact that two of you have mentioned it tell me that I have to roll up my sleeves and just do it.

Again...thanks a million! I've got some work to do now.

[Matt Gettemeier]

John, I think it looks great... of course it's 10:35pm right now so maybe you made changes.

I can see how some people are bothered by Flash, but when you don't have a ton of information to convey I say "why not". Sure there are sites with SO much to see/read that Flash would be a pain in the ass, but for a site that basically wants to showcase a few works or ideas I think Flash only gives surfers one more reason to take the whole site in.

That Chipotle site kept me busy for 10 minutes. Had it been just a text and photos site I never would have unintentionally learned everything about Chipotle.

I like websites for a variety of reasons... a good "blog" site is great, news sites can be good, and Flash is just in another category.

This thread has sold yet one more copy of MX 2004 for Macromedia... I'll get some crap on my site in the next few days... but once the Flash get's here I'm gonna' see what I can do.

You guys are giving me some good inspiration. It's fun to be able to appreciate the nuances of a Flash design. Barry and John you guys ought to be happy that more people (at least ME) are appreciating your attention to detail.

[Robert Knecht Schmidt]

"I'm mulling over how to redo the 'replay intro'/'close window' buttons now. Using a target comes to mind, but I'm worried that might be overdoing it with targets."

Don't misunderstand me, I don't think anything's wrong with the buttons, it's the sound that plays when you mouseover them that strikes me as a tad gauche.

[John Locke]

Ahh...I see. You struck a nerve since I'd been debating about using the text "<<<" arrows. My thinking was that they're a bit bland. Thought that was what you meant. The sound, eh? Hadn't thought of that...but now that you mention it, it doesn't really match, does it?

Matt...thanks a lot. I haven't had time to fix anything yet (still the work day over here). I agree with you completely... if it's simply a "show off" site, then show off. Sites that are heavy with information, though, should keep the use of Flash light...if needed at all. Take DVInfo.net for example... I love the fact that it's basically just text. Fast-loading. No nonsense. Just the facts.

As for purchasing Flash MX 2004... Barry will have to verify this...but I think that the scripting help functions found in MX have been removed in the 2004 version. Is that right, Barry? I use MX, so I'm not entirely sure. But I've heard something to that effect, and if that's the case, I'll warn you that Flash actionscripting isn't as straightforward and easy to do as you might think. No problem with the basic stuff...but when you get into the advanced scripting, look out. I'd be lost without the scripting help function.

[Rob Lohman]

John: I think flash can definitely be an asset, only not as the
main navigation due to usually a bad use of screenspace or just
to show off.

In my mind it can definitely add to things like what you are
using it for. I once saw a link here on DVi to a site that also
used flash as a sort of fast trailer for the movie. That can be
very handy.

I usually just don't like sites that are 100% flash or have used
it in places that I think: why? what does it add.

Anyway, I didn't like some of the loops you used on the actors.
They basically where jump cuts and it looked very jarring to my
eye. I would probably either when hitting the end go 100% in
reverse to get back at the beginning or fade out / in or fade
through to another scene. The skipping annoyed me <g>

[John Locke]

RKS, Barry, and Kris,

I put in fixes for the things you mentioned. Also added a "spinning reel" effect to the preloader based on a suggestion. Still working on a couple of other things.

Rob...you know...I like the jump cuts for some reason. Chalk it up to bizarre taste. ;)

[Jason Casey]

Flash can be good and bad. For people on dialup connections ,which is still a large number of people, sitting and waiting for a flash page to load can take very long! It's better to have the option of a HTML or a Flash page on the main screen so the users can select which one they would like.