My Website

[Demmocrazy]

I decided to post a thread asking for advice about my own site that I use to showcase my original artwork of various mediums, as well as information about me as an artist and my experiences with different art. I made the code and minimal graphics for it currently, but I feel it's way too plain. I want to make it have more substance, and for it look more appealing.. maybe a bit more complex (as far as the navigation links).

So, I've installed Dreamweaver and am attempting to better learn CSS and HTML. I would like to know how to create something to where you click each thumbnail image and it does something neat, like it smoothly expands in a box overlapping the current page. Where it wouldn't redirect the browser to a whole different URL, but I'm pretty sure what I'm talking about is flash-based. Which is still do-able.. I hope lol. I also wanted to add a commission page, where people can fill out their information to send to me regarding what kind of commission they want and etc.

Anyone have any suggestions, ideas, advice, or knowledge in this sort of thing? What do you think would work/look best for this kind of site? I have extensive knowledge in Photoshop CS4 and a Japanese program called Paint Tool SAI, so I'd like to design all of the graphics for the site myself.

This is my site: http://www.shadoweclipse.net

Thanks for reading!

 

[SgtSpike]

I can't stand flash. I use Javascript for all my animation needs, and it's perfect for doing stuff like enlarging pictures.

There's no flash on this site either. All the animation is done with Javascript. For instance, click on your avatar in the upper-right corner. That neat little box overlay that comes up is all done with Javascript. More and more devs are moving away from flash towards Javascript, because it is so much more flexible and works on EVERY platform. Well, just about every platform.

Apple, for one, will not support flash on the iPhone/iPad, so if you have a flash website, any flash items will just be blank. Javascript works just fine though.

 

[coffeejunky]

Site looks nice, if I had suggestions I'd say the following -
- Not keen on the crosshair on the top nav links. These nav links could also be images instead, which would look nicer and add more cutomisation. Though you said you were looking at creating a more advanced menu system.
- I'd consider letting the pages expand vertically rather than fixed as it is now, on a high-res monitor the content looks really teeny. This would leave you with quite a bit of blank space to fill, but being as artistic as you are that shouldn't be an issue
- The image thingy you are thinking of is usually called a lightbox. It can be written relatively easily in Javascript/AJAX, this should be easier, lighter and more compatible than using flash. I think HTML5 has some features that might help with that sort of thing, but HTML5 is not supported by all browsers equally. There are some off the peg scripts available freely for lightboxes, but part of the experience is learning

Good Luck and I'll make sure to check back!

e-darnit spike! beat me.

 

[Demmocrazy]

- I'd consider letting the pages expand vertically rather than fixed as it is now, on a high-res monitor the content looks really teeny. This would leave you with quite a bit of blank space to fill, but being as artistic as you are that shouldn't be an issue

That is a good idea. Like the table/box would slide down smoothly, revealing the information on said page? :O I have no idea how to do that, lol.

 

[Demmocrazy]

I can't stand flash. I use Javascript for all my animation needs, and it's perfect for doing stuff like enlarging pictures.

There's no flash on this site either. All the animation is done with Javascript. For instance, click on your avatar in the upper-right corner. That neat little box overlay that comes up is all done with Javascript. More and more devs are moving away from flash towards Javascript, because it is so much more flexible and works on EVERY platform. Well, just about every platform.

Apple, for one, will not support flash on the iPhone/iPad, so if you have a flash website, any flash items will just be blank. Javascript works just fine though.

Yeah, I was actually asking my dad at dinner tonight about the enlarging picture animation thing. He said that it can be done using Javascript. He knows quite a bit about this stuff and he used to fiddle around with his own experimental sites, until he got frustrated with it and it became too time-consuming. I don't think I will be using anything involving Flash.. even though I hate Apple products, a big percentage of people viewing my site probably use them. x.x And I quite like how everyones' profiles pop-up in a little box, exactly what I want to do with my images.

Thanks for the info.

 

[SgtSpike]

Here's a javascript lightbox that looks like it might be worth trying.
http://www.huddletogether.com/projects/lightbox2/

 

[Demmocrazy]

Here's a javascript lightbox that looks like it might be worth trying.
http://www.huddletogether.com/projects/lightbox2/

Oh yeah! EXACTLY what I want.