Paul Clapp - Art Portfolio Site

[oneeyedpauly]

This is my art portfolio that has been online a while now, it's gone through many changes as it's the first (proper) web site I've worked on. I've used the site as a bit of a learning curve to teach myself about web design. Having not worked on it for a while I feel it's in need of a bit of a make over.

I'd love some feedback on what is good/bad about the site and some suggestions on what could be done to improve it. I'm thinking of adding some Flash elements.

[Ferro]

Good points - I like the art and the site is very atttractive in general.

Points to attend to (IMHO) -

Don't like the cross as a cursor.
Don't like the scrolling box on "updates" - interior scrolling boxes can look a bit cumbersome.
Also - there is something a bit unresponsive about the site - can't quite put my finger on it, the cursor is very juddery etc. etc. - do you have some javascript with errors or wierd loops running in the background? When you scroll down the main page it seems unresponsive as well. It may have to do with when your header animates.
But then again I have a pretty slow PC running here - it is however a good test of how sites run on a slower PC.
Also - you might want to optimise your pics a little more, as the file sizes are fairly big.

But no, in general I think it's well attractive, and love the artwork.

[Ferro]

Loving the rollovers - very nice!

[-chris-]

First off, lose the splash page. Your web design portfolio is branded as "Retro Edge Web Design" rather than "Paul Clapp Web Design" so I think that there should be a separation of the two sites. Having a link to your web design portfolio in the footer or on the links page is fine, but not on the splash page. The background is quite busy, it may work better if you add a black layer behind the background image in Photoshop and lower the opacity of the pics a bit. The text in the header logo is hard to read. I don't like the cross cursor either, nor do I like the internal scroll bar bit. I think you should use a contact form rather than plaster your email addresses all over the place.

I do like your art, and was going to say that it reminded me of Mark Wasyl's work, when I noticed a link to his site.

Keep up the good work!

[Jason]

Its a bit too crowded for my liking. Your art portfolio makes it hard for me to focus on your website.

Your navigation is also distinctly uninspired. To improve these sites... add white space, redo navigation.

[oneeyedpauly]

Some great comments here from all of you, thank you.

It seems the cross cursor is very unpopular so will certainly be the first thing to go. Ferro - thank you for pointing out the issues with Javascript, I will replace the header with a Flash animation I think, this should enanble me to do a lot more with it anyhow and sort out the text problem mentioned by Chris.