REMINDER: Any redesign has the prime intention of being practice and just one more thing to add to my portfolio. In the final version of this, any branding and logos pertaining to this site will be removed.
So I was looking at the front page, in my idea of a "redesign" of the site - I have the OK from FSX to do this for the hell of it, and as the idea is a partially working site (at least HTML and CSS working, lol) I'd like to look into the design right now.After the navbar, I see the recent games/examples area, and a seemingly unrelated area that filters all, games and examples (seriously, the styling on the filter links make it look more like it's part of the area below, not above). Given the nature of this site, I can definitely see how this would be infinitely useful - recent games and example submissions (and of course viewing them all).Then there's the 3 column area. There's the Latest News column. Recent Blog column and then the Recent Activity column. For some reason this seems rather redundant. Maybe it's just me, but it does - the Recent Activity area includes all current blogs along with forum and QDB posts. Is there a specific reason those two "recent" lists exist, or is it just leftover from before the Recent Activity List?I think I'll be experimenting with variable width sites this time around - I've done it once or twice, but I'll be giving a minimum width of about 800px or so… MAYBE give a luxury of 1000px of content (I tend to lock in only 800px of content in width, with MAYBE 100px on either side for additional eye candy ("wrapping" around a content area for instance).I'm looking at my paper. I've got a fairly snazzy new look to the navbar - similar, yet different and a bit more compact versus the current design. When everything is in place via Photoshop however, I'll be able to see how it looks on screen.For colors… I have to admit - I despise bright, light colors. MOST color schemes hurt my eyes - I've had a thing for dark color schemes/themes, and overall, I must say that while the bright white background is a bit jarring in slightly less than bright light for me, it's one of the few designs that doesn't rape my eyes - literally. The overall appearance is amazing. For those that designed v3, kudos.However in my design of this, I'll be toning down the colors - however I'll experiment with off-white instead of just going dark again - I wanna try some lighter designs - maybe with a tiny bit less contrast, and I'll see what will happen.So… let's discuss.
You're really desperate about your portfolio, eh.
It's nice you've chosen to describe your design to us, but how about an actual image.
I like the visual design of the website. It's functionality that needs fixing.
lol totally, Cesque. I've got too much on my plate - I mean I really gotta figure out how to make myself look good, and how to implement tiny little pixel font lines of credit to make "my" shit look super snazzy.
But for reference - I'm getting an idea for things - you know, like the questions I proposed that no one seemed to answer? Cause I'm sketching shit out on paper.
Since I haven't gotten answers I'll just go ahead with my own ideas. I'll just laugh at any mindless complaints.But yeah. I am rather desperate for a portfolio. I've had bad luck with keeping my previous work - and unfortunately I don't really have anything worth showing - through random pointless doodles/practice sessions, I've gotten better (where I feel any old work that I have isn't worth showing), however my inspiration/motivation is still down. If I can take on a job - random freebie concept like this or a paying job, I'll do it, if I can add to my portfolio.I feel you on that. I would start making a portfolio site and leave it half finished. Though maybe once I finish my main project i'll get back to it have have something more to show.
For the sketchup, I would look at sites that we like. We like soundcloud, 64digits since we are on it, google+, etc. I think the design in terms of graphically it looks great. But the problem is organization (design). Leaving the half-assed functionality aside, of course.Well in my case, it's losing not only the portfolio, but the backups because for a while, I got used, pre-owned items.
And then when I don't have motivation OR inspiration, new portfolio pieces are hard to come by.I'll take a look at that page.But as it's both for design AND "functionality" (not necessarily working, but the concept and the "suggestion" of such for now) I still would like to know - is there really any point to having both a recent blog AND recent activity area on the main page - especially when one HAS recent blogs as well?Design and functionality are not separate areas, they are the same thing. A design that is not functional is a failed design.
The separation of recent and chronologically ordered blogs is probably to make sure that new blogs can't get buried under existing and already active conversations - this is very useful - but I assume also to keep the recent activity feed in a consistent position, because it is the most important element of the page, and putting something unrelated (like news posts) in the center column would just add noise to the design.