Portfolio Redesign

[besler3035]

Just redesigned my website - please let me know your thoughts! http://eslercreative.com

 

[design-is]

I think it looks great!

A few points to bring up:

All the text seems a little on the small side. And I like small text... Some is so small its a little hard to read though.

Work page has some code errors & uses image maps. There's no need to use image maps really... is there?

It doesn't degrade very well with CSS disabled. Therefore wouldn't print well (no print stylesheet) or be very good on a mobile platform.

You use a lot of images instead of text, but you don't always provide appropriate alt text.

^ I don't like that the circle with the arrow isn't smoothly circular.

Think that will do for the mo...

Overall though, very professional and good result in my opinion!

/Doug

 

[besler3035]

Thanks Doug. I'll take a look at some of the things you mentioned (hopefully) tonight.

Only thing in question really for me is the font size for the body copy - I've got it set right now to 11 pt. Arial. I also very much enjoy smaller text, and think this is the way to go, but I also know that it's not really the standard thing. What are people's thoughts with this?

 

[fxstb2002]

Only thing in question really for me is the font size for the body copy - I've got it set right now to 11 pt. Arial.

Actually, it is set to 11 px, not 11 pt.

body {
color:#000000;
font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;
font-size:11px;
line-height:1.4em;
margin-left:auto;
margin-right:auto;
padding:0;
}

 

[besler3035]

Actually, it is set to 11 px, not 11 pt.

body {
color:#000000;
font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;
font-size:11px;
line-height:1.4em;
margin-left:auto;
margin-right:auto;
padding:0;
}

My bad, px.

 

[design-is]

You shouldn't really use pt as your measure when doing screen css. they are fine if you're writing a print stylesheet, but px, ems, %, etc... are correct measures for on screen display.

(Sorry, just looked at your css - you have used px, not pt, so ignore that moan )

It sure does seem small for 11px maybe switch to ems to ensure people can zoom the text if they need to - though it is readable enough. My main concern is the text you're using an image for under your work thumbnails. This is a little too small to be clear and is slightly distorted (also due to size). It's readable, but I think anyone with any accessibility issues would find your site a nightmare.

Oh, I like the twitter feed in the foot - nice touch.

-Addition-
I shouldn't take so long to reply - someone already spotted the px not pt. lol

 

[besler3035]

My main concern is the text you're using an image for under your work thumbnails. This is a little too small to be clear and is slightly distorted (also due to size). It's readable, but I think anyone with any accessibility issues would find your site a nightmare.

Good call. I might just go ahead and put those work descriptors back into actual text instead of an image; I really don't think that would take away from the design at all, do you?

Thanks again

 

[angelwatt]

I also very much enjoy smaller text, and think this is the way to go, but I also know that it's not really the standard thing. What are people's thoughts with this?

I find 11px way too small. I use a 13" MacBook at home and don't really care for text under about 14px (I generally use .8em as my smallest font-size), depending on the font used, e.g., Verdana is a big font so I can stand it smaller. At work, I have a 22" wide screen monitor and still find the text to be smaller than I'm comfortable reading. I'd likely zoom in on the page if I was going to read it.

As others are eluding, you should be using real text instead of images of text. Makes things look really pixelated and hard to read, plus reduces usability.

Your HTML validates, which is good, but it could also be more semantic. Got a bit of divitis going on.

I'd suggest adding some hover effects to different links areas on the page, such as the navigation and the images in the middle area.

 

[adamfishercox]

I like it overall. There's a balance to achieve in terms of text vs. images. I really like the font you've used, which would be lost using text. I'd definitely keep the "header" two lines as an image. The smaller stuff could be made into text.

 

[besler3035]

I like it overall. There's a balance to achieve in terms of text vs. images. I really like the font you've used, which would be lost using text. I'd definitely keep the "header" two lines as an image. The smaller stuff could be made into text.

Yep, that's my plan. I think I'm going to keep it how it is (because I really like that font too), but just change the work captions to be in text. I don't think that'll take away from it really, because there's still a lot of content with that font.

Thanks.

 

[design-is]

You could still use that font in your font stack for those bits, in case people happen to have it installed. Just for that special 'attention to detail' touch.

 

[SelfMadeCelo]

I think it has a nice clean look but I would definitely get rid of the image map for the navigation. You can do the same with an unordered list =)

 

[ezekielrage_99]

I would make the menu text a little bigger.

Besides that I really like it, I think you've done a very nice job. Great choice of font and colours.