Looking for web design critique

[murdocsvan]

Hey just finished working on my portfolio site (some content still needs updating). Just wondering if anyone could take a look at the design and layout and give some constructive critique?

www.tomsfolio.me

Thanks in advance

 

[murdocsvan]

Lol 56 views and no comments? This section must be dead.... LOL.

 

[iFargle]

I like it Simple and easy to navigate. I would add transition effects, like when you click on one tab, the other ones roll up or something and the page fades out. Not entirely sure if it's possible with HTML, but I have seen some amazing stuff done in the web languages

 

[murdocsvan]

Hey thanks man much appreciated. I had thought about the transition on the navigation, but now that someones suggested i'll defo give it a go. Thanks!

 

[Baez]

Normally I run through this section daily but I haven't had the time these past few weeks. If you still need a critique I'm happy to provide one.

 

[murdocsvan]

Absolutely all comments/critique welcome, not been able to get much useful feedback anywhere else

 

[KSoD]

Not being a dev I cant say much in that aspect. But I can say from a user standpoint the site looks good. It seems kinda small on my 22" monitor only taking up about 33% of the screen or so on a 1680x1050 resolution. You might want to let people know that clicking on your Resume is a download of a PDF file. Some people might be expecting to see it right on the site and not have a download coming to their PC that they are not expecting.

The transition from your page to your blog is unexpected. As stated above the layout is only using a small part of the screen, then i get redirected to a site that uses the full screen. I was thinking that the Blog would be wordpress or something that is already on site. Not some 3rd party Blog Hosting service. Plus the transition from a light colored scheme on your site to a dark colored scheme on your blog is kinda off putting.

I do like the design and layout. I think it looks good. But I do think that you could use up a bit more space on screen and possibly note what are downloads and what are links. A potential employer might think they are getting to view something right on your site but then get a download and kill the whole thing right there. People are very weary of downloads from sites they dont know or trust. I think a bit of color planning might help as well. Maybe go with some darker colors on your site so when they do go to your blog, they are not greeted with a light colored site and dark colored blog.

That is just my view from being a avid web browser. Like I said I am no dev and cant comment in that aspect. This is just my thoughts and opinions.

 

[saanichtechie]

Defenitely a "small" website as KSoD mentioned. On my 1920 X 1200 screen, it uses like a quarter of it. May I suggest having the hyperlinks at the bottom of the page, going at the top, horizontally? That's my opinion. Most people have screens at 1366 X 768 so you could make it spread out a bit.

 

[murdocsvan]

Thankyou very much for the feedback.

KSoD:

- Originally the theme was meant to be that of a business card. I will try experimenting with the size, but im wary of derailing the feel of the design.
- I will definately change the way the resume opens. I'm not sure what browser you're using, but for me it opens it instead of trying to download it. but definately going to change that somehow.
- the blog: yeah it is a bit of a crap blog, i hadnt put much thought into it. I was trying to integrate it into the actual site,, but wasn't sure how.
- as for downloading source files from my portfolio, i think i'll just make it clearer that its a download. i cant see any way of showing that kind of material online.

Also I had to change one of the links to a download because the app i had running on my server failed. I have GoDaddy to thank for that.

saanichtechi:

No i've already tried that, ruins it altogether. Doesn't go well with the colored bar going down the side.

Again I'm not going to make any drastic changes to the design to fit one specific monitor resolution. it displays at 800 x 640 and i'm happy with that

 

[KSoD]

Okay I can see the business card aspect now that you said that. I still think that it is a tad small though.

I am using Chromium when i viewed the site and it didnt open the resume it downloaded it directly. Maybe it is something browser specific? But that might be something to check out. Never know which browser they will be using. Just think if they are using one the new Chromebooks, the only browser they can use is Chrome. So you might want to make sure that the behaviour is the same is IE, Opera, Firefox, Safari and Chrome. Pretty much all the major browser to make sure that any browser they use it will act the same. You could even do without full Opera support as long as IE, Chrome, Firefox and Safari all act the same since they will be the default browser in various OS's.

IE in Windows
Firefox in most Linux
Chrome in Ubuntu and Chromebooks
Safari for Mac's

This way the feel and operation will be the same no matter what OS or browser they use. Just food for thought. Given the fact you never know what browser or OS your visitors will be in making sure that it works the same in all browsers is a good idea.

The Blog is not a major thing. It is just something that i recognized. It can stay that way, just found it a bit of a shock when the colors switched like that.

The Source files, yeah. Just change it to say Download Files or something. That way they know. It is just an addition of 1 word. Not that the stuff has to be included online or anything. But letting people know that it is a download and possibly a guide on how to view the items might be useful as well. some might not know how to view your work.

You dont have to make any changes. I am just giving my opinion on what I see as a user.