My Portfolio

[~Psychotic~]

I'm looking to get a few layouts reviewed actually, been a while since I did so and I think I've greatly improved since last time.

First off, my entire portfolio can be found on my blog; The Psychotic Factor. Over at www.randomtastic.com. Anyone who does go there to view my portfolio be forewarned: I do not post live previews of my layouts... yet (I'm thinking about offering 'em all up for free, minus the ones I'm currently using).

The actual templates I want reviewed are two I am currently using for websites I co-own and maintain. The templates found at my blog can be looked at and reviewed but it's not my main priority.

Glitches Exposed: www.glitchesexposed.com

I had this reviewed a while back (around June) but since then I've redone the layout. It now uses no images, whatsoever (minus a simple logo I will make when I can be bothered lol, I'm not good at logo design).

I like it for it's non-use of images, I like that. In-fact, I prefer it. Why? Simply because I don't think a website needs a bunch of fancy stylish images to look good. But then, I usually create generic layouts and if you've seen my other layouts you'll see I can use some images as well.

I also don't use much images because I can't make them, specifically icons and I'm not one to use free images (there's always a catch, and I can't afford 'em).

This layout is a dark colour-scheme. I think they're easier on the eyes but I also believe that dark or light, it depends on the situation. This layout is pretty generic and for the site I made it dark gray, mostly out of personal preference.

WowHumor: www.wowhumor.net

American spelling, anyone (note: I write in UK English)? I actually made this layout yesterday. So it's my newest addition to my portfolio (not yet added to my blog though).

Like the Glitches Exposed one it also has a dark colour scheme (told you I like them, heh) as well as the use of scan-lines (transparency turned low).

There's not much to say about this one, it's similar to the Glitches Exposed one in images (except it actually uses more, but only one more in regards to the design) and in my honest opinion, looks better.

The Glitches Exposed one was my favourite. Then I made this one. Now it just needs a name, lol.

 

[zaros64]

Nice, the WowHumor one is really impressive, I just noticed the scan lines on it lol

 

[greenowl]

Glitches Exposed:
You might want to check your work in multiple browsers. The only one that the design works properly on (tested with MSIE 7, FF and Chrome) is Firefox. In Google Chrome the entire main content is hanging to the right of the top menu. In Internet Explorer 7, the main Latest news block (with all the content) is hanging below the right menu block. There is a big glitch for you.

As for the menu, I think you might want to speed up the delay a bit, just a tiny bit annoying having to wait that little bit for the menu to appear.

It is a clean design and simple, to the point. May be on the simple side, but all gamers are looking for are glitches when they comes here so this may be an advantage. Quick and easy to find everything.

WowHumor:
Again a fairly simple site. This one has no favicon however. It looks the same on all three browsers, so no glitches or humor there. :P When I loaded it on Chrome, I got a small image on the front page. I must say that this made the home page look pretty boring and I would have left straight away. However, that being said, both IE and Firefox got great images and those would have kept me looking as they added interest to the page.

Without that main image, the site would be incredible dull. No colour and just a dark site does not bode well. But it does make you pay attention to that main image (though not if it is small!).

Hope some of this helps. Very simple websites, maybe too simple but nice and clean. Good luck!

 

[~Psychotic~]

Thanks for the feedback. I do know that GXP (as I abbreviate Glitches Exposed, lol) doesn't work in IE6 but it works in IE7 for me perfectly "fine" (as fine as IE can make it lol). Okay, scratch that, now it looks screwed in IE7 for me too (it's just the font-size by the looks of it doing it).

I'm not sure if the browser works in Opera or Safari either, I think I tested it in Opera and it worked fine. I can get my mate to check in Safari, but I think it works fine in that too.

As for the small image on WowHumor, yeah it's completely random as I randomize the images the viewer sees.

 

[gaucho1976]

Glitches Exposed: a lot of issues on crossbrowser experience. Plus, if you're not going to use images at least try to add some spacing between letters and also lines to make the whole thing "breath". Personally, seeing gray on black and a bloat of text would make me close the site inmediately. Try to use {line-height} and {letter-spacing} CSS

Wowhumor: same as the above, I never understood the passion some people have to practically hide text in the background by using almost the same color for both (keep in mind not all people has good eyes and around 40% of people has tonal misperception). I know it's a gamer's thing, but the question is: do you want to treat your site as a business or just have fun with friends and look (somehow) cool? If you want to make a business off it, I'd recommend you to leave what everyone else is doing and do the best for your biz. I mean, if you have text, let people read it, otherwise just take it off, the page will load faster and there will be less noise. Plus those red and blue buttons collide with the whole design, try a dark orange and a lighter blue for a better color palette.

Just my 2 cents FWIW, hope that helps

 

[~Psychotic~]

I'm not doing what everyone else thinks looks cool. I also have problems with the colours because I could go with a complete different style of coloring (and just thinking of that gave me an idea now) but it wouldn't fit with the other style.

As for the red and blue buttons, yeah those were two annoying aspects. I used them as contrast because they stand out, don't they? Clearly you noticed them. And that's my point. I wanted those to stand out so I made them more visual than the rest of the page.